Avoiding Spiritual Overwhelm: Progressing “Line Upon Line” | BYU Women’s Conference, 2023

[Music] this presentation was given at the BYU Women's Conference on May 4th 2023 sisters sister Browning and I are so happy to be with you today we just feel like we're only two-thirds though we do because somebody is missing and that Sister Amy Wright the first counselor she today is at the University of Utah with her son graduating today and so we just send our love and wishes to her it's been such a blessing for me to serve in the primary General presidency with Sister Amy Wright and sister Browning both of them a heavenly father

was so merciful in sending the inspiration that they should be called to serve I think when we come and sit down and counsel we each have unique backgrounds and life experiences that we can bring to the table and also we feel this great Unity as as sisters and as Disciples of the Lord and savior of our Lord and savior yeah I also feel it a great privilege to serve in the primary presidency I also miss my dear friend and a counselor here to Susan Amy but we're I'm so happy to be with Susan today you

know when I think about this topic of avoiding spiritual overwhelm I also consider that the primary in our presidency would be in a constant state of spiritual overwhelm if we did not have the love support consecrated service of nine amazing women who serve on the primary advisory Council these are beautiful sisters who give their Heart and souls to helping strengthen the Faith of Our savior's children all around the world we also have an amazing staff of primary who uh who keep the engine running and we're so grateful for them we had Michelle who serve also

in the primary staff give our opening prayer today it's just a blessing to be together and serve together in primary and so many of our council members are here today offering support there are the ones that are training our stake primary presidencies all over the United States and are the first are the Liaisons with our area organization advisors all over the world so as sister Browning mentioned we are going to have a conversation with you today about avoiding spiritual overwhelm and it was kind of a Roundup to be asked to speak at BYU Women's Conference

which is spiritually overwhelming about the topic of avoiding spiritual overwhelm so we thought about saying the best way for us to avoid spiritual overwhelm is to say maybe we won't speak at BYU but we really appreciated the opportunity to ponder and discuss and counsel together and so that's how we we came up with the idea let's just share some of these discussions that we've had over the last number of weeks about this important topic you know one of the first things that came to us is we sat in Council might sound contradictory but we we

started by thinking about what if we don't focus on doing less but we actually focus on the word more receiving more and I think that that's a really important principle because I know in the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Savior wants to give us so much and I think when we think of being spiritually overwhelmed at least I know that I do it's really about how many of the other things do I need to kind of get away from in order to to feel better but I but there's an opportunity for us to put ourselves

in a position to consider what what more can we receive from our savior during this time when we might feel a bit overwhelmed loved reflecting on the scripture in John chapter 10 verse 10. where the Savior says I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly and so we've really thought about what does that word abundance mean does it mean more time More Money More honor more of of the things of life or does it kind of indicate more of a fullness a fullness of purpose a sense of

direction a sense that heavenly father is with us and that's what we want to focus on today is how can we not do more as Tracy said but how can we receive more of the abundance the Lord has to give us I even started thinking about uh when we were little I don't know how it was how it was in your family but as soon as we got to the street we were told to stop look and listen and I've thought about how much that applies to avoiding overwhelm when we're feeling that spiritual overwhelm if

we stop we look to heaven and then we listen for the spirit I I have reflected on a an experience our daughter Lisa shared with us an everyday experience but where she was able to replace overwhelm with abundancy by looking up and I asked her if she might share that with us today and Sean and I had been married just a few years but we were finally out of college he finally had to study income and we were kind of settled we decided it was really important that we follow the prophet's Council and pay off

as much debt as we could even though we had a steady income we were living on a very small portion of it in order to meet this goal of paying off our debt one of the tasks that I was responsible with that was very overwhelming for me was the weekly grocery shopping I remember feeling really overwhelmed like we just weren't able to just go in and just buy what we wanted or needed but kind of a feeling of um scarcity like we hadn't just were barely inching by and it was very stressful and I would

