Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus
Christ share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks.
This is Abbey and Amy.
Let's jump into it.
Today we're talking about God's favorite by Elder Carl D. Hearst of the Seventy.
Welcome.
We're so happy to have you here today.
Welcome, Abbey.
Thanks.
Good to see you.
It's been a minute.
It has.
It has been a minute.
We're happy to be back.
Abbey jumped over to Hawaii and we're happy that she's back with us.
I'm not.
Okay.
So I got to tell you, Abbey, when I was listening to this, I was thinking of you because of
the way he started it.
If everyone remembers, he started by talking about which of his kids is his favorite and
he has six of them.
Well, Abbey and I just recently had a conversation that was exactly the same thing.
And after hearing how Elder Hearst starts out his talk, Abbey, tell me about how your
favorite child and how you speak to it in your family.
Tell me about what that looks like.
So I will definitely tell each one of my children that they're my favorite.
And then I act like it's this big secret that like, you're my favorite.
Don't tell anybody.
But I try to individually have those moments with them, you know, within a short matter
of time.
And I'll be like, I'll look at Lily and she's old enough to understand.
I'm like, you're my favorite.
And then I'll say to Lucy, she'll be like the six year old and I'll be like, you're
my favorite.
I'm like, shh.
And so then she'll like give me a terrible wink and like, yeah, I got it, mom.
I won't tell anybody else, whatever.
But then I kind of hide myself behind the chair in the car and I'll be like, point at
Lily.
I'm like, actually, you're my favorite.
She's like, I know I am.
You know?
So they all believe it.
They all believe it.
I hope they do.
And I decided after listening to this talk and preparing for it, I was like, I need them
to know why they're my favorite because it's not all the same thing.
It's not just because I gave birth to them.
Like some of my kids are funny.
Some of them are thoughtful.
Some of them are emotion.
You know, they're my like emotional movie watching buddies.
Some of them are great little helpers.
Some of them love hugs, you know, for different reasons.
Yes.
They're my favorite.
Love that.
They can all be my favorite at the same time.
That's the point of this talk.
I know, right?
We can all be God's favorite at the same time.
Yes.
I love it.
Once we did just get back from Hawaii and this talk was on my mind, this funny little
story played out.
We were zip lining.
There were like seven different lines on this course.
And the very last one, there was a family of five, three kids, and then the two parents
that were all doing the zip activity together.
And so the guides, they can decide, they can based on your weight or like the wind speeds
and stuff, they can decide where the brakes are going to go on the zip line.
So they, the kids had already come across, they were standing on the platform with us.
The parents were going to be the last two to zip.
And so they tell the kids are like, Hey, we're going to stop your parents.
And then we're going to, we're going to make them answer the question who their favorite
kid is to decide if they get a come to the platform or not.
If they get to come.
Yeah.
So the kids line up and we had left our cell phones back at safety.
And so the instructor had his on him.
So he's like, we'll film it.
And so they stopped the parents and then they're like, who's your favorite child?
And the dad just smiles because he knows this is just all in fun and a joke.
And the mom like literally her face sank.
She's like, I don't want to answer this question.
This is so terrible.
So she tries to get away with Ali's my favorite, a 15 year old and, you know, Gabe or whatever.
And then names the kids and like says that they're their favorite age.
And then she really thinks they're going to like press her and like, they're not going
to bring her in the last 10 feet until they just tell you who's the favorite child.
And so she just says, my heart beats for each of them.
And I'm like, well, that's totally true.
If that's mom and the guides were like, that's fair.
That's a good answer.
So then they asked who their favorite guides were.
So smartly the dad answered whoever was pulling him in.
The mom answered the guides name that was going to pull her and they all made it safely.
But it gave me a chance to think like, you know, what my answer would be.
And it's the fact is what the mom said is true.
Every one of her children are her favorite child.
It doesn't have to be a placement order.
Elderhurst was saying that each rehearse their claims of being the most loved.
So somewhere in there that they've got a case to make, like I know dad loves me the most
because for sure.
And that's great because I can just play off of memories for that.
