Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends share our own
approach to studying General Conference. Today we're going to be covering Be Still and Know
That I Am God by Elder David A. Bednar, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Abby, it's so good to see you today. Welcome.
It feels like it's been forever.
I know, right?
Like 24 hours at least.
It has. I was just telling Abby last week that I love when we come together and we do
this. It brings so much joy and fulfillment, and we're so happy you're here with us too.
Okay, Abby, so as far as this talk goes, if you were the one that was going to be leading
a discussion in Relief Society about this, what would your approach be? How would you
do it?
Okay, that's funny because I'm trying to find my process for preparing these praying,
what needs to come out, what do we need to share? And when I was approaching this week,
I was like, okay, I'm going to act like I'm preparing a Relief Society lesson. I sit down
to my computer and I worked up four pages of notes. I'm like, the talk was four pages.
The notes are four pages. What that's going to look like in a Relief Society lesson is
a recitation. Am I saying that right?
Regurgitation?
Well, like just I'm just reading the talk again. And for me, when I do a lesson, I really
like to give them plenty of opportunity in advance to read the lesson, like we encourage
the listeners to do before or after, but this one's kind of a big deal. And then give them
some questions to ponder on, which we are trying to modify the setup. If people have
noticed with the show notes underneath the link to the talk that we're giving you, that
will take you right back to the church. It's also going to have the questions prompted.
I don't actually know what questions are going to go in that for this particular podcast,
but before this airs, they'll be there. And so maybe you'll maybe you'll notice that maybe
you haven't seen that we've done that in the past, but it's something we've been impressed
to include there. So you don't have to hunt through the audio or through the transcript.
Like it should be more plain and obvious to you. So I don't know. I maybe would have asked
the sisters in this one. What? What action do you feel is necessary to take in your life
now that you've like listened to elder Bednar's words, because in all the pages, there's like
a lot of things we could focus on. So much. We could talk about finding stillness in this
chaotic world. We can find, we can talk about positive affirmations. He mentions the same
three affirmations three times, or I'm sorry, he at least six times. I could have gotten
that wrong, but times he does. God is our father, heavenly father. We are his children and Jesus
Christ is our savior. He wants to just hit that point home. We, um, we could, we could
talk about, you know, how is your foundation looking right now? What fortifications do
you need to be having on your foundation? Do you want to say anything else about or
anything more about the foundation part? Um, I love, I loved it. We could jump to that.
He included lots of pictures and cute things, but I loved it because I love that part because
he made the point that our savior, Jesus Christ is the bedrock or the rock that we're putting
that foundation on. Right. Sometimes do you think that we mistake him as that foundation?
I almost, I don't know if he said the words or if I heard it in my head, but I was like,
Oh my gosh, he's not the foundation. We build our foundation on him. I was kind of surprised
by that. I agree. Cause it was said differently. It wasn't different. It was just said differently
and I thought differently. But it's the same message that we have been taught since our
primary age. Think about it. The wise men built his house upon the rock. So when you
build a house, you start with the foundation and you put that foundation on whatever substrate
that you're going to work with. If you're foolish, it's going to be on sand, which likens
to, you know, things of the world or st Satan, right? Things that move and change and everything
else versus the, the steadfastness, the rock that our savior Jesus Christ is. So I'm like,
well, that didn't change much. Like that song's always been there since my memory, my first
memories. So I don't know why that hit so differently, but I was like, you're totally
right. Jesus Christ is the rock upon which my foundation is going to be built. And spent
some time thinking about, I've built my own home. Well, my husband built our home and
I was his assistant. I cleaned up after him and I will say concrete's probably one of
the worst parts of the process. Like I cried the day that the concrete truck left. I was
like, yay, that step was done. That was not the final part, but there's so much preparation
for that surface that you're going to put your house on, how you want it to sit, how
you want it to lay out. And, and you really have to kind of design what you want the house
to look like in the end process before you even lay the work for the foundation. Right?
So we want to know what we're going to build. And so if I know that I want to build a, an
expansive house or something that's going to withstand the storms and the things that
come its way, then I have to know that from the very foundation that I set for this house.
