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. Happy Palm Sunday. We're so excited
to kick off the April 2025 session of General
Conference. And as we promised, we have moved
the prophet's address to the very front of the
stack. So today we'll be discussing confidence
in the presence of God by our prophet, President
Russell M. Nelson. Let me start with one of my
favorite first line themes. He says, we live
in a day of great momentum. in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. Don't you
love that word? I do. And it kind of made me
think of all of the things that are like momentum.
As momentum is, it's just growing, it's building,
and it's going with like fastness and urgency
as it keeps building and building. And he listed
a few things. He talked about the youth and their
service in the temple, just service in the communities
and the work that they're doing in the temples
and family history. He talked about missionary
applications really increasing. And he said very
flattering words. He said, this generation is
rising up. I love that. The rising generation
is rising up. I was like, yes. And probably like
a lot of you, we had some of those rising generations
kind of about our feet as the conference kicked
off. And I thought, I do feel good about where
we're at. And I think we are in good hands. He
showed the picture of his great grandbaby. And
my kids were just like, oh, that's so cute. And
he brought something up about. you know, looking
at this baby, maybe some fears or concerns that
she's going to experience in her life. Did you
have that experience when you and Garrett were
thinking of bringing children into the world?
Did you for once hesitate? I didn't, which is
hilarious. Once I had the children, yes, I definitely
thought that way. Yeah. I just felt like that
was something I've always wanted to do, so I
didn't question it. You know what I mean? Beforehand.
But yeah, afterwards, when I look at their sweet
little faces. You bet. And it just brought to
remembrance, like on my own, like I was 24 at
marriage, 26 when we had our first kid. So like
somewhere, you know, around age 25, I know that
I contemplated that. I was like looking at the
world around me and I'm like, is it wise to bring
children into this earth? And I got a confirmation
from the spirit that it would all be all right
and that we would have the tools necessary. And
it was really cool. It was like a sweet moment
for me to think we're 16 years into this and
we've brought five children into the world. you
know, yeah, they're faced with some challenging
things. But we all have to counter that fear
with something better. And the prophet suggested,
and it's just age -old advice, that faith in
Jesus Christ is what parents need to make that
decision, to make that leap into parenthood and
teaching their children. faith in Jesus Christ
for them to be able to sustain, to help provide
the greatest opportunity for future happiness
for them. He said, we can count on these things
in our earth life experience. We can count on
challenges, illness, disappointment, temptation,
and loss. I'm like, sign me up, man. He's real.
He's so real. These challenges can knock our
self -confidence. However, bolded this, disciples
of Jesus Christ have access to a different kind
of confidence. Love it. I love that. Do you have
a favorite piece or part that you want to share?
Do you want me to? So you're pretty much sharing
what it is. I love how he says, now, how do we
gain such confidence? He said, the Lord answers
this question with these words, let thy bowels
be full of charity toward all men and let virtue
garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. Then shall
they confidence wax strong in the presence of
God. And I love it too, because right here he
talks about confidence with the words that the
Lord said. And then I loved it because when I
looked up charity in the Bible dictionary, it
says the highest, noblest, strongest kind of
love, not merely affection, the pure love of
Christ. Oops, wrong one. I was looking at purity.
Sorry, virtue. No, charity was good. But this
is what he said. This is the virtue says the
Latin root word. Virtuous means strength. And
then he says, virtuous women and men possess
a quiet dignity and inner strength. They are
confident because they are worthy to receive
and be guided by the Holy Ghost. So I loved the
fact that the word confident was part. Was in
the definition of virtue. Yes, of virtue. He
has it right on talking about confidence this
whole time because covenantal confidence is definitely
a thing. Yeah, those two paired together really.
If we're constantly assessing ourselves, how
am I being charitable and am I letting virtue
garnish my thoughts? Kind of always giving yourself
a check and balance of the decision you're making
daily. So do you have more on that? Did you kind
of deep dive into those two things for yourself?
Or do you feel like you covered what you wanted
to say about that? Yeah, I pretty much covered
what I wanted to say. I do love what Marvin J.
Ashton said back in 1992 about charity. He says,
real charity is not something you give away.
It is something that you acquire and make part
of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes
implanted in your heart, you are never the same
again. And I love this because President Nelson
also said these words. He says, it makes the
thought of being critical or verbally abusive
repulsive. For sure. It changes your nature.
