1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,280 Welcome to Closer to Christ through Conference. We're two friends who love Jesus sharing our 2 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:11,760 own approach to conference. 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:21,440 Hey guys, today we are so glad that you have decided to join with us and listen to the 4 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:26,120 talk that we're prepared to comment on today. We've chosen All Will Be Well because of Temple 5 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:31,600 Covenants by President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. I'm getting 6 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:36,680 a better visual of the audience that we're getting around the world, which is super fun. 7 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,800 Obviously more located in the United States, but be aware that those of you who are listening 8 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,840 outside of the United States, it pops up on our stream and so it feels like we've brought 9 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,040 you into our homes and onto our couches and we're having a fun little conversation with 10 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,040 you and it means everything to us, doesn't it Amy? 11 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:57,560 So great. So I think everybody worldwide in the church 12 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,240 has a soft spot in their heart for President Eyring. Do you think that's true? 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:07,280 He sure does. He is just the cutest. I'm glad that he got a pre-record this. Obviously 14 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:12,280 it's not that easy to stand at the pulpit as many talks as he's given, but his emotions 15 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,480 seem to be a little bit heightened in his later years of life and maybe he had to do 16 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:25,400 this a couple of takes so he could get it out. But I love this talk. There was a lot 17 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:34,760 of reflection on my life and where I've been and what's got me here that came out as he 18 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,880 was talking. I'm like, yeah, I've had that experience. So can I hit you with a question, 19 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:39,880 Amy? Go for it. 20 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,120 All right. If it's deep, if it's too much, you don't have to answer it, but here's the 21 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,640 question that I thought might be really nice in an early sighted discussion or elders 22 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:57,440 of course, if you're listening. Reading Elder Eyring's talk that you might ponder the question, 23 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:05,880 what experience have you had in your own life when these words, and I'll share those words, 24 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:13,040 well, I'll finish this, when these words were spoken to your heart and I'll preface that 25 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:18,600 question with saying the Teton Dam has broken. They've been serving in the temple in Idaho 26 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,040 Falls. They can't get back to their kids. They can't get back home. They can't really 27 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:28,200 communicate with them. So we're in, it kind of feels hopeless. We don't know that the 28 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:32,440 kids are damaged or not, but we also don't know, we don't have confirmation of that. 29 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:38,960 And so they get a hotel room for the night and he's sleeping and she's pacing. That's, 30 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:46,600 that feels true to life right there. And I feel like in my own marriage, my companionship, 31 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:51,560 my husband's like the calm presence in the face of a storm and I'm the warrior. He's 32 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:57,480 had to say, what are you, what are you so nervous about? Why are you so anxious about 33 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,360 this? Multiple times in our life, he's had to do that for me and I can see him resting 34 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:06,800 peacefully in this hotel room. And so she's like, how can you sleep at a time like this? 35 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,120 And he's like, Kathy, whatever the outcome all will be well because of the temple. We 36 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:16,880 have made covenants with God and have been sealed to, sealed as an eternal family. So 37 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,560 that's his response to her. And those words came to him by the spirit. And I don't think 38 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:26,200 that she wanted to choke him out at this point because he was still, he's still living. 39 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:31,360 He was able to still be alive at this point that he's sharing these thoughts. So, so the 40 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:36,880 question that I wrote on the sidebar is what experiences have you had in your own life 41 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:42,440 when those words were spoken to your own heart? That all would be well. 42 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:48,800 I love this question a lot. I love the foresight that President Eyring had because I have to 43 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:55,240 say there were multiple times in my life where I did feel or hear the words, it's going to 44 00:03:55,240 --> 00:04:01,360 be okay. And I had peace in that and I move forward. The part I like about this question 45 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:07,160 is that he says all will be well because of the, the, sorry, the covenants we make in 46 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,000 the temple. That is a different perspective. So I think what I would have loved to have 47 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,880 heard was this perspective before earlier in my life, because I have to say there've 48 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:22,960 been a couple of times or way more than a couple of times where my version of okay and 49 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,760 God's version of okay