An Evening With an Apostle

Last month I turned 31 and aged out of my young single adult congregation. This weekend, my new stake (group of congregations) has stake conference. The speaker and presiding authority just so happens to be Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the 12 apostles. That right there is the principle of compensation. Whenever we lose something, we can something greater. I hit the jackpot! 

I went really early tonight so I could get a good spot (and ponder beforehand). I was ten rows away from this apostle of God. It was the most amazing church meeting I've EVER been in. When Elder Holland speaks and testifies it is POWERFUL. He said so much I needed to hear. I am on cloud 9.

He talked about broken things. How God loves broken things. And broken things can be made whole again. He talked about how there is happiness ahead. We will make it. We will overcome our trials. He said, "The only way we can be a disciple of Christ is to walk where He walked. We have to feel pain." We have to have the experiences we have in order to become the people God needs us to be. 

He mentioned several times that when we sacrifice, we get blessings back ten fold. 

He mentioned the scripture: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. 2:9) He said, "God will keep every promise He's ever uttered." 

Tonight was honestly life changing for me. I've been dealing with some difficult things and the things he spoke about really helped me to put my challenges into perspective. He said, "Whatever the tunnel is, there is a light at the end of it. And it's Jesus Christ."

I'm so glad I got to experience this. I know I'm lucky. I was actually supposed to be somewhere else tonight (story for a different day), so I'm glad it all worked out and I went. I needed to be there. Jeffrey R. Holland is an apostle of the Lord and I got to hear him testify of Christ tonight. It's surreal and amazing and I'll never forget it.