For sure. Love that. That stuff that you would
normally be inclined to say gives you second
pause and thought to be like, that's not the
person that I want to be here. I love that. So
did you see the paragraph? I mean, he didn't
mince words here. He said regular worship in
the house of the Lord increases our capacity
for both virtue and charity. So you could say
like, how am I going to increase in charity and
virtue? And you can think of a million things.
I think I'd actually like to go into some baby
steps to get there. But what I loved was that
at the very end of it. or the way that it cycles
back is that it's all going to point towards
the temple and the temple points towards Jesus
Christ. And so he's who we want to emulate. He's
who we want to strive to be like. And this is
the prophet that has announced, dedicated, whatever,
half of the temples that are functioning on the
earth. Since his presidency. Serious. I took
a little quiz. Like this guy was like putting
these things on. It's like 55 % of the temples
that are announced or dedicated have happened
since President Nelson became the prophet. Since
2018. Is there any question in your mind what
his specific goal and mission is? I mean, I know
everybody's trying to get us ready to meet our,
you know, ready for the great and terrible day.
He's had the resources available and the momentum
and the gusto to be the prophet of our day that
is just making this happen for people all over
the world. And I think that's so exciting. And
he said that we do not know the day or the hour
of his coming, but the Lord has prompted and
urged him to tell everybody, be ready for that
great and dreadful day. I love when he said his
words were, just like you said, he didn't know
when it was, but I do know that the Lord is prompting
me to urge us to get ready. It made it very personal.
And like when he said the word that the Lord
is prompting me, I had the spirit bear witness
to my heart that he is God's mouthpiece on the
earth, that he speaks directly with Jesus Christ.
The Spirit just confirmed in my heart that they
have a very close bond and that I trust President
Nelson with all of my heart. I know he receives
personal revelation and revelation for the entire
world. He said, prayer is one way. He said, imagine
the comfort of having confidence in the presence
of God. So what you're saying to me, that line
pops out that I'm like, what he's saying is he
has absolute confidence to have these conversations
in a very real and personal way. And he said,
imagine knowing right now, right this second,
that you would be confident enough to approach
him. I love it. So he says this of Heavenly Father.
He hears us. He understands our needs better
than we do. I'm referring to having confidence
that He loves us more than we can comprehend
and that He sends angels to be with us and with
those that we love. I'm referring to having confidence
that He yearns to help each of us reach our highest
potential. Isn't that amazing? It is. It does
bring me comfort to hear those words. A little
different line, but a little farther down. He
makes an invitation to us. He says, Take intentional
steps to grow in your confidence before the Lord.
He invites us. I love when he uses the word,
I invite, before that. You know, he's like, I
want to take every invitation that he gives to
us. And I thought, well, he's really asking us
to assess how we're showing charity and how we're
demonstrating virtue, little changes day by day.
But then I thought, you know, what might that
look like for some of us? And so I spent some
time thinking about prayer. consistent prayer
and and the type that where you're not just asking
for things but you're also listening you're also
you're also just making yourself present another
conference talk that we'll get into talked about
just Imagine sitting there with the Savior right
there and having this conversation with Him.
We'll get deeper into that when we land on that
talk again. But I was like, it's such a beautiful
thing to do because it makes the conversation
much different. It makes prayer not a laundry
list of asking for things, but it's a real conversation
with a friend. It says our confidence grows when
we feel connected to God and prayer is the direct
line to building that intimate relationship with
Him. I'm going to come to you with my things
and I'm going to listen as you have some thoughts
back for me. And you'll see me take that to heart
and implement that. And, you know, our next session
together is going to look a little bit different.
I love all of that. So they're honest conversations
and you're talking about your doubts and your
fears and your hopes, all of the things. And
like any good parent, he's, I would pretty much
say. 99 % of the time, he's not going to overstep
the boundary of agency to tell us something unless
we invite that. Totally. And so, I mean, I'm
thinking of, you know, Alba the Younger with
an angel, right? He didn't necessarily ask for
it, but his parents did. And so that's kind of
a blessing of compensation for his parents' righteousness.
But yeah, he's not going to just sit there and
start talking to you and just lay everything
out when, number one, you haven't asked. And
number two, you haven't made space and said,
like, I value your input and I want it and I'm
ready to act right now. That's not how it works.