were not the same thing. My version of okay was you're going to get 50 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:34,760 out of this unscathed, which is kind of funny because that doesn't happen in life. Like 51 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:40,560 that's not how you gain experience. That's not how your capacity grows. That's not how 52 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:46,880 you learn hard one lessons. Heavenly Father's version of this is going to be okay is all 53 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:52,880 will be well in the end because of the covenants you have made in the temple. I have you eternally 54 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:59,760 I have you until the very end. This is a long game. This is a triathlon, you know, major 55 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,440 what, what is it called when they do that? It's, it's a marathon, but it's, I think 56 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:08,120 triathlon. Okay. It's a marathon. Yeah. It's like a hundred miles or something crazy like 57 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:13,800 that. That's his ultra marathon. Ultra. Thank you. Heavenly Father's perspective is this 58 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:18,800 is an ultra marathon. My perspective is this is a hundred meter yard dash or whatever it 59 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:26,000 is, a hundred yard dash. And so our ideas are different. So if I'm gauging it off of 60 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,560 his idea, then guess what? That changes my expectations. And then I don't feel like God 61 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:36,600 has quote, let me down when things happen. So I love the fact that he tied things being 62 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,200 okay with the covenants who made in the temple. So yes, I have had different experiences when 63 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:45,920 this has happened multiple, you know, a bunch of different experiences. One of them was 64 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:51,360 when my husband had his stroke because we're talking life and death at this point. And 65 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:57,240 definitely I had through many months of hard things of thinking, you know, he might just 66 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:02,240 be gone and I need to figure out work and just how I'm going to be with my family and 67 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:08,000 all the things that go with it. And I would kind of struggle and come back to everything's 68 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:13,520 going to be okay because of covenants. Covenants. That's one example that you've, you've dealt 69 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,920 with a few hard things in your life, but I'm glad that one came to mind that kind of the 70 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,120 most immediate, that's the most recent one exactly that you've, that you've battled. 71 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:32,160 I think this talk hit me so quickly, so deeply because, because I remember those exact words 72 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:37,320 being whispered to my heart. And I don't think that it was until this talk that I thought 73 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:45,680 it was specifically focused on the temple. Let me backtrack, I guess. 15 years ago, we 74 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:51,120 had our first child and about eight weeks before she was born, they found fluid in her 75 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,960 pelvic region, but they couldn't really isolate what was going on. And so they did some testing 76 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,960 on me, they had me do non-stress test and it was kind of decided there was nothing that 77 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:04,920 they could do preventively just past getting her hair and then kind of figuring it out 78 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:10,480 when she got here. And so true to my anxious nature, my blood pressure kind of went through 79 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,240 the roof that last eight weeks of pregnancy, which is no more reason for the non-stress 80 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,680 testing weekly or bi-weekly. I don't know, it was quite a bit. I was seeing the doctors 81 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:27,120 a lot. So we, we get her here. She came a couple weeks early, so she had some respiratory 82 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:32,200 things. They kind of took care of that immediately. And then they wanted her in for ultrasounds 83 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:40,560 on the abdominal region, did that and kind of inconclusive with the technology they had 84 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,640 at this little hospital. And so they suggested we would follow up with specialists at primary 85 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:51,120 children. So first time mom had, had her just a little bit early enough that, you know, 86 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,520 I've learned things about childbirth and that process and kind of what I want out of it 87 00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:01,280 and how to prepare for it. But none of that was part of this version of me. And so it 88 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,960 wasn't really traumatic, but it wasn't like what I pictured being the first time mom was 89 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:08,880 going to look like. And then we have some unresolved answers about what's going on. 90 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,920 So we're closest to primary children's hospital in Salt Lake from where we were living at 91 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:18,200 the time. And so we had headed down to Salt Lake, stayed with some friends. And that early 92 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:23,840 that morning we got on the two 15 belt loop and I'm just stressing, just thinking like, 93 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:29,920 oh, this is so bad. This could be anything. What could this be? And how to CD of my husband's 94 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:35,120 playing from his mission. So all church approved stuff. So it happened to be, I believe in 95 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:41,520 Christ and kind of just started crying thinking like, yeah, Jesus Christ will