real intent means that one really intends to follow

Asking questions and searching for meaning are a natural and normal part of our mortal experience. At times, not readily having complete answers can bring us to the edge of our understanding, and those limitations can feel frustrating or overwhelming. Wondrously, Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness for all of us is designed to help us progress despite our limitations and accomplish what we cannot accomplish on our own, even without a complete knowledge of all things. God’s plan is merciful toward the limitations of our humanity; provides us with our Savior, Jesus Christ, to be our Good Shepherd; and inspires us to use our agency to choose Him.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has taught that “asking questions isn’t a sign of weakness,” but rather “it’s a precursor of growth.” Speaking directly to our personal effort as seekers of truth, our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has taught that we must have “a deep desire” and “ask with a sincere heart [and] real intent, having faith in [Jesus] Christ.” He has further taught that “‘real intent’ means that one really intends to follow the divine direction given.”

Tracy Y. Browning

"Seeking Answers to Spiritual Questions" General Conference October 2024

a courageous and a willing heart

It takes a courageous and a willing heart to pause and pursue an honest and meek introspection to acknowledge the presence of weaknesses of the flesh in our life that may impede our ability to submit ourselves to God, and ultimately decide to adopt His way rather than our own. The ultimate test of our discipleship is found in our willingness to give up and lose our old self and submit our heart and our whole soul to God so that His will becomes ours.

One of the most glorious moments of mortality occurs when we discover the joy that comes when doing always those things that “work for and please the Lord” and “what works for us” become one and the same! To decisively and unquestioningly make the Lord’s will our own requires majestic and heroic discipleship! At that sublime moment, we become consecrated to the Lord, and we totally yield our wills to Him. Such spiritual submissiveness, so to speak, is beautiful, powerful, and transformational.

Ulisses Soares

"Aligning Our Will with His", General Conference October 2024

the Lord saw these individuals for who they were

When the scribes and the Pharisees saw the woman taken in adultery, what did they see? A depraved woman, a sinner worthy of death. When Jesus saw her, what did He see? A woman who had temporarily succumbed to the weakness of the flesh but could be reclaimed through repentance and His Atonement. When people saw the centurion whose servant was sick with palsy, what did they see? Perhaps they saw an intruder, a foreigner, one to be despised. When Jesus saw him, what did He see? A man concerned for the welfare of a member of his household, who sought the Lord in candor and faith. When people saw the woman with an issue of blood, what did they see? Perhaps an unclean woman, an outcast to be shunned. When Jesus saw her, what did He see? A sickly woman, lonely and alienated due to circumstances she did not control, who hoped to be healed and to belong again.

In every case, the Lord saw these individuals for who they were and accordingly ministered to each one. As Nephi and his brother Jacob declared:

“He inviteth them all to come unto him … , black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God.”

“The one being is as precious in his sight as the other.”

May we likewise not let our eyes, our ears, or our fears mislead us but open our hearts and minds and minister freely to those around us as He did.

Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier

"We Are His Children," General Conference October 2023

what if all of our sins had an odor?

Many years ago our young family was going to see a movie for family home evening. We were all in the van except for one of our sons and my wife, Valerie. It was dark outside, and as our son threw open the door and ran toward the car, he accidentally kicked what he thought was our cat on the porch. Unfortunately for our son and my wife, who was right behind him, it was not our cat but rather a very unhappy skunk, who let them know it! We all returned to the house, where they both showered and washed their hair with tomato juice, the supposed sure remedy to eliminate the skunk odor. By the time they had cleaned up and changed their clothes, we were all desensitized to any odor, so we decided we were OK to go to the movie after all. 

Once we were seated at the back of the theater, one by one the people around us suddenly decided to go out to get popcorn. When they came back, however, no one returned to their original seat.

We have laughed as we’ve recalled that experience, but what if all of our sins had an odor? What if we could smell dishonesty, lust, envy, or pride? With our own weaknesses revealed, we would hopefully be a little more considerate and careful of others and, likewise, they with us as we make the needed changes in our lives. I actually love the smell of tobacco in church because it indicates someone is trying to change. They need our welcoming arms around them.

Gary B. Sabin

"Hallmarks of Happiness," General Conference October 2023

professor of happiness

While on a business flight several years ago, I found myself seated next to a man from the Netherlands. I was eager to visit with him since I had served in Belgium and the Netherlands as a young missionary.

