Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus
share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks. This is Abby
and Amy. Let's jump into it.
Today we're talking about mortality works by Elder Brooke P. Hales. Just a short bio
on him. He was called as a General Authority 70 in 2018, and he also serves as secretary
to the first presidency. Now, a story that he relates, he talked about serving for many
years as a ministering brother to a woman who, as he explains, did not have an easy
life. She had various health problems and experienced a lifetime of pain due to a childhood
accident on the playground. She was divorced at 32 with four young children to raise and
provide for for 18 years until she remarried at age 50. Her second husband passed away
when she was 66, and this sister lived an additional 26 years as a widow. So honestly,
it could also be said of her that despite challenges, she was faithful to her covenants
to the end. She was an avid genealogist. She attended the temple. She collected and wrote
many family histories, though she had many difficult trials and felt at times sadness
and loneliness. She also had a cheerful countenance and a gracious and pleasant personality, which
is absolutely amazing that she was able to see past those things and choose happiness.
Yeah, and be about work that was so important.
Yeah, also that brings happiness. She knew where to find it.
Right. She could have just been stuck in the challenges that she had, but the fact that
she spent her time doing these things give us an idea of what it takes to kind of move
past the challenges of life. And I think that we were really blessed in this conference
talk and many others. They've talked about this witness. They've witnessed to us the
doctrine of ministering of angels, communicating with our ancestors on the other side of the
veil. And I've mentioned this before. This is not something that my ears picked up on
in the past. And now that I'm more familiar with the process or had my own experiences,
it piques my interest when they're willing to share these things.
It's a good way to put it.
So this was incredible for that. He said of this story, nine months after the sweet sister's
passing, one of her sons had a remarkable experience in the temple. He learned by the
power of the Holy Ghost, and I love that, that we're reminded of where this power comes
from, that his mother had a message for him. She communicated with him, not in vision,
not in audible words. The following unmistakable message came into the son's mind from his
mother. I want you to know that mortality works. And I want you to know that I now understand
why everything happened in my life the way that it did, and it's all okay.
Those are incredible words, Abby. I really love how he talked about that message and
how it came across. These experiences are sacred and special, yet are totally appropriate
to share as they can teach us on another level. And I also feel that the Spirit is going to
prompt us when it's appropriate and when...
That's the truth.
Yes.
Who could benefit from the words. We ran through all the difficult things that this woman experienced
in her life and the things she had to overcome. And some of those things were never made completely
right in this lifetime. And yet through the Spirit, this message came.
It's sad because I think a lot of us could write that same story for ourselves if you
just kind of highlight the hard and difficult things in life. You and I were talking before
we started recording and you're like, man, that was hard life. I'm like, yeah, so is
cancer, falling off a cliff edge, dealing with cancer, dealing with animal death, and
named a few more things. And I was highlighting your life. And so we can write our lives in
that type of a way, but that's not how she would explain her life.
Doesn't have to define it.
Yeah. From the perspective on the other side of the veil, she was able to articulate that
to her son who was probably thinking, man, mom, you had a hard life and I'm like feeling
so sad that that's the way that your life played out. And she wanted to say from this
perspective or where she's at, dude, that was fine.
We're good.
I must have signed up for it and I'm totally okay with it. And I'm so happy with where
I'm at. A question that comes to mind is how would you describe the mortal experience?
I would say that everyone's life is going to be full of challenges, heartaches and difficulties.
And if they haven't come yet, you just haven't lived long enough. But most likely everyone
has them by now. And there's also joy and happiness, there's pleasure and pain. It's
like all of the opposites. We feel all of it, the full spectrum of human emotion.
Yeah, they're all there. And for a purpose, I don't think we really appreciate the joyous
moments if we haven't had a bit of pain in our lives.
Right.
Yeah, to say it from the top, probably this line here, it says, our perfect heavenly father
has designed a plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. His plan provides
a way for us to rise above our mortal failures and failures of mortality that have nothing
to do with us. The Lord has said, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man.
So within the plan, we must expect to be schooled and taught to pass through the refiner's
fire sometime to our utter limits. To completely avoid the problems, challenges and difficulties
of this world would be to sidestep the process that is truly necessary for mortality to work.
