Welcome to Closer to Christ through Conference. We're two friends who love Jesus sharing our
own approach to conference.
Hey guys, today we are so glad that you have decided to join with us and listen to the
talk that we're prepared to comment on today. We've chosen All Will Be Well because of Temple
Covenants by President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. I'm getting
a better visual of the audience that we're getting around the world, which is super fun.
Obviously more located in the United States, but be aware that those of you who are listening
outside of the United States, it pops up on our stream and so it feels like we've brought
you into our homes and onto our couches and we're having a fun little conversation with
you and it means everything to us, doesn't it Amy?
So great. So I think everybody worldwide in the church
has a soft spot in their heart for President Eyring. Do you think that's true?
He sure does. He is just the cutest. I'm glad that he got a pre-record this. Obviously
it's not that easy to stand at the pulpit as many talks as he's given, but his emotions
seem to be a little bit heightened in his later years of life and maybe he had to do
this a couple of takes so he could get it out. But I love this talk. There was a lot
of reflection on my life and where I've been and what's got me here that came out as he
was talking. I'm like, yeah, I've had that experience. So can I hit you with a question,
Amy? Go for it.
All right. If it's deep, if it's too much, you don't have to answer it, but here's the
question that I thought might be really nice in an early sighted discussion or elders
of course, if you're listening. Reading Elder Eyring's talk that you might ponder the question,
what experience have you had in your own life when these words, and I'll share those words,
well, I'll finish this, when these words were spoken to your heart and I'll preface that
question with saying the Teton Dam has broken. They've been serving in the temple in Idaho
Falls. They can't get back to their kids. They can't get back home. They can't really
communicate with them. So we're in, it kind of feels hopeless. We don't know that the
kids are damaged or not, but we also don't know, we don't have confirmation of that.
And so they get a hotel room for the night and he's sleeping and she's pacing. That's,
that feels true to life right there. And I feel like in my own marriage, my companionship,
my husband's like the calm presence in the face of a storm and I'm the warrior. He's
had to say, what are you, what are you so nervous about? Why are you so anxious about
this? Multiple times in our life, he's had to do that for me and I can see him resting
peacefully in this hotel room. And so she's like, how can you sleep at a time like this?
And he's like, Kathy, whatever the outcome all will be well because of the temple. We
have made covenants with God and have been sealed to, sealed as an eternal family. So
that's his response to her. And those words came to him by the spirit. And I don't think
that she wanted to choke him out at this point because he was still, he's still living.
He was able to still be alive at this point that he's sharing these thoughts. So, so the
question that I wrote on the sidebar is what experiences have you had in your own life
when those words were spoken to your own heart? That all would be well.
I love this question a lot. I love the foresight that President Eyring had because I have to
say there were multiple times in my life where I did feel or hear the words, it's going to
be okay. And I had peace in that and I move forward. The part I like about this question
is that he says all will be well because of the, the, sorry, the covenants we make in
the temple. That is a different perspective. So I think what I would have loved to have
heard was this perspective before earlier in my life, because I have to say there've
been a couple of times or way more than a couple of times where my version of okay and
God's version of okay were not the same thing. My version of okay was you're going to get
out of this unscathed, which is kind of funny because that doesn't happen in life. Like
that's not how you gain experience. That's not how your capacity grows. That's not how
you learn hard one lessons. Heavenly Father's version of this is going to be okay is all
will be well in the end because of the covenants you have made in the temple. I have you eternally
I have you until the very end. This is a long game. This is a triathlon, you know, major
what, what is it called when they do that? It's, it's a marathon, but it's, I think
triathlon. Okay. It's a marathon. Yeah. It's like a hundred miles or something crazy like
that. That's his ultra marathon. Ultra. Thank you. Heavenly Father's perspective is this
is an ultra marathon. My perspective is this is a hundred meter yard dash or whatever it
is, a hundred yard dash. And so our ideas are different. So if I'm gauging it off of
his idea, then guess what? That changes my expectations. And then I don't feel like God
has quote, let me down when things happen. So I love the fact that he tied things being
okay with the covenants who made in the temple. So yes, I have had different experiences when
this has happened multiple, you know, a bunch of different experiences. One of them was
when my husband had his stroke because we're talking life and death at this point. And
definitely I had through many months of hard things of thinking, you know, he might just
be gone and I need to figure out work and just how I'm going to be with my family and
all the things that go with it. And I would kind of struggle and come back to everything's
going to be okay because of covenants. Covenants. That's one example that you've, you've dealt
with a few hard things in your life, but I'm glad that one came to mind that kind of the
most immediate, that's the most recent one exactly that you've, that you've battled.
