“The Triumph of Hope”

Posted on by Mitch Peterson

Last updated on December 29th, 2024 at 08:58 am

General Conference Applied

S4 E11 – Thursday, December 26, 2024 | “The Triumph of Hope” by Elder Neil L. Andersen; October 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

“When Hope Is Discarded”

  • “My intent is to speak of our sacred and eternal hopes centered in Jesus Christ and the restored gospel and our ‘confident expectation[s] of … the promised blessings of righteousness.’ …

    “We shed tears of sorrow as we see the sadness and despair in those who have no hope in Christ.

    “I recently observed from a distance a couple who at one time had faith in Christ but then decided to discard their belief. They were successful in the world, and they found pleasure in their intellect and the rejection of their faith.

    “All seemed well until the husband, still young and energetic, suddenly fell ill and died. Like an eclipse of the sun, they had blocked the light of the Son, and the result was an eclipse of hope. The wife, in her disbelief, now felt disoriented, painfully unprepared, unable to comfort her children. Her intellect had told her that her life was in perfect order until suddenly she could see no tomorrow. Her despair brought darkness and confusion. …

    “Brothers and sisters, the peace you seek may not come as quickly as you desire, but I promise you that as you trust in the Lord, His peace will come. …

    “I testify that our hope is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through Him, all our righteous dreams will be realized. He is the God of hope—the triumph of hope. He lives and He loves you.” -Elder Andersen

Bio

  • “Neil L. Andersen was named an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 4, 2009.

    “Neil L. Andersen was born in Logan, Utah, and raised in Pocatello, Idaho.

    “He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he was a Hinckley Scholar, and earned a masters of business administration from Harvard University. After completing his education, he settled in Tampa, Florida, where his business interests included advertising, real estate development and health care.

    “Neil L. Andersen and his wife, Kathy Williams Andersen, are the parents of four children.

    “Prior to his call as a general authority, Elder Andersen served as a mission president in the France Bordeaux Mission and as president of the Tampa Florida Stake.

    “He was serving as the senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy prior to his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve. He was named a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1993, at age 41. Elder Andersen previously led the work of the Church in southern Brazil and, again as a member of an area presidency, oversaw the Church in western Europe. He has also assisted in supervising the work of the Church in Mexico and Central America. In addition, he supervised Church audiovisual production, including the filming of “The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd” and managed construction of the broadcast facilities in the Conference Center as the executive director of the Church Audiovisual Department. He speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish in addition to his native English.”
  • This was Elder Andersen’s 37th general conference address. Here are his five most recent addresses:

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “May we nurture our precious faith, pressing forward with a perfect brightness of hope.”

  • Nurture our faith, and “[press] forward with a perfect brightness of hope.”
  • Christlike Attribute: “I feel peaceful and optimistic about the future. (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23)” (Hope)
  • “My brothers and sisters, hope is a living gift, a gift that grows as we increase our faith in Jesus Christ. ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for.’ We build this substance—the evidence blocks of our faith—through prayer, temple covenants, keeping the commandments, continually feasting on the scriptures and the words of modern-day prophets, taking the sacrament, serving others, and worshipping weekly with our fellow Saints.” -Elder Andersen
  • “Twenty-one years ago the newborn son of my nephew Ben Andersen and his wife, Robbie, was life-flighted from their Idaho farming community to Salt Lake City. I arrived at the hospital, and Ben explained the severe, life-threatening complications with their baby’s heart. We placed our hands on Trey’s tiny head. The Lord blessed him with continued life.

    “Trey had heart surgery the first week of his life, and more surgeries followed. As the years passed, it became apparent that Trey would need a heart transplant. Although his physical activities were limited, his faith expanded. He wrote, ‘I have never felt sorry for myself because I have always known the importance of having faith in Jesus Christ and a testimony of the plan of salvation.’

    “Trey kept on his phone this well-known quote from President Nelson: ‘The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.’

    “Trey wrote: ‘I have always looked forward to serving a full-time mission, but … my doctors won’t let me serve a mission until at least a year after my transplant. … I’ve put my faith in Jesus Christ.’