He says, I play this game with my children and try to take ample opportunities to tell
each of them their own way that they are my favorite because they are.
And it's not just because they're always obedient or always help with chores or help clean the
rooms because in fact, none of those things are true.
They're each my favorite because they are mine.
Elderhurst goal is that each one of the six feels victorious and an all out wars avoided.
That's my goal too.
I've got that five way split.
And I think that we're doing pretty good so far.
Do you ever play that game with your kids?
I don't.
Oh, that's good.
They never asked me.
That's good.
They probably all just feel that way.
They're like, I won't talk about it because I don't want everybody to be offended that
mom loves me the most.
It's still the same thing.
I think it's funny they don't ask me.
Maybe because they're like, oh, it would be a mom, you know, grading anyway.
Yeah.
Well, that's great because it's more like into what Heavenly Father's is like that equal
love is there.
So that just means that they're more mature.
I've got little little kids.
That is true.
You've got mature kids.
That is true.
Okay.
So this is where he starts laying out the case from scripture and the New Testament
and also the Book of Mormon about those who have come to feel God's love for themselves.
I love this.
And we know this about John.
John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
I'm the one he loved.
I mean, there were 11 others, but I'm the one he loved.
Right.
There were 12.
Yeah.
I love that because he had the pen, he gets to write the story, right?
That's how it is.
Fair.
Nephi gave a similar sense when he wrote, I glory in my Jesus, which I love that.
Of course, the Savior isn't Nephi's any more than he is John's.
And yet the personal nature of Nephi's relationship with his Jesus led him to the tender description.
So this is what I want to share.
Question is, how can we come to feel God's love like these examples for ourselves?
I was pondering on this and I went back to an Instagram post that I did a while ago and
I tagged it under season so I could remember it.
It was the most glorious season of life, season of nature, nature.
Yeah.
Most glorious sunrise because I don't see sunsets because of where I am with the mountain.
Yes.
I don't get it.
Most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.
And this is what I captioned, catching a sunrise feels like God is winking at me.
How can something seen by everyone feel so personal?
And yet I feel seen and loved and ministered to.
And then I just said, here's your reminder that he sees you and he will provide for today.
Because again, it's something that everyone can see and yet I felt seen.
I painted this sky for you.
Yeah.
And I know it was for everybody else, but it still just made me so happy because I felt
seen.
So anyway, Abby, do you have anything that you want to share with that from that?
I love the Elder Hurst quote from the Bible dictionary right here.
He shared this definition.
He said, our Savior's love is the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love and he provides
until we are filled.
And love never runs dry and we are each cherished favorite.
So it's totally acceptable for you to believe that that was painted for you, that that sunset
was for Amy.
It doesn't take away from it being anybody else's sunset.
I invited everyone into that sunset with me.
I put the picture there like it's for me, it's for you, it's for everybody.
We've had some amazing sunsets here.
And when I was more into social media, there would be just post after post.
I get on Facebook, there were four different posts of a beautiful sunset.
And so I screenshotted all four of them and then I put them together in a collage and
I said, this is what I love about where I live that four different people testified
of God in the sunset.
So I was like, we all got the message that he loved us.
It didn't take the beauty of the sunset away that we each felt love in the sunset.
I know certain friends remind me to show you after this is over my sunset picture because
I was just showing it off on my plane ride home.
I was sitting next to a former stranger and I was like, well, now I know.
We talked for a couple hours, my husband's like, I kind of slept, but I'm pretty sure
I heard you talk the whole time.
Did she want to talk to you?
I'm like, she was asking questions back.
I don't know.
What kind of question is that?
Anyway, so let's see.
He finished up that definition.
Then he said, the challenge is that even if it is available, his charity, his love is
available to all.
It doesn't mean that we can and always will fill it.
You see where the difference lies.
So right.
There's a difference between knowing loves there and actually filling love.
I love that he said that.
That struck my heart.
That is true.
It's a takeaway for sure.
So Jesus through commandments has given us the roadmap to how to actually fill his love.
This is reminding me, this has taken me back to the talk that you kind of led on.
Oh my goodness, the word slipped in my mind.