As we became acquainted, he gave me his business card with the unique job title of “professor of happiness.” I commented on his amazing profession and asked him what a professor of happiness did. He said he taught people how to have a happy life by establishing meaningful relationships and goals. I replied, “That’s wonderful, but what if you could also teach how those relationships can continue beyond the grave and answer other questions of the soul, such as what is the purpose of life, how can we overcome our weaknesses, and where do we go after we die?” He admitted that it would be amazing if we had the answers to those questions, and I was pleased to share with him that we do.

Gary B. Sabin

"Hallmarks of Happiness," General Conference October 2023

leaves many decisions for our personal choices

A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.

We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation. Revelation from God is a sacred reality, but like other sacred things, it must be cherished and used properly so that a great strength does not become a disabling weakness.

Dallin H. Oaks

"Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall," Ensign October 1994. From an address given at a Brigham Young University eighteen-stake fireside on 7 June 1992 in Provo, Utah.

the ever-startling paradoxes

In the vision of a King born in a stable, attended by the animals and visited by the shepherds, I am led to the ever-startling paradoxes that are the essence of the gospel: out of weakness comes strength; out of simplicity, profundity; out of humility, dignity; out of humanity, divinity.


The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Six, “Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?” p.65

one by one

All religious people believe that the Creator is concerned about man, but the nearness of his concern may be overlooked. Because of the weakness of man’s mind, because of his inability to discern and remember many individual things, man uses abstract ideas to help him. Man speaks of nature, society, humanity. The divine mind does not require such ideas. All things are known to God; therefore, not just mankind but each individual human being is God’s object of concern. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30.) Deep in every human heart is the desire to be known and loved just for oneself. But only One can have such love and knowledge. Men group themselves into classes, races, and nations, but the Father calls them as he called their first parents in the Garden, one by one. 

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter One, “Where Art Thou?” p.9

where art thou?

Adam, where art thou? Does God not know? On the contrary, only he knows. In my weakness I lose my bearings. Like a child wandering in a forest I follow the whims of the monument and forget the way. I am too caught up by my surroundings to follow the path. Not until a Father’s voice calls do I wonder where I am. How shall I answer? I am here? But where is here? So helpless am I that I cannot say. But deep within I hear his voice and tremble, for finally there are just two places, with him or without him, and just two ways, toward him or not toward him.

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter One, “Where Art Thou?” p.4, 5

the furnace of affliction

At times it may seem that our trials are focused on areas of our lives and parts of our souls with which we seem least able to cope. Since personal growth is an intended outcome of these challenges, it should come as no surprise that the trials can be very personal—almost laser guided to our particular needs or weaknesses. And no one is exempt, especially not Saints striving to do what’s right. Some obedient Saints may ask, “Why me? I’m trying to be good! Why is the Lord allowing this to happen?” The furnace of affliction helps purify even the very best of Saints by burning away the dross in their lives and leaving behind pure gold. Even very rich ore needs refining to remove impurities. Being good is not enough. We want to become like the Savior, who learned as He suffered “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind.” 

Paul V. Johnson, "More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us." April 2011 General Conference.

the tender watchcare of his brethren

D&C 35: 17-19 And I have sent forth the fullness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph; and in weakness have I blessed him; And I have given unto him the keys of the mystery of those things which have been sealed, even things which were from the foundation of the world, and the things which shall come from this time until the time of my coming, if he abide in me, and if not, another will I plant in his stead. Wherefore, watch over him that his faith fail not, and it shall be given by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, that knoweth all things.

The Prophet Joseph, notwithstanding his extraordinary gifts, needed the tender watchcare of his brethren, against the wiles of the adversary.


Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.185, 187

most richly blessed

Perhaps no prayer written on the Civil War battlefield had such lasting resonance as the one recovered from the body of a dead Confederate soldier, found in Devil’s Den after the Battle of Gettysburg.

I asked You, God, for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey;
I asked for health that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things;
I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise;
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God;
I got nothing that I asked for,
but everything I hoped for;
I am among all men most richly blessed.