I think this talk hit me so quickly, so deeply because, because I remember those exact words
being whispered to my heart. And I don't think that it was until this talk that I thought
it was specifically focused on the temple. Let me backtrack, I guess. 15 years ago, we
had our first child and about eight weeks before she was born, they found fluid in her
pelvic region, but they couldn't really isolate what was going on. And so they did some testing
on me, they had me do non-stress test and it was kind of decided there was nothing that
they could do preventively just past getting her hair and then kind of figuring it out
when she got here. And so true to my anxious nature, my blood pressure kind of went through
the roof that last eight weeks of pregnancy, which is no more reason for the non-stress
testing weekly or bi-weekly. I don't know, it was quite a bit. I was seeing the doctors
a lot. So we, we get her here. She came a couple weeks early, so she had some respiratory
things. They kind of took care of that immediately. And then they wanted her in for ultrasounds
on the abdominal region, did that and kind of inconclusive with the technology they had
at this little hospital. And so they suggested we would follow up with specialists at primary
children. So first time mom had, had her just a little bit early enough that, you know,
I've learned things about childbirth and that process and kind of what I want out of it
and how to prepare for it. But none of that was part of this version of me. And so it
wasn't really traumatic, but it wasn't like what I pictured being the first time mom was
going to look like. And then we have some unresolved answers about what's going on.
So we're closest to primary children's hospital in Salt Lake from where we were living at
the time. And so we had headed down to Salt Lake, stayed with some friends. And that early
that morning we got on the two 15 belt loop and I'm just stressing, just thinking like,
oh, this is so bad. This could be anything. What could this be? And how to CD of my husband's
playing from his mission. So all church approved stuff. So it happened to be, I believe in
Christ and kind of just started crying thinking like, yeah, Jesus Christ will make all of
this fine. So we loop around kind of have this definitely whispering to my heart that
all would be okay.
We get to primary children's part of the complication was the list oldest child of mine.
She was a struggle. She was eating 20 hours out of the day. She wasn't back up to birth
weight. So whatever this thing that was going on, obviously I was thinking was tied to that.
So they'd asked her to fast and I'm like, she's 20 hours of the day. Like how am I going
to fast or before this ultra stint ultrasound that they're going to do. So luckily, like
we were able to have a blessing on that. And she really did tolerate that. Well, I'd never
seen her not go that long without eating. And she had never taken a beanke and she took
a beanke for literally that appointment.
Never again. Like not even one time after that was like after that was over. It's like, no,
I love this blessing for you in that one moment. So long story short, we get this ultrasound
and with the technology they have there and the expertise they have in children, it's
like, Oh, that's cyst on her ovaries. No big deal. Nothing further treatment that you're
going to need. Like this is kind of wrapped up in a little bow and you're done. And I
had heard the impression everything's going to be all right. So that moment in history,
that moment that snapshot of my life is like, Oh, he said everything was going to be all
right. And look at that, that cyst on her ovaries and everything is all right. That's
so great. So we get back home, a couple of hour drive, pediatrician calls. He gets the
same report. And so he was just calling to bounce that off and say, Hey, how did your
experience go primary children's? And I didn't really have this conversation with him, but
I did have this conversation with my husband. You're there and you're dealing with this
situation that you are. And you see like little kids being wheeled around bald heads and little
little types wagons or kids in halos or just a myriad of things. Like, you know, some of
them battling cancer and a myriad of hard things. And you're just like, we've got, we've
got our problems, but they're nothing compared to, to that problem. And you know that those
parents like now I know those parents are like, Oh, we've got our problems, but that's
not those problems. Like we all kind of feel the capacity of what, whatever we're going
to be expected to have to deal with that we're going to deal with them. So anyway, pediatrician
calls. And he's like, how was that experience? I said, it was good. Like what a neat facility
and they're like really gifted and we've really felt blessed that, that they were able to
see her take care of her. And he's like, that's great. And I said that was, it was cysts.