Like when you don't have relationships that you can trust.
Was it Trusting God?
Yeah, that's it.
I'm like, it's like the tip of my tongue.
It's like right there.
The Trusting God podcast.
Yeah.
Sometimes it's a mental block and sometimes you just haven't experienced love like this
in your life.
And so you feel like it's out of your reach.
But I love this talk because I was like, no matter what circumstance you've come from,
how unloved you felt your whole life, his love is perfect.
And we just have to tap into what it's going to take to fill it because it is there.
That's so good, Abby.
So he's given us commandments.
What are the first two commandments he's given us?
So to love God and to love our neighbor.
And that's come up dozens of times in the last two conferences.
Right, neighbors meaning everybody.
It has.
I just keep hearing them like there's an echo, there's an echo, there's an echo.
So how do those commandments play out in your life?
As you've been thinking about it, thinking about the different conference talks that
have come up.
But what connection can you help us make between those first two commandments and God's love?
So this is interesting because I did like the part that he talked about where he said
that we can love other people.
But when we love like God does, it says that there's also like divinity in it, meaning
part of it is his love.
I remember one of the times was when I first started working with the young women in our
ward and I stood up and I said, I love each one of you girls.
And I said, I know that sounds silly because I don't know each one of you.
I don't know what your like, like your favorite color is or what your hobby is right now or
whatever.
But it feels like heaven is just pouring this love down through me and it's just broadcasting
out to you.
Like I feel the strength of that and the truth of it.
And so I could say those words.
Also there have been other times when yeah, I think that's the biggest thing.
I've moved a lot and it's such a wonderful gift to be able to, as soon as you start serving
a different group of ladies or children or in the primary young women, whatever it is,
your heart expands for them.
And when you see them as God does, I feel like when we opt into serving God's children
that we opt into part of his power of loving them well.
I love what you're saying.
This is absolute truth because you can choose to work off the mindset.
Like once I get to know you, I'm sure that I'll like things about you and then I'll love
you.
That's the difference between just doing something for somebody with a Christ-like love and just
giving it a whirl.
That's where the divinity part comes into it.
That you can start before you even do an act of service or something charitable towards
somebody that you just automatically start out with the love.
They don't have to love you back.
It's still something that will expand your ability to love and to feel love.
Even if it's not reciprocated.
I love that.
He talked about that as being part of the divine economy.
I was like, yes.
We are going to talk about that.
I'm like, that's something you taught me.
So we definitely have to get there.
So I think that this provides an opportunity to say all of you listeners, stop and take
a moment and think back to the times that you felt the deepest love for somebody and
like what surrounded that?
Yes.
Probably you were serving them in some capacity.
You were like up to your eyeballs and all of the other responsibilities and chores you
had in your life.
Regardless of that, you were able to accomplish the thing you were doing at the end of the
day was probably one of the best things that you ever did.
Amen.
I love that, Abby.
It's true.
Service is such the bottom line.
So if someone we care about seems distant from a sense of divine love, we can follow
this pattern by doing things that bring us closer to God ourselves and then doing things
that bring us closer to them and unspoken beckoning to come unto Christ.
That was his words.
That's a great thing.
You cannot make somebody feel the love of God in their lives.
It's impossible.
But if you do recognize that somebody in your path isn't feeling it, certainly you can.
You can do things that bring you closer to him and then it should expand your ability
to open the channels of like what the spirit can provide help in that way and to know what
comes out of your mouth isn't intended in any way to be hurting feelings or to downgrading
their emotions or the way that they're feeling.
They're totally justified in having whatever feelings they want to, but that doesn't mean
that they're loved any less by God.
And so to say, to say, you acknowledge that they're not being loved is that's never going
to come out of my mouth.
I know that he does love them.
It's just giving them opportunities to have a chance to feel that.
That's where maybe the spirit would come into play to help them to get to that point.
I think it's the hardest thing because I think when you're feeling overwhelmed and you're
not feeling the love, it does seem like his way to get you there is to give you an opportunity
to serve.
And a lot of times that comes in callings and for self-care reasons, people would say
like you don't have to say yes to a calling.
