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 Abbie and Aimee. Let's
jump into it. Today we get to talk about the
atoning love of Jesus Christ by Elder Neil L.
Anderson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Hey,
Amy. Hey, Abby. Happy to be here. We're excited
to be here with you again today, you guys. In
Elder Anderson's talk, he begins by saying he
feels greater love for our Savior Jesus Christ
and for His merciful atonement with each passing
year, which is a great place to be every year
learning more about our Savior and loving Him
more. I would say this is a key part of progression.
He then goes on to say that understanding his
divine gift is, for me, an open -ended, heavenly
tutorial that will continue beyond the grave.
So again, addressing our needs as a people who
love and follow Jesus Christ, to continue to
learn about him and understand his principles
by living them every day of our lives, a correct
understanding of his gospel is vital and it becomes
more clear every year we learn and live it. In
this, I see an invitation. It's the beginning
of a new year and it's a great time to reflect
on the things that we learned last year. What
progress do you see in your testimony of Jesus
Christ? Maybe you could share your current testimony,
maybe record it in some way in a journal or a
voice memo, and then do it again next January.
Look back on the progress that you've made and
see how your relationship with the Savior has
changed over. a year period of time. That's great
Abby, I love it. I feel like there was so much
to love in this talk. I found myself listening
over and over again and getting something else
out of it each time. One thing that really stood
out to me throughout Elder Anderson's address
was his desire to really give hope. in the Savior's
miraculous ability to heal on all levels. This
is what he shares. The powerful compassion of
the Savior in forgiving sin and in healing the
wounds caused by the sins of others is a most
miraculous manifestation of the love of God.
And then he says, my desire is to offer hope
for those seeking forgiveness for very serious
sins and to offer comfort to those seeking healing
from the anguishing wounds caused by the serious
sins of others. Healing and forgiveness are each
found in their fullness and atoning love of Jesus
Christ. So again, He turns us back to Jesus Christ.
He's always the center. His message is one that
speaks to my heart, and I think not one person
listening to this message is not in need of both
healing and also forgiveness, even if the sins
are not serious. He first addressed those who
have committed serious sin or are in the process
of repenting or have a desire to fully repent.
And He testified that They will feel the unspeakable
joy of forgiveness. Please know this miracle
is awaiting you. The Savior continuously calls,
come unto me. This invitation is very loving,
even for those that have gone against God's laws.
There's a way back, and that way is always through
the Savior and His loving Atonement. And Heavenly
Father rejoices in your resolve to come unto
Him. He suggests two ways to do this. Faith in
Jesus Christ. and honesty. So strengthening our
faith in the Savior Jesus Christ will invigorate
yearning of our souls to know Him, believe Him,
and yield our hearts to Him. A desire to truly
return to God is accompanied by the determination
to completely be honest with your Heavenly Father
and with yourself, with those who were harmed,
and with your priesthood leaders. I love this
reminder because Satan's always going to try
to tempt us with a thing that we think we can't
receive forgiveness from. And he's pretty crafty,
and it can be a minor thing. Like, some people
will write harder on themselves than others,
but it doesn't have to be a big thing that can
be the roadblock between us and our relationship
with our Savior, when all he's saying is, I never
expected to be perfect, and that's why I came
and did the things that I did. Bring it all to
me. Don't withhold anything from me. Be honest
with yourself. and unload that burden from yourself.
I love that. And also on the flip side, Satan
can lull us into thinking that what we're doing
is not really a big deal. Do you know what I
mean? Like it's, that it's okay. And it's just
our nature. And when I, so I love that he said
honesty. That's a really good thing. And the
way to assess if, if he's got you in that trap
is what's your relationship looking like with
the savior, being honest about that. And you're
saying, I felt more distance than ever before.
And then you would say, It's that thing that
I've been doing lately and that's causing this
disconnect with us. And so, you know, Satan doesn't
win in those scenarios when we're able to recognize
it, call it out for what it is and be honest
in that relationship and make the little corrections
that need to be made. Awesome, Abby. So then
he talks about the third way is to restore what's
broken. I was really struck by the story that
he shared from the perspective of someone, Abby's
nodding, we both remember this story, who's in
the process of repenting and desiring to return
to the church. His former wife was still suffering
from the loss of their eternal marriage, difficulties
with children, the loss of financial security.
and not being quite able to keep up with expenses
and also the deeply suffocating feelings of being
betrayed. So then he shares that he initially,
this man, believed that the amount of money he
gave up on the divorce was enough payment. He
then went to his branch president, who counseled
him to pray and fast about it. He then decided
to give a large amount of his monthly net pay
to his family. And he was about, as he was about
to pay this amount, the spirit instructed him
to double that amount. And this is the part that
struck me. He himself said he was surprised by
that, right? Because it already felt like a generous
amount. But what struck me is that because priesthood
leaders had met with his wife and his children
who were still struggling, the fact that she
now did not have to worry about also providing
for her family financially, this made space for
her. to be able to heal. So this story is really
not all about the money. This story is about
making restitution by removing a worry that his
wife had that he had the power to help, right?