make all of 96 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:47,680 this fine. So we loop around kind of have this definitely whispering to my heart that 97 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:50,640 all would be okay. 98 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:56,440 We get to primary children's part of the complication was the list oldest child of mine. 99 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:01,200 She was a struggle. She was eating 20 hours out of the day. She wasn't back up to birth 100 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:07,240 weight. So whatever this thing that was going on, obviously I was thinking was tied to that. 101 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,440 So they'd asked her to fast and I'm like, she's 20 hours of the day. Like how am I going 102 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:18,960 to fast or before this ultra stint ultrasound that they're going to do. So luckily, like 103 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,520 we were able to have a blessing on that. And she really did tolerate that. Well, I'd never 104 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:27,320 seen her not go that long without eating. And she had never taken a beanke and she took 105 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,440 a beanke for literally that appointment. 106 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,920 Never again. Like not even one time after that was like after that was over. It's like, no, 107 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:40,720 I love this blessing for you in that one moment. So long story short, we get this ultrasound 108 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,600 and with the technology they have there and the expertise they have in children, it's 109 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:49,840 like, Oh, that's cyst on her ovaries. No big deal. Nothing further treatment that you're 110 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:55,960 going to need. Like this is kind of wrapped up in a little bow and you're done. And I 111 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,160 had heard the impression everything's going to be all right. So that moment in history, 112 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,920 that moment that snapshot of my life is like, Oh, he said everything was going to be all 113 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,240 right. And look at that, that cyst on her ovaries and everything is all right. That's 114 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:14,960 so great. So we get back home, a couple of hour drive, pediatrician calls. He gets the 115 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:20,080 same report. And so he was just calling to bounce that off and say, Hey, how did your 116 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,400 experience go primary children's? And I didn't really have this conversation with him, but 117 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:29,360 I did have this conversation with my husband. You're there and you're dealing with this 118 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:36,600 situation that you are. And you see like little kids being wheeled around bald heads and little 119 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,640 little types wagons or kids in halos or just a myriad of things. Like, you know, some of 120 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:47,080 them battling cancer and a myriad of hard things. And you're just like, we've got, we've 121 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:52,040 got our problems, but they're nothing compared to, to that problem. And you know that those 122 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,560 parents like now I know those parents are like, Oh, we've got our problems, but that's 123 00:10:55,560 --> 00:11:01,280 not those problems. Like we all kind of feel the capacity of what, whatever we're going 124 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,800 to be expected to have to deal with that we're going to deal with them. So anyway, pediatrician 125 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,640 calls. And he's like, how was that experience? I said, it was good. Like what a neat facility 126 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,360 and they're like really gifted and we've really felt blessed that, that they were able to 127 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:18,320 see her take care of her. And he's like, that's great. And I said that was, it was cysts. 128 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:23,000 And he's like, yeah, that's great. And he said, well, your newborn screening, your second 129 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:28,080 newborn screening, come back positive again for cystic fibrosis. And so, you know, this 130 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:34,880 happy phone call kind of turned into a dark hour for us just because I actually have friends 131 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:39,320 with cystic fibrosis that I grew up, but they were, they were older than me. So I wouldn't, 132 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,400 we weren't friends, but our families were friends. They're in a community and it's, 133 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,840 we don't really need to talk about it. But, but I knew enough about it to know that that 134 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:52,520 was a hard thing and a challenging thing. And honestly, my, my self, my inner self was 135 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,080 like, there's no way that that's true. Like something's wrong with these tests that they're 136 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:02,120 running because that's so way outside of what I was expecting to hear that I just said, 137 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:06,160 that can't even be true. And it's not okay. Yeah. I didn't like get on the phone, start 138 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:10,640 texting my family at this point, cause I'm like, this is so unbelievable that we're just 139 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,880 going to need some further testing before we find out. Like my parents had known about 140 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:19,440 this fluid and pelvic region thing. So they had come up from Idaho down, sorry, they came 141 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:24,320 south to meet us for that. And so when we parted ways, it was like, okay, everything's 142 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,280 going to be okay. This is going to be great. Well, on this, and I was like, man, I already 143 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:32,880 stressed people out enough with the other information that we'll just, this is so crazy. 