And he's like, yeah, that's great. And he said, well, your newborn screening, your second
newborn screening, come back positive again for cystic fibrosis. And so, you know, this
happy phone call kind of turned into a dark hour for us just because I actually have friends
with cystic fibrosis that I grew up, but they were, they were older than me. So I wouldn't,
we weren't friends, but our families were friends. They're in a community and it's,
we don't really need to talk about it. But, but I knew enough about it to know that that
was a hard thing and a challenging thing. And honestly, my, my self, my inner self was
like, there's no way that that's true. Like something's wrong with these tests that they're
running because that's so way outside of what I was expecting to hear that I just said,
that can't even be true. And it's not okay. Yeah. I didn't like get on the phone, start
texting my family at this point, cause I'm like, this is so unbelievable that we're just
going to need some further testing before we find out. Like my parents had known about
this fluid and pelvic region thing. So they had come up from Idaho down, sorry, they came
south to meet us for that. And so when we parted ways, it was like, okay, everything's
going to be okay. This is going to be great. Well, on this, and I was like, man, I already
stressed people out enough with the other information that we'll just, this is so crazy.
We're just going to hang on to this. And, and, um, well, the way that the timeline works
out on this, we had general conference. I remember crying through most of those talks
and like some of them spoke paste in my heart, but just the uncertainty of not knowing what
was going on with our lives and with our baby. And like obviously being able to look at her,
the way that cystic fibrosis works is that you can't absorb the nutrients from the food
you're eating. So though it was true, she was eating 20 hours out of the day. Her body
was starving to death. She was absorbing some, some bits of that, but for the most part,
really just eating with no digestion and just getting rid of it. So she was starving to
death in front of my eyes. And like my mother instinct was like, no, not everything's not
all right, even though I've, I felt the assurance that everything was going to be all right.
It wasn't all right. So fast forward. I don't know. It really isn't that fast of a story,
but I'm going to, I'm going to wrap up that the end result was we get through general
conference the following week. We're appointed to the cystic fibrosis clinic and you do a
sweat chloride test to just verify if, if those numbers correlate with cystic fibrosis,
which sure enough they did. And then they have my, myself and my husband get genetic
testing and Maddie does it more, maybe it was just Maddie. Anyway, you do genetic testing
that verifies that she had two copies of the most common genetic mutation for cystic fibrosis.
So that began our journey in, in this life. And I guess why this talk meant so much to
me is cause I'm up 15 years on the other side of that initial impression that everything
was going to be all right. Does that take away a myriad of doctor appointments? Does
that take away the medical debt that we endured? Does that take away the decision of what profession
to go into? Does that take away our educational decisions? Does that take away, there's like
so many things that run through my mind about this disease and the way that it's kind of
charted my life, my husband's life, our family's life together that, that reminded me, yeah,
everything is okay. It has been made okay. Not easy, not easier, but it's, it's kind
of the thing I look back to as kind of a defining point for us. Like we, we've made a lot of
decisions based on that cystic fibrosis diagnosis that I don't think we would have otherwise
made and the life that we have together is more beautiful than the life that I could
have written to have. Yeah. How about the strength in your unity, like in your marriage?
Absolutely. I think that we had it way too easy because I was already graduated from
college in a profession that pays pretty well, already owned a home. And Adam was just kind
of starting out, but like he literally had to do a framing job to pay for the tuition
that was so cheap. And I thought we could eat out whenever we wanted and just kind of
had this really carefree life. The financial, I mean, it was crazy. It was crippling to
a point, but still in the middle of going to college for him and making decisions on
what, what he would be. We picked up together, experienced together that unified us in a
way that like how else, how else can you, how else would you learn about finances and
medical debt and medical trauma and insurance issues? And how, how else would you learn that
without some of these experiences in your life? It's like some of that comes into play.
We served as a bishop for time and we would, more than a handful of times I would be his
companion as we would go into these homes and visit with them. And when I'm talking
to people about debt and, you know, the Lord's process in, in getting out of debt, the Lord
way, you know, finances in the Savior's way, like my testimony of that program is much
different than it would have been if we hadn't struggled financially together and accumulated
piles of medical debt and with the Lord's help come up back on the other side of it.
For sure.
It's changed my ability to think and talk about things in a different way. So like he's
made it more than okay. He's made the cystic fibrosis. I was talking, but all this is just
recently there was this mom and she was on her fourth kid and she kind of just went into
a funk because something was going on with the baby and they'd kind of indicated the
cystic fibrosis was the direction that, that they were going to think about it. So a friend
that, a friend, her parents live in this valley that we live in, but, and she's, she's always
been away. So like we don't have a friendship in that way, but we're family friends with
her, with her parents and stuff. And she knew enough, maybe from Facebook, post or whatever,
that we had cystic fibrosis, children, children, we have two now, children with cystic fibrosis
of our five children. And so she thought to reach out to me and she's like, Hey, could
you do this? And I said, I would be happy to talk to anybody. That's something I'm
passionate about, like letting people know that maybe, maybe I'm a piece of that, making
things okay. Like this isn't the end of the world. There's things that you can do. And
so I said, sometimes we don't want to hear from people. So why don't you give her my
number and when she wants to reach out to me, she can. And so I let that, I did that part.