come home feeling like I'm kind of sorry for myself a little bit actually I remember that the Lord cares about even the little daily things and we can reach to him even in the things that maybe seem trivial and I asked him to help me in making decisions that I could know where I could maybe make different decisions as I shopped to make sure we were still within our budget but also that we could feel that we had what we needed that made a really big difference for me not just in the decisions I made

but in the way that I felt about it as well I remember just aisle to aisle I came in with my list which I'd also been prayerful about but then I would feel the spirit directing me to maybe make a slightly different decision than what I'd planned on in addition to being able to stay within our budget and even cut back further than I had anticipated I remember feeling an increase in gratitude and in prosperity that we had what we needed we had plenty and that I had made good choices that I had been a

good Steward of the funds and the means that we had to provide for our family and that all of a sudden the finances could fade more into the background and we could just enjoy um our young family and the relationships that we had more abundantly Susan I really love this um this thought from from Lisa one of the things that really came to mind as I listened to what she was saying was a transition in her experience from feeling a lot of scarcity and observing all the scarcity that was in her life to an actual

abundance that she was able to to see and recognize in her life and I'm a lover of words and I go to the dictionary really often when I want to really get a sense of the origin of words and what they mean and really start to get visual visual image images of what words mean so I went to the the dictionary and I looked up abundance and one of the definitions that I found there was one that I fell in love with and it says it's a plentifulness of good things of life and I loved

that and it came to mind as I was listening to Lisa the sense of plentifulness of the good things in her life as she transitioned from scarcity to abundance in her um in her experience I I heard from her the abundance of gratitude we remember she mentioned gratitude the abundance of prosperity that she recognized in her life the abundance of perspective that she gave gained the abundance of inspiration she talked about being in the grocery store and as she was going through what I think many of us seemed to find to be mundane activities she

was receiving inspiration that is a blessing and that is receiving more given where she was and where she started and it really reminded me of something that President Nelson taught this is from this is from a October 2016 General Conference message and many of you might remember this he says my dear brothers and sisters the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives so focusing on our relationship with Jesus Christ brings abundance finding time to prioritize that relationship with the Savior

through prayer through scripture study through regular Temple attendance puts us in the best position to receive more that more that we were talking about being in a position not to really focus on the scarcity and the overwhelming options in front of us but that the savior is constantly looking to give us what we need to help us in the daily decisions of Our Lives you know I was thinking as we've all been studying come follow me this year and following the savior's footsteps I've it's really caught my eye on several occasions when Jesus it says

maybe Jesus went into a mountain to pray in mark it even said he sent everyone else away and then he went into the mountain to pray and sometimes when we get caught in these overwhelming situations we need to send everyone else away or step ourselves away into a quiet space um I even thought as a young mother or if any of you ever did what I did on occasion when I was overwhelmed went into the bathroom locked the door to kind of re-center offer a little prayer prayer for patience pray for a feeling of abundance

of gratitude for for the crying children and that can make a big difference and that the Savior showed us that example as he went apart and that apart can be in the temple as you said the apart can be a few minutes in the scriptures or in times of heartfelt prayer yeah moments of Peace moments of uh Clarity for us to clear our minds however we do it I remember as a young mother I would also hide away but I would hide snacks in the room that I was in so while I was meditating I

might find a little treat as well you know you topic we we spent a lot of time counseling about the three critical questions that were a part of the conversation of avoiding spiritual overwhelm and the first question we want to tackle right now is how can listening to the spirit lead me to the most Needful Things Susan do you have some thoughts there sisters whenever we see Needful Things my mind and probably yours does too goes to the story of Mary and Martha in the New Testament and of course as we remember Martha was covered

about by many things and the savior invited Mary to focus on the one needful thing that doesn't necessarily thing meme that we only are going to do one thing in our life but the one needful thing would be to look look to the Savior ask for his gifts his inspiration the spiritual gifts we need in the many things that we have to do today I was thinking too when elder Neil Anderson gave his general conference talk and he talked about the experience of Alma the younger in a way I had never thought about before Alma