One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America by James P. Moore, Jr. Doubleday, 2005. p.176

outstanding, distinctive, organized accomplishment

The work is not new to us. We, and our predecessors, have carried it forward for more than one hundred years. It was the first enterprise undertaken by those of sacred memory who initiated the lofty cause to which we give our allegiance. So soon as the first revelation of the latter days came to them, they lost no time in carrying the message to neighbors and adjacent communities. When the Church was organized, they accepted most literally the revelation that its mission should be to preach the Gospel "...unto every nation, and kindred, and young, and people." (D&C 133:37.) That was their work. In their poverty and weakness they accepted it with such boldness and enthusiasm, fortitude and sacrifice, as history has seldom recorded.

Their faith and confidence were marvelous. They trusted God, and they did not trust in vain. They knew that he had said that "The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones" (D&C 1:19), and that "the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers." (D&C 1:23.) With this assurance our forebears went forth. They assumed their obligation and it superseded everything else. Families were left without a competence, ofttimes in the care of relatives and neighbors and friends. Businesses were sacrificed. Such accumulations as they had were expended for the cause. If I were asked to name the outstanding, distinctive, organized accomplishment of the restored Church of Christ in the last century, I would without hesitation set forth its phenomenal missionary labors. Nothing more truly characterizes the altruism of the gospel that it teaches; nothing more deeply signifies the devotion and sincerity of its members.

The enormous cost of the service has been widely distributed, shared by nearly every family in the Church. Many families have sent forth more than one missionary, and not infrequently has a home kept one or more missionaries in the field continuously for ten or a dozen years, sometimes for a quarter of a century. I know of no way of securing comparable data from other religious bodies, but I venture the assertion that no such church at any period in history for a century of time has ever given to a missionary service such a proportion of its membership and its available resources.



Stephen L. Richards. Conference Report, October 1945, p.53 as quoted in Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine & Covenants, Volume 1 compiled by Roy W. Doxey. Deseret Book. 1964. p.7, 8

spiritual preparation for our day

There may be things in our character, in our behavior, or concerning our spiritual growth about which we need to counsel with Heavenly Father in morning prayer. After expressing appropriate thanks for blessings received, we plead for understanding, direction, and help to do the things we cannot do in our own strength alone. For example, as we pray, we might:

• Reflect on those occasions when we have spoken harshly or inappropriately to those we love the most.
• Recognize that we know better than this, but we do not always act in accordance with what we know.
• Express remorse for our weaknesses and for not putting off the natural man more earnestly.
• Determine to pattern our life after the Savior more completely.
• Plead for greater strength to do and to become better.

Such a prayer is a key part of the spiritual preparation for our day.



David A. Bednar, “Pray Always,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 41–44

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficent for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.


Moroni, Ether 12:27

He knows the depth of sorrow

Jacob placed no qualifiers when he said the Savior would suffer "the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam" (2 Nephi 9:21). These were pains both related and unrelated to sin or transgression. In other words, the Savior voluntarily took upon himself not only the cumulative burden of all sin and transgression, but also the cumulative burden of all depression, all loneliness, all sorrow, all mental, emotional, and physical hurt, and all weakness of every kind that afflicts mankind. He knows the depth of sorrow that stems from death; he knows the widow's anguish. He understands the agonizing parental pain when children go astray; he has felt the striking pain of cancer and every other debilitating ailment heaped upon man. Impossible as it may seem, he has somehow taken upon himself those feelings of inadequacy, sometimes even utter hopelessness, that accompany our rejections and weaknesses. There is no mortal condition, however gruesome or ugly or hopeless it may seem, that has escaped his grasp or his suffering. No one will be able to say, "But you don't understand my particular plight." The scriptures are emphatic on this point - "he comprehended all things" because he decended below all things" (D&C 88:6; see also D&C 122:8).


Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement. 2000. p.104

If the totality of human suffering and anxiety could be categorized, it might, be broken down as follows: first, suffering caused by sin: second, suffering that flows from innocent transgression of the law; third, suffering related to infirmities, weaknesses, inadequacies, or trials that have nothing to do with sin or transgression; fourth, suffering incidental to our confrontation with the temptations of the world; and fifth, suffering or anxiery necessitated by the exercise of faith. The scriptures are replete with evidence that the Savior did not exempt himself from any of these, but rather faced each of them "square on."


Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement. 2000. p. 97

How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we are all wounded! Community requires the ability to expose our wounds and weaknesses to our fellow creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by the wounds of others... But even more important is the love that arises among us when we share, both ways, our woundedness.

M. Scott Peck, "A Different Drum"