I was totally willing and happy to have that conversation whenever, but then like she wouldn't
be off my mind. That was a Saturday night, pretty late all day Sunday, I was thinking
of her and I said, Hey, change of plans. Can you give me her number because I can't get
her out of my mind. I need to talk to her. So I got her number, I texted her and I was
like, I would love to talk to you if, if you get a moment, like let's, let's talk about
this. She called me pretty immediately. We talked for a couple of hours. They were just
getting ready for that same experience that I was going to have. They were going to do
this, what chloride test. And I'm telling her, this is prehistoric obviously, because
she followed up with me after the test and like they do it way different now. I know,
so I was like, well, I gave you bad information, but what I was trying to say is don't stress
about it. Like this is the way they're going to run through it. But I got messages back
that it had meant a lot, a lot to her. She'd kind of been in this funk and I, I was in
this conversation with her. I, I, oh, this was kind of like a big moment in my life,
but I was talking to her and I said to her out of my mouth, I said, if I could take
a wasis to fibrosis, if I could have taken that away from my, my children having it,
I don't think that I would. And I literally was like, I can't even believe that I said
that, but it's because of all the life experiences that they're learning from it, that I'm learning
from it. Obviously, technology, medication changes and things that probably played a
big part into the situation. Like at Maddie's baby blessing, her father blessed her that
every cell in her body would function properly. And I was like, hmm, that's interesting. Like
I, I don't know that didn't really matter to me at all, but the medication she's on,
uh, both of the children are on, it literally does restore the cell to its proper shape.
And so then it functions more like a, um, you know, normal functioning cell that can
move those sodium and chloride through. And I was like, that's weird. That didn't matter.
I mean, I was like, that's weird. That, that was part of the blessing then. But then I
get to see, you know, a couple of years ago when that drug came out and I was like impressed,
like that's the drug your kids need to be on. I've got, I honestly have got to make,
um, God part of the process and like the spirit has directed me in decisions I made for my
children and further medications way more than any other time in my life. I've, I, I'm the
type that would suck and guess like, why do I need to take that problem to him? What,
you know, I can just figure this out on myself. I can't figure this stuff out on myself. And
so that's another thing. Like he's made everything right because he's shown me that when I communicate
with him about the hard things in life, that's when the magic happens. But that I can have,
I can take my thoughts to him where I think we're going with something and then he can
take it and make it better. And then he can make it our plan together.
Abby, thank you so much for sharing that. I have been blessed in watching, although
I've only known you for the past four years. Um, I was here when that drug came out. I
do remember you telling the story and having this be like an absolute answer to prayer
from that many years ago. And Heavenly Father had that in motion. He had that drug being,
um, you know, made and tested and all of the things. And as you were talking, what came
to my heart and my mind over and over again is that what Heavenly Father is saying to
us is that it's going to be okay because of Jesus Christ. And it's going to be okay because
I am giving you the gift of experience. Now, going in, that doesn't sound very good, but
just like you said, you said, I would not take CF away from my kids because of the things
that they've learned because we've turned to God in our sorrows and in our trials, we
are stronger for it. So that's all I really wanted to say. Just thank you for sharing
that. Um, I think all of us can see ourselves in your story. Um, it looks a million different
ways. Right? It does look a million different ways. And I'm hoping that it doesn't just
feel like a podcast on Abby and the hard things. That's not what my intention is. My
intention is to just share with people that he customizes the hard things that we're
going to deal with in life. And we only have to deal with one day at a time. Cause when
I look back at like 15 years, there have been some hard moments, like there've been some
really ugly crying moments, you know, when a bad test result comes, comes back or your,
your kids are literally just sick of being poked in and, and prodded and the doctor appointments
and in it just feels like overwhelming, but you get through that one and then like that
wasn't so bad. And then you readjust the schedule and then you're onto the next thing. I know
there are so many of you that are in the middle of your challenges right now. And from, I'm
not over my, I'm not over the challenges. That's not like that it's that, but what I
just want to say is, um, this, if you can just try to look at it one day at a time and
then any, any chance that you can have to involve the Lord in, in those minutes, those
days, those weeks there, he's, he's can help call him that storm or that problem. What,
if you haven't made temple covenants, there's still blessings from your baptismal covenants
that he wants to bless you with whatever covenants you may with him. He can bless you
with, um, the benefits of those covenants that you've made. So, um, now that I've dominated
99.9% of this podcast and I really apologize for that, I do have to ask you, um, what,
what was the standout for you? What, what did you read about in this talk that you were
like, oh my heck, we do that or we need to do that? The part I really loved was, um,
it said, in fact, all those who've made a covenant with God have access to a special
kind of love and mercy. This brings me just now, I just had the thought, this brings me
back to our last conference where it said that Jesus Christ made a covenant with God.