the younger was actually in a place of spiritual overwhelm he was in spiritual overwhelm because the memory of all his sins and he said he was racked with torment and he was that's the problem with overwhelm is it stops us in our tracks and he was stopped in his tracks and it wasn't until he remembered the words of his father talking about Jesus Christ and then he says my mind caught hold upon this thought Jesus Christ and I think times when we're overwhelmed if our mind can set aside the looking around us for everything going

on that's kind of out of our control and too much if our mind can catch hold on the savior of the world that was has brought me great peace and a new understanding of that experience a few years ago I heard a story that resonated deeply with me as I could see myself in this story a mother was home with her young children she had an impression a name came to her mind it was the name of a sister that she ministered to and she thought I am going to follow through on that oppression right

right now I'm going to visit that sister she saw that she had some ripe bananas on her counter so she got busy and made banana bread to take to this sister just before it was to come out of the oven the baby woke up crying she went in the baby wasn't feeling well it was very traumatic she's trying to comfort the baby and so forth and by the time she came back out the banana bread had burned so fortunately she had a few more bananas and set about making another loaf so she made that loaf

she put it in the oven and by the time it came out of the oven the older children were just walking in the door from school so she hands them the baby you know the toddler she says I'll be right back I've just got to run this banana bread to my friend so she races out the door goes and visits the friend gives her a hug says hello races back home and comes in the house and it's total chaos the baby is now screaming the toddler's upset the older kids are mad but just walking in

from school they were given this this situation to deal with and so she went into a room and she closed the door that she got on her knees and she said Heavenly Father I cannot be a ministering sister right now and enter her mind came clearly this question who asked you to make banana bread how many of you by raise of hand have received sweet Impressions from the spirit and added I know I think in those situations surely I'm not enough I can't just go I need to stop by Smith's and grab flowers or I

need to make banana bread that has helped me reflect on spiritual overwhelm and abundance now that I'm hungry because the banana bread does sound good I wish we had some as like an object lesson for you but we don't under everything that we made it does make me reflect that I am exactly like this sweet sister I sometimes worry that just my willingness to be obedient to the prompting is not enough I feel like I need to add extra to my personality extra to my offering I need to go get some flowers I need to

bring something in my hand and it really is to try to satiate my own self of you know feeling quite doubtful about is it enough for me to just be obedient to that inspiration and I know that for a lot of women we spend a lot of time focusing on am I enough and what the principle is is that if you're willing to do what the Savior asks you to do nothing more nothing taken away your offering is enough anything else that's lacking comes from the spirit it comes from the Savior it comes from the

inspiration that you feel and will have as you go about doing his work the other thing that I always worry about is you know I did talk about at the beginning this idea of less right and how we're looking to receive more but the the point is is that the ability for us to receive more is our focus on the savior because he will be the one to give us more and if we're looking for more understanding about what we need to do less of that that direction needs to come from the Savior and I

tend to think that we're also spending a lot of time trying to figure out on our own what things we need to discard in order to get to the needful thing and I hope that we look to the Savior to help us in that decision because there are seasons where we need to be doing less things and our savior can direct us which things should we discard in our life so that we can receive the things that he wants to give us in abundance those things that are necessary for us to have right now that

will help us Propel forward spiritually president Nelson talks a lot about spiritual momentum he wants to give us a fullness a plentifulness of gifts that allow us to move forward and he can direct our our activities by identifying areas in our life that we do need to discard in this season you know a few weeks ago Tracy I was really impressed when you came into my office and you said I'm sorry I won't be in the office tomorrow and you said I've received an impression that my family needs me and so I wondered and I

thought and wanted to ask you in that day that you spent at home which was the needful thing how what what happened did you plan to go out to dinner or do some awesome activities kind of how did that day unfold unfold in what we're talking about today doing Needful Things and receiving the abundance it was clear you know these inspiration Impressions don't always come at the times that we find to be in our calendar the most convenient right but when the inspiration comes we have to respond especially those in Impressions that are directly about

