Rejoicing in Hope
Welcome to Rejoicing in Hope, a podcast dedicated to exploring the teachings and messages from General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Join us as we delve into the inspiring talks, uplifting themes, and timeless principles shared by church leaders. Each episode features thoughtful discussions and personal reflections that help listeners find hope and strength in their faith. Whether you're preparing for conference, revisiting past sessions, or seeking encouragement in your spiritual journey, Rejoicing in Hope invites you to discover the joy and guidance that comes from living the gospel.
Rejoicing in Hope
Cheering Each Other On
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Rejoicing in Hope hosts, Jamie and Jenny, share their thoughts, feelings and reactions on the talk from:
Sister J. Anette Dennis, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, Cheering Each Other On. Link to the talk: Sister J Anette Dennis
Join us as we discuss key highlights in this inspiring talk:
· God’s Plan of Unity
· Becoming a Zion Heart
· True Discipleship
· The Golden Rule
· We Aren’t Racing Each Other
· Divine Strength Through Unity
Rejoicing in Hope invites you to discover the joy and guidance that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. For more information on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, click here. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/
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Welcome to the Rejoicing and Hope podcast. I'm Jamie Grace here with my outstanding wife.
SPEAKER_00:Hey everyone, I'm Jenny. So glad you're joining us.
SPEAKER_01:We're your hosts, and welcome to our podcast. We look forward to diving into the inspiring talks from this most recent session of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
SPEAKER_00:Each episode, we break down one talk and share the lessons we've learned to uplift and inspire.
SPEAKER_01:These messages help us feel God's love and strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00:Today we're discussing the talk from Sister Jay Annette Dennis, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, Cheering Each Other On.
SPEAKER_01:Cheering Each Other On. What'd you think about this title?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's something we all need.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a very positive and uplifting title. Yeah. Yeah. Very good.
SPEAKER_00:Very fitting.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Trivia. What word do you think was used the most in her talk?
SPEAKER_00:You would think that I would think about this ahead of time knowing you're gonna ask. But I don't. I don't know, maybe love or I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Love was not one of the top three.
SPEAKER_00:All right.
SPEAKER_01:The number one was each E A C H.
SPEAKER_00:That is not what I would have guessed.
SPEAKER_01:No, sixteen times. Other was used fifteen times, and one was used thirteen times. So I decided to look up the definition of each just to try to understand a little more about it. And it means every one of two or more things, but considered separately rather than as a group. In other words, looking at something one by one. How many times have we heard things about how we should be doing things one by one, right? Yeah. So each is really just another way, if you're talking about a group of people, that each of them or one by one.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm assuming each and other were together.
SPEAKER_01:And probably in many of them. So yes. So very good. Would you like to kick off with your number one?
SPEAKER_00:All right. My number one was God's plan of unity. She says, divine strength comes from unity, and that's why Satan is intent on dividing us. Then Sister Dennis lists some things that we go through that maybe we're judged for or feel like an outcast because of. And these things were questioned, like if we're questioning our faith, or deal with anxiety or depression, or we're a different race, or someone with different life experiences, or if somebody doesn't feel like they fit the mold. Maybe you're a sleep-deprived and emotionally stretched parent, or single in a room full of couples and families, or you're mustering the courage to return after being away from the church, or have the nagging feeling that you just don't measure up. President Russell M. Nelson said, if a couple in your ward gets divorced, or a young missionary returns home early, or a teenager doubts his testimony, they do not need your judgment. They need to experience the pure love of Jesus Christ reflected in your words and actions. I don't think it's a surprise to any of us that Satan wants us to be divided amongst ourselves. He will be alone for eternity and he wants the same for us. Also, he recognizes that the things that divide us are the same things that will weaken us spiritually. So if he can be successful in pitting us against each other, he removes the source of strength. So I think what Sister Dennis is trying to teach us here is that we can be a source of strength to each other or a source of judgment to each other. One is the Lord's plan, the other is Satan's plan. We are in this together. We are not sent to this earth alone. We were sent to a family. We have friends, we have schoolmates, we have a church family. It's very easy for us to see the shortcomings in others, even those we love. How easy is it to overlook those shortcomings? Overlooking those things and focusing on positive is what keeps us united. Now, obviously, I'm not referring to abuse or bullying of any kind. That behavior should never be tolerated ever. But Sister Dennis refers to the golden rule, which may seem rudimentary, but it really holds true. