Why I’m so grateful someone pushed through awkwardness to serve

General conference is one of the greatest times of year for Latter-day Saints. We are privileged to hear from our prophet, apostles, and other general authorities who prepare inspired messages to bless our lives, and it’s a wonderful time to receive personal spiritual guidance.

Statements about teaching by the Spirit have been made by various people. These illustrate that there are a number of misconceptions or misunderstandings about how the Spirit actually functions in teaching and learning settings. Some of these statements have elements of truth in them. Some can even be completely true at times, but if they are viewed as fixed rules or principles, they can be misleading.

According to Latter-day Saint scriptural texts, the Lord Jesus Christ, before He appears to the entire world in power and great glory, will make several preliminary appearances on the earth.

Some may think that because divorce has become easier to obtain than it was previously, it has become less traumatic. They are wrong. My own experience and those of others I’ve come to know document that the pain is still present. Those with children who are contemplating divorce and believe the hurt will be only a minor, short-term inconvenience are wrong too. Today, 13 years after divorce, there are few days in which there is not a practical and painful reminder that I am a divorced man.

As we begin gearing up for general conference, we will be highlighting past conference talks to help us review, remember, and grow closer to the Spirit so that we can better recognize the Lord's voice and direction this coming October. The following is a small portion of a talk given by Sister Carole M. Stephens in October 2016. (Read the full talk here.)

With all the emphasis in the scriptures on repentance, worrying about our weaknesses has almost become a national pastime for good Christian folk and Latter-day Saints in particular. But a psychologist named Martin Seligman figured out that we don’t necessarily become happier by trying to fix what’s wrong with us. Fixing what’s wrong gets us to neutral—to being less miserable and having more options. But we are more likely to get to the positive side, to happiness, by pursuing our strengths.

Hymns are such an important part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They fill the room with the Spirit during meetings and often guide and inspire us in our everyday lives. The Church announced in June that a new hymnbookis in the works, so we thought we would take a look at some of our favorite hymns written by prophets and general authorities throughout Church history.

Conference Talk:

Preparing for general conference is always a good idea. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said, "There are messages in each general conference given as a gift and a blessing from heaven specifically for our personal life situations." To aid in your preparation, we've compiled a list of items that will help you stay in the conference spirit through conference weekend and beyond!