So I forgot to post this until now. . . This is the talk I gave last Sunday.
"How We Can Strengthen Our Relationship With The Savior
I want to start by introducing myself a little. My name is Kalani, I'm from Brookshire Texas and I am the oldest of eleven. Today I am giving a talk on how we can strengthen our relationship with the Savior.
Most of what I'm going to say I learned or grew to better understand while I was on my mission, and because I will be referencing it a lot during my talk I served in the California San Jose Mission, English speaking.
While I was studying for this talk I found a talk by Elder Dallin H Oaks. In his talk "He Heals the Heavy Laden", he quotes part of a letter which says "Intense, daily scripture study, regular temple worship, and serious, contemplative participation in the ordinance of the sacrament are all indispensable parts of a true repentance process. This, I assume, is because all of these activities serve to deepen and strengthen one’s relationship with the Savior, one’s understanding of His atoning sacrifice, and one’s faith in His healing power." (Oct 2006 Conference).
As I kept looking I found a talk by Elder James E Faust titled "A Personal Relationship with The Savior" (Oct 1976 Conference). In this he talks about five essential things that can help us get closer to the savior.
Number one is communication through prayer. Before my mission prayer and I had a complicated relationship. I knew that if I prayed Heavenly Father would help me in some way - like the time when I was 8 and prayed for twin baby dolls, and the response came in the form of twin sisters when I was 9. On my mission I learned the importance of prayer, it was something we asked people to do all of the time. One of my favorite things about prayer is that Heavenly Father wants to hear from us. Yes He knows what happened throughout the day but He still wants to here it from us. He gives us a promise in Matthew 21:22 which says "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Number two is service. My mission was a service oriented mission. We did service almost every single day, and I came to understand that the best thing about service - as well as following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I found out that through service to others - self less service with no thought to gain anything in return, can heal us. Service can help us have peace. I'm going to use the missionary scripture in D&C 4, verse 2 which says "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
Number three is striving to be obedient. I didn't figure out the main reason Heavenly Father asks us to do things until my mission. To put it very simply, it's because He loves us and wants us to be safe. Because of that we have the commandments and a perfect example to follow - the Savior. I love D&C 82:10 "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." He has promised us so many blessings when we do as He asks - one of those blessings includes a better relationship with our Savior.
Number four might just be my favorite while also being one of the hardest things to do, because of how simple it is - remembering and acknowledging the divinity of the Savior daily. I like to think that this also includes remembering that the Savior loves us for who we are, no matter what.
Number five is reading the scriptures daily. Reading in the scriptures, we find out about the Savior's life. How better to strengthen our relationship with someone than to learn about them? Because in the scriptures "..we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26). This is where we go to read about the miracles He preformed and the blessings He gave. And we know He loves us because we are constantly receiving more scripture through the words of the Prophets and Apostles. I'm always excited for General Conferences and I love reading the Ensign and New Era to hear what they have to say.
Now I want to say something. I know some of you were probably listening to me list these things and just nodding and rolling your eyes thinking "yes I know, that is always what we are told to do" and I understand. I've done that before, and thought that before. But I also want you to know that I know how much these things really do help us to strengthen our relationship with our Savior. I felt it happen to me on my mission and I saw it happen to those I taught. These are really simple things, which also makes them really hard, but I know how much they help. Even if you only have time to read or listen to a verse of scripture or a hymn, it helps. I'm not going to say I'm perfect at any of these things, because I'm not. But I'm trying and I know that as we all try to do these things our relationships with the Savior will be strengthened and so will our relationships with our family and friends.
In his talk Elder Faust quoted a missionary who said " Is not the greatest need in all of the world for every person to have a personal, ongoing, daily, continuing relationship with the Savior?” Elder Faust then says that "Having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us, and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives as we come to know and understand our divine relationship with God."
I want to bear my testimony to all of you that I know these things are true, and I can promise that as we continue to do these things our personal relationships with our Savior will be strengthened. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
Kalani