That's absolutely true.
But what if you've been praying simultaneously to fill his love and a calling presents itself
and the natural man in us makes sense of saying like, you don't have time for that because
you don't have time for you.
You don't have time to wash your hair.
You don't have that.
And he was trying to say to you, this was my opportunity to show you my love and to
show you how I love my other children through loving them.
That's so good, Abby.
When you're saying that too, it reminds me of a few years ago when Reina Alberto gave
the talk and it was about the same situation.
And she talked about how like the clouds between you and God, when you're not feeling his love,
it's because there are clouds between you.
And so if we can even just recognize that those clouds are there for whatever reason
and realize that they will part and that it will feel it again.
And like you said, maybe the clouds are there and Heavenly Father's like, hey, here's a
calling and it will help dissipate the clouds and we don't realize it at the moment.
You know what I mean?
Absolutely.
He gets into that.
I think we should hit on that one in just a second.
He gave us an action item.
Love it.
He said, what circumstances cause you to feel God's love?
So I had just mentioned that.
Take a chance to recognize in your life where you felt his love the most.
You just testified of the sunset, right?
He says, which verse of scripture?
Maybe you've just asked a question and you've stumbled into a scripture and you're like,
oh my goodness, that was written for me hundreds of years ago.
And it feels like yours.
Was there a particular act of service that you did on behalf of somebody or received?
Where would you be?
What music would be playing?
What music has made you feel that way?
I think that's what he was asking.
Whose company are you in?
You met Jesus at a certain space.
I know.
I loved that.
He said, general conference is a rich place to learn about connecting with Heaven's love.
Stealing Amy's line, she says that conference to her feels like love letters from Heaven.
Amen.
And certainly you'll sit in conference and you'll be like, if you've asked for like what
you can do to improve, like you may be feeling that gentle nudge of the spirit, like this
is where you need to step up and do something.
But for me, even if I have to make changes, even if it's going to cause some growth and
stretch, it doesn't feel hurtful or rebukeful.
It just feels like a gentle prod.
So it always feels in love.
So this could have been worded, why can't I feel God's love?
But instead he demonstrates the perfect way to ask a question and instead says what causes
you to feel God's love?
Wonderful.
It's already there.
Right.
Just ignore it.
When in your life have you experienced it?
What are those things?
So isolate those, jot them down either in your memory or write them on paper so that
you can go back to that for you.
Because I think very clear, very obviously it can be different for each of us.
Oh yeah, for sure it is.
The what stands as a reminder that just because we aren't feeling it in this moment, it in
no way means that love isn't there and available to us.
Agreed.
But he's very good at pointing out.
He totally understands when you're not feeling.
I agree.
I totally felt that from him.
It was like, wow, this is a comprehensive list.
He's made me wonder.
Yes.
If he has family or in his personal life that he's like felt the blockage.
Yes, he has to get and come on the other side of it.
So he says, he gave an entire list of places and ways for each of us to think on and find
the exchange of love we have been offered.
So that's just our challenge to you from his action items.
Find those times.
Where'd those come from?
Perhaps you feel a long way from the love of God.
Maybe there's a chorus of voices of discouragement and darkness that weighs into your thoughts.
Just telling you that you are too wounded and confused, too weak and overlooked, too
different or disoriented to warrant heavenly love in any real way.
If you hear those ideas, then please hear this.
I've bolded this.
Those voices are just wrong.
We can confidently disregard brokenness in any way, disqualling us from heavenly love.
If you think you can pinpoint a reason why you don't deserve his love, it's wrong.
It's wrong.
And that's the adversary for sure.
Absolutely.
He's the only one that keeps falling.
And he's very good at it.
It's exactly what memory to bring to your mind to make you think you're not deserving
of his love.
But it's not like any other relationship.
This is a divine relationship.
And so the parameters that we've set on love are different.
It's not ideal.
I'm not saying that's the way that we should love.
We should love like God loves.
We should be charitable.
It should be without reciprocate.
I only love you because it's reciprocated.
I'm saying.
Or if you do these things, I love you.
That's contingent on if you follow these rules for me.
