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Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus

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share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks. This is Abby

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and Amy. Let's jump into it.

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Today we're talking about mortality works by Elder Brooke P. Hales. Just a short bio

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on him. He was called as a General Authority 70 in 2018, and he also serves as secretary

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to the first presidency. Now, a story that he relates, he talked about serving for many

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years as a ministering brother to a woman who, as he explains, did not have an easy

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life. She had various health problems and experienced a lifetime of pain due to a childhood

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accident on the playground. She was divorced at 32 with four young children to raise and

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provide for for 18 years until she remarried at age 50. Her second husband passed away

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when she was 66, and this sister lived an additional 26 years as a widow. So honestly,

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it could also be said of her that despite challenges, she was faithful to her covenants

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to the end. She was an avid genealogist. She attended the temple. She collected and wrote

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many family histories, though she had many difficult trials and felt at times sadness

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and loneliness. She also had a cheerful countenance and a gracious and pleasant personality, which

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is absolutely amazing that she was able to see past those things and choose happiness.

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Yeah, and be about work that was so important.

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Yeah, also that brings happiness. She knew where to find it.

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Right. She could have just been stuck in the challenges that she had, but the fact that

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she spent her time doing these things give us an idea of what it takes to kind of move

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past the challenges of life. And I think that we were really blessed in this conference

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talk and many others. They've talked about this witness. They've witnessed to us the

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doctrine of ministering of angels, communicating with our ancestors on the other side of the

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veil. And I've mentioned this before. This is not something that my ears picked up on

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in the past. And now that I'm more familiar with the process or had my own experiences,

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it piques my interest when they're willing to share these things.

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It's a good way to put it.

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So this was incredible for that. He said of this story, nine months after the sweet sister's

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passing, one of her sons had a remarkable experience in the temple. He learned by the

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power of the Holy Ghost, and I love that, that we're reminded of where this power comes

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from, that his mother had a message for him. She communicated with him, not in vision,

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not in audible words. The following unmistakable message came into the son's mind from his

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mother. I want you to know that mortality works. And I want you to know that I now understand

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why everything happened in my life the way that it did, and it's all okay.

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Those are incredible words, Abby. I really love how he talked about that message and

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how it came across. These experiences are sacred and special, yet are totally appropriate

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to share as they can teach us on another level. And I also feel that the Spirit is going to

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prompt us when it's appropriate and when...

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That's the truth.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Who could benefit from the words. We ran through all the difficult things that this woman experienced

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in her life and the things she had to overcome. And some of those things were never made completely

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right in this lifetime. And yet through the Spirit, this message came.

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It's sad because I think a lot of us could write that same story for ourselves if you

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just kind of highlight the hard and difficult things in life. You and I were talking before

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we started recording and you're like, man, that was hard life. I'm like, yeah, so is

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cancer, falling off a cliff edge, dealing with cancer, dealing with animal death, and

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named a few more things. And I was highlighting your life. And so we can write our lives in

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that type of a way, but that's not how she would explain her life.

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Doesn't have to define it.

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Yeah. From the perspective on the other side of the veil, she was able to articulate that

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to her son who was probably thinking, man, mom, you had a hard life and I'm like feeling

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so sad that that's the way that your life played out. And she wanted to say from this

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perspective or where she's at, dude, that was fine.

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We're good.

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I must have signed up for it and I'm totally okay with it. And I'm so happy with where

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I'm at. A question that comes to mind is how would you describe the mortal experience?

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I would say that everyone's life is going to be full of challenges, heartaches and difficulties.

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And if they haven't come yet, you just haven't lived long enough. But most likely everyone

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has them by now. And there's also joy and happiness, there's pleasure and pain. It's

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like all of the opposites. We feel all of it, the full spectrum of human emotion.

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Yeah, they're all there. And for a purpose, I don't think we really appreciate the joyous

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moments if we haven't had a bit of pain in our lives.

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Right.

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Yeah, to say it from the top, probably this line here, it says, our perfect heavenly father

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has designed a plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. His plan provides

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a way for us to rise above our mortal failures and failures of mortality that have nothing

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to do with us. The Lord has said, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the

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immortality and eternal life of man.

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So within the plan, we must expect to be schooled and taught to pass through the refiner's

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fire sometime to our utter limits. To completely avoid the problems, challenges and difficulties

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of this world would be to sidestep the process that is truly necessary for mortality to work.

