Latter-day Saint Life

How President Nelson Showed Us This Conference Has Been One of the Most Exciting and Fulfilling

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While there have been several significant announcements made this weekend, this general conference has moved at a different pace than what we've grown accustomed to since President Nelson became prophet—and it is exhilarating!

Last general conference, while introducing changes to our church schedules, President Nelson explained that our Church leaders have "wrestled with a fundamental question" in recent years, and that question is how to focus on the "simple purity" of the gospel and implement policies with "eternal efficacy to all of God's children."

He reflected on that focus when he reaffirmed our commitment to the full name of the Lord's church: “We as members of the Lord’s Church know who stands at its head: Jesus Christ Himself."

In the Sunday morning session of general conference, President Nelson reiterated the importance of focusing on the sublime, simple, and celestial aspects of the gospel when he shared the touching last moments he shared with his daughter, Wendy, who passed away last year after a battle with cancer. "I held her hands and told her how much I loved her and how grateful I was to be her father," President Nelson said. He then shared a conversation he had with her: "'Your Daddy is very, very proud of you. You have brought me much joy.' She quietly responded, 'Thank you, Daddy.'"

President Nelson said, "That evening we talked of things that mattered most such as covenants, ordinances, obedience, faith, family, fidelity, love, and eternal life."

That encapsulates the spirit and feeling of this general conference weekend. Instead of frenzy, chaos, or constant chatter, this weekend has helped each of us live what we have been practicing this past year as we've simplified home teaching, visiting teaching, and Sunday meeting schedules to focus on what matters most. This conference, we've been able to focus on God's love, our Savior's infinite Atonement, loving others, divine covenants, the sacredness of the sacrament, eternal families, building faith, attending the temple, reading our scriptures, and those other simple yet powerful principles that fill our lives with meaning.

If I've learned anything over the past year of covering Church news and events it's that I better be prepared to be surprised—and this weekend has been no different. President Nelson, with his acute and astounding ability to receive revelation, once again took me by surprise and, in the process, followed our Heavenly Father's divine will and timing. President Nelson knew that we need time to be still and know, trust, and love God. Like 4-year-old Blake, who President mentioned in his talk, we should all be declaring, "I need to feed my spirit."

This conference I have felt what Sister Sharon Eubank described in her dream of a gazebo, one filled with sublime and divine light that filled her soul with such emotion she only desired to linger in that light. I have felt that love and light this weekend, which are a reflection of the love and light of our Savior.

I'm grateful for this spiritually full conference weekend where we could refocus on our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. This conference has been exciting, spiritually rejuvenating, and divinely inspired because our Church leaders listen to the will of our Heavenly Father, and He knows what is best for each one of us.

Lead image by Steve Griffin, Deseret News
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