your family and I did receive that prompting that I needed to spend time with my family and that for me that day meant really simple things it meant that I needed to be present I needed to be listening I needed to be in conversation I needed really that day I really needed to have my tongue loosened in my mouth filled with with words that could help to provide guidance in that moment so it wasn't uh you know I needed to add replace the things on my calendar with big activities I needed to do quite simple

things it reminds me of a scripture in Alma Alma 37 6 it says behold I say unto you that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass and I think that's a really important principle that there are simple things that we will do in our lives in including when we're feeling quite overwhelmed with the things of Our Lives that will bring about great power in our lives if we focus on simple things not all the multitasking of the million big things but simple things in our daily efforts yeah yeah I'm thinking about

that scripture and the sister with the banana bread which could have been me for sure um by the time she got to that sister's house I'm sure she was exhausted harried anxious about what's going on at home looking at her watch when she showed up at that door I don't know if she could be fully present like you were with your family and so what she offered was bread and I'm sure she offered a hug and she showed up but I often think about what if she had just gathered the baby and the toddler and

just gone over there said I'm here I love you she would have had that that being fully present not overwhelmed but her small and simple things could have brought forth something great because that sister there may have been the space for her to open up and talk so what she could have taken in her hand was not an object or an item but the spirit of the Lord guiding her and I I've tried to think about that a lot in helping myself receive abundance that I can share with others so the second question we're going

to look at is how do I accept that I can't do everything at once but with patience progress line upon line this is a really good question I'm a multitasker a lot of the stories that we tell you'll hear about the the errors that we've made in our own lives to come to learn how the Lord wants us to to um to improve but I'm one of those that gets overwhelmed because I think that being busy is the solution for all of all of my problems because I'm so afraid of being idle and what Idol

means in my life but because of that I tend to um I tend to lack patience in my own progress so I understand this question I want to quickly be able to improve and I look for that often by being overwhelmed in all my my busyness and what came to mind when when I heard this question was a talk from Elder Holland that he gave a few years ago called be therefore perfect eventually do you remember this message the end of Elder Holland's um message he bore a beautiful testimony that was really instructive to me

about this question of how can I become patient is I'm trying to progress line upon line and I would never do it justice by quoting him so we're going to listen to what he shares in his testimony I testify of that grand destiny made Available To Us by the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ who himself continued From Grace to Grace until in his immortality he received a perfect fullness of celestial Glory I testify that in this and every hour he is with nail scarred hands extending to us that same Grace holding on to us

and encouraging us refusing to let us go until we are safely home in the embrace of heavenly parents what a comforting testimony as I've thought about that closing Witness of our heavenly father never leaving us of our savior growing Grace to Grace I've just remind I think of the hymn how gentle God's commands how kind his precepts are they're given out of love they're kind they're gentle our Heavenly Father Knows we are weak and he is able and we can be held by his matchless and marvelous hand a scripture that Tracy and I have talked

a lot about that is very familiar to all of us but it's come to have more meaning as we've pondered this idea of spiritual overwhelm and having patience with our progress found in second Nephi 28 verse 30. for behold thus saith the Lord God I will give unto the Children of Men line upon line precept upon precept hear a little and they're a little in the past I think I've lumped all of those together we're going to get things lined upon line precept upon precept here a little and they're a little just thinking well the

