Prayers accepted and redirected

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 1987 Conference.
Some weeks, I have a hard time finding which talk I want to write about—but this week I wanted to write about ALL of them! They were so good. I think it was partly because many of them were focusing on the Book of Mormon, after President Benson's strong talk on the Book of Mormon the previous October. And that seemed extra relevant to me since WE are focusing on the Book of Mormon this year too. But my favorite thing was actually not related to the Book of Mormon. It was about Elder Tuttle.

Now, you have to understand, I had never even heard of Elder Tuttle before starting this General Conference Odyssey project. He was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy for many years. [I also learned that he was the Provo Temple President when I was born—and I read this interesting story about his participation in the flag-raising at Iwo Jima in World War II. But that was just now as I looked up his biographical information.] I have no memory of him from my own life. I have only come to know him these past few years, through his talks in General Conference. After a little while I noticed that I was often choosing HIS talks as my favorites, or HIS stories as the ones that I wanted to highlight. Then I started looking forward to seeing his name—knowing that his way of thinking often resonated with my soul.

So when I got to this April 1987 Conference, and started skimming idly through the Statistical Report, and saw, under "Prominent Members Who Have Passed Away Since Last April," the name "A. Theodore Tuttle"—I let out a genuine gasp of dismay. I felt like I was hearing about the death of a friend. It seemed so sudden! They'd mentioned him being sick in the previous conference, but I'd hoped he wasn't THAT sick! And I was sad. (Which is kind of funny, I guess, since he'd already been dead, decades before I even started reading these conferences!)

Then, when Elder Packer started his talk and said he wanted to share a memory of Elder Tuttle, I was excited because I wanted to hear more about this man I had grown to love! And it was an amazing story Elder Packer told. Here it is:
I hope it is not presumptuous of me to place into the record of this conference, and therefore into the history of the Church, a note to complete the record of the last one. 
In the last session of October conference, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle gave a touching and inspiring sermon on faith. He spoke from his heart, with scriptures in hand, without a prepared text. When he had concluded, President Hinckley, who conducted that session, said: 
“I should perhaps be guilty of an indiscretion, but I think I will risk it and say that Brother Tuttle has been seriously ill and he needs our faith, the faith of which he has spoken. It will be appreciated if those who have listened to him across the Church would plead with our Father in Heaven, in the kind of faith which he has described, in his behalf.”
President Ezra Taft Benson, who was the concluding speaker, endorsed what President Hinckley had said and appealed himself for fasting and prayers of faith for the recovery of Brother Tuttle. 
But Brother Tuttle did not recover. He died seven weeks later. 
Now, lest there be one whose faith was shaken, believing prayers were not answered, or lest there be one who is puzzled that the prophet himself could plead for the entire Church to fast and pray for Brother Tuttle to live and yet he died, I will tell you of an experience. 
I had intended to tell this at his funeral, but my feelings were too tender that day to speak of it. 
One Sunday when Brother Tuttle was at home, confined mostly to his bed, I spent a few hours with him while Marné and the family went to church.= 
He was deeply moved by the outpouring of love from across the world. Each letter extended prayers of faith for his recovery. Many of the messages came from South America, where the Tuttle family had labored for so many years. 
…No matter that he had never recovered from serious physical troubles which began on his first assignment there. That day Brother Tuttle spoke tenderly of the humble people of Latin America. They who have so little had greatly blessed his life. 
He insisted that he did not deserve more blessings, nor did he need them. Others needed them more. And then he told me this: “I talked to the Lord about those prayers for my recovery. I asked if the blessings were mine to do with as I pleased. If that could be so, I told the Lord that I wanted him to take them back from me and give them to those who needed them more.” 
He said, “I begged the Lord to take back those blessings and give them to others.” 
Brother Tuttle wanted those blessings from our prayers for those struggling souls whom most of us hardly remember, but whom he could not forget. 
The scriptures teach that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. 
Can you not believe that the Lord may have favored the pleadings of this saintly man above our own appeal for his recovery? 
We do not know all things, but is it wrong to suppose that our prayers were not in vain at all? Who among us would dare to say that humble folk here and there across the continent of South America will not receive unexpected blessings passed on to them from this man who was without guile? 
May not lofty purposes such as this be worked out in our lives if we are submissive? 
Now, I know that skeptics may ridicule such things. But I, for one, am content to believe that our prayers were accepted and recorded and redirected to those whose hands hang down in despair, just as Brother Tuttle had requested.
Isn't that interesting? I am always wondering so much about prayer—how it works, why it works, what factors could make it more or less effective. I know it's probably not a simple formula like "the more people praying, the more likely it is to be granted" or anything like that. But surely there ARE rules to prayer—or heavenly laws it follows? And I wish I knew more of them!