144 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:39,220 We're just going to hang on to this. And, and, um, well, the way that the timeline works 145 00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:43,600 out on this, we had general conference. I remember crying through most of those talks 146 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,880 and like some of them spoke paste in my heart, but just the uncertainty of not knowing what 147 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:52,600 was going on with our lives and with our baby. And like obviously being able to look at her, 148 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,880 the way that cystic fibrosis works is that you can't absorb the nutrients from the food 149 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,440 you're eating. So though it was true, she was eating 20 hours out of the day. Her body 150 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:05,720 was starving to death. She was absorbing some, some bits of that, but for the most part, 151 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,400 really just eating with no digestion and just getting rid of it. So she was starving to 152 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:14,120 death in front of my eyes. And like my mother instinct was like, no, not everything's not 153 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,840 all right, even though I've, I felt the assurance that everything was going to be all right. 154 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:25,120 It wasn't all right. So fast forward. I don't know. It really isn't that fast of a story, 155 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,160 but I'm going to, I'm going to wrap up that the end result was we get through general 156 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:34,760 conference the following week. We're appointed to the cystic fibrosis clinic and you do a 157 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:41,400 sweat chloride test to just verify if, if those numbers correlate with cystic fibrosis, 158 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:47,160 which sure enough they did. And then they have my, myself and my husband get genetic 159 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:53,440 testing and Maddie does it more, maybe it was just Maddie. Anyway, you do genetic testing 160 00:13:53,440 --> 00:14:00,800 that verifies that she had two copies of the most common genetic mutation for cystic fibrosis. 161 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:06,520 So that began our journey in, in this life. And I guess why this talk meant so much to 162 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:12,400 me is cause I'm up 15 years on the other side of that initial impression that everything 163 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:17,520 was going to be all right. Does that take away a myriad of doctor appointments? Does 164 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:24,400 that take away the medical debt that we endured? Does that take away the decision of what profession 165 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:29,440 to go into? Does that take away our educational decisions? Does that take away, there's like 166 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:35,040 so many things that run through my mind about this disease and the way that it's kind of 167 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:44,400 charted my life, my husband's life, our family's life together that, that reminded me, yeah, 168 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:52,520 everything is okay. It has been made okay. Not easy, not easier, but it's, it's kind 169 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:58,840 of the thing I look back to as kind of a defining point for us. Like we, we've made a lot of 170 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:03,040 decisions based on that cystic fibrosis diagnosis that I don't think we would have otherwise 171 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,800 made and the life that we have together is more beautiful than the life that I could 172 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:12,600 have written to have. Yeah. How about the strength in your unity, like in your marriage? 173 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,680 Absolutely. I think that we had it way too easy because I was already graduated from 174 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:23,480 college in a profession that pays pretty well, already owned a home. And Adam was just kind 175 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,680 of starting out, but like he literally had to do a framing job to pay for the tuition 176 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,680 that was so cheap. And I thought we could eat out whenever we wanted and just kind of 177 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:38,800 had this really carefree life. The financial, I mean, it was crazy. It was crippling to 178 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,760 a point, but still in the middle of going to college for him and making decisions on 179 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:50,960 what, what he would be. We picked up together, experienced together that unified us in a 180 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:57,120 way that like how else, how else can you, how else would you learn about finances and 181 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:03,400 medical debt and medical trauma and insurance issues? And how, how else would you learn that 182 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,360 without some of these experiences in your life? It's like some of that comes into play. 183 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:13,120 We served as a bishop for time and we would, more than a handful of times I would be his 184 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,320 companion as we would go into these homes and visit with them. And when I'm talking 185 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:22,680 to people about debt and, you know, the Lord's process in, in getting out of debt, the Lord 186 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:28,760 way, you know, finances in the Savior's way, like my testimony of that program is much 187 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,000 different than it would have been if we hadn't struggled financially together and accumulated 188 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:38,440 piles of medical debt and with the Lord's help come up back on the other side of it. 189 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:39,440 For sure. 