Happen to be with money. You can't make her not
feel betrayed. Right. All the other things. And
one thing that I've learned in the past eight
years is how much effort and space is required
for healing. It can be a full -time job and when
you are still in survival mode, meaning she's
still trying to pay bills and figure that out,
you cannot heal. He was able to at least provide
that environment to where his wife in this talk
said could seek the spirit. She could use her
own agency and begin to heal from this devastating
loss and this life challenge. That was a lot
to think about it was and maybe you find yourself
in that situation and you can't hope that your
former spouse is just gonna the goodness of their
heart come up with this doubling effect, but
I'm really glad that that's the way that this
story worked out. No, we get to see it from the
Is it rude to call Him the sinner? From the sinner's
end, you know? Not rude, we're all sinners. Yeah,
in this perspective. And a repentant person,
a repentant soul who is seeking the Spirit. And
even though he felt like he'd already made restitution,
the fact that the Lord said, do more, and he
did it. Obeying that is what this story. It's
the ideal progression of this Let's say that
he didn't come to that thinking but she was reaching
out to Bishop and Like priesthood leaders and
really society and whatever and and they knew
like hey, she's struggling Yeah, this is not
enough to get by and she didn't ask for this
situation at all Maybe the church steps in and
they help with rent their groceries and you know
kind of a myriad of things in that way, the church
could have been the safety net to open up those
channels that she could have that relief of financial
pressure to, again, do the healing, but so much
more powerful that it was the... of the effector
of the situation. Absolutely. The healing, the
power he's going to get in healing is going to
come so much faster because he's the one that's
making it right, not just the Lord and his church
and his servants doing that. I agree. Okay, there
was a second group Elder Anderson addressed and
that was to those who'd been unfairly injured
by the serious sins of another. the wife in this
story. He says, I long to share the Savior's
love and compassion, his comfort and peace, the
sadness you have felt, the heartbreak, the loss,
the suffocating feeling of betrayal, the upending
of your life as you imagined it to be. I give
you my absolute assurance the Savior knows you
and loves you. Reach out to him. I love that.
And I really take comfort in the promise that
he shared to those who've been hurt by others'
actions, which is probably, you know, To a degree,
it'll be all of us at one time or another on
this earth. When you're feeling the depths of
sorrow, I love this promise. He says, your sorrow
shall be turned into joy. And your joy, no one
taketh from you. That moment will come. I testify
that it will come. Abby, I've been thinking this
week about how grateful I am for modern day prophets.
What if we didn't have these words of truth in
a time of so much pain and sorrow on the earth?
The fact that God sends prophets to us to testify
of Jesus Christ. to teach of his truths and to
turn us to him in our thoughts and actions. To
me, this is an indication that God loves each
of us and he wants us to be happy and successful
in this life. Another thing that resonates with
me with this week is I started the Book of Mormon
again for a new year and the title page reminds
us, and now if there are faults, they are the
mistakes of men. wherefore condemn not the things
of God." The ones who wrote the scriptures are
primarily prophets, so he's reminding us not
to condemn the things of God and to try to extend
grace to those humans who are doing their best
to teach the word of God as it comes to them.
I feel like it's the same thing with modern -day
prophets. One of the greatest life lessons I've
found is to pray for the gift of discernment
and the ability to decipher truth from the faults
of men. And I just mean this like in anything,
you know, someone's speaking in church or whatever
it is. the ability to decipher this, simply meaning
that sometimes we may not like a person or their
delivery, but we can learn to separate our feelings.
for a person or the way they taught and the principle
to be able to distinguish it as a true principle
and the Word of God. So not to be so quick to
dismiss the words of God and to sort of say,
well, that didn't feel right or whatever, right?
Anyhow, I just wanted to share my deep gratitude
to God for blessing us with modern day prophets
who guide us and direct us with love and sincerity.
It has been a blessing in my life over and over
again. I'm so grateful for prophets as well.
They always pointed us to Christ, and our own
president, Dallin H. Oaks, taught, because of
his atoning experience and mortality, our Savior
is able to comfort us and heal and strengthen
all men and women everywhere, but I believe he
does so only for those who seek him and ask for
his help. The apostle James taught, Humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you
up. We qualify for that blessing when we believe
in him and pray for his help. Love that, Abby.
Thank you so much. Do you have anything else
you want to add before I wrap it up? I think
this talk, like you said, there were so many
layers to it. It was one that I did listen to
for myself back again. And a lot of experiences
I haven't been betrayed by a spouse, but that
was something that just struck me so much. And
I thought, how can I apply this in my own life?
And I just thought... Like you said, in this
life experience, something's going to come in
my way. It is going to require me to return to
the Lord. And even my small daily things, like
I make mistakes daily. So I love that he's just
trying to cut through the noise of feeling like
you can't take certain things to the Lord. Because
you can take everything to Him. He meant for
it to be that way. Whether you think it's a small
thing or an insignificant thing, those things
can compound just like small little changes can
compound for the positive in our lives. I was
just thinking, what a neat thing to solidify
those principles and just kind of tell myself
now, before I'm in deep trouble, that I just
say, if something should happen, that the first
person I'm going to turn to is my Savior Jesus
Christ. kind of prepare myself for that plan
of action. Maybe Satan would be like, hey, she's
a waste of my time. You know, if he knows that
I'm already going to turn to the source of peace
and healing so quickly, maybe he'll leave me
alone a little bit more. We'll test it. Like
we heard in church today, pray. Do you think
you'll pray? Yeah, pray more. Pray more. I love
that. I am going to end with Elder Anderson's
testimony. He says, Again, so much hope and love
and just genuine feeling from that. Airs like
at the beginning of a new year such a good reminder
for us and we're grateful that you guys joined
us today And we hope that you have an amazing
blessed week. Catch you next time. See you next
time