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated, and we can all be one big, happy family. I'm starting to realize that not everyone cares if they are treated a certain way, though. And those things need to be communicated. I think, like we assume, everybody wants to be treated the way we want to be treated. And so, in that sense, the golden rule doesn't really apply. Like, for instance, I have some family members that are cool with less frequent visits. Whereas I want to check in with my siblings several times a week. And I would like the same from them, but I will never get that because it's not what they need. So it helps us to understand each other's needs, helps us if we understand each other's needs and capacities so that you can stay united and avoid misunderstandings. It's the last days, and Satan is working so hard to destroy relationships of all kinds. Focusing on being charitable is the best way I can think of to combat his plan. I saw a video this past week done by Hilary Weeks, who's an artist, musical artist in the LDS community. Many are I'm sure are familiar with. And she shared a revelation she was given at a time when she was feeling down about herself after a young women's activity. She was one of the leaders. And she was feeling like she didn't fit in, she was feeling like she hadn't made a difference, and those sorts of negative thoughts. And the spirit told her don't worry about what others think of you. Worry about what they think of themselves when they are with you. She explained it really well, so I encourage you to go search her Facebook page and find the video so you can get the full story. But I love the message. Focus on building up others, and everyone's lives will be changed for the better.
SPEAKER_01:I think if you just closed in Jesus' name right now, you would have summed up our talk.
SPEAKER_00:That's pretty much it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And and all three of my points.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, it's okay. It's just bits and pieces of all three. So I I was pretty sure as I was studying this message that there's gonna be some overlap even between my individual three, and I knew we would cross over. So definitely.
SPEAKER_00:Same here, same here. All three are, you know, pretty much the same message, but just a little different take on it.
SPEAKER_01:My number one is becoming a Zion heart. Sister Dennis says the Savior wants us to become a Zion people. In the footnotes from this quote, she adds this quote from Elder Quintinell Cook. The clarion call to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to strive to be a Zion people who are of one heart and one mind and dwell in righteousness. So I started thinking, what is this Zion? Sure, I've read the verse in Moses 7, which is what Elder Cook basically stated as well. So I still said, What am I missing? And I came to start thinking about this is not a step-by-step process. We don't create Zion within me first and become perfected in it before we add on additional Zion elements. We have to work on all our Zion elements at the same time. And then sometimes we'll work on one more than another, but we still have to work on them all. So there's I wrote down a few different like Zion elements. And the first one was Zion begins with me. So Zion is a condition of the heart. It means being sincere, undivided in our loyalty to our Heavenly Father, and faithful in desire to be obedient to him. This is someone whose will is aligned with God's will. They love truth, they're seeking goodness, and they refuse hypocrisy in their life. Although Zion begins with me, it's important to note this is about changing your heart. That's loyalty to God. This is not loyalty to self. Very fine line that you can cross over if you're not careful. Because you can instead, where you're trying to be pure in heart, instead be prideful in your heart. But this Zion begins with me. But if I go back to that step-by-step process, this isn't like once I have Zion within me, then I can do the next step. It doesn't work that way. You'll have to work on all these ones that I'll talk about. As if you only focus, we'll never be perfect. We'll never have Zion perfectly in our hearts. In our life, that will come later as we become better and more pure, etc. So we can't only work in one area. The other one is Zion in our ward and family. As covenant people, we bring Zion to others as we serve them. And service comes in so many different ways. You can you could look at service in a hundred different ways of how you want to serve your ward and your family. Sister Dennis explains this: our congregations and families can be gathering places where we cheer each other on. Covenant communities fueled by the love of Christ for one another, helping each other overcome whatever challenges we face, giving each other strength and encouragement without judging one another. We need each other. Divine strength comes from unity, and that is why Satan is intent on dividing us. You talked about that. And the last one was Zion everywhere. We don't get to stop love and serving others if they're not in our family or in our ward. Our Heavenly Father and Savior love all of mankind and womankind, all of them. And we are commanded to do this as well. Sister Dennis says Christ-like treatment of others goes far beyond our families and congregations. It includes our sisters and brothers of other faiths, or no faith at all. It includes our brothers and sisters from other countries and cultures, as well as those of different political persuasions. We are all part of the family of God, and he loves all his children. He desires that his children love him and also one another. That last statement, there was a little smack in the face to me. And I've been watching lately some political reels where a person of one political party talks to others in an opposite political party. Ultimately, the person degrades in a way the person that doesn't follow their belief. And when I was reading through this about my responsibility is to have Christ-like treatment of all people, including those of different political persuasions, it made me think that those aren't very Christ-like videos in any way. Even if the political agenda is more Christ-like than someone else's political agenda, that's not what he wants of us. Even to tear each other down, even when someone's making foolish decisions, that's not what Heavenly Father wants. He wants Christ-like treatment of others. So I determined I can't watch those anymore. They are poisoning my heart because it does not help me create Zion. I need to love everyone. No buts, no ifs. Simply love everyone. That's how we become Zion.