Right? Yes. A vision of it. Right. And so I loved how he, he made me even think in the
construction of a home, I can think about my savior and how, when we, when we take the
time to, to build our foundation on our savior, that it is going to prepare us for the experiences
in life that are like into the storms and the winds and the things that are going to
sail the home and that home that's going to protect us in those moments. So you think
back when you're a youth and the commotions of the world, we kind of like it. We like
loud things and we, we like to be a little bit fast paced. Um, well, from the, from those
eyes and from that perspective, when I look at my kids and the things they're doing, like,
you know, that's a busy life, but then they have plenty of time to rest and recoup. And
they have such sweet pure testimonies and they're just a few key things that keep them
grounded, that keep them, um, very content in the life that they're having. Life's very
simple. It's uncomplicated. And so our need for the foundation for that type of life looks
a little bit different than, you know, the life that I'm living right now. It gets a
little more complicated. You've got more people to be worrying about protecting, setting examples
for, um, just life, life gets busier, right? More responsibility. And so I was thinking,
well, that foundation, that foundation has to change a little bit as, as the, as the
pressures of life come our way. And so the testimony that I had as a child was good.
The foundation that I set from it was good and it, and it held me up and it supported
me then. But what I heard from elder Bednar's talk is that even a foundation that's strong
and set on Jesus Christ, that has been good can be made better with, um, he mentioned
anchor pins and steel rods. And so with this talk, I really wanted to spend some time thinking,
what are my foundation points? Where are people trying to assail that? And how can I, how
can I think about my covenants in such a way that not only am I sitting resting upon that
sure foundation that Jesus Christ is, but I'm actually becoming one with him. You know,
that connection isn't just a setting on it's a embedding, right? How can we actually connect
ourselves with Jesus Christ? So I thought that's all about the covenants and the ordinances
that I participate in, in his restored gospel. Every time that I receive and review and remember
and renew those covenants, I am more than resting and relying upon my savior. I am in
fact linked and bound to him, which we've heard the word, didn't we hear binding in
a couple of talks? We didn't get to spend a ton of time on it, but this visual about
a foundation and anchor pins and broads, like there's a binding there. I also love his three
Rs that he used that you just said, um, review, remember, renew, or receive even for our,
oh, we have four. Yeah. Receive, review, remember and renew. We love alliteration because it
helps stick in our brain and he's very good at like making those steps. Rememorable as
the foundation in our lives are built upon the savior. We're going to be blessed to be
still and have spiritual assurance that God is our heavenly father. We are his children
and Jesus Christ is our savior. That was his direct words because that is the point he
just really wanted to hit home. The chaos of the world to me from his prophetic view,
I felt like he was saying it's loud, it's chaotic, it's busy right now. I think he's
seeing something different years down the road that we need to prepare for now. Cause
when do you, when to share up a foundation? Like when do you strengthen that foundation
in the middle of the storm? Right before I feel like he's, um, I feel like he's acknowledging
that we're going through kind of a hard time right now. It's, it's a way crazier, busier
life than it was in years past, but I think he's seeing something in the future that he's
giving us plenty of time to prepare for. Yes. I think we're all feeling the acceleration
and commotion right now. And so for some it's probably like, well, how much work I've heard
that before, you know, how much more could there be? Um, and who knows, maybe it's just
more of the same and a lot of it all at once. You know what I mean? That feels way more
fast and quick. I've, I felt that way as a, as a elementary school child, like nothing
was longer than a school year, like nine months could drag out and then summers were fast,
but you kind of got into that motion. But yeah, I literally can't even believe like
sometimes when I'm reflecting on something and I'm saying, Oh, I guess that was like
three, that was two years after COVID or, you know, AC or before COVID we've re we've
renamed the timeline now, but really years go by in such a way that I'm, I'm always blown
away and, and that's probably because we're just so busy and it's so fast paced that it,
it just ticks. It ticks by faster than we can keep track. Oh yeah. Um, the foundation
thing. Did you have anything to comment on that? Did you have any insights of that today?
I think we just felt different for me when I heard those words, like you said, it was
taught before we know these things. It felt different to me because I felt like he was
drawing attention to a very specific thing that we use our agency to connect ourselves
to Christ. That's the part I felt maybe it was that maybe that was just for me, but I
was like, Oh yeah, I enact my agency. I opt in. Right. Because if he was the foundation,
what choice did we have in that? Like you, where's the connection? I feel like, I mean,
if we're going to go back to the pre-existence, isn't that what Satan was asking for us? Like
let me do this. Let me have it. Let me be the glory. Like I will be the building block
that everybody's lives have to be built upon. And then no storm or wind or wave is going
to come crashing and that they're not going to be able to rebound from, because I'm part
of part of that. No, we get to come to this earth and we get to choose if it's a rock
that we're locking ourselves or the sand. Right. So yeah, I think agency is exactly
the right word to be, to be visualizing with that. We make the choices of if Jesus Christ
is going to be our, our, our point of focus where we're going to build things. And then
with the foundation, is it throwing you a curve ball? If I'm like, what, what do you
see as the foundation pieces? I feel like Elder Bednar is trying to say like those truths.