190 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:45,800 It's changed my ability to think and talk about things in a different way. So like he's 191 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:52,160 made it more than okay. He's made the cystic fibrosis. I was talking, but all this is just 192 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,480 recently there was this mom and she was on her fourth kid and she kind of just went into 193 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,120 a funk because something was going on with the baby and they'd kind of indicated the 194 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:05,120 cystic fibrosis was the direction that, that they were going to think about it. So a friend 195 00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:11,680 that, a friend, her parents live in this valley that we live in, but, and she's, she's always 196 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,680 been away. So like we don't have a friendship in that way, but we're family friends with 197 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:21,240 her, with her parents and stuff. And she knew enough, maybe from Facebook, post or whatever, 198 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:27,000 that we had cystic fibrosis, children, children, we have two now, children with cystic fibrosis 199 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,520 of our five children. And so she thought to reach out to me and she's like, Hey, could 200 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,720 you do this? And I said, I would be happy to talk to anybody. That's something I'm 201 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:38,440 passionate about, like letting people know that maybe, maybe I'm a piece of that, making 202 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,680 things okay. Like this isn't the end of the world. There's things that you can do. And 203 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:47,040 so I said, sometimes we don't want to hear from people. So why don't you give her my 204 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:52,600 number and when she wants to reach out to me, she can. And so I let that, I did that part. 205 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:59,640 I was totally willing and happy to have that conversation whenever, but then like she wouldn't 206 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,560 be off my mind. That was a Saturday night, pretty late all day Sunday, I was thinking 207 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,200 of her and I said, Hey, change of plans. Can you give me her number because I can't get 208 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,640 her out of my mind. I need to talk to her. So I got her number, I texted her and I was 209 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:15,640 like, I would love to talk to you if, if you get a moment, like let's, let's talk about 210 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,920 this. She called me pretty immediately. We talked for a couple of hours. They were just 211 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,320 getting ready for that same experience that I was going to have. They were going to do 212 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,800 this, what chloride test. And I'm telling her, this is prehistoric obviously, because 213 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,320 she followed up with me after the test and like they do it way different now. I know, 214 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,080 so I was like, well, I gave you bad information, but what I was trying to say is don't stress 215 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:37,440 about it. Like this is the way they're going to run through it. But I got messages back 216 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:42,000 that it had meant a lot, a lot to her. She'd kind of been in this funk and I, I was in 217 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,960 this conversation with her. I, I, oh, this was kind of like a big moment in my life, 218 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:54,160 but I was talking to her and I said to her out of my mouth, I said, if I could take 219 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:59,640 a wasis to fibrosis, if I could have taken that away from my, my children having it, 220 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,920 I don't think that I would. And I literally was like, I can't even believe that I said 221 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,960 that, but it's because of all the life experiences that they're learning from it, that I'm learning 222 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:15,000 from it. Obviously, technology, medication changes and things that probably played a 223 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,880 big part into the situation. Like at Maddie's baby blessing, her father blessed her that 224 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:26,640 every cell in her body would function properly. And I was like, hmm, that's interesting. Like 225 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,680 I, I don't know that didn't really matter to me at all, but the medication she's on, 226 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:36,520 uh, both of the children are on, it literally does restore the cell to its proper shape. 227 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,400 And so then it functions more like a, um, you know, normal functioning cell that can 228 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,760 move those sodium and chloride through. And I was like, that's weird. That didn't matter. 229 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:50,960 I mean, I was like, that's weird. That, that was part of the blessing then. But then I 230 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,600 get to see, you know, a couple of years ago when that drug came out and I was like impressed, 231 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,360 like that's the drug your kids need to be on. I've got, I honestly have got to make, 232 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:03,360 um, God part of the process and like the spirit has directed me in decisions I made for my 233 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:08,840 children and further medications way more than any other time in my life. I've, I, I'm the 234 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,720 type that would suck and guess like, why do I need to take that problem to him? What, 235 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,840 you know, I can just figure this out on myself. I can't figure this stuff out on myself. And 236 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:20,880 so that's another thing. Like he's made everything right because he's shown me that when I communicate 237 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:26,680 with him about the hard things in life, that's when the magic happens. But that I can have, 238 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:31,600 I can take my thoughts to him where I think we're going with something and then he can 239 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,760 take it and make it better. And then he can make it our plan together. 