Right.
I love that.
You cannot put yourself beyond the reach of God's love.
So we think back to the definition of charity.
God loves broken things.
His son, our Savior, chose to be bruised, broken, torn for us.
Jesus removes all shame from the broken because through his brokenness, he became perfect
and he can make us perfect in spite of our brokenness.
That's a take home for me.
Oh, for sure.
We're sometimes cruel and impatient toward ourselves in ways that we could never imagine
being toward anyone else.
There is much for us to do in this life, but self-loathing and shameful self-condemnation
are not on that list.
Can you imagine looking at one of your children and telling them those negative things about
them that you're telling yourself?
Never as a parent we would do that.
But as children of divine birth, when we let those negative thoughts prevail in our lives,
we are saying that about his child, which is us.
We are his and he does not want us to feel that way about ourselves either.
Okay.
Oh my gosh, I love this one.
So Isaiah 54 10 is where you find for the mountain shall depart and the hill shall be
removed but my kindness shall not depart from me.
Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord and have mercy on
thee.
I love this Abby because you and I both live around mountains and they're a pretty constant
part of our day.
Like our everyday life, the mountains always bear.
So I just love that.
That the mountain shall depart.
Those are going to be gone before his love is gone.
I love that.
And guess what?
It's not happening.
If those mountains ever are gone, I know that he did it and I still know he loves me.
There was a mountain here the other day.
It's true.
I like kind of bank on that.
I'll promise if there's a mountain there, then either I've seen the Lord.
You know what I'm saying?
Like you might make me giggle because we are in a valley.
We are surrounded like where Amy lives.
There are two mountain ranges that are basically touching each other.
There's a car with the between the two mountain ranges.
And so maybe from now on, I'll look at the mountains and I'll be like still there.
God still loves us.
I feel that's a great.
That's a great reminder.
So Elder Hearst played off the symbol of the mountains also being symbolic of God's temples.
I love it.
It was so good.
I really enjoy the symbolism of mountain being evidence of the certainty of God's love.
The house of the Lord is a home of our most precious covenants and places for us to retreat
and sink deeply into the evidence of our Father's love for us.
I've also enjoyed the comfort that comes to my soul when I wrap myself more tightly in
my baptismal covenant and find someone who is mourning a loss or grieving a disappointment
and try to help them and hold and process their feelings.
If you are willing to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need
of comfort and honor those baptismal covenants that you've made and he gives you an idea
of what can be done in that tragic moment for them.
The idea comes from him.
There's no more sure way for me to feel of God's love than to be like his hands, his
mouth on behalf of others.
It doesn't have to be for myself.
I most often is in the service of somebody else that I'm like, he cared about this thing
that I'm going to, you know, this act of service, whatever I'm going to act out on his behalf,
then in the same way he can do that for me.
I make that connection.
Everybody makes that connection, hopefully.
Right.
It's not just you are.
And that is so true about you too.
I've asked you so many times, what can I be praying for for you?
And you say, my daughter, this or this person or hey, my aunt.
I mean, they're always, you're always thinking of other people and blessing them that way.
So I love that.
Our love of God is demonstrated in our obedience to commandments.
God's love is demonstrated in giving us commandments in the first place.
Do you think that's true?
I do.
This is easy for people to understand in most obvious, like in a parent child relationship.
If you're a parent, it's just like, do whatever you want.
Things are going to work out like free range.
That's a way.
I think we range child.
I don't know.
Free range is the right way to say it.
But if you're currently don't have children, if you don't have children, think about your
own childhood.
Were your parents the type that were just like, do whatever you want, touch the hot
stove, run out in the street, stay up to whatever time you want?
Or was there like a set of expectations?
So it's on a very different scale.
But I have often seen the way that love plays out with expectations as parents and naturally
as they age, like what we're able to give them parameters of safety and like whatever
fences were able to create for them to try to keep them safe diminish.
But we have to hope that they've seen in the lesson of life that they were gates to not
block them in, but to protect them as they were maturing to the ability to get to where
they're at.
And so it's easy for me to say commandments equal love in God's eyes.