When we say that mortality works, so essentially we're saying that all the good and all the
bad were just the right situations to tutor us in Christ-like attributes and also provide
a way to become more like Jesus. Jesus Christ loved and bore the challenges of mortality
and he experienced the joy that comes with earth life. And also, he eventually laid down
his life that he could pick it up again and offer all men eternal life. So it's just like
the perfect, I mean, if you're looking at it from an eternal perspective, it's what heavenly
father knows will help shape us and refine us. We're offered the same blessing when he
said, and who so lay us down his life in my cause for my name's sake shall find it again,
even life eternal. How can we be assured or not afraid of mortal challenges?
Well, doesn't it give you comfort to know that the Savior could have prevented himself
from experiencing any trouble because of the power that he has, but he intentionally chose
not to use it in that way. He chose it to not erase all the pain and heartache that
he could experience in his mortal journey.
So that he could sucker me, yes, I do.
Exactly. And he counseled us, therefore be not afraid of your enemies or your problems,
challenges, tests in this life. For I have decreed, sayeth the Lord, that I will prove
you in all things, whether you abide in my covenant, that you may be found worthy. So
we're promised the blessings upon blessings as endowments from God come as we make covenants
with him, as we make and keep them. And really the only limit is ones that we place on ourselves,
like whether we're going to abide in that covenant or not. And I would just testify
that the difficult things in my life haven't been removed by my temple covenants, but they've
absolutely been made well because of them. And when I read that, when I was reading these
ideas in this talk, all the emotions that I felt clear back to one of our first season
with Elder Eyring's talk about the line, you know, all will be well because of our temple
covenants, it kind of just came rushing back to my brain and helped me connect the dots
of why I feel peace amidst the storm and what power sustains me in the trials of life.
That's great, Abby. I love that your mind was taken back. I'm sure that the Spirit brought
you back to that moment and like brought it just to the forefront of your mind. So a great
question is asked here. What happens when we feel distraught or anxious about our problems?
Or I'm sure each one of us have felt this at one time or another, feel that we might
be receiving more than our fair share of life's difficulties.
I think it's important to apply his message to the children of Israel in our own challenges.
In the talk he said, thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee forty
years in the wilderness to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart,
whether thou would keep His commandment or not. I mean, we look at, on a map, we look
at what that travel in the wilderness could have looked like. It could have been like
a couple day journey. And instead they took 40 years. There was so much tutoring and preparation.
And I really think that story, it was like for the next generation. Sometimes our ancestors
have to go through, you know, the long traveling to prepare the next generation who's coming.
He used some scripture references. He said, Lehi taught his son Jacob, thou hast suffered
afflictions and much sorrow. Nevertheless, God shall consecrate thine afflictions for
thy gain. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed because of the righteousness of thy
Father. When you hear that, when you see that he'll consecrate thine afflictions for thy
gain, when I listed some of your life challenges, like, does your mind kind of immediately go
back on, because you're at this point in your life, the lessons that you learned in some
of those trials?
Absolutely.
Or the lessons you're learning right now, like some of those trials aren't over?
Right. I think because, I think I do have that perspective because of this exact scripture
that God shall consecrate mine afflictions for my gain. Like when I heard that, that
stays in my heart and I'm able to look at my challenges in a much different way. Like,
Heavenly Father, how is this, how are you consecrating this for me? Help me to see it
as I, you know, move through this challenge or whatever. And then also in looking back
and asking that, I can definitely see it. One of the things was, which we're going to
talk about this in an upcoming talk is just one of the things I learned during cancer,
which I didn't really realize it at the time, but it was a definite way that my body said,
stop, we're done and you're going to learn stillness. Because everything was canceled
for me. I couldn't drive. I couldn't, I was on pain medication, so I couldn't do anything.
Like I really, I learned stillness. Now I learned a bunch of other things too, but it
was just interesting.
You isolated out how he used cancer for your gain. I love that. And like you don't have
to necessarily go through cancer again to pull the blessings of, of what the stillness,
like what you need stillness and other times in your life. There's other storms brewing
and you can pull those lessons you have about later.
