POCATELLO, Idaho — Imagine a championship sports competition. Perhaps it’s the Super Bowl or the final game of the World Cup; perhaps the score is very close, with only minutes left in the game. In those pivotal moments, a coach will put his best players on the field — the players he has the most confidence in.
Like those players in the last minutes of a game, today’s covenant sons and daughters have been sent to earth in the final part of the latter days, said Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency.
Sister Dennis spoke to young single adults about their divine identities and missions on Thursday, May 15, as part of the Pocatello YSA Conference, held in Pocatello, Idaho.
Dozens of young single adults from Pocatello and surrounding areas attended the four-day conference May 14-17. Activities included workshops, a concert featuring BYU a cappella groups Vocal Point and Noteworthy, opportunities to worship in the Pocatello Idaho Temple and a variety of recreational activities such as skating, escape rooms, dancing, games and a visit to nearby Lava Hot Springs.
Sister Dennis was the conference’s keynote speaker, along with Elder Steven R. Bangerter, a General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Susan A. Bangerter.
During her remarks, given at the ICCU Dome, Sister Dennis said that young single adults are living in “the final minutes of the championship game between good and evil, when the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been, when the battle is the most heated it’s ever been, because Satan knows he doesn’t have much time left.
“You have been sent at this time and for this time. What does that say about who you are? What does that say about who you were before you came to this earth and the confidence your Father in Heaven had in you to send you in this time? What does that say about your purpose and mission of being here?”
Sister Dennis added that today’s young single adults cannot watch from the sidelines or allow the adversary to distract them with the world’s shiny things. Instead, she asked them to go out and influence the world for good, as disciples of Jesus Christ and as covenant children of God.
“Don’t allow the world to negatively influence you,” she said, adding, “Nothing the world offers you can compare [to] what your Father in Heaven has in store for you, and He can deliver on His promises in a way the world never can.”
The choice to believe
Sister Dennis said that as young single adults play in the latter days’ final minutes, they’ll experience “mists of darkness” — times when even the smooth gospel path begins to feel rocky and uncertain.
That’s why it’s so important to keep an eternal perspective, she said. Sister Dennis recounted an experience from her late 20s, when she entered a period of deep depression. Previously, she’d always felt God was real, but as darkness overtook her life, she no longer felt certain of that truth, and it seemed like her “whole foundation was crumbling.”
Sister Dennis said she doesn’t remember how long it took to believe in God again. But she does know that, at some point, she had to consciously choose to believe in Him, even when she still wasn’t sure He was there.
That choice helped her begin to see God’s hand again in her life, Sister Dennis said.
“I believe the key to moving forward with faith during times of uncertainty is to stay firmly connected to our Savior, Jesus Christ,” she said. “That will require sometimes choosing to believe He is there, that He cares.”
Sister Dennis continued that faith is, by definition, a choice to believe in someone or something that can’t be physically seen. Faith is seldom the result of hard evidence, she said, because Heavenly Father wants His children to freely choose Him — not be forced to choose Him because of undeniable evidence.
“Our faith in Jesus Christ will increase in power and depth as we exercise our agency and choose for ourselves to believe in God, in His love for us and in His divine plan to bring us home,” Sister Dennis said.
She added: “Seeing is not believing, but believing is seeing. Because as we choose to walk forward into the darkness, the light will come, and that light is Jesus Christ.”
Questions and answers
Elder and Sister Bangerter addressed a number of questions that they commonly hear young single adults ask.
Among them were “How can we maintain an eternal perspective in the midst of the world’s commotions?” “What role does optimism and enthusiasm play in our daily lives?” and “Do the Brethren ever feel fear?”
Together, Elder and Sister Bangerter aimed to speak on “seeking and finding the miracle that questions — sincere, honest questions in the heart — work in our lives,” Elder Bangerter said.
Regarding the challenge of maintaining an eternal perspective, Sister Bangerter said that she’s drawn closest to the Savior during her trials. The Lord doesn’t base His entire judgment of a person on their challenges, she continued, and neither should a person focus entirely on their problems.
Sister Bangerter invited the devotional attendees to make a fist and hold it close to their face. When they looked only at their fist, it was all they saw; but when they chose to look around their fist, the entire world opened up, even though their fist was still there.
Life’s problems are often like this, Sister Bangerter said. “The whole world is there if we don’t focus on our fists. … Look beyond the challenges you face, and see Jesus Christ.”
Regarding the role of optimism in daily life, Elder Bangerter said that both optimism and pessimism are highly contagious. And just like practicing faith is a choice, the way someone views life is a choice.
This is especially true during the private moments of a person’s life, when someone’s thoughts and actions are entirely between them and God, Elder Bangerter said. And when someone uses those private moments to commune with God — to allow the Savior’s Atonement to cleanse and strengthen them — that light will shine through in every other part of their lives.
“Brothers and sisters, optimism is a choice,” Elder Bangerter said. “The assistance along the way in [that] choice is the Holy Spirit. … And for every reason on earth and in eternity, we follow the Savior to bear out through the emotions of life.”
On the topic of optimism, Elder Bangerter said that a common follow-up question he receives is “Do the Brethren ever feel fear?”
He bore his witness that while he’s seen many emotions among apostles and prophets — most prominently love — he’s never seen fear. “They have none.”
Young single adults don’t have to feel fear either, thanks to the power of temple covenants, Elder Bangerter said.
Covenants and gospel ordinances “cleanse fear out of the workings of the Spirit within us,” he said.
He added: “I bear my witness of the holy power God has placed in participation of ordinances and the making and keeping of covenants. … And in this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we receive the fullness of God’s blessings.”
