It is week 10 of my General Conference Study Schedule and this week I'm focusing on the talk titled, "Stand Up Inside and Be All In" by Gary B. Sabin. This talk was talking all about making sure our route is going in the right direction. Are we all in or not? My hope is that we are all trying to go on the right course. If not, how can we re group?
He started off by saying, "May we recalculate our route if need be and look forward with great hope and faith. May we "stand up inside" by being valiant and "all in."
How can we stand up inside? Since conference is a time of reflection, revelation, and sometimes redirection...we can start by reading the General Conference talks one by one. Each one has meaning and will help us be directed in the right way. I loved when he explained about the car rental company's GPS system called NeverLost. If you make a wrong turn, the guiding voice won't get mad at you but instead say something like, "Recalculating route-when possible, make a legal U-turn." Oftentimes, I go a different way and the GPS person will direct me anyway which I appreciate because sometimes I don't want to go the way they tell me. Maybe I want to head west on 106th to get on the free way than take a left on 1300 and then turn right on 1400 and head west to the freeway. However, sometimes we need to listen because they have our best interest at heart.
Question: What does it require?
The Lord requires the heart and a willing mind. Our whole heart! When we are baptized, we are fully immersed as a symbol of our promise to fully follow the Savior, not halfheartedly. When we are fully committed and "all in," heaven shakes for our good. When we are lukewarm or only partially committed, we lose out on some of heaven's choicest blessings.
Share Story:
Many years ago, I took the Scouts on a camp out in the desert. The boys slept by a large fire they had made, and like every good Scout leader, I slept in the back of my truck. In the morning when I sat up and looked at the campsite, I saw one Scout, whom I will call Paul, who looked particularly rough around the edges. I asked how he had slept, and he replied, “Not very well.”
When I asked why, he said, “I was cold; the fire went out.”
I answered, “Well, fires do that. Wasn’t your sleeping bag warm enough?”
No answer.
Then one of the other Scouts loudly volunteered, “He didn’t use his sleeping bag.”
I asked in disbelief, “Why not, Paul?”
Silence—then finally the sheepish reply: “Well, I thought if I didn’t unroll my sleeping bag, I wouldn’t have to roll it up again.”
Question: Did he make a smart decision?
He wanted to save a few minutes of work.
Question: Are we willing to unroll our spiritual sleeping bags? How do we unroll it?
Sincere prayer
Study
Live the gospel
Question: What does it mean to be "partially in" vs "all in?"
Stand up and be all in (pdf)
"Partially in"=disturbance in the force, out of sync with God's will, out of sync with the nature of happiness, follow the natural man
How to get out of being "partially in."
- recalculate route
- make U-turns
- study more intently
- pray more earnestly
- let some things go
- let go of the world
- hang on to eternity
"All in"=
- continually repent
- rely upon the Lord
- gain strength
- possess humility and faith
- enriched with the wisdom borne from a life of experience
- make the decision to be valiant defenders of our Heavenly Father's plan
- follow the prophet
- have assurance that all things will work together for good
Share Story:
Our son Justin passed away at age 19 after fighting a lifelong disease. In a sacrament meeting talk he gave not long before he left us, he shared a story that must have resonated with him about a father and his young son who went into a toy store where there was an inflatable punching bag in the shape of a man. The boy punched the inflatable man, who tipped over and immediately bounced back after every punch. The father asked his young son why the man kept bouncing back up. The boy thought for a minute and then said, “I don’t know. I guess it’s because he’s standing up on the inside.
Question: What does it mean to "stand up inside?"
- wait patiently upon the Lord to remove or give us strength to endure
- lift up hands that hang down
- defend the truth against a wicked and secular world
- clear conscience
- strengthening and comforting assurance from the Holy Ghost
- eternal perspective
Testimony:
Quote (pdf)
May we recalculate our route if need be and look forward with great hope and faith. May we “stand up inside” by being valiant and “all in.” May we be pure and courageous in defending our Heavenly Father’s plan and the mission of His Son, our Savior. I bear you my witness that our Father lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and of the reality of the great plan of happiness.
Next week: The Language of the Gospel by Valeri V. Cordon (HERE).
***The purpose of the 25 weeks of General Conference talks came from our ebook called, Growing up with Conference. In our book, we share an FHE lesson titled: Favorite talk. The purpose is to teach your family to use the general conference talks as part of their personal scripture study. This FHE lesson is found in our “Live it” section of our ebook. You can find our ebook HERE. ***
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