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When we say that mortality works, so essentially we're saying that all the good and all the

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bad were just the right situations to tutor us in Christ-like attributes and also provide

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a way to become more like Jesus. Jesus Christ loved and bore the challenges of mortality

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and he experienced the joy that comes with earth life. And also, he eventually laid down

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his life that he could pick it up again and offer all men eternal life. So it's just like

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the perfect, I mean, if you're looking at it from an eternal perspective, it's what heavenly

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father knows will help shape us and refine us. We're offered the same blessing when he

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said, and who so lay us down his life in my cause for my name's sake shall find it again,

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even life eternal. How can we be assured or not afraid of mortal challenges?

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Well, doesn't it give you comfort to know that the Savior could have prevented himself

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from experiencing any trouble because of the power that he has, but he intentionally chose

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not to use it in that way. He chose it to not erase all the pain and heartache that

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he could experience in his mortal journey.

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So that he could sucker me, yes, I do.

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Exactly. And he counseled us, therefore be not afraid of your enemies or your problems,

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challenges, tests in this life. For I have decreed, sayeth the Lord, that I will prove

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you in all things, whether you abide in my covenant, that you may be found worthy. So

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we're promised the blessings upon blessings as endowments from God come as we make covenants

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with him, as we make and keep them. And really the only limit is ones that we place on ourselves,

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like whether we're going to abide in that covenant or not. And I would just testify

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that the difficult things in my life haven't been removed by my temple covenants, but they've

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absolutely been made well because of them. And when I read that, when I was reading these

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ideas in this talk, all the emotions that I felt clear back to one of our first season

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with Elder Eyring's talk about the line, you know, all will be well because of our temple

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covenants, it kind of just came rushing back to my brain and helped me connect the dots

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of why I feel peace amidst the storm and what power sustains me in the trials of life.

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That's great, Abby. I love that your mind was taken back. I'm sure that the Spirit brought

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you back to that moment and like brought it just to the forefront of your mind. So a great

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question is asked here. What happens when we feel distraught or anxious about our problems?

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Or I'm sure each one of us have felt this at one time or another, feel that we might

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be receiving more than our fair share of life's difficulties.

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I think it's important to apply his message to the children of Israel in our own challenges.

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In the talk he said, thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee forty

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years in the wilderness to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart,

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whether thou would keep His commandment or not. I mean, we look at, on a map, we look

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at what that travel in the wilderness could have looked like. It could have been like

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a couple day journey. And instead they took 40 years. There was so much tutoring and preparation.

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And I really think that story, it was like for the next generation. Sometimes our ancestors

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have to go through, you know, the long traveling to prepare the next generation who's coming.

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He used some scripture references. He said, Lehi taught his son Jacob, thou hast suffered

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afflictions and much sorrow. Nevertheless, God shall consecrate thine afflictions for

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thy gain. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed because of the righteousness of thy

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Father. When you hear that, when you see that he'll consecrate thine afflictions for thy

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gain, when I listed some of your life challenges, like, does your mind kind of immediately go

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back on, because you're at this point in your life, the lessons that you learned in some

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of those trials?

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Absolutely.

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Or the lessons you're learning right now, like some of those trials aren't over?

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Right. I think because, I think I do have that perspective because of this exact scripture

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that God shall consecrate mine afflictions for my gain. Like when I heard that, that

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stays in my heart and I'm able to look at my challenges in a much different way. Like,

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Heavenly Father, how is this, how are you consecrating this for me? Help me to see it

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as I, you know, move through this challenge or whatever. And then also in looking back

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and asking that, I can definitely see it. One of the things was, which we're going to

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talk about this in an upcoming talk is just one of the things I learned during cancer,

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which I didn't really realize it at the time, but it was a definite way that my body said,

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stop, we're done and you're going to learn stillness. Because everything was canceled

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for me. I couldn't drive. I couldn't, I was on pain medication, so I couldn't do anything.

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Like I really, I learned stillness. Now I learned a bunch of other things too, but it

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was just interesting.

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You isolated out how he used cancer for your gain. I love that. And like you don't have

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to necessarily go through cancer again to pull the blessings of, of what the stillness,

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like what you need stillness and other times in your life. There's other storms brewing

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and you can pull those lessons you have about later.