Lord doesn't give us the whole package he just gives us a little bit at a time but as we've had opportunity to really reflect on this scripture we first stopped at line upon line and asked ourselves what is happening when the Lord is giving us inspiration line upon line is it that he wants us to do these seven things in order as obedient children or is it that when we receive the first line the first bit of inspiration and we follow through on that it's actually to change us the Lord is interested in the process

he's interested in the fact that we are exhibiting enough Faith to act on that first impression then he will give us the next one and we can exhibit a little more faith to move so it's that process of change that is included in line upon line when I thought about it that way I thought about an impression and a story you had told me about your family and how you line upon line LED you to receive your precious son Cameron yeah I will say this for me often I say okay I'm here so if I

receive this impression then I'm a really good math student and I get out my ruler and I draw a line from where I am to where I'm going and then I extend it out and I say oh it must mean I'm heading here but from line upon line we realize if we are here and receive an impression here we act on it the next impression may send us here and the next impression may send us here and as we open ourselves to receive that abundance we can truly be led by the Lord and I think

your experience with your son Cameron exhibits that principle of line upon line yeah so well and so much so that it really does exhibit also this idea of where I thought I was going was not actually the destination that the Lord took me nor the one that I was intended to go I think about what you said about how the Lord is very invested in the process and I think about that especially as we consider this story of adoption in my family that I think it would be that would be the point I could just

tell you that I have adopted my son Cameron and that was the outcome and there is the point could be the point but there's nothing there in order for me to tell this story and it to be meaningful I have to tell you the process because that is where the change came and that is where all of the growth and the learning that got me to an outcome the outcome being the adoption of my son our son I claim him as mine but there were other people involved I do have a husband he has a

sister this was a family this was a really family effort but to Susan point a few years ago many years ago now I had an impression to expand my family and I sat with that impression before I took it to my husband for a while and I started to go well Tracy it's it's time again for nurseries and cribs and strollers and diapers and baby bottles and breastfeeding and all the things there is this there is a spirit coming to our family and I need to be prepared so once I spent the time sort of

being in my mind ready for that I went to my husband and I said Brady I think that we need to to try to have a baby this is the impression that I'm having that the Lord wants us to expand our family and almost as soon as I uttered that out of my mouth a very short time later a knot came on my door and my um son my now 17 year old son who was four at the time was brought to us under really challenging circumstances and we went for two years being directed by

the Lord um in a process that the outcome was not clear that we thought was temporary until it became clear that it was not and our vision was raised but from that knock to The Next Step was a step into the dark because I then had to put aside this idea of pregnancy and move our Attention our spiritual Focus all of our faith in this very challenging and time-consuming experience of shepherding a young four-year-old boy during that time I began to understand something that the Lord in his impression to expand my family kind of like

the banana bread did not actually say Tracy you're going to have a baby I said that and I told everybody that the Lord was inviting me to expand in a lot of different ways and those two years expanded my family in understanding what it means to be consecrated understanding what it means when heavenly father really does his Spirit does move and work Upon Us my understanding about how gentle he is with his children and how the spirit actually is entreats us to change and how it invites us to change and how it is quite enticing

I learned that so much of my spiritual growth and abundance of spiritual growth happened in that season of two years all of it was necessary for us to then have an outcome and the outcome was adopting Cameron which was beautiful but I did I drew I was at one point in my life I received an impression that I thought was another point and I drew a straight line in between those two points because I had a baby the last time right yeah history you know was a predictor for the future I thought and what the

Lord did teach me was that sometimes our routes are curved sometimes they're over Hills sometimes they they're on rough roads sometimes it's not smooth but he is generous and he does provide abundance even as we climb mountains even if we're going over bumpy land even if it takes two years to get to the destination we can be led by him in that process line upon line thank you for sharing that I think we learn throughout our lives that the Lord is not necessarily interested in efficiency he's interested in growth and just you know too quick

scriptural examples we're all familiar with is Lehi who was told he was being given a Promised Land and Nephi even said sitting in Jerusalem we have been given a promised land when they're thousands of miles away so you'd think the Lord would say okay here's the most efficient and quick way to get to the Sea you know it's going to take about two months and it took seven years because the Lord was interested in the process in the change of heart and the growth of faith that would take place in those experiences I've been just

got thinking a few days ago about Naaman who is asked to bathe in the River Jordan seven times and so of course at first he said there's no way I'm doing that and then he exhibited a little bit of faith and said okay I'll go do it but I started thinking about Naaman was the seven times just check once I'm going under twice I'm going under three times or each time when he came up dirtier than when he went in under the water and reflected on the fact that he was the leader of these armies