The prophet perfectly emulates exactly how they
would be. He invites us to take these steps forward,
to be intentional and to do this thing. So you
might look at him and be like, of course, he's
confident to meet the Lord. But what he's saying
is you can be just as confident. You don't have
to be a prophet of God. And he also didn't list
these things. I'm sharing with you some things
that I've pondered on as I'm looking into the
talk. He points you to the temple, whatever it's
going to take to get you into the temple doors.
that's key for him. But I thought, you know,
I love the word intentional and I like to think
about the things I'm doing and how I'm intentionally
doing them. So that's, this is me. I'm not really
making a checklist of things, but I'm just sharing
like what, how I think, you know, a really society
lesson would go that somebody would say, you
know, I'm, how I'm being intentional and becoming
more confident with the Lord is in how I communicate
with them in prayer. Maybe it's a prayer journaling
situation where it's not like it's a more open
dialogue and you're really just opening yourself
the whole day to hear what he has to say for
you. Love that. Or that you're bringing, you're
telling him things that he already knows, but
you're feeling comfortable knowing that he's
the person that wants to know these things. For
sure. Yes. So, you know, our engagement in the
scriptures, we've dabbled in this a few different
ways, a few different times, but finding maybe
finding some scripture verses that. point to,
you know, virtue and charity of our Savior and
thinking on those, reflecting on those a little
bit more. Do a little deep dive into those for
sure. And also I was thinking as we bring, and
I think you agree, as we bring the prophet's
message, even though it was the last talk of
the session, when we bring it to the top of it,
kind of see, we'll kind of see how it weaves,
every talk weaved into this perfect tapestry
of the message that he shared at the end. which
was prerecorded and he didn't exactly know what
everybody was going to be talking about. But
I have confidence that as we go through each
conference talk, we'll be drawn to the prophet's
words and be like, oh, that's how we can amplify
the prophet's words and reflect what he said.
So that'll be kind of a mission of mine, maybe
of yours too, as we're doing each conference
talk that we say, how is this helping us accept
the prophet's invitation too? increase in charity
and virtue right um so conference talks i would
put that in in scripture because it is modern
scripture absolutely that it it's not like something
to just be consumed in one weekend it's i i definitely
heard one of the conference talks suggest that
over the next six months that we're going to
dive into them glean what we can from them. And
I love that because I felt like that's exactly
what I felt blessed with in this podcast, that
I can just enjoy conference weekend for what
it is. Just the overall theme, you can see some
themes. I'm sure we all had different things
that we saw, but that as we go and we deep dive
into them, we're like, that's what I'm ready
to hear right now. That's the step that I'm ready
to make. I thought it was a really neat idea
to reflect on past faithfulness, meaning when
you stop and you think of moments in your life
where God's presence was given to you in small
and simple ways. Sometimes you journal that,
sometimes it's just a memory in a photo, just
a passing thought. But when you can look back
on little pieces of your life that remind you
of what he's done for you in the past, it helps
you know what he will do for you in the future.
Absolutely. I love it too, because I feel like
there were a lot of times that someone said,
The phrase that was used was preparatory experiences.
Love it. That's exactly what that is, is every
experience, every spiritual experience, every
connection with God is a preparatory experience
and it builds upon and builds upon what comes
next. And you don't really know that it was a
preparatory experience until you have the big
shebang. No, it feels like the final end. You
think that and you think your capacity is at
its max, but then you get to the big shebang
and you're like, oh, that experience prepared
me for. This one that I'm having now. Whether
you like it or not, Abby. And unfortunately,
it may also just be another preparatory experience
for the next bigger one. For sure. I love the
idea of practicing small and simple steps. So
whatever you're doing now that you think is drawing
you closer to the Lord, it's like a 1 % better
idea. Like, what can you do a little bit? What
can you do to, you know, if your prayers seem
kind of like short, simple, and which is there's
nothing wrong with that, but rote. Like, you're
just saying the same thing time after time. That's
one step. And that's the only thing that you
should make. Like, really, the only thing you
need to focus on right now. Oh, yeah. And it
would change everything. It doesn't have to be
15 different things. It can be one thing in small
and simple ways. I love that you're saying small
and simple ways. That was something that came
to my mind over and over again as I studied this
talk. The first thing that came to mind was I
was like, President Nelson is so real. He is
saying. Things are hard. This is the current
challenge. Like, for example, one of them was
he said, brothers and sisters, as the world grows
more wicked, we need to grow increasingly pure.