SPEAKER_00:That's good. All right. My next one is true discipleship. Um President Nelson taught. The Savior's message is clear. His two true disciples build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire. How we speak to and about others really matters. These two quotes really made me ponder my own discipleship and really just what kind of friend and sister and wife and mother I am. Now, granted, I've been going through a lot lately because of my health and losing my mom, but the words heap burdens upon each other really stood out to me. I have been very blessed to have charitable friends and family who have allowed me to heap my burdens on them. I have tried to be the person allowing them to place their burdens on me also. But it's hard when you're going through so much. And after reading this, I feel as though that is something I could take to the Lord and say, I don't have the capacity on my own to carry so and so's burden today, whoever is needing me. But I want to be there for them. Can you help me? And I think he would do that for me. I tend to be a people pleaser and can get myself into trouble by taking on too much, by not saying no enough. And there's some people in the world that will take advantage of that. But I just want to assure everyone that I don't feel that way about anybody in my life right now. In the past I've had that issue, but I don't feel like anybody's draining me right now. We're good and feeling very balanced. I feel good.
SPEAKER_01:So not on that list.
SPEAKER_00:No. If anything, I'm taking more than I'm giving right now. Anyway, the Lord's way is for us to have a desire to help each other and to be there for each other, not one more than the other. In the second quote that I read, President Nelson mentions powerful words regarding the way we treat each other. We need to build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire. Think about the strength it would give each of us if all the people in our lives were focused on building us up. I'm sure many of them are. Are we that kind of support to the people in our life? Or is it all about what we need, what we want? He also mentions how we talk to and about people. This is a big one. Words are powerful. Like it or not, assumptions about whether or not we value a person may be based solely on our words. Two things I thought of that I just want to remember for myself are one, I'm not perfect and I will say things that are hurtful, whether it's intentional or not. And two, I need to be humble enough to recognize when this happens and apologize. And maybe a third thing I'll add, when someone comes to me apologizing for something they said, I need to forgive it and let it go. A lot of people will just harbor feelings because of something said that was unintentional. Ultimately, the goal is to love the way the savior did.
SPEAKER_01:That pretty much sums it up again. Ultimately. Love like the savior did. Yeah. Okay. Mine number two. The golden rule.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry. That's okay.
SPEAKER_01:The golden rule is do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Jesus never called this the golden rule. Do you know where that comes from?
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It it actually didn't start till about the 17th century. A pastor, I guess not a past they weren't called pastors, but uh Reverend or a leader in the early 1600s in England used that terminology and it just has become uh used after that and it's become the golden rule. In fact, Jesus didn't actually use those words. It's a paraphrase of Jesus, but in reality it's actually a paraphrase that's been going on f beyond Jesus. So Confucius, which was 500 years before Christ, says, Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. And Rabbi Halil, who was in the first century BC, so a Jew before Jesus was born, the first hundred years before Jesus said, What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting.
