General Conference- October 2013

I know I probably am taking longer than I should to post about General Conference.  But I had to take some time to gather my thoughts.

The older I get, the faster conference seems to go.  Granted, part of it is getting faster (they seem to consistently end the sessions early now, but when I was growing up, I remember it going right up to the time, or even over).  But I know a big part of it going faster is the fact that I'm appreciating it more and find myself drinking up everything that I can.  I find myself looking forward to the counsel God is providing to us through His leaders.

I went in to conference with some specific questions.  The past few times I did that, I got very specific answers.  This time, I still definitely got answers, but they were more vague... though I guess the General Relief Society Meeting was a bit more specific, as one of my questions was about how I can better understand the temple and covenants, and most of the meeting consisted of talks focusing on covenants (see here, here, and here).

It's always interesting to me to see what themes come out of conference, even (or especially) when I'm not looking for them.  I did expect the big theme of missionary work, and that was definitely there (see here, here, and here).  But one theme that really jumped out at me was one of enduring through trials and pushing forward.  Maybe I saw that theme more than was actually there, but I wasn't particularly looking for it, so I don't think that's the case.  I know there were past conferences where this is the theme I would've craved at that point in my life.  But right now, things are going alright for me.  But I loved all of the talks about trials regardless, and I know I'm going to go back to them and re-read them during the future hard times that I will face.  (So for my reference, some of the talks to re-read during those times are this, this, this, and this... in addition to all of my current go-to talks)

My favorite of all of them, though, was Elder Holland's talk (he is typically a favorite of mine, if you couldn't tell from me linking to several of his other talks during the course of this blog).  But this talk in particular was great for me, because, as I put on Facebook, "As a therapist, I want to give it to every client I work with who has depression, as well as every person I come across who doesn't understand that mental illnesses are real. As a human being, I loved the reminder that through the Atonement all will eventually be made right. I'm so grateful for living prophets and these inspired messages."

I know it wasn't a perfect message, as people experience depression differently.  But it was such a relief to hear it talked about.  It really hurts my heart when people who don't understand depression or other mental illnesses tell others that they should just "pray more" or "choose to be happy."  And this seems to be an especially big response from people in the church due to some of the culture, which makes it even harder.  But you can't simply pray away depression.  You can't choose to be happy when you're depressed any more than you can choose to not have diabetes if you are diagnosed.  It was so wonderful to hear the validation that an apostle of the Lord provided.  I have so many friends and family members and clients who struggle with various mental illnesses and I hate the stigma attached to it...even though, if we're being completely honest, I sometimes perpetrate that stigma.  Which is made even worse by the fact that I've even dealt with it some myself.  (Not something I'm super open about due to that fun vulnerability thing I've discussed before... but that is a blog post for another day.)

I know there is so much that I didn't catch from conference and I'm excited to take Elder Hale's counsel and continue to study and learn from it (including the talks from the Priesthood Session, as I haven't taken the time to read those yet).  I am so blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and to be able to receive guidance from my Father in Heaven through His prophets and leaders.  I know I need to show more appreciation of that, especially by sharing it... and I guess me blogging about it is one small way I can do that.

What was your reaction to General Conference?