240 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,560 Abby, thank you so much for sharing that. I have been blessed in watching, although 241 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,160 I've only known you for the past four years. Um, I was here when that drug came out. I 242 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,820 do remember you telling the story and having this be like an absolute answer to prayer 243 00:20:48,820 --> 00:20:53,920 from that many years ago. And Heavenly Father had that in motion. He had that drug being, 244 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,640 um, you know, made and tested and all of the things. And as you were talking, what came 245 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:05,000 to my heart and my mind over and over again is that what Heavenly Father is saying to 246 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:10,600 us is that it's going to be okay because of Jesus Christ. And it's going to be okay because 247 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:16,880 I am giving you the gift of experience. Now, going in, that doesn't sound very good, but 248 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:21,960 just like you said, you said, I would not take CF away from my kids because of the things 249 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:27,360 that they've learned because we've turned to God in our sorrows and in our trials, we 250 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:32,640 are stronger for it. So that's all I really wanted to say. Just thank you for sharing 251 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:37,800 that. Um, I think all of us can see ourselves in your story. Um, it looks a million different 252 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,920 ways. Right? It does look a million different ways. And I'm hoping that it doesn't just 253 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,800 feel like a podcast on Abby and the hard things. That's not what my intention is. My 254 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,320 intention is to just share with people that he customizes the hard things that we're 255 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,000 going to deal with in life. And we only have to deal with one day at a time. Cause when 256 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,040 I look back at like 15 years, there have been some hard moments, like there've been some 257 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:04,400 really ugly crying moments, you know, when a bad test result comes, comes back or your, 258 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:11,320 your kids are literally just sick of being poked in and, and prodded and the doctor appointments 259 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:15,560 and in it just feels like overwhelming, but you get through that one and then like that 260 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,000 wasn't so bad. And then you readjust the schedule and then you're onto the next thing. I know 261 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:27,840 there are so many of you that are in the middle of your challenges right now. And from, I'm 262 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,600 not over my, I'm not over the challenges. That's not like that it's that, but what I 263 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:36,480 just want to say is, um, this, if you can just try to look at it one day at a time and 264 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:41,720 then any, any chance that you can have to involve the Lord in, in those minutes, those 265 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:48,280 days, those weeks there, he's, he's can help call him that storm or that problem. What, 266 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:52,200 if you haven't made temple covenants, there's still blessings from your baptismal covenants 267 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,040 that he wants to bless you with whatever covenants you may with him. He can bless you 268 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:03,040 with, um, the benefits of those covenants that you've made. So, um, now that I've dominated 269 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:10,920 99.9% of this podcast and I really apologize for that, I do have to ask you, um, what, 270 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,520 what was the standout for you? What, what did you read about in this talk that you were 271 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:22,040 like, oh my heck, we do that or we need to do that? The part I really loved was, um, 272 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,640 it said, in fact, all those who've made a covenant with God have access to a special 273 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:32,160 kind of love and mercy. This brings me just now, I just had the thought, this brings me 274 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:38,240 back to our last conference where it said that Jesus Christ made a covenant with God. 275 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:42,160 He was also entitled to that special kind of love and mercy. He did the hardest thing 276 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,640 that has been done in all of time. Um, 277 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,560 Gerard's talk you're referencing just in case people missed that episode, just go one 278 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:53,600 back from here. Yes. The integrity one. Um, so I just prayed and I said, heavenly father, 279 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:58,880 what specifically is a special kind of love and mercy. And then, um, I read on and it 280 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:03,520 talked about giving children opportunities to pray for each other and it just, the spirit 281 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,720 brought to my mind just a sweet thing that happened this week. Um, my husband was gone 282 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:12,280 for work and my 17 year old was going to pray for the family and it was just the cutest 283 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,920 thing because just