he was treated with respect he got the best food he got the best you know tent in bed am I going to do this again and I wonder if each time it was a little different experience that process of changing his heart of being humble and of drawing closer to God each time he went under so I love the idea of line upon line and that it takes patience the second thing we've been thinking about is the phrase here a little and there a little and sometimes that's how we receive direction from the Lord as

many of you know uh my husband suffered kidney failure and was on dialysis for many years at the time of this story he had received two transplants the second one from his sister who's here today both of those transplants failed the second failure was quite devastating for his health and so he was back at dialysis center so we had done all we could do uh kidneys can't really be operated on and so of course we were praying for for help so so one day I took Bruce to the dialysis center stayed with him about an

hour because it's a four hour process I was driving home because we still had our two daughters at home and they would just be getting home from school so I went to be with them for a bit and as I was driving up the hill a phrase from A Hymn came to mind all now rejoice a long night is over I knew it was from him I didn't know what him it was from but I knew the message I could Rejoice the long night was over so I drove home and I thought the phone's going

to ring any second and they're going to say Mrs Porter I don't know what happened but you can come get your husband he's good and that call didn't come and or the next day or the next day or the next month or the next year but I knew I had been given something I had been given here a little I didn't know the path I didn't even know what it meant but I knew I could be rejoicing because the long night was over that gave me hope and even though in those ensuing eight years there

were more surgeries more health challenges after eight years he received a transplant from our oldest son David which restored his health and we were able to accept an international assignment in Russia for the church I've reflected on that here a little and asking myself how can I be more open to the spirit as I go throughout my life to receive those little Impressions those here a little or they're a little that will give me hope through the vicissitudes of life to have faith in Christ and receive that abundance that I could start rejoicing now even

though the promise blessing was afar off so generous but so generous to know that in the middle of something so challenging that the Lord seeks to give you hope that there is there is a destination to Rejoice over yeah I think that's just beautiful Susan thank you for sharing that thank you so are third question is how can I know if the Lord is pleased with my efforts sometimes that question can even lead to spiritual overwhelm when we realize well I bet I've got to be doing more and we end up in a place of

overwhelm so do you have any thoughts yeah Tracy on how we can know if the Lord's pleased yeah that my immediate thought um that when when we kind of counseled around this question was in Matthew 25 21 and this is where the Lord is talking about the parable of the talents but there is in verse 21 Matthew 25 verse 21 he says well done thou good and faithful servant thou Hast been Faithful over a few things I will make the ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of the Lord there is so much

peace for someone like me who is a multitasker who is always assuming I need to do more that my busyness in the gospel represents my Effectiveness in the gospel and as much stuff as I can collect to do to feel like I'm anxiously engaged in some way must be the solution to the Lord being pleased with my effort but this scripture is so peaceful to me because he reminds me that the Lord's expectation is a few things a few things how peaceful is that think about the list that we have that we could be doing

to try to be perfect in now when Perfection is eventually as Elder Holland taught us that the Lord expects us to be to be a master over a few things and our focus on him helps us to determine what those few things are that he will help us to be really good at thank you yeah I've thought also how if I pay attention every time I feel peace through the spirit or every time I receive an impression is an indication of God's love and his encouragement and that he is pleased that he can offer me

this impression with his hope that I'll act on it even those little every impression can be an indication that the Lord is pleased with us he can count on us to be his messenger and to be his hands so watching for those simple feelings of peace and Impressions can help us know the Lord is pleased with our efforts I love the hymn to be still my soul Be Still My Soul the Lord is on thy side so the Lord is not over here trying to find everything that's the matter with us he's right there with