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So Elder Hales gets even more personal here when he talked about his youth. He said, as

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a youth, I personally experienced great emotional pain and shame that came as the result of

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the unrighteous actions of another, which for many years affected my self-worth and

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my sense of worthiness before the Lord. Nevertheless, I bear personal witness that the Lord can

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strengthen us and bear us up in whatever difficulties we are called upon to experience during our

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sojourn in this valley of tears. And Abby, I got to say that when he shared this, I mean,

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I've talked with multiple people since then and the general consensus was that was so

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powerful. I feel like this is the first time that pretty specifically it talked about,

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you could say abuse or whatever it was that he's talking about. This is the first time

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that's really come up in conference being very clear and very blunt. And I've talked

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to multiple people and they said, you know, that really helped me or helped my dad or

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it helped whoever it was. Someone in their life has been touched by abuse and that they

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just said this really offered solace to them. It is said that Elder Hales had to endure

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something so painful, but aren't we blessed by the testimony he's able to share because

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of his own life experience. He bore a burden for years and it refined him. It was eventually

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strengthened emotionally and spiritually and finally recognized after many years, he says,

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that I have always been a person of worth and worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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The Savior helped me to overcome my feelings of unworthiness and to extend sincere forgiveness

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to the offender. I finally understood that the Savior's atonement was a personal gift

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for me and that my heavenly father and his son love me perfectly because of the Savior's

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atonement mortality works.

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Nicole Sometimes we're pleading with the Lord for

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desired blessing and we see blessings and miracles happen around us, but we think ours

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aren't being granted sometimes.

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Abby Oh, for sure.

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Nicole How can we help? How can we ourselves know

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or how can we help others find courage to remain faithful when we think our prayers

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are not being heard?

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Abby That's really hard, Abby. It's a great place

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to talk about the apostle Paul, I think. He had a personal struggle referred to as a thorn

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in the flesh. We've all had that. Was this a physical ailment, an emotional ailment?

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We don't know exactly, but we do know that Paul witnessed Jesus perform many miracles

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firsthand, and something he witnessed made him confident that Jesus Christ could take

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this thing from him. He didn't hesitate to ask. He didn't hesitate to ask again and

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yet again for the third time. Despite pleading with God three times to remove it, he was

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told, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul

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accept this choosing to find strength in his weakness so that Christ's power may rest upon

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him. Because the exact nature of the thorn is not revealed, this story emphasizes a broader

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message of relying on God's grace and strength in times of difficulty. And yes, again, because

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it's not specific, it's very general and it can apply to all of us in every season of

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life.

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And we know that Paul was righteous and a covenant keeper because Paul was receiving

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an abundance of revelations in his life. And so if we're in a place that we're saying,

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I'm doing all of the right things, or like I'm intentionally choosing to obey you and

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keep your commandments, why aren't the blessings coming? Why aren't things being made manifest

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for me? I'll give you a chance to kind of do on that for a second as I comment that

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I think what's happening is that it is happening in his way and in his timing for our greatest

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good. Because sometimes when I've wanted something immediately, I wasn't really ready for that

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immediate blessing. And I needed that time to experience different facets or facets of

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the trial so that I could learn the most from it.

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Absolutely. And it's funny too, because at every point I'm like, no, Heavenly Father,

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I'm ready. Bless me. He's like, thank you, but you're really not. Like you haven't learned

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very specific lessons that are preparatory and you're learning those now.

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Yeah. And usually that pleading comes because you think you're at your wit's end. You think

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you've reached like the max of what you can endure. But if the blessing isn't really received

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exactly in that moment, but you still make it another day, isn't there some blessing

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there that we just need to put a name to? I think so.

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In Elder Hale's case, a deep lesson on forgiveness and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ

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came as he endured his own trial for so long. And when you were talking, I was like, oh,

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he deeply suffered for a long time. That didn't really click to me the first time I was reading

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it. I was thinking more like, as a teenager, he didn't feel so forth. I'm seeing what this

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is saying a lot more now.

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Happened as a teenager, sticks with you for the rest of your life.

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Well, it's unfortunate for what happened in that moment, but I can see that he's turned

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that awful thing that happened to him into blessing the lives of me and many around the

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world as he's sharing this from the conference pulpit. And so he's used this trial of his

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youth in a positive way. He uses it to testify for the Savior Jesus Christ. Also, he has

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more compassion for innocent victims of another's actions and empathy for the downtrodden.

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For sure.

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He hopes he's kinder to others. He hopes he can treat others as the Savior would. And

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he has greater understanding for the sinner. He's impressive. There's a quote that I wanted

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to share. He says, as we come to rely on the Savior's grace and keep our covenants, we

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can serve as examples of the far-reaching effects of the Savior's atonement.