SPEAKER_01:And then he actually says, that is the whole Torah. In other words, that's what our whole our whole scriptures are. The rest is just commentary. Yeah. It's like love one another. Yeah. That's it. And then a philosopher during that lived the same time as a savior in Rome, his name was Seneca. Never heard him before. But he says, treat your inferiors as you would wish your superiors to treat you. And you know, so it enough history, but it would really what it was saying is this the golden rule is just been around forever about treating people like you want to be treated yourself. So in the footnotes, again, of Sister Dennis' talk, she put in a quote from President Nelson. She says, As we follow or he says, as we follow the Savior and desire to become like him, we will strive to see everyone the way he sees them. And as we continue to pray for the gift of charity, a sincere feeling of love and care can eventually grow in our hearts. We'll develop a desire to build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire others, not out of a sense of duty, but because we are gradually becoming like our Savior. I want to repeat a phrase from that quote. We will strive to see everyone the way he sees them. So becoming Christ-like does not mean I'm going to act a certain way around you, so you will act a certain way around me. I'm not going to treat you nice, so you will treat me nice. This thinking is childlike. Yeah. It is not celestial thinking. It is not becoming Christ-like thinking. Rather, I am going to love you because I want to love you. Even if you never love me or treat me the way you should, I will still love you. I am not loving you because the Savior told me I need to love everyone. I love you because I choose to love you. I care about you and your daily needs and your concerns. I will try to minister to you in any way I can.
SPEAKER_00:That's a lot.
SPEAKER_01:It's a powerful love, right? So I wrote the following down. The telestial rule. Not the golden rule. The telestial rule. Do to others what they do to you. Not a really good way to live, right? No. Then I wrote the terrestrial rule, sometimes called the golden rule.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And finally I wrote the celestial rule. Love others as Jesus loves you, fully, mercifully, and without requirement of return.
SPEAKER_00:It reminds me of that quote. I think it was Elder Gong that said kindness without expecting reward or something to that effect.
SPEAKER_01:Love without return. Loving people without expecting them to love you back. You just love them. Yeah. I'm not sure. You're not there yet? You're not there yet?
SPEAKER_00:Uh not quite there yet.
SPEAKER_01:Not quite. Okay. I knew it was close.
SPEAKER_00:With some people, I'm like that.
SPEAKER_01:That's the hard part though. You've got to do it with all the people.
SPEAKER_00:All the people. Like I think I we had a speaker years ago in one of our state conferences that talked about loving the unlovable. And we've heard it before in conference. Even recently, I feel like. So that's the challenge. So somebody loves them. We just don't all mesh with every single person. And that's that's a challenge. In fact, Sherry Dew, um when she visited us here once, she said life were would be easy if it weren't for people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:All right, my third one. We aren't racing each other.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Referring to a time when Sister Dennis suffered with depression and a faith crisis, she said, that painful personal experience taught me some of some valuable lessons about why we've been commanded not to judge one another unrighteously. Are there those among us who suffer in silence, afraid for others to know their hidden struggles because they don't know what the reaction will be? Now, since I've been facilitating the emotional resilience course in our ward for the last couple of years, I've had more practice opening up. And I found that when I do open up about my struggles, others do the same, and we connect in a way that I don't connect with other people in the ward. It's a scary place to go because you don't know if you will be accepted or if you will be validated. Will that person or those people see you differently? Will they see you as broken, unworthy? Overall, I have just felt loved when I've been open about my struggles. In some cases, I've become really close to those people that I've shared with my pain with. Now, if you on the other hand are one of those people who seem to be able to manage mortality with a little more confidence, and you're tempted to wonder why someone else is falling apart, remember this from her talk. Only the Lord fully knows the actual level of difficulty with which each of us is running our race of life. The burdens, the challenges, and the obstacles we face that often cannot be seen by others. Only he fully understands the life-changing wounds and trauma some of us may have experienced in the past that are still affecting us in the present. Now, someone who doesn't know me at all may have real concerns lately about my mental state. There's been a lot of random crying in the middle of Walmart during the opening hymn almost every Sunday. Um just even like dropping Levi off at therapy. Sometimes I cry a lot in the car. And so when I drop him off, the person that comes to gather him can see, you know, that I'm crying. And many of the people that have witnessed the deluge of tears have no idea that my mom just passed away. We are all running our own race. Even within my own family, we are all handling the loss of our mom in a different way. We all had a unique relationship with her. We all have different levels of depression, anxiety. I already had a high level of health anxiety because of an incident years ago. Watching my mom go through her illness and pass away only made that anxiety worse. The point is, we are all so different. Giving each other charity and grace is what the Lord would want us to do. And one thing I'm really working hard on is giving myself grace. Sister Dennis said, often we even judge ourselves harshly, thinking we should be much farther ahead on the track. Only the Lord fully knows our individual limitations and capacity, and because of that, he is the only one fully qualified to judge our performance. Only the Lord knows what we are capable of. I thought that was so interesting. I never thought about that. Obviously, we should always try our best, but only he knows the heights we can reach. So instead of using each other's accompliment accomplishments to determine whether or not we are passing muster, maybe the best way to assess our progress is to ask Heavenly Father where we can improve and ask him for help.