God is our heavenly father, that I'm a child of God, that Jesus Christ is my savior. Do
you feel like that's three, three of the four walls of the beginning foundation? What, how
did you see that? Um, say that again, like I don't understand. I feel like he kept trying
to emphasize that so much that it's like, is he trying to say that the foundation that
we build should be based on those truths or, or that when our foundation is no matter what
pieces of our testimony we, we gather and we piece together to start that foundation
of whatever we're building to bear up the burdens that are going to be placed on us
throughout this life. It could be a myriad of things. I don't know. My mind hasn't settled
on, you know, is this, is this, is this a starting point of maybe positive affirmations,
positive truths that I need to have, or is it, should it be the base of everybody's foundation?
I feel like it's the base of everyone's foundation. Yeah. Because number one, we know we're children
of God, that he's God. We know that Jesus Christ is our savior. And so we know that those
two things are unchanging. They're not going to move. When we base them on something else,
like someone else's testimony or the way that we're treated at church or whatever, um, whatever's
going on in our lives, we're going to be let down. We're going, it's like sand and we're
going to be rocked and shaken. And then we're like, Oh shoot, everything I thought was real
really isn't. And then when we know who we are, if we have a clear understanding of who
we are and we're still in our own bodies and we are comfortable with ourselves, then we
are like, he says we're still, and we are very much more able to know that he is God.
I feel like that's kind of everything. I'm so glad I asked that question because that's
how I feel like, um, that's how we grow. Like in Relief Society, if, if I had put that out
there, I'm like, I'm still trying to lock in on that. You just spoke those words and
that resonated with me. It's like, yes, that needs to be the first and foremost pieces.
Don't, don't you think that most kids, when they get up and they bear their testimony,
it's as pure as pure can be. And they say like, I love heavenly father. Um, I'm a child
of God. I know that Jesus, my savior, I feel like those are things that come out of their
mouth. It's like, it is those, it is those first foundational pieces and it, everything
else that they're picking up and learning at church does rest upon that. And it is plenty
to bear up what they need. It's, it suffices perfectly. And then really knowing it, because
I think Satan works extra hard, um, to fill the quiet moments and make us doubt those
simple truths. That's where we're being encouraged by Elder Bednar to work on anchoring those
with covenants. Absolutely. No, no, that he's going to fulfill his end of the covenant and
receive the blessing. We'll receive the blessings in, in practicing and reviewing and repeating
and doing those covenants. That's making the anchor pin. Okay. I love that. That was a
good conversation. You'd better teach me something else. What would you share? If, if, um, so
one of my thoughts was, and this is, that's what's funny. You know, you've been talking
about this and there's so many things to learn in this. There are so many layers. I went
down to the most basic and it was, what if I'm not feeling still? What if I had forgotten
how to feel still? And it totally reminded me of several years ago when I was not feeling
stillness. My family went through a number of traumatic events within a very short period
of time and it felt like I was in a storm. There was just chaos all over. There was with
my husband, with my kids, with everyone we were up, you know, there was upheaval. It
was everything. Cause we moved so much and everything else. I was not feeling peace.
And so since my son was going to kindergarten, um, I had more time and I felt drawn to the
temple. I felt peace when I was there. I loved it. What I didn't realize at the time was
that every time I was going, I was actually learning how to breathe again. And I mean
like the deep breath that you take, not the one that's like something's the other shoe's
going to drop type of breathing. It was fight or flight. Yes. It was accessory fight or
flight and now it's rest and digest. And it is parasympathetic. Like it is the way that
we're meant to be breathing. So sitting in the temple, you're realizing that every moment
outside the temple, you were in this state of absolute panic, turmoil. Because there
was such a difference, there was an absolute difference. There was peace. And so when I
finally realized that and breathe and just felt like that elephant was off my chest for
the time being, I thanked heavenly father for that feeling that came and the realization
that came to me through the Holy ghost. And then I asked him, I pled with him in prayer
and I said, please help me to take this feeling that's inside my heart here in the temple
and bring it outside into my home. As I go to the grocery store, all the things that
I do. And I went back very, very, very often. And within several months, I learned how to
breathe like the real kind of breathing again. And within a year, I feel like I just was
recreating just how you feel, what peace feels like. So yeah, that was just a real big thing
for me.
