The Blessings of Revelation, Part 1

I don't think I have ever been as excited as I am today to watch the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There are times in our lives when we are forced to our knees in desperation.  I certainly have experienced those times.  However, I recognize how blessed I am to kneel before our Father, through my own desire, to talk to Him at any moment.  One of the greatest blessings of the Restored Gospel in these Latter days is that of revelation, both personal and church wide.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle of Christ's church, stated the following:

"If we [the General Authorities of the Church] teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you."

I love the idea of receiving an epistle from the Lord, through the mouth of His servants.  Can you imagine sitting at the feet of the Savior, or maybe Paul or Peter, or even Isaiah or Abraham, to hear the messages they offered?  The words pronounced by our living prophets and apostles today are just the same.  The authority that was on the earth during the times of the Bible has been restored!

I have knelt in prayer so that I can receive instruction, guidance, and answers to some of my biggest obstacles, challenges, and questions at this point in my life during this Conference.  I made sure to clear my schedule in order to watch both days' sessions.  This morning I debated whether or not I should attend a required rehearsal for the Nutcracker performance to which I am committed.  I decided to drive home after teaching my pre-ballet class instead.  I made it home just in time to hear Elder Robert D. Hales' talk on the importance of preparing for, listening to, and, afterwards studying, the talks and testimonies given during General Conference.  What a personalized confirmation that I made the right decision!  

I later heard Elder Dube speak to my heart when he said, "Faith always looks forward." I cannot move forward if I keep looking back, or if I stall my progression.  Faith looks forward, never back.

Sister Stephens asked with authority, if we know our impact and divine nature as daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, and friends?  We must live worthy of those callings and responsibilities we are given as spiritual children of our Heavenly Father.  

President Uchtodrf counseled us to, "Doubt our doubts before doubting our faith."  Hold on to what has been revealed to us in days past.

I look forward to listening to the coming 6 hours of Conference.  Will you join me?  Look for byutv on your channel guide, or stream it on lds.org.

It is quite easy to day dream (or dose off) during 8+ hours of talks.  What do you do to stay focused?  Over the past 4 years, only during Conference, I've slowly worked on embroidering patches for a quilt:

I'm still working on the bottom two, and I have 10 more to go!  Hopefully I make more progress this Conference!

Best wishes,
Your Conference Buddy

To Be Continued....