So Elder Hales gets even more personal here when he talked about his youth. He said, as
a youth, I personally experienced great emotional pain and shame that came as the result of
the unrighteous actions of another, which for many years affected my self-worth and
my sense of worthiness before the Lord. Nevertheless, I bear personal witness that the Lord can
strengthen us and bear us up in whatever difficulties we are called upon to experience during our
sojourn in this valley of tears. And Abby, I got to say that when he shared this, I mean,
I've talked with multiple people since then and the general consensus was that was so
powerful. I feel like this is the first time that pretty specifically it talked about,
you could say abuse or whatever it was that he's talking about. This is the first time
that's really come up in conference being very clear and very blunt. And I've talked
to multiple people and they said, you know, that really helped me or helped my dad or
it helped whoever it was. Someone in their life has been touched by abuse and that they
just said this really offered solace to them. It is said that Elder Hales had to endure
something so painful, but aren't we blessed by the testimony he's able to share because
of his own life experience. He bore a burden for years and it refined him. It was eventually
strengthened emotionally and spiritually and finally recognized after many years, he says,
that I have always been a person of worth and worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Savior helped me to overcome my feelings of unworthiness and to extend sincere forgiveness
to the offender. I finally understood that the Savior's atonement was a personal gift
for me and that my heavenly father and his son love me perfectly because of the Savior's
atonement mortality works.
Nicole Sometimes we're pleading with the Lord for
desired blessing and we see blessings and miracles happen around us, but we think ours
aren't being granted sometimes.
Abby Oh, for sure.
Nicole How can we help? How can we ourselves know
or how can we help others find courage to remain faithful when we think our prayers
are not being heard?
Abby That's really hard, Abby. It's a great place
to talk about the apostle Paul, I think. He had a personal struggle referred to as a thorn
in the flesh. We've all had that. Was this a physical ailment, an emotional ailment?
We don't know exactly, but we do know that Paul witnessed Jesus perform many miracles
firsthand, and something he witnessed made him confident that Jesus Christ could take
this thing from him. He didn't hesitate to ask. He didn't hesitate to ask again and
yet again for the third time. Despite pleading with God three times to remove it, he was
told, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul
accept this choosing to find strength in his weakness so that Christ's power may rest upon
him. Because the exact nature of the thorn is not revealed, this story emphasizes a broader
message of relying on God's grace and strength in times of difficulty. And yes, again, because
it's not specific, it's very general and it can apply to all of us in every season of
life.
And we know that Paul was righteous and a covenant keeper because Paul was receiving
an abundance of revelations in his life. And so if we're in a place that we're saying,
I'm doing all of the right things, or like I'm intentionally choosing to obey you and
keep your commandments, why aren't the blessings coming? Why aren't things being made manifest
for me? I'll give you a chance to kind of do on that for a second as I comment that
I think what's happening is that it is happening in his way and in his timing for our greatest
good. Because sometimes when I've wanted something immediately, I wasn't really ready for that
immediate blessing. And I needed that time to experience different facets or facets of
the trial so that I could learn the most from it.
Absolutely. And it's funny too, because at every point I'm like, no, Heavenly Father,
I'm ready. Bless me. He's like, thank you, but you're really not. Like you haven't learned
very specific lessons that are preparatory and you're learning those now.
Yeah. And usually that pleading comes because you think you're at your wit's end. You think
you've reached like the max of what you can endure. But if the blessing isn't really received
exactly in that moment, but you still make it another day, isn't there some blessing
there that we just need to put a name to? I think so.
In Elder Hale's case, a deep lesson on forgiveness and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ
came as he endured his own trial for so long. And when you were talking, I was like, oh,
he deeply suffered for a long time. That didn't really click to me the first time I was reading
it. I was thinking more like, as a teenager, he didn't feel so forth. I'm seeing what this
is saying a lot more now.
Happened as a teenager, sticks with you for the rest of your life.
Well, it's unfortunate for what happened in that moment, but I can see that he's turned
that awful thing that happened to him into blessing the lives of me and many around the
world as he's sharing this from the conference pulpit. And so he's used this trial of his
youth in a positive way. He uses it to testify for the Savior Jesus Christ. Also, he has
more compassion for innocent victims of another's actions and empathy for the downtrodden.
For sure.
He hopes he's kinder to others. He hopes he can treat others as the Savior would. And
he has greater understanding for the sinner. He's impressive. There's a quote that I wanted
to share. He says, as we come to rely on the Savior's grace and keep our covenants, we
can serve as examples of the far-reaching effects of the Savior's atonement.
