Renewed and Uplifted...

This past weekend was the 179th Annual General Conference of the church. Every 6 months as the time approaches in April and October, I find myself becoming more and more excited to hear the words that will be spoken here. I love to hear the counsel given by the prophets of the Lord! It is such a spiritual time for me and I always come away from conference renewed in my faith with a stronger testimony and a more determined will to live my life in a way the Lord would find pleasing. Though all of the talks are beautiful and though I learn significantly from each, I always find one or two that, for whatever reason, completely impact me more than the rest. This weekend, one talk in particular, moved me. Jeffrey R. Holland spoke on Sunday morning about the Atonement, about the Savior's lonely road to fulfill His purpose in loosening the bands of death and allowing us the chance to return to our Heavenly Father. He spoke specifically to those of use who feel, have ever felt or will ever feel lonely at some point in our lives (which... means all of us). The way he spoke of the Savior's loneliness struck me to the core. I had never considered that the Savior would not be expecting Heavenly Father's Spirit to withdraw from Him; but that that needed to happen in order for the Savior to truly understand how we feel when we are cut off from the Spirit. It was a learning moment for me and allowed my heart to grow with so much more compassion, love and appreciation for my Savior - what He was willing to do for me...and you. If you missed Holland's talk, please go back and watch it online. It was divinely powerful it its message and a perfect one to listen to and discuss as we approach the celebration of Easter this Sunday.

The second talk that so struck me was offered by our prophet, President Monson, immediately following Holland's. He spoke of trials, but more importantly about our attitude in dealing with them. He told a heart wrenching story of a woman who, having just lost her husband, had to travel on foot over 1,000 miles outside of her homeland for safety after a war. She traveled with only a small wagon and her four small children. The road was treacherous and one by one, each of her children was lost to the gravity of the travel. Though she was in the utmost of despair and suffered from a broken heart 5 times over, she was able to find strength and peace through her faith of the Savior and with that faith continued on until she made her destination. I was so moved by this story and more so by one line that President Monson offered after his telling of this story. "Your future is as bright as your faith." With troubling times among us, we, too, can be happy and peaceful if we hold on to our faith. Those 8 words moved me greatly and I feel more content and ready to deliver this baby. With my and Wally's faith, we can have a future (birth, 1st year) as bright as a glorious and cloudless summer day, even amidst the worry, appointments and surgeries. What a comfort those words were for me.

I've written quite a lot here and I apologize! I just couldn't help it! I've been so richly fed... Anyhow, I played in Photoshop and created this little clipart of Monson's words. It's nothing grand; I felt that the words were powerful enough. If you'd like to post it on your blog or somewhere, just right-click it and save it. Then upload it where you'd like it.