We have stake conference this weekend, so I looked up some notes that I wrote down from stake conference a year ago. One of the talks was a talk by Elder Hallstrom about change. He told about an experience that he had as a bishop. He met with a man who had a bad temper. The man said, "I have a bad temper. I can't do anything about it. That's never going to change." This made Elder Hallstrom sad to hear him say that. The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that the Atonement can change us.
Elder Hallstrom also told a story of a man in India who was born with serious physical disabilities. As a young man he met the missionaries, was baptized, and served a mission himself. Years later, he and his wife and children traveled to Hong Kong to be sealed in the temple there. In his community, his potential was to grow up to be a beggar, but his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ taught him of his eternal potential.
Elder Hallstrom's invitation was to make one change to improve.
I wanted to do a little more study on the subject of change, so I searched lds.org and came across something pretty neat--an article that President Faust was preparing before he passed away in 2007: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/the-power-to-change?lang=eng&query=change. It's a good read.
In reading this, it caused me to think of one of my favorite talks: Broken Things to Mend by Elder Holland. His address relates to change through the Atonement as he teaches that those who feel broken can be mended through Christ. A part of his talk related to what was said at the end of President Faust's talk when he mentioned addictions:
ReplyDelete"Are you battling a demon of addiction—tobacco or drugs or gambling, or the pernicious contemporary plague of pornography? Is your marriage in trouble or your child in danger? Are you confused with gender identity or searching for self-esteem? Do you—or someone you love—face disease or depression or death? Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma’s testimony is my testimony: “I do know,” he says, “that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions.”"
I especially liked the line "Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises". As a therapist, my work centers on the change process. It's about helping people and couples and families to change. That is also what repentance and the Atonement are all about. Which I think is one of the things that drew me to this field. As a therapist and as a latter-day saint, I believe strongly that people, even people who also need professional help from a therapist, do need to turn first to the gospel.
Maybe I'm just being sentimental, but I find the message about change to be especially significant because they were esentially President Faust's "last words" to the Church membership. Of course, he may not have realized it at the time. Still, when I think of last words, I think: "This is the most important thing I can say to you." I think it's neat that the power of the Atonement to change us should be that last, most important message.
DeleteElder Holland's talk is one of my all time favorites! I remember when he gave it, it is so powerful to me.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of change reminds of one of the most powerful lessons I learned on the mission. My MTC teacher taught us that people don't change because of facts, fear or force. (People know smoking is bad for them and that it will give them cancer.) People change because of experiences. When I realized that it made a world of difference. I think of my own conversion and the experiences I had that pushed/enabled me to change. Saul, Alma, Alma the Younger,etc all had experiences that led them to change. And of course those investigators who are investigating for 10+ years and the missionaries keep passing by, hundreds of missionaries, then one day they up and decide to get baptized. Was it the missionaries? No. It was some experience, something they had to go through. Hno. Robles was one of the most faithful members of the church I ever met in Chile. His wife was baptized and for a couple of years he held out, then one day his brother came running to his house and a gang was close behind trying to kill him. That was it took for Hno Robles to want to change. The Lord will bless us with what we need when we need it.