SPEAKER_02:Great job. Great job.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. I never know what to say when you're like, Great job.
SPEAKER_01:My number three, divine strength through unity. When I started to put my notes together for this final segment, I looked at my notes and I still had sixteen different quotes from Sister Dennis's talk. If I'm going to repeat 16 of her quotes, I might as well just read the talk.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I heard once if you mark everything, you mark nothing.
SPEAKER_01:So I had to cut some stuff out. There were so many good pieces with this talk. Yeah. And I feel bad for cutting stuff out. So uh I do have a few quotes I'm going to hit from her on this last little segment. One, it takes great courage for some of our sisters and brothers to step into the arena of life every day, knowing they may be judged unfairly, even though they're doing the best they can against daunting odds to follow the Savior and honor their covenants with him. She also said it is a basic human need for all of us to feel a sense of belonging, to feel that we are wanted and needed, and that our lives have purpose and meaning. I just I write down this is just truth. Life is hard, and it is hard for everyone. Some people do a great job masking their trials. You kind of talked about that a little bit, right? Yeah. I think I am one of them.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you are.
SPEAKER_01:For example, I think I only told a very few people when my mom passed away. But Jenny can usually see when something is wrong in my demeanor, but that most people never know. And that's happened recently. When you knew something was wrong, and she had to take me to the yard. Men mask more than women. I saw this a lot when I served as the Elders Corn president. I would talk to a brother, and he would say, Everything is fine. The relief side president would talk to the wife, and we would find a different story. The dog died, they totaled their family vehicle, the house caught on fire, and the husband lost his job. Everything was fine from the man's point of view. It's just how we handle these things. And I really think there's two parts to belonging. This unity that we're looking for. One, do I feel part of the Ward family? And two, how do I make others feel in the Ward family? Interestingly enough, I think they are very closely related. There can be many days we do not feel part of the Ward family. It could be our own discouragement that keeps us from smiling that Sabbath day. Maybe we hide in the corner during Sunday school because we don't feel like talking to others. Maybe we want to just skip church. Then when no one does talk to us, some people might even say, No one shook my hand today or talked to me. We created our own environment. At the very same time as we are going through our own struggles, someone else feels the same way. They saw us at church, but were disheartened when we didn't say hi to them. They needed a handshake or a hug, something. Sister Dennis said, There will be times in each of our lives when we will be the ones who need help and encouragement. Let's commit now to always do that for each other. That's part that's sometimes the hard part. When we don't feel comfortable or we don't feel like we belong, how do we take a step forward and make others feel good even when we don't feel good? It's not easy. And the probably the number one reason why it's not easy is Satan doesn't want it to be easy. He tries everything in his power to make it harder. He puts thoughts in our minds about how we're just not as good as somebody else, or the woe is me about whatever circumstance we're going through. He is going to dump on us, especially when we're already in a dumped mood. Because he does not want us to come out of it. I want to requote a piece from earlier that was in my first one. Divine strength comes from unity. And that is why Satan is intent on dividing us. Even when it's even if it we're not being divisive in our words, our actions can be divisive by being standoffish, where people don't feel like they can come talk to us. Satan does not want us to reach out to others when we feel alone and insecure. He does not want us to have divine strength from unity. Sister Dennis said again, it is our responsibility to love and care for each other as members of the family of God, members of the body of Christ. And I think that's where we have to figure out even if we even if we're not having a great day, can we say hi to one person? Can we ask God to help us be able to know one person I can reach out to? And the the amazing thing that it is, is we will never know if we made a difference on a particular Sabbath day by going up and saying hi to somebody or giving them a hug. We may never know that that day was just a really bad day for them. And us doing that changed something. They may never tell us, we just only may find out about it years from now. Years from now when when Heavenly Father shows us an amazing miracle that happened in our life that we were a part of, we just never saw. We don't get to judge others, we only get to love. And that's what we have to do. We have to love them. If we think we know, if we think we know what others are going through, then listen to this final quote. And you read this quote, and I'm gonna read it again. Only the Lord fully knows the actual level of difficulty with which each of us is running our race of life. The burdens, the challenges, and the obstacles we face that often cannot be seen by others. Only He fully understands the life-changing wounds and trauma some of us may have experienced in the past that are still affecting us in the present. We're not allowed to judge. We only get to love. We need to be present in every meeting we are in, looking for others to help create unity, which will give us divine strength. I love divine strength.