Anyway, this gave me a new thing to ponder about prayer. I have wondered many times if there was some way to "give" your own blessings to other people. I know I've sometimes prayed things like, "If someone has to get sick, let it be me instead of the baby—" but of course I never know if it's really okay to pray things like that. But it sounds like Elder Tuttle was doing something similar! Knowing (perhaps) that he had accomplished enough in this life, and knowing that the faith of the church members could perhaps keep him alive longer—he voluntarily gave that up and asked that the power of that faith be redirected. It makes "faith and prayers" seem so much less abstract when you think of it that way—like a literal wave of power, a literal THING that can be directed, or transferred, as the case may be. I have sometimes heard people speak of it like that—that the prayers of their ward or their family gave them tangible and palpable strength. But I hadn't seen this kind of application before!

I still have lots of questions, but this little story made me love Elder Tuttle even more. Isn't it cool that we can learn to know and admire someone across time and space like that? All because of the spirit speaking to me through his talks.


Other posts in this series: "Oaths: promises that never waver"— by Jan Tolman
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Maintaining balance

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the April 1987 Conference.
President Ballard gave a talk on keeping life in balance, which seems like a topic we all need:
As most of you know, coping with the complex and diverse challenges of everyday life, which is not an easy task, can upset the balance and harmony we seek. Many good people who care a great deal are trying very hard to maintain balance, but they sometimes feel overwhelmed and defeated. 
A mother of four small children said: “There is no balance at all in my life. I am completely consumed in trying to raise my children. I hardly have time to think of anything else!” 
A young father, who felt the pressure of being the family provider, said: “My new business requires all of my time. I realize that I am neglecting my family and church duties, but if I can just get through one more year I will make enough money, and then things will settle down.”…
Brothers and sisters, we all face these kinds of struggles from time to time…I have a few suggestions that I hope will be valuable to those of you concerned with balancing life’s demands.
 ["Yay!" I'm thinking here. "I DO struggle with this so I'd love some suggestions!"]
These suggestions are very basic; their concepts can easily be overlooked if you are not careful.
Oh. Well. Yes, to my slight disappointment, they were very basic. Things like: prioritize your family…set short-term goals…read the scriptures and pray daily. I guess I shouldn't have thought there would be some NEW solution. But I liked this insight into WHY those basic things can help us:
Do the basic things and, before you realize it, your life will be full of spiritual understanding that will confirm to you that your Heavenly Father loves you. When a person knows this, then life will be full of purpose and meaning, making balance easier to maintain.
In other words, though obedience and diligence are important, it's the spiritual understanding they bring that helps us feel God's love—and it's God's love that gives us the strength and motivation to perform the constant "balancing" necessary. It makes me think that perhaps there IS no permanent way to "balance" our lives—but we CAN have a permanent commitment to keep re-evaluating and keep seeking God's guidance as circumstances change.
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December things…besides the biggest thing


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Stones and Light

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Women's Session of the October 1986 Conference.
This week I encountered three different references to the story of when the Brother of Jared asks the Lord to touch stones and make them glow with light. One was my friend worrying about the sacrament meeting talk she was trying to write: "I feel like I’m just going to be like a poor version of the brother of Jared and just hand the Lord a pile of rocks and ask him to please please fill them with light."