us remember that um article in the liahona that President Nelson wrote called the Everlasting Covenant in the October 2022 liahona I think many of us here have made covenants with God and once we've made those covenants we are linked with our savior and our heavenly father in a very special way with their special love and their unique help and this one quote from president Nelson because of our covenant with God he will never Tire in his efforts to help us and we will never exhaust his merciful patience with us so even when I fall even

when I'm not the person I know the Lord wants me to be I know I'm never going to exhaust his patience with me or his Mercy because of my efforts and desire to keep his covenants that is a great comfort to me I wanted to close with an experience that I had uh surrounding this scripture in Hebrews Apostle Paul is inviting us to run with patience course that is set before us and we've been talking about patients patience in our growth and he says we do it by looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of

our faith when I think about running with patients there are times in our lives when we're running faster than other times there are times when we're barely barely moving and how can we know that the Lord's pleased with us in those times years ago we were living in Munich Germany with three children ages three and under we had you know this is before cell phones and face time with family back home and uh we just wrote letters I wrote letters back and forth uh Bruce had a full-time job and was called to serve as the

branch president in a branch that was about 30 minutes away so I was at home long days and evenings with these three tiny children two in diapers in a foreign country and I began to feel that I was not only running a race I was I wasn't even walking the race I just felt like I wasn't contributing anything I wasn't making any progress I was just trying to hang on and one day I got a call from a sister in the ward saying that she would be she was looking for a substitute for her Relief

Society lesson and so without thinking I said I would be happy to do it and I hung up and I really was crying and thought I can't do this I don't have anything to offer and uh but I did I had I had agreed and so I prepared the best I could so I went and taught the lesson and then after class there were just a group of us talking and into my mind came this very clear sentence the Lord loves a plotter p-l-o-d-d-e-r that gave me so much comfort the Lord was aware I was

doing about as much as I could I was not running in any kind of race I was plodding along and he loved me for it he knew and saw my efforts sisters I leave with you my witness that you have a heavenly father who is on your side partially because when you are trying to live your Covenants he will his merciful his Mercy will never run out he's anxious for you in those times he is hoping in those times of overwhelm that you will stop take yourself apart look for him put yourself in a place

to receive his guidance and then act not embellishing not making it bigger than it is between those simple things that he knows you can do out of his love I bear my witness that when you feel his spirit that is abutments knowing feeling your heart expand with his love for you and your love for him I love my heavenly father his son Jesus Christ I bear my witness that they like that they live and they love us in the name of Jesus Christ amen our savior loves his daughter who's overwhelmed he loved his daughter who

is exhausted he loves his daughter who is seeking and searching for him and for his Direction he loves his daughter who has questions and worries and concerns he loves his daughter who is anxiously waiting upon the Lord for promised blessings waiting at the windows for The Floodgate to open who's looking to him to provide things that are necessary this is God's Kingdom and each of us in it stand waiting for our savior to help us in some way to do his work in his kingdom and he loves us regardless of where we are in that

process he's willing to help us Grace for Grace line upon line precept upon precept hear a little there a little God loves a plotter I'm so grateful for my savior I'm so grateful for in the challenges that I know that I am seeking for him to help me with that at times are overcoming that he offers abundance even as I feel like I am trying to make my way forward and I'm climbing the hill and I'm turning sharp corners and I'm not quite sure what's around the corner I am so grateful that there is still

abundance when I put myself in a position to receive how blessed are we that the opportunity to be near to the Savior and in his presence is as close as a distance between our knees and the ground they're as close as the scriptures in our hands they're as close as the nearest Temple how grateful and how blessed we are for that and for a savior who provides us with so much to help us in the very normal and natural ways that we can at times be overwhelmed in his kingdom but it is his kingdom and

he promises to never Tire in his efforts to bring us safely home as we journey there and I testify that our savior is the only path he is the answer he is the answer for all the questions he is the center of our cus art covenants he is the center of our faith and when we focus on him he is the help that we need the help that we need to help us progress in the ways that we desire and I testify of this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen [Music] this presentation

was given at the BYU Women's Conference on May 4th 2023. [Music] foreign