He says, this is the way to create the greatest happiness.
You stay within the confines of, you know, don't murder, don't steal, cheat, whatever.
I mean, they're bigger things, but then we kind of have to say, okay, what thing he maybe
doesn't line out exactly, you know, step by step, what that's going to be to achieve that
commandment.
But the fact of the matter is you peel it away.
Those commandments were to create some peace and safety and a way to become more like him.
I love that.
And I mean, as parents, we'd be lying if we didn't act like we didn't want our kids to
turn out like us.
Right.
Or better.
Better than.
I think that naturally can come.
Okay.
So as you were talking about this, Abby, and I said, yes, I agree.
Because you said our love of God is demonstrated in our obedience.
Oh, sorry.
God's love is demonstrated in giving us commandments in the first place.
So when I think of that, the reason that I see his commandments as love is because of
his very nature and the way he gives it to us now gives us those the ability to be like
him.
Because he says he says this, Amy, if you want to be like me, here are some commandments.
He doesn't say if you don't do all these commands, you are the worst.
You are shamed.
You are not worthy.
That would be living the quote, living the gospel, but in Satan's way.
And I'm not okay with that.
Right.
Like it feels different.
So that is why I feel like often or opt out my love here, regardless guidance the whole
way.
Do you know what I mean?
I agree.
I think the word the commandment says love God and love your neighbor.
For me, I could insert instead of love God.
I not not replace that.
It's worded perfectly.
But with this talk in mind that I'm putting the words in that, like, recognize my commandments
and keep my commandments.
That's how you show love for me.
Keep my commandments and then just do it for yourself.
Like do you know, do that as you're looking out for your fellow men around you, whoever
you have stewardship over or stewardship.
Sometimes, but even shoulders.
Yeah, that's more like the circle.
Circle of input.
Like how we've talked about like the water drop, like whoever, whoever you can reach.
I love that.
So we just mentioned it's easy for people to understand this relationship that we have
between God and commandments and obedience to the commandments in either our own childhood
upbringing or in the relationship that we're cultivating as we're raising children.
So both different scenarios.
What's the difference between homes where there are rules and expectation compared to
homes without?
Well, the first would be like absolute chaos.
I feel like on one end of the spectrum, absolute chaos and probably also missing quite a few
and anarchy.
Yeah.
Is that yeah, anarchy and the kids are going to miss really important growth steps that
they're just not getting because there's no guidance on the other end.
And control, which in my mind, that can also be Satan's plan because he wants to control
the outcome.
It's also Satan's plan being on the other end of let the kids do whatever they want.
They'll be fine.
Both of them.
He's happy with both ends of that spectrum.
Better opportunities are found within like the middle ground of that.
We give our children the ability to make some choices.
But like when we know to prevent harm that we can give them a rule that should keep them
within the safety of that, we would be dumb to not do that.
Right.
Okay.
So back to this thought that we both loved.
Being loved is not the same thing as feeling loved.
So amazing.
He said, perhaps you're wrestling with grief, depression, betrayal, loneliness, disappointment
or other powerful intrusions into your ability to feel God's love for you.
If so, these things can dull or suspend our ability to feel as we might otherwise feel.
For a season at least, perhaps you will not be able to feel his love and knowledge will
have to suffice.
That's where your own record, your own keeping of times that you have felt it if you're in
the moment where you can't is helpful.
I agree with that.
I wonder if you could experiment patiently with different ways of expressing and receiving
divine love.
Here's the more action items he gave us.
Could you take a step back from whatever is in front of you and maybe another and maybe
another until you see a wider landscape, wider and wider still if necessary, until you are
literally thinking celestial because you are looking at the stars and remembering worlds
without numbers and through them their creator.
When we're right on top of a problem, right in the middle of a problem, it can be so much
harder to see what he wants us to see.
Thinking celestial does require you to take a few hundred steps back sometimes to look
at the bigger picture.
Yeah, this is challenges very much right now, but it's a drop in the bucket when I consider
the growth that's going to come from it and that will be on the other side of it eventually.
For sure.