That's huge because you do know this is the overlying theme of the talk. He opens us up
in a media tour, going into the celestial room. So it's going to be extra quiet. You've
been to a temple open house recently.
Not so recently, but yes.
We went to the Orem one and even though people are being very respectful and it's like such
a beautiful feeling, like my, my nine year olds, like he told me that he felt heaven
in his heart. It was so cute, but we are like going up multi flights of stairs with hundreds
of other people. So even just the chatter of the footsteps is loud in the temple, but
elder Bednar was able to create a really unique experience for this tour group. And so he
was answering questions as they were going. And then he said, we're not going to talk
when we go to the celestial room. And so, I mean, I think, especially thinking these
are media people there, they're in the news, they're in the fast paced busy life. And yeah,
just like a lot of things. I think that that makes it extra special, but that it's like,
okay, we're going to shut the noise off. And it wasn't going to be like these crowds of
hundreds as, as we open it to the public, this isn't special media tour. So it's going
to be just a handful of people. It's going to be a very intimate tour. So when you enter
that celestial room, it's going to be as quiet as quiet can be. We have a very, um, petite
temple where I mean, I live, it's not abnormal to just have like two people in the celestial
room. Yeah. Which, so we've, we've had, we've experienced quiet in the celestial room like
this, but, or like cleaning the temple. I found like very special one-on-one moments
in the celestial room. So I know what quiet is talking about. I hope that each of you
have experienced that type of quiet in your life, because what was cool, they get out
of the room and the media guy was like, I have never experienced quiet like that. And
it was a contrast to the normal life that he's been living. And I thought elder Bednar
mentioned this talk at the beginning of his talk, because he wants us to each find a memory
like we have cataloged. When have you felt the most quiet in your life? And definitely
it could be the temple, but some people haven't made temple covenants. They haven't done that,
but maybe even if you haven't, maybe you have been to an open house and you have felt that
different spirit in the celestial room. And it's something that maybe you're desiring
to have more access to, but what he then weaves through his talk is the idea that it wasn't
intended to be an emotion of feeling that stillness was not meant just for these occasional
experiences in the celestial room. He mentions the higher and holier way is possible and
that outside of the temple walls as covenant makers, whatever degree of covenants were
making any. Let me read this scripture. It came to pass. I need if I beheld the power
of the lamb of God that descended upon the saints of the church of the lamb and upon
the covenant people of the Lord who were scattered upon all the face of the earth. They were
armed with righteousness and with the power of God and great, great glory. If I was talking
about you, Amy, he's talking about me is talking about our audiences spread across the world
that within each of us is kind of a special power to have the tools to rise above the
distractions that are around us every day. Naturally, normally part of this life existence,
we can't be taken out of the world, but we can learn how to find that stillness in any
chaotic moment. Like I thought, um, certainly you, you go into your bedroom, you kind of,
you shut the door, you can create a quiet space in your home, but I feel like he's trying
to teach us that your, your toddler could be screaming, your, your kid's hand could
be cut. Um, you could be dealing with math homework, really traumatic things. Um, like
hard things, but you can find the stillness. You can be in a car accident, you can be battling
cancer, you can be dealing with a husband stroke, you could be dealing with a livestock
issues, you could be dealing with, uh, work things falling through, you could be dealing
with, uh, things with your business partner, you could be dealing with friendship problems,
the chaos and those moments, they're not dissipating, they're not going away because we, we promised
to accept that as part of life experience, but there is a way. And I know that it's true.
Um, I'm not good at it. I'm, it's definitely gonna be a process for me to get there, but
I know that there is a way to like center myself and find that stillness even in the
thick of the problem that it's right in front of my face. And it's not ignoring the problem
that's present, that's going to have to be dealt with. But, um, I kind of wanted to stop
there and give you a chance to say anything, if you have anything to say.