SPEAKER_00:Great job.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Do you have any bonus quotes?
SPEAKER_00:I only have one, surprisingly.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness gracious, I am not sure.
SPEAKER_00:Mainly because I used so much and you zoo so much.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Well, I you know, I had 16 that when I started the last section, so I was I was able to uh use some of those into my bonus quotes.
SPEAKER_00:The only one I had to share was his is not a gospel of checklists, it is a gospel of becoming. Yes. Becoming as he is and loving as he does. He wants us to become Zion people. Now, you might have read that in your Zion section. Did you read that?
SPEAKER_01:I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember the checklist part.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00:But I like the gospel of becoming.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. All right, my quotes. Let's be like those spectators in the story and cheer each other on in our journey of discipleship, no matter our circumstances. Number two was please don't lose hope. Please keep going. Please stay. You do belong. The Lord needs you, and we need you.
SPEAKER_00:I like that one too.
SPEAKER_01:And my last one. He is cheering at you on. So what will you do differently?
SPEAKER_00:I am going to take on Hillary Weeks challenge. And when I walk into a room, I'm going to turn my focus on making who I am, who I am with, feel important and cared about and try to forget myself. I am that person that walks into the room and is immediately like intimidated. Who do I sit by? Because I need to sit by somebody that I know that I'm comfortable with. And instead, I want to be that person that looks for somebody that needs somebody.
SPEAKER_01:I know that wow.
SPEAKER_00:And I watched it. I watched you become a different person. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I wonder if you'll slip back into your bad habits now.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's very interesting because I that I have thought about that from this as trying to, you know, because I I I you know others don't know. I for four and a half years I greeted everybody that walked in that sacrament room, sacrament or the chapel. For four and a half years, if we were there, I greeted people and I just took that upon myself to get to know everybody. And I knew when somebody knew is coming in that building. Um and I miss it not being in that calling anymore. Because I don't feel it's really my place to do that. And so it's trying to find that balance of so I at least try to shake the hands around people around me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So we have a brother that walks around the whole chapel and shakes everybody's hands.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So it's it's our our friend, the get yourself to continue.
SPEAKER_01:Get yourself to the temple. All right. So I do differently. So this is so I just received a new calling, and I'll be working with a lot of new people in the stake. We just switched stakes. So we're we're in a new stake. Our ward is in a new stake. I don't a lot of people don't know. So I'm guessing I know less than like 10% of these people in the new stake. I want to help them all feel that they belong. Genuinely meet them, greet them, and get to know them. I have a lot of people that I need to go and get to know. And I want to do that.
SPEAKER_00:You'll be in my prayers. I'm gonna need it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you for joining us on the Rejoicing and Hope podcast.
SPEAKER_00:We pray today's insights help you grow closer to Christ and strengthen your faith.
SPEAKER_01:I have seen the power of belonging. I have seen how the Lord can take members of the church who do not feel part of the ward, become part of the ward because of genuine love. Brothers and sisters giving their time up to minister and become friends to others. Miracles happen. They might not happen overnight or on any time schedule we put together, but God works miracles when we help others feel as if they belong.
SPEAKER_00:I love the idea of cheering each other on. I am grateful for this testimony and encouragement of Sister Dennis. Mortality is the time when we will be tested and we will need help and cheering from each other. I know that my Savior knows me and is full of grace, and I pray that I too can have grace for myself and for others as we all work on our discipleship together.
SPEAKER_01:If you enjoyed this episode, follow, review, or share it with a friend. Most importantly, keep seeking the Lord and rejoicing in the hope he offers.
SPEAKER_00:Next week, we will explore the talk from Elder Neil L. Anderson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The atoning love of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02:See you next time.