out of nowhere, he started saying, Hey, what do you, what do you need 284 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,640 prayers for? And he'd asked, you know, his sibling and then he told what he needed prayers 285 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,320 for. He asked what I did and it was just really sweet because he was really, um, counseling 286 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,840 with us before we prayed. So it made it a lot more meaningful. Now is every prayer like 287 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:32,720 this at my house? Absolutely not. Um, was this scripted? No, it just came to his heart 288 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:39,080 and he did it. Um, the part that I love is that this is what elder earrings, I'm sorry, 289 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,880 present earrings that he said in part, um, this is what is described by Malachi as he 290 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,720 foretold the coming of the prophet Elijah, when he said that the heart shall turn the 291 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,960 children to the father and the father to the children. I'd never seen, I'd never put it 292 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,480 together that siblings praying for each other and their parents as a fulfillment of this 293 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,560 prophecy of turning hearts toward each other. So I just wanted just to add that it's just 294 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:07,760 a sweet way of that. How this, um, how this can look in our everyday lives, just in small 295 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,480 ways. Abby shared a very large significant thing that happens all through life. This 296 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,920 was just one little blip on our radar, but just something as simple as praying for each 297 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:23,440 other really does, um, turn our hearts together and or to each other and to Christ. And in 298 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,720 that we're able to feel of just the joy and happiness that that brings because I can tell 299 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,360 you, my heart was so happy when my son was praying. I just thought it was a sweet little 300 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:35,400 snapshot of time. And of course, you know, we went back to regular life afterwards, but 301 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,760 that was something that was just, it was like a moment of heaven in my home. That's all 302 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:40,760 I wanted to share. 303 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,080 And giving me something to look way forward to, because we were definitely at the part 304 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,080 where like eyes were open and the kids are like, their eyes are open and like we're hitting 305 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,960 or yelling, come in, we're doing prayers. I feel like we start a prayer and then somebody 306 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,480 starts talking and then the other kids are like, we're already praying. You know, it's 307 00:25:55,480 --> 00:26:00,440 a little bit more chaotic. And I thought when you shared that story, I thought, you know 308 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,880 what, um, a good start for us to have that need experience would be for my husband or 309 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:09,520 I to lead out on a prayer like that. And we would just, we'd kind of have them as calm 310 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,800 as they could be. And we would say, is there something on your heart you're going to do 311 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:16,440 this week that we could pray for you extra special for? And we can mirror that kind of 312 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:21,920 elevated prayer, family prayer for them. And then, you know, we have, you know, a daughter 313 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,360 that's 15, I could see her totally being able to execute that well. And then because 314 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:29,720 everybody wants to do what older sisters doing, they would try to mirror that in their own 315 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,760 cute little way. So I think it's achievable. Your sounds like glorious and heavenly. And 316 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,360 I'm like, we're not even there kind of, but we could be there. We could work towards that. 317 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:43,680 So love it, Abby. Thank you so much. That was the final bit there. And it's, it's been 318 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,840 fun to open up and share so much with you and hope hope that this gives you a chance 319 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:53,520 to think about maybe what I'm suggesting is it's probably going to be a harder thing 320 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,200 that you're going to be reflecting on. It's going to be something that you never asked 321 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:02,080 for, never wanted, but that it's made all the difference in your life. And, and maybe 322 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:06,280 spend a few minutes on your own as you're going through this talk, what's been made 323 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:12,280 well for you because of your baptismal covenants or specifically your temple covenants or 324 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,560 what things are sad in your life that you know, if you're not, if you haven't made temple 325 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,640 covenants yet, that would propel you to make that next step to, to make it to the temple 326 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:26,720 where he can bless you with what was the direct quote. Sorry, it was so special. It was like, 327 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:31,080 it's a special kind. That one. Yeah. A special, in fact, all those who've made a covenant 328 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:36,920 with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. He wants to give that to you. 329 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,360 It's your decision whether you want that from him or not. And I think you deserve it. So 330 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:46,720 we'll see you next time. Thanks for being here. Thanks guys. Bye.