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Love that. So good. I like how after sharing that, he was clear to say that he recognizes

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that this was his personal journey and experience, the resolution of which an eventual outcome

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cannot be projected onto those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the unrighteous

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behavior of others. But hopefully each of us that is bearing a burden that feels too

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heavy in the moment can, through the Spirit, understand the message that is meant for us.

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I saw a quote a couple of weeks ago and I loved it. It said, I hate that I have to heal

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from things that weren't my fault. And that kind of reminds me, I mean, because it's true.

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It's something that now is part of your life and you get to choose what are you going to

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do with this. And it is a beautiful testimony of him sharing something so close to the heart

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in such a beautiful way, that it's very evident that he did a lot of soul searching and he

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turned to Jesus. And just like Paul, he believed him and that thorn was taken from his side.

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And I also like that he's very honest about it. It's not an immediate blessing. It took

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a lot. It sounds like it took years for his life to really work through that.

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With a spiritual lens, we can see that that end in sight or feel the burden lifted as

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we yoke ourselves with the Savior, that we can recommit to our covenants with him and

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feel in more full measure the blessings associated with those covenants. And if we've taken time

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to reflect on our covenants that are living up to them and just the best that we can,

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then we will have the eyes to see the blessings that are there, even if it's difficult in

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this very moment to see them. With more time and experience, we will have the opportunity

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to look back and see just how perfectly mortality is working.

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Story, story, story. He had another story to share with us. His final story was, in

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his words, he said he considered it a dream, but I'm just inserting my two cents. I'm confident

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that his mother was ministering to him through the veil in a very comfortable, peaceful way.

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Not trying to like up and leave the room when you're feeling like the spirit enter. This

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was a dream. It was definitely ministering opportunity his mother was taking. And he

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said, Elder Hale said, my mother faced a life of hardship, including polio, financial struggles.

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She lost a child. Despite these challenges, she remained faithful to her covenants, which

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we remember was a big piece of the equation of success in this life. The promises that

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we have being covenant makers. It also said of her, she loved the Lord. She served her

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family and community selflessly. Her daughter that passed had a young child and she helped

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raise her granddaughter for 17 years. These circumstances were difficult, yet she served

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as a temple worker for many years. It says in later life, she suffered from dementia

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and she passed away unexpectedly while alone in a nursing facility. Months after her passing,

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the author had a vivid dream in which his mother appeared from the spirit world, radiating

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spiritual beauty and peace. Though she did not speak, her presence conveyed love, healing,

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joy, affirming her happiness and readiness for a glorious resurrection. This experience

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confirmed to Elder Hale that mortality, with all its trials, serves a divine purpose.

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That is so beautiful, Abby. Wow. God's work in glory is to bring to pass the immortality

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and eternal life of men. The experiences of mortality are part of the journey that allows

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us to grow and progress toward that immortality and eternal life. We're not sent here to fail,

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but to succeed in God's plan for us.

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And I mean, sometimes, honestly, just the hardships and trials of life feel so much

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like a tidal wave. They could just swallow us whole. And I just, more and more, I just

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think as far as trials go in life, as we turn to Jesus Christ and yoke ourselves with Him,

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we're able to access His power. And that's the only way to get through things.

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As King Benjamin taught, and moreover I would desire, that you should consider on the blessed

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and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all

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things, both temporal and spiritual. And if they hold out faithful to the end, they are

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received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never ending

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happiness. Love that.

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I think that perfectly summarizes that we're yoking ourselves to Him when we yoke ourselves

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with covenants and we abide by the requirements of those covenants. He can pour untold blessings

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on us. It may not be the one we are asking for, but it's the one that we need.

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And the access is miracles. Again, He gets to choose what it's going to be. But when

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we live God's law, we get to be blessed by the abundance that He has. That's where miracles

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come in.

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That's well said. We'll close with His testimony. Do we feel good to wrap it up?

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We do.

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Okay.

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Give it to us, Abby.

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The final thought. His testimony says, I testify that as we receive the ordinances of the gospel,

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enter into covenants with God and then keep those covenants, repent, serve others, and

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endure to the end, we too can have the assurance and complete trust in the Lord that mortality

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is not a sin. I testify of Jesus Christ and that our glorious future with our heavenly

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Father is made possible by the grace and atonement of the Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ,

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amen.

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Amen.

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Thank you for being with us today. We'll catch you next time.