He was also entitled to that special kind of love and mercy. He did the hardest thing
that has been done in all of time. Um,
Gerard's talk you're referencing just in case people missed that episode, just go one
back from here. Yes. The integrity one. Um, so I just prayed and I said, heavenly father,
what specifically is a special kind of love and mercy. And then, um, I read on and it
talked about giving children opportunities to pray for each other and it just, the spirit
brought to my mind just a sweet thing that happened this week. Um, my husband was gone
for work and my 17 year old was going to pray for the family and it was just the cutest
thing because just out of nowhere, he started saying, Hey, what do you, what do you need
prayers for? And he'd asked, you know, his sibling and then he told what he needed prayers
for. He asked what I did and it was just really sweet because he was really, um, counseling
with us before we prayed. So it made it a lot more meaningful. Now is every prayer like
this at my house? Absolutely not. Um, was this scripted? No, it just came to his heart
and he did it. Um, the part that I love is that this is what elder earrings, I'm sorry,
present earrings that he said in part, um, this is what is described by Malachi as he
foretold the coming of the prophet Elijah, when he said that the heart shall turn the
children to the father and the father to the children. I'd never seen, I'd never put it
together that siblings praying for each other and their parents as a fulfillment of this
prophecy of turning hearts toward each other. So I just wanted just to add that it's just
a sweet way of that. How this, um, how this can look in our everyday lives, just in small
ways. Abby shared a very large significant thing that happens all through life. This
was just one little blip on our radar, but just something as simple as praying for each
other really does, um, turn our hearts together and or to each other and to Christ. And in
that we're able to feel of just the joy and happiness that that brings because I can tell
you, my heart was so happy when my son was praying. I just thought it was a sweet little
snapshot of time. And of course, you know, we went back to regular life afterwards, but
that was something that was just, it was like a moment of heaven in my home. That's all
I wanted to share.
And giving me something to look way forward to, because we were definitely at the part
where like eyes were open and the kids are like, their eyes are open and like we're hitting
or yelling, come in, we're doing prayers. I feel like we start a prayer and then somebody
starts talking and then the other kids are like, we're already praying. You know, it's
a little bit more chaotic. And I thought when you shared that story, I thought, you know
what, um, a good start for us to have that need experience would be for my husband or
I to lead out on a prayer like that. And we would just, we'd kind of have them as calm
as they could be. And we would say, is there something on your heart you're going to do
this week that we could pray for you extra special for? And we can mirror that kind of
elevated prayer, family prayer for them. And then, you know, we have, you know, a daughter
that's 15, I could see her totally being able to execute that well. And then because
everybody wants to do what older sisters doing, they would try to mirror that in their own
cute little way. So I think it's achievable. Your sounds like glorious and heavenly. And
I'm like, we're not even there kind of, but we could be there. We could work towards that.
So love it, Abby. Thank you so much. That was the final bit there. And it's, it's been
fun to open up and share so much with you and hope hope that this gives you a chance
to think about maybe what I'm suggesting is it's probably going to be a harder thing
that you're going to be reflecting on. It's going to be something that you never asked
for, never wanted, but that it's made all the difference in your life. And, and maybe
spend a few minutes on your own as you're going through this talk, what's been made
well for you because of your baptismal covenants or specifically your temple covenants or
what things are sad in your life that you know, if you're not, if you haven't made temple
covenants yet, that would propel you to make that next step to, to make it to the temple
where he can bless you with what was the direct quote. Sorry, it was so special. It was like,
it's a special kind. That one. Yeah. A special, in fact, all those who've made a covenant
with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. He wants to give that to you.
It's your decision whether you want that from him or not. And I think you deserve it. So
we'll see you next time. Thanks for being here. Thanks guys. Bye.