General Conference Reminded Me to Let Christ’s Light In
After all the darkness I’d been facing, I really needed a message from general conference that was just for me.
This year general conference didn’t happen the way I was used to. I was busy packing for college and traveling to my grandparents’ house for the week, so I mostly just listened to the speakers instead of actually watching them like I normally do. Luckily, I was still able to hear the message the Spirit had for me.
During the last session of conference, I listened to each speaker as I drove, because I didn’t want to risk missing a message that was “specifically” for me—because I really needed a specific message this year. After my first semester of college, I had started having a hard time spiritually. I didn’t know what I was doing, nor did I know exactly where I was headed. On top of that, I felt my testimony slipping due to some choices I had made.
Overall, I felt a darkness around me that manifested as confusion and anxiety. As I thought about this darkness I was experiencing, I turned my attention back to the speakers. I thought: “I am in no place to receive any guidance right now. After everything I’ve done and been through, why should the Spirit speak to me?” I just didn’t think I was worthy of receiving heavenly guidance—and I didn’t think I would be able to recognize any promptings from the Spirit even if they did come. As soon as I thought this, though, an impression followed: “Listen to the next speaker. Their talk was written for you.”
As the next talk began, I started to cry. I was overwhelmed as Elder Timothy J. Dyches of the Seventy bore his testimony of how darkness, though felt in this life, must surrender to the slightest bit of light. He said:
“The Spirit of Christ ‘is in all things [and] giveth life to all things.’ It conquers the darkness that otherwise would surround us. …
“As you live to merit the companionship of the Holy Ghost, you truly ‘increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation.’”
And then he invited us to “pull back the curtain of darkness and begin now to humbly approach your Heavenly Father with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and repent.”1
I knew that’s what I needed to do. In that moment, I learned that through Jesus Christ—the Light of the World—and His Atonement, I could overcome all the darkness I had been facing, from feeling spiritually disconnected to falling into temptations. I just needed a willing heart and a contrite spirit to allow room for the light of spiritual influence to enter.
Through my willingness and desire to receive guidance from God, I could receive, even if I felt I wasn’t in a good place to do so. Light doesn’t pick and choose what it will illuminate. It grows brighter or dimmer according to our willingness to let it in.
As Elder Dyches said: “There is no darkness that can ever suppress, extinguish, overpower, or defeat that light. Our Heavenly Father freely offers that light to you.”2
I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I was able to receive His light, even in my moment of weakness. I trust now that light will overcome even the most intense darkness. Accessing this light is simple. The Savior taught, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). All we have to do is ask. I know that as we turn to Jesus Christ, we can be filled with His light, a greater peace of mind, and an increase of knowledge.