General Conference Miracle

Me, my roommate, Joe, and Danny boy before General Conference.

General Conference was this weekend.  It was fantastic!  To be able to go home and be with family and hear what the Lord wants me to hear.  This was especially touching when during the Saturday afternoon session of conference, Elder Holland got up to speak and answered my prayers.  I had been praying about specific family members and friends who have mental illnesses and how I can help them, or for a talk that would bless their lives.  Elder Holland delivered.  What his talk meant for me, is that Christ's atonement truly is eternal in scope and breadth.  One day all of my loved ones who have struggled for so long will become whole through Christ's atonement.  This also reminded me of something that we had talked about in my New Testament class at BYU.  We were talking about the miracles that Christ performed during his ministry and how these miracles point to the atonement, which is the ultimate miracle.  We had talked about specific examples such as the leper who comes to Christ and says, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." (Matthew 8:1) We talked about how submissive this man was to say, "if though wilt".  He was willing to accept whatever the Lord told him.  He also showed great faith as he stated, "thou canst make me clean."  It wasn't a question.  He knew what the Savior could do.  Through Christ's atonement we are all made clean and whole.  This leper gives us a way to ask the Lord though.  We need to submit ourselves to the Lord's will.  We sometimes want immediate results, but that isn't always the way that things are supposed to happen. This is also shown in Elder Holland's talk, when he said that some of the mental illness that is on this earth will not be taken away until this life is over.  We may not feel like that is fair, but as long as we are willing to trust in the Lord's timing, we will be able to gain the strength we need through Christ's atonement to make it through each day.  We also need to have faith that the Lord can do what we are asking.  It is pointless to ask for something if you don't think there is a chance that you can receive it.  If we truly believe and ask God and do something about it, we have the opportunity for miracles to happen in our lives.  When we ask, it allows God to bless us.  Miracles are still happening.  I had one this weekend.  I hope that I can work each day to have more faith and to align my will closer to the Lord's.  I am so grateful for the prophets and apostles that we have today, who receive revelation and act upon promptings.  I can't wait to read Elder Holland's talk again so that I can apply even more of what he said.  What a wonderful weekend it was!