One was Sister Eubank's talk from April 2019 General Conference:
Not many years ago, I was weighed down and irritated with questions I could not find answers to. Early one Saturday morning, I had a little dream. In the dream I could see a gazebo, and I understood that I should go stand in it. It had five arches encircling it, but the windows were made of stone. I complained in the dream, not wanting to go inside because it was so claustrophobic. Then the thought came into my mind that the brother of Jared had patiently melted stones into clear glass. Glass is stone that has undergone a state change. When the Lord touched the stones for the brother of Jared, they glowed with light in the dark ships. Suddenly I was filled with a desire to be in that gazebo more than any other place. It was the very place—the only place—for me to truly “see.” The questions that were bothering me didn’t go away, but brighter in my mind was the question after I woke up: “How are you going to increase your faith, like the brother of Jared, so your stones can be turned into light?”
And one was here in the 1986 Women's Session, in a talk by Dwan J. Young:
Like the Jaredites, we’re afraid of traveling in the darkness, and we need light, which is hope. Sometimes, in the midst of our problems, we lose the vision of why we’re here or where we’re going. We wonder if we’re equal to the tasks that are given us. It is then that we can ask the Lord to touch the unlighted stones of our lives with light. He can deliver peace and hope when all around us speak against it. 
“Touch my life with light,” we can ask the Lord. “Fill my heart with hope.”
I always try to pay attention when the spirit seems to be repeating something like this, so I've been trying to understand what I'm supposed to learn. I think the thing that stands out most, putting these three ideas together, is that any darkness can be subject to God's enlightenment, if I'll ask him. Whether I need help with an assignment—help with doubts—help with discouragement—or whatever, I can ask God to light up that portion of my life so I can see it more clearly and act accordingly.

For example: I'd been feeling sad and discouraged for a few days recently when I came upon the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 50:31-32
Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God. And it shall be given unto you, power over that spirit; and you shall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice that it is not of God.
I don't know exactly what all of that means, but it seemed to say that I could ask Heavenly Father to enlighten me as to whether my fears and guilt and worries are actually worth…worrying about. (There are lots of times I'm pretty sure they AREN'T, but I can't stop them anyway!) At that point, if the spirit shines light on the fact that those thoughts aren't doing me any good, I can use that light to chase the discouragement away; to say with confidence "This isn't something God wants me to dwell on; this isn't helping me progress." Or alternatively, "God is showing me this weakness/possibility; He wants me to do something about it."

Thus the "stones" that are my dark unspoken fears are enlightened by either action or peace—both of which are really forms of peace, when you think about it. It's an application of the "stones into light" idea I hadn't considered before!
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To teach only one thing

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 1986 Conference.
This talk by Elder Eyring was meaningful to me. I have been thinking about the question he asks, about if we had the chance to teach "only one thing," what would it be? I worry so much about all the things I want to teach my children. Yes, I know they will learn more by example than anything, and I'm only too aware that I can't really control what ends up making an impression on them…but even though I have years of time with them, I can already relate to the feeling that "time and opportunity are scarce…with people who don't think they need your teaching." With the older ones, I feel an urgency to use the time I have left for only the most important things! And this talk got me thinking about what those might be.
Tonight, or tomorrow, many of us will pray with real intent, and perhaps with tears, over someone whose happiness would bring us happiness, who has been promised all the blessings of peace that come with baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and yet who counts the promises worthless. …My heart is drawn especially to those asking the question we all have asked: “How can I be sure I have done all I can to help?” 
Fifty years ago, in October conference, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., of the First Presidency, gave this answer, which I carry copied on a card: 
“It is my hope and my belief that the Lord never permits the light of faith wholly to be extinguished in any human heart, however faint the light may glow. The Lord has provided that there shall still be there a spark which, with teaching, with the spirit of righteousness, with love, with tenderness, with example, with living the Gospel, shall brighten and glow again, however darkened the mind may have been. And if we shall fail so to reach those among us of our own whose faith has dwindled low, we shall fail in one of the main things which the Lord expects at our hands”. …
President Clark also suggested what we can do. He did not suggest a single approach to reach all people. But he described what every effort that succeeds in fanning the spark will include. 
Teaching is first. But what should we teach? Suppose time and opportunity are scarce, as they generally are with people who don’t think they need your teaching. If you had the gift, and the chance, to teach only one thing, what would it be?…
If I had the chance to teach one thing, it would be what it means and how it feels to exercise faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance.
There's more, at the link here.

Other posts in this series:

What is your testimony of the Book of Mormon?—by Jan Tolman
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