Does he have his head in the sand about how things
are? No, he's saying, I know this is one of your
challenges of right now. And then I love he has
prophetic anecdotes. And like you said, small
and simple things. I loved this part. Like I
geek out over it. Our thoughts, words, and actions,
those are all very small, need to be unfailingly
virtuous and filled with the pure love of Jesus
Christ towards all men. And then he even gave
us a practice in thought management, which I
thought was amazing. I loved it. He's 100 years
old and he's doing this. He says, imagine the
boost you'll receive to any positive thought
when you enhance it with virtue. In my mind,
I'm like seeing. the thought and then like a
little plus and then virtue afterwards and it
grows exponentially. And then he said, virtue
makes everything better and happier. On the other
hand, imagine what will happen when you add virtue
to an impure thought. So we have a negative,
an impure thought, but then when you're adding
virtue to it, it cancels it out, right? A cruel
thought, a depressing thought. Virtue will drive
away those thoughts. Virtue will free you from
anxiety. or sorry, anxious, troublesome thoughts.
Honestly, who sitting at the feet of the prophet
has not had or currently having right now anxious,
troublesome thoughts about the world we live
in? So I just love that. It was like, he was
so real. He addressed a problem that we all have
right now and then gave very practical, small
and simple steps. Can you quickly reference the
definition of? Virtue one more time. Absolutely,
I will. The Latin root word virtus means strength.
Virtuous women and men possess a quality or sorry,
a quiet dignity and inner strength. They're confident
because they are worthy to receive and be guided
by the Holy Ghost. So you said a thought and
the plus sign and then. And then you put in all
those other words and I was like trying to think
back to the exact phrasing of that. But like
you said, it's like a math equation and it cancels
all the negative thoughts out. And that's so
great. Like to have that in my mind and to teach
my kids and remind them of that. That's a pretty
simple thing to do to truly turn your day around.
For sure. Because if the thought process leads
us to one of those negative attributes that we're
not really shooting for, then we say, okay, how
can I bring virtue into this equation so that
I can cancel that thought out? Which really is
an inner strength and a quiet dignity. Love it.
Yeah. And would you agree that? For each individual,
like the thing that we're going to immediately
gravitate to is going to be kind of a little
different to cancel out. Absolutely. I understand
that the word is virtue that we're going for,
but would you agree like this list of ideas,
prayer or reflecting on a conference talk or
something to like boost your morale, boost your
focus, point you closer to Jesus Christ? What
is your thing of virtue, whether it's a hymn
or a primary song? Yes. That's a good idea. spending
time praising God with song. Love it. Listening.
I think sometimes songs have the best way of
articulating thoughts. I love like in the sacrament
when I'm listening to a sacrament hymn in a beautiful
way, like it weaves the story of our Savior.
I a lot of times would like to just like read
the hymns through as a poem or whatever right
after. If I wasn't busy in the topical guide
right now, I'd be doing that more. But that's
always a great thing because usually it brings
our heart to gratitude and it shifts our focus
from where it's been to where it should be. I
agree. So, you know, another thing I was thinking
is. I guess it kind of ties into the prayer component
of this, but really embracing our vulnerability,
embracing the things that we're not secure and
satisfied in. Because when you're honest with
God about the struggles, He already sees them.
But when you put them out to the world or out
to Him, I guess it's up to Him. Like on the altar.
To Him, on the altar. That's a great way to say
it. I'm visualizing that. This is what I'm insecure
about. um it's kind of the opposite of having
confidence in something right like confidence
doesn't mean that you have everything together
confidence means that you can come to god with
anything right that's like confident in him in
his ability thank you yes confident in um what
was the title of this talk did i write it down
yes um confidence in the presence of god right
Yep. So that's what I'm trying to articulate,
that it's not that you're confident all the time.
It's that you're confident at the altar with
my vulnerabilities. I'm insecure about this.
I don't have it all together. But knowing that
he accepts us and loves us and trusts us where
we are. Totally. So I think, okay, last thing.