I just thought when you were saying that, um, that essentially like there's a storm
going on around us, right? Like imagine the, just the winds, everything. And that we, um,
something I learned years ago that has really, really helped me is before I pray, I take
like three deep breaths. Breath truly is the bridge between the spiritual and the physical.
And it reminds us who we are. It reminds us who we're talking to. It just kind of brings
you into the present. And that's the whole thing. If we're living in the present, we
remember who we are. We're a child of God, that he is our father and that Jesus Christ
is our savior. We have just kind of grounded ourselves and we remember what's truly most
important. The other things can keep swirling and flying around us, just like president
or sorry, elder Bednar said, like at the end, how he said, like chaos can be going on around
us. But if you feel that stillness in your heart, you know who you are, whose you are,
and then everything else can fall into place and you can be still.
I wish I was better remembering things, but I'm pretty sure it was when we were studying
the new Testament and we were talking about, Oh, president Nelson said even our very breath.
Oh yeah. He did say that. He did say that that came to me. I'm so grateful. Everything
can change even your very breath. And we had been doing a lot of, um, breath work, meditation
and stuff at the time. And I was like, I was filling this connection with Jesus Christ
in that thing, which ties, did I already mentioned how, how he had said something about how members
who are striving to be faithful covenant people, they'll, they'll take in every good thing
that they find that for me was one of those things like, okay, cataloging, what are the
good things that I brought in my life that are bringing me closer to Jesus Christ? And,
and I just want to add my testimony to that, the, the breathing, the breathing thing, because
it, the, the back of my mindset, yeah, it's breathing. There's all sorts of things. People
that are good at the breathing thing can testify to that. But what I, what it ties me back to
is that I think when I stop and I pause and I take a moment and I take that extra breath,
I'm thinking of that, what, but president Nelson said in somebody else did this cool
thing and they kind of made these long things and they said something about there's like
these Jewish words and like, yeah, way, right. I'm not, I'm not good at other languages either.
So I feel like I'm a player. I'm like kind of it's counterfeit if I'm the one that's
talking about that, but the, the, the visual and the picture and it resonated with me because
I thought every breath that I take can remind me of him. And I wanted to say in preparation
for this, I've been, I've been chewing on this talk for a couple of days and that is
something that I noticed. Okay. You, I've mentioned to you guys that on this particular
conference I had asked for insight on what I could do to fill the major, my creation
as a mother. And then this talks running through my mind and I know that it's completely possible
for me to become a changed person as I work on this process of finding stillness and all
of the things. So my kids are preparing for, um, this market day, we're going to make some
goods and we're going to sell them to other kids. And we always like to do something that
involves because we like to eat. And so my normal natural inclination is to, is to do
all the things and have it look perfect. And I've tried to lean out of that a little bit
because what are my kids learning if I'm doing everything? So over the years we've given
them a little bit more responsibility than less this year. Um, they asked to do certain
things and I was like, you present the plan and I'll get the ingredients, you know, once
you like land on the plan. And I was able to like turn the reins over to my oldest that
really likes to bake and she's kind of perfected all the pieces of that. So now I've got my
six year old that wanted to do a little something and she's like, can I stir this? It's going
to involve sugar and carol syrup, butter. It's going to be messy. And if we mess this
up, it's going to be a real big mess for me to have to deal with later. Right. So my natural
inclination is like, no, you can't do that because it's not going to be perfect. And
kind of just want to do it my way. And this was kind of running through my head and I
totally recognize that I like took a breath and I said, yes, you can do that. And she
did her thing and maybe there was a little mess to clean up. Maybe it took a little bit
longer, but isn't that what I asked? Have any father for opportunities to magnify what
I'm doing as a mother? If I just do everything for my kids all the time, what are they learning?
Right. And he's given me the same chance to try and learn things that he could have done
more perfectly, but he gave me the chance to make messes that he then send a savior
to clean up for me. So I think cleaning the kitchen a little bit longer. That's, that's
doable. It is, especially when you're a mom. Did you get, did you get to share what's on
your heart? Yeah, I really, there's just the last thing I would share is be still may be
a way of reminding us to focus upon the savior unfailingly as the ultimate source of the
spiritual stillness of the soul that strengthens us to do and overcome hard things. I feel
like that was a great thing that he ended with. Beautiful. Let's, let's send it there
too. All right. Till next time, Abby. We'll see you later. Bye guys.