I also, you know, again, thinking celestial for me, it doesn't just mean think for when
I want to be in the celestial kingdom.
It means like bring the celestial thinking and feeling to my here and now.
Bring it here and help that to be part of my life right now that I can feel joy now.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Despite the circumstances.
Which what other thing would we say that is but love, divine love.
That we can, that he, without removing the actual problems in front of our face, that
thing that brings us sorrow and grief doesn't necessarily change, but our attitude towards
it or our ability to feel through it is different.
Love that Abby.
So you mentioned sunsets.
You mentioned birdsong and the sun or breeze or rain on your skin.
Amen to all of that.
I feel like Maria is singing to me.
The hills are alive.
The mountains are alive.
Perhaps the most comfort of faithful friends will, perhaps the comfort of faithful friends
will help.
Maybe music or serving.
So just a reminder, have you kept a journal, a record of times when your connection with
God was clear to you because that is what may save you during one of these more difficult
times when you're wrestling with grief or depression or betrayal.
It's true.
And it's so great because you totally believe yourself.
It's not someone else saying it.
You know what I mean?
Where you're like, they don't know, they haven't been there, whatever.
It's you.
They're not me, but they are you.
Right.
That's why it's so valuable.
The best source of information to get from.
Or his suggestion is also if you can't fill it yourself or if you haven't recorded for
your time, is there a close friend that you could invite to share their source of divine
connection as you're searching for your own relief and understanding?
There are definitely opportunities.
I'm hoping that you find these.
If you haven't found them, they're out there.
It may take some searching, but there are people that are meant to be in our path and
they can have the right words for you to comfort your soul and to help you feel that connection.
You would probably be in such a deep part of grief that you would have a hard time believing
that anybody would want to hear the challenge that you're going through.
I guess that's why I kind of love Relief Society.
If you open yourself up to the opportunity to share somewhere in there, you may tap into
another sister's emotions that have totally come over that trial and would know the spirit
would clue them in that now is my opportunity to have this conversation and I can share
what's on my heart with her.
For sure.
It's a room filled with women in all different seasons.
That's the beautiful thing about it.
It is.
I love it.
Just today when I went to church, we were struggling this past weekend, lots of tears
and grief and sadness.
And I walk into church and the very first talk, she starts it with the exact promise
from President Nelson that I had been living that, but I didn't remember that President
Nelson said it number one and I didn't remember what talk it was in.
And she just went through the whole thing and again, that is another time when I totally
feel heavenly.
It's like that sunset.
Well, and she testified that she knew that she was assigned that talk because it was
something that she needed to focus on.
And I was like, well, that was for me.
It was for Amy today, right?
You can be multiple members in a congregation.
Oh, for sure.
It's like the sunset.
I felt it, she felt it, and there could be anyone else who needed it that would feel
it was just that specific to them.
She did a great job on that talk.
So good.
I already said that, but I already said it out of my own mouth.
I wrote this down.
It said, this is why sharing experiences in our Relief Society or elders quorum or over
the pulpit is so useful.
That testimony goes on to teach others how we felt God's love.
And it might be, it's a reminder to us as we've written it down, we've created a stamp
in our memory.
We've created a moment that we recognized God's love, but more important, somebody else's
ears that maybe have been blocked from that and currently unable to fill that, maybe you
testifying of it will be that thing that gives them a glimmer of hope and possibly fill that
again for themselves or be the start of it.
So never be afraid to share, even if people don't like the things you're sharing.
So I wonder if Jesus were to choose a place where you and he could meet, a private place
where you'd be able to have a singular focus on him.
Might he choose your unique place of personal suffering, the place of your deepest need
where no one else could go.
Somewhere you feel so lonely that you must truly be all alone, but you aren't quite a
place to which perhaps only he has traveled, but actually has already prepared to meet
you there when you arrive.
If you're waiting for him to come, might he already be there and within reach?
This feels like a guided visualization.
Do you have one for this?
No, but I can write one.
I thought the same thing and then our week just went, pssh.
Yeah, you get a pass.
This week is tricky, but if she does create a visualization, I know that I've done it
in other visualization programs and it kind of, it's a way to pray that it doesn't feel
like a blockade.
