Inspiration and hope in the face of despair

This is a long post that is therapeutic for me to write so feel free to skim or skip it.

I have to admit that I didn't watch any of the Saturday sessions of conference due to Notre Dame football (is that blasphemous my BYU friends?). I recently burned the talks onto CDs so that I could catch up on those talks while driving to work each day.

Some of you may know about some discouraging news we received this past week. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I'm sorry, but I'm not really ready to post about it on the web. Suffice it to say I was very distraught driving home from the Mishawaka ER on Thursday evening. My mind was going a mile a minute and I went from fighting back tears to trying to drive home through my tears in a very short time. As I was driving I happened to be listening to President Uchtdorf's talk. It just so happened that today I listened to Elder Wirthlin's talk followed by Elder Holland's talk. Let me share with you some excerpts from these three talks and maybe you can feel a little bit of the inspiration and blessing I felt hearing these words.

From President Uchtdorf's talk:
"Hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness.² Its absence—when this desire of our heart is delayed—can make “the heart sick."

"The scriptures say that there must be “an opposition in all things.”¹⁵ So it is with faith, hope, and charity. Doubt, despair, and failure to care for our fellowmen lead us into temptation, which can cause us to forfeit choice and precious blessings.

The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness. Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart. Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.

Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear."

"The Lord has given us a reassuring message of hope: “Fear not, little flock.”⁴¹ God will wait with “open arms to receive”⁴² those who give away their sins and continue in faith, hope, and charity.

And to all who suffer—to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely—I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in.

Never surrender.

Never allow despair to overcome your spirit.

Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladdens every heart."

Now from Elder Wirthlin's talk:

"whenever my steps led through seasons of sadness and sorrow, my mother’s words often came back to me: “Come what may, and love it.”

How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

"Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorrow is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for others.

Because Jesus Christ suffered greatly, He understands our suffering. He understands our grief. We experience hard things so that we too may have increased compassion and understanding for others."

"I know why there must be opposition in all things. Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it.

As we look for humor, seek for the eternal perspective, understand the principle of compensation, and draw near to our Heavenly Father, we can endure hardship and trial. We can say, as did my mother, “Come what may, and love it.”"

Finally from Elder Holland:
"My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.”¹³ On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal."


I have often felt that the talks in general conference seemed to be directed straight to me and the circumstances of my life. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I was listening to these words at the exact moment that they were desperately needed. Sometimes I think the Lord just wants me to know he's still there.