Well, probably the last thing that I've been
thinking of. Surrounding yourself with people
that will help you increase your confidence in
front of God. Meaning finding a community of
like -minded believers who can uplift you. Like
if you constantly find yourself in the disturbing,
like, I don't know, how did the prophet word
it? He was just talking about the contention
that's out there and particularly in our social
medias and stuff. There's so much good too. Like
if you spend some time liking positive content,
you will see more positive content. Right. It
is. And if you engage with the negative, it's
going to be really easy to find. So on your online
communities, try to surround yourself with people
who encourage, who are like -minded, who can
uplift you. Love it. There's nothing wrong with
hearing other people's stories. And particularly,
there are bloggers that have stories of faith
that aren't particularly our religion. That's
still the community I'm talking about surrounding
yourself with. That's a positive thing. And it's
nice because you were reminded that we're not
alone in this journey. When you just listen to
negative content and it's what's being fed into
your feed or even negative people in real life,
in real life scenarios, like you want to be the
positive and you want to encourage the positive.
And it's not to say that you can't be around
people that are a little grumbly every time,
you know, all the time. I guess that's where
you know that you need to step in and try to
elevate the conversation. Be charitable towards
them. Have virtuous thoughts. Bring that into
the conversation and try to elevate. Sure. I've
been strengthened by groups of women in the past.
You know, we've had the study group and certainly
love Relief Society when I have the opportunity
to attend, which we're not there now. We're in
the primary. But we do rub shoulders with other
brothers and sisters that are serving in the
primary that fill that. Absolutely. Fill that
cup. Final thoughts, Amy. I love that another
invitation that he said, I take this as an invitation
because he says, let us, let us plead with our
heavenly father to fill our hearts with greater
charity, especially for those who are difficult
to love. Loved it. For charity is a gift. That
might be me a lot of times too. I might be the
difficult one to love. Right? Sometimes we're
the ones that are very difficult. for charity
as a gift from our Heavenly Father for true followers
of Jesus Christ. And then his parting promise,
as we diligently seek to have charity and virtue
fill our lives, our confidence in approaching
God will increase. Then as we go to our Heavenly
Father with increasing confidence, we will be
filled with more joy. and your faith in Jesus
Christ will increase. We will begin to experience
spiritual power that exceeds our greatest hopes.
I don't know about you, but when I hear that
last sentence, I'm like, oh, I'm in. I opt in
here. We will begin to experience spiritual powers
that exceed our greatest hopes. I can think of
some pretty great hopes. And he has even better
ones. So I just love that. I love that too. And
I can't remember if it was you. Or another friend
that was talking about wanting to increase their
relationship with Heavenly Father. Or in a different
way, but we'll go back to this thing. You just
read it. When we go to Heavenly Father with confidence,
it fills us with joy and faith in our Savior,
Jesus Christ. It's a cool blessing that as you
increase your efforts with the Father, that your
relationship with the Son improves simultaneously.
And it feels true. I was also thinking when you
were talking about... you know, loving people
that are hard to love. It is a neat thing. I'm
sure people have to do that for me. So it's,
it's a, you know, it's a give and take. It's
a give and take. It totally is. I mean, I don't,
we wouldn't list names of people, but when there's
somebody that you're like, you know, that they,
that they really great every nerve that you have
and they're hard to be around, but you like have
chosen to look at them like the savior looks
at them, love them like the charity, but the
pure love of Christ. that's a blessing because
you're like, they didn't really change, but it's
changed me in being able to love. Yes. And I'm,
I'm thinking of like, this isn't, this isn't
a hate. This is like, you know, you have a primary
class. I'm not my primary class. They're perfect,
but not even primary. I should scratch that.
But I'm just saying maybe sometimes you're, you're
called to serve somebody and just like at face
value. It's like, that's, they are, they're hard.
They, they grate on my nerves. And they ask hard
questions that are like really detracting or
whatever. Then you're like, okay, love like Jesus.
And they don't really change. But the way you
treat them changes. Oh, yeah. And it changes
the relationship. Absolutely. It can be a very
one -sided equation. It can. Because the only
thing we can control is ourselves. So might as
well start there, right? It's perfect. Let's
close with his testimony. Love it. After a reminder
that he announced 15 more temples. Love that
too. Is that 365? I don't even know. Because
it was 350 before. Then a yes. That's insane.
It is. And like one of these days, it would be
so funny. I'm like, well, he's got 15 more minutes.
Like he kind of cut off early and I was like,
how many temples is he saving to list? But 15
is still a lot. I think that's pretty amazing.
It is. He said, I testify that Jesus Christ,
the Redeemer of Israel, leads this church, his
church. He is preparing to come again. May we
likewise prepare to receive him. For this prayer,
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.