So we always pray to our heavenly father, but it's through his son, Jesus Christ.
And so often the visualization has you sitting on a bench talking with like Jesus Christ.
So it's not just like this very formal, like, are you there?
Can you hear me?
You're literally having a conversation with him in your mind.
And it kind of breaks through the barriers of how personal your relationship and what
you can ask for and what you can receive comes through Jesus Christ as we're praying to
heavenly father.
Agreed.
Totally.
So we'll be watching and I'll be anxious to see that.
Get on that with all of your free time.
If you do fill filled with love in the season of your life, please try and hold.
This is cute.
Hold on to it as effectively as a sieve holds water.
Splash it everywhere you go.
One of the miracles of divine economy is that when we try to share Jesus's love, we find
ourselves being filled up in a variation of the principle that whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find it.
Amy is the first one that I can remember teaching me about the divine economy or God's economy,
as we called it.
Any thoughts to share on that?
Yeah, I just love it.
Like what I've learned about it, I took this part and tacked it into a little word doc that
I just have of all the things.
Anytime I learned about God's economy and now another word divine economy is that yes,
one of the first principle that I wrote was is that it's powered by love.
And so this totally goes with it.
Like this is 100% and it's economy as in if you hold things for yourself, then there is
not currency.
Right?
And it actually is with money, like a service.
This is totally true.
This is if it's a savings account, like it's great.
You're going to earn like 0.1% on it.
But if the Lord needs it in circulation, he needs it in circulation.
So it's of course you're prayerful about it.
But you know what I mean?
Like it does take resources to build to build God's kingdom.
I love that.
Because it does feel like Satan's tool is to make you feel so overwhelmed with life
that you can't see past yourself.
And to be so fearful that you have to I mean, you listened and you held on to your money
or you listened and you held on to this.
It's like, okay, listen and hold on to it.
And then when the time is right, put that back in, like give it to someone who needs
it, it will come back to you.
Have you ever seen that visual and somebody goes and they like collect water like they
have those yoke across their shoulders and they're carrying like a pot of water and one
is cracked in some way.
So they when they walk back from the well, they lose water quite a bit.
But on that side of the road as time goes on, like the flowers are like blooming stuff.
So yeah, that's hard work to collect water.
And that it's like hard to think about losing the water.
But like what beauty you've spread or if you think of that in place of God's love, like
is it so bad that, you know, we share some of that and what comes out of the sharing
kid it like that, Abby.
For me in the season of my life, I thought a lot, a lot on raising children, being a
mother.
That's where I'm at in life.
And I think, you know, sometimes you'll be tired at the end of some days and you maybe
need a reset.
But anything that I'm doing for my children or spouse, honestly, the things that are making
my life the most meaningful.
Now, if I was in a stage where I wasn't married or I didn't have children, I've got, you
know, friends in that category.
I watch what they do with their time and they're doing different opportunities of service.
They're looking for experiences outside of themselves.
They could just choose to just not do anything for anybody.
There's no real growth in that.
So I would say majority of my friends that don't, aren't juggling, you know, children
and marriage currently are looking for ways to have the same end goal.
Becoming more like Jesus Christ.
For sure.
In whatever way they can.
That's a lot of charity opportunities.
Yes.
Okay, Abby, what do you have for us in closing?
Should we just steal his testimony?
I loved it.
It was good.
He said, being filled with God's love shields us in life storms, but also makes the happy
moments happier.
Our joyful days when there is sunshine in the sky are made even brighter by the sunshine
in our souls.
Let's look for and treasure experiences of filling his love and power in our lives.
The joy of the gospel is available to all, not just the happy, not just the downcast.
Joy is our purpose, not the gift of our circumstances.
We have every good reason to rejoice and be filled with love towards God and amen.
Let's get full.
And he said that in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thank you so much, Abby, for being with us and for talking today.
We'll catch you on the next one.
This one's coming out a little later than our normal, but based on the week that Amy's
had, this is pretty good.
So we'll catch you.
Catch on the next one.
Catch you next time.
We'll catch you next time.