Love that. So good. I like how after sharing that, he was clear to say that he recognizes
that this was his personal journey and experience, the resolution of which an eventual outcome
cannot be projected onto those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the unrighteous
behavior of others. But hopefully each of us that is bearing a burden that feels too
heavy in the moment can, through the Spirit, understand the message that is meant for us.
I saw a quote a couple of weeks ago and I loved it. It said, I hate that I have to heal
from things that weren't my fault. And that kind of reminds me, I mean, because it's true.
It's something that now is part of your life and you get to choose what are you going to
do with this. And it is a beautiful testimony of him sharing something so close to the heart
in such a beautiful way, that it's very evident that he did a lot of soul searching and he
turned to Jesus. And just like Paul, he believed him and that thorn was taken from his side.
And I also like that he's very honest about it. It's not an immediate blessing. It took
a lot. It sounds like it took years for his life to really work through that.
With a spiritual lens, we can see that that end in sight or feel the burden lifted as
we yoke ourselves with the Savior, that we can recommit to our covenants with him and
feel in more full measure the blessings associated with those covenants. And if we've taken time
to reflect on our covenants that are living up to them and just the best that we can,
then we will have the eyes to see the blessings that are there, even if it's difficult in
this very moment to see them. With more time and experience, we will have the opportunity
to look back and see just how perfectly mortality is working.
Story, story, story. He had another story to share with us. His final story was, in
his words, he said he considered it a dream, but I'm just inserting my two cents. I'm confident
that his mother was ministering to him through the veil in a very comfortable, peaceful way.
Not trying to like up and leave the room when you're feeling like the spirit enter. This
was a dream. It was definitely ministering opportunity his mother was taking. And he
said, Elder Hale said, my mother faced a life of hardship, including polio, financial struggles.
She lost a child. Despite these challenges, she remained faithful to her covenants, which
we remember was a big piece of the equation of success in this life. The promises that
we have being covenant makers. It also said of her, she loved the Lord. She served her
family and community selflessly. Her daughter that passed had a young child and she helped
raise her granddaughter for 17 years. These circumstances were difficult, yet she served
as a temple worker for many years. It says in later life, she suffered from dementia
and she passed away unexpectedly while alone in a nursing facility. Months after her passing,
the author had a vivid dream in which his mother appeared from the spirit world, radiating
spiritual beauty and peace. Though she did not speak, her presence conveyed love, healing,
joy, affirming her happiness and readiness for a glorious resurrection. This experience
confirmed to Elder Hale that mortality, with all its trials, serves a divine purpose.
That is so beautiful, Abby. Wow. God's work in glory is to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of men. The experiences of mortality are part of the journey that allows
us to grow and progress toward that immortality and eternal life. We're not sent here to fail,
but to succeed in God's plan for us.
And I mean, sometimes, honestly, just the hardships and trials of life feel so much
like a tidal wave. They could just swallow us whole. And I just, more and more, I just
think as far as trials go in life, as we turn to Jesus Christ and yoke ourselves with Him,
we're able to access His power. And that's the only way to get through things.
As King Benjamin taught, and moreover I would desire, that you should consider on the blessed
and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all
things, both temporal and spiritual. And if they hold out faithful to the end, they are
received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never ending
happiness. Love that.
I think that perfectly summarizes that we're yoking ourselves to Him when we yoke ourselves
with covenants and we abide by the requirements of those covenants. He can pour untold blessings
on us. It may not be the one we are asking for, but it's the one that we need.
And the access is miracles. Again, He gets to choose what it's going to be. But when
we live God's law, we get to be blessed by the abundance that He has. That's where miracles
come in.
That's well said. We'll close with His testimony. Do we feel good to wrap it up?
We do.
Okay.
Give it to us, Abby.
The final thought. His testimony says, I testify that as we receive the ordinances of the gospel,
enter into covenants with God and then keep those covenants, repent, serve others, and
endure to the end, we too can have the assurance and complete trust in the Lord that mortality
is not a sin. I testify of Jesus Christ and that our glorious future with our heavenly
Father is made possible by the grace and atonement of the Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
Amen.
Thank you for being with us today. We'll catch you next time.