    “Trey was excited at being accepted into the accounting major at BYU beginning this semester, but even more excited in late July when he received the very anticipated telephone call to come to the hospital for his heart transplant.

    “‘One year,’ Trey said, ‘and I will be on my mission.’

    “There were great expectations as he entered the operating room. However, during the surgery there were devastating complications, and Trey never regained consciousness.

    “His mother, Robbie, said: ‘Friday had been the most heartbreaking day … just trying to wrap our minds around it. … I had stayed up late just trying to process everything. … But Saturday, I woke up with a feeling of absolute joy. It wasn’t just peace; it wasn’t denial. I felt joy for my son, and I felt joy as his mother. … Ben had gotten up a lot earlier than me, and when we finally got a chance to talk, Ben had awakened with the exact same feeling.’

    “Ben explained: ‘Clarity came to my soul as God taught me through His Holy Spirit. I awoke at 4:00 a.m. and was filled with indescribable peace and joy. How is this possible? … The passing of Trey is so very painful, and I miss him so much. But the Lord does not leave us comfortless. … I look forward to a joyful reunion.’

    “Trey had noted in his journal these words from President Nelson’s general conference talk: ‘It doesn’t seem possible to feel joy when your child suffers with an incurable illness or when you lose your job or when your spouse betrays you. Yet that is precisely the joy the Savior offers. His joy is constant, assuring us that our ‘afflictions shall be but a small moment’ [Doctrine and Covenants 121:7] and be consecrated to our gain.'”
  • 12/8/2024 journal entry: Ether 6:5-10; when we are figuratively “buried in the depths of the sea” by life’s challenges, let us trust that these experiences are “a furious wind” blowing us “towards the promised land,” and let us never cease to “sing praises unto the Lord.”
  • Action:
    1. Each time I hear someone express hopelessness – whether through actions or words – find a way, through asking inspired questions, to testify of Jesus Christ and my hope in Him.
      • The Pure Love of Christ | Moroni 7-9 | Class 51 from The Book of Mormon: A Master Class | John Hilton III: “It is not easy to have a hope in Jesus Christ. There are times when it’s hard to remember that in a future day, God will wipe all the tears from our eyes, but I testify that he will.

        “Whenever we are worried about something, we can use that as a trigger to ask ourselves – ‘What is it that we want to have happen?’ – and then act to make that thing happen. This helps us to cheer up our hearts and remember that we are free to act, as Jacob taught. And if we can’t do anything about a troubling situation, then we can exercise our faith by following Elder [Richard G.] Scott’s advice to studiously strive to completely forget it and lay the burden at the feet of the Savior by trusting that He will heal the wounds that we cannot.

        “If my hope is centered in a temporal outcome, eventually I will be disappointed. However, if my hope is completely centered in Christ, I will always have the courage to move forward. …

        “We might ask ourselves: ‘So, how do I actually shift my hope upward to being focused on Christ?’

        “Mormon taught that the Holy Ghost filleth with hope. So the more we can invite the Spirit into our lives through prayer, scripture study, service, temple worship, and many other ways, the greater will be our hope in Christ. We can invite the Holy Ghost into our lives simply by taking time to be still and thinking about Jesus Christ.

        “To varying degrees, we all deal with worry, but it doesn’t need to paralyze us. We can ask ourselves questions that help us reframe our worries and see them as they really are. We can exercise faith and hope by taking proactive steps to decrease the likelihood of negative outcomes.

        “With the Apostle Paul, we can face difficulties with a deep hope in Christ by always remembering Him. I love these words from Paul. He wrote: ‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be visible in our bodies.’ [2 Corinthians 4:8-10]”
      • “Last of the Breed” by Louis L’Amour: “‘I wonder if anyone has ever understood him? I am sure none of his fellow officers ever did. Probably they took what was on the surface as the man and looked no further. Not many men are given to study of their companions, anyway. They are concerned with themselves, their jobs, their families. Rarely do they question the motivations of their companions unless somehow it affects their own lives.'”
        • Share the experience I had recently with someone whose entire life had been hijacked by the tragic loss of a friend’s family member, all because of a lack of hope.

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

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Tags

Adversity | Faith | Holy Ghost | Hope | Jesus Christ | Joy | Temples

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