General Conference

One of my favorite things in all the world is the Biannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is awesome and inspiring.  And flat out fun to sit at home for church, even if I am "going" to 8 hours of church in 2 days.

It was a little over a year ago that I began to truly understand the importance of these meetings.  And not just the meetings themselves, because I really think I got that, but the messages from the meetings that come as a special edition of the Ensign magazine.  These are the words of prophets and apostles on the earth today!  Trials in my life at that time seemingly drove me to the magazine and the messages, which I had never really studied before.

Now I was pouring over the messages, underlining things that were important to me and rewriting them in a journal I started for that express purpose.  One year and two months later, my journal is full.  And my hand is tired.

But I still want to record the messages that mean the most to me.  I've wrestled with how to do it.  It was Pres. Uchtdorf who helped me decide.  He said, "Perhaps the Lord's encouragement to 'open [your] mouths' might today include 'use your hands' to blog and text message the gospel to all the world!"

Therefore, I will very inconsistently, though occasionally, have a feature where I share my favorite quotes from a favorite General Conference talk.  Ta-da!  Aren't you all excited?

And, since I'm here, there's no time like the present.

I LOVED the talk, "More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us" by Elder Paul V. Johnson.  I have an almost ridiculous amount of favorite quotes.  So, as I was wrapping up my journal, I couldn't fit them all for lack of space.  Here are the ones I couldn't squeeze in the final pages of my quote journal.

"Time after time we see marvelous blessings on the heels of great trials."

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."  --Hebrews 12:11

"Our personal journey through life will provide just the right amount [of trials] for our needs."

"Sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to develop strength without any struggle.  But growth cannot come by taking the easy way.  We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete.  We must be careful that we don't resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature."