Elizabeth Nielson: This is the Prosper Stronger podcast, a community where LDS women gather to cultivate covenant connections and strive to be devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.
Sarah Nielson: I want to continue moving forward with this kind of short quote from right here.
Elizabeth Nielson: Yeah, from this one?
Sarah Nielson: Yeah in this talk by, it was Elder Quentin L. Cook called "Be True to God and His Work." And he talks about, I think it's his great grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, who served in the British Isles. And he talks about what Heber, a couple things Heber said. And he says,
"To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves."
And I think this desire to be true starts with knowledge, and it especially starts with knowledge of Jesus Christ. Because sometimes we are sitting uncomfortably in the commandments, and It's kind of a battle to try to live them every day, and we have to think about it a lot. And it can be really taxing to try to live the gospel when maybe our spirits aren't fully conditioned to live in the way that we want to live.
And we can start our journey along the covenant path in becoming these true disciples of Christ just by knowledge. Do we know Christ? Do we really, truly, deeply believe that He is the Son of God? That He is the Savior of the world and not only the world, but He's our Savior. Do we know that personally?
And that's what really changed for me in my life is having my own witness of that truth that Jesus Christ is real and that He lived and He still lives today. And that knowledge gives me the strength to continue to be true. And it gave me that push to decide to be true and to start. That journey of letting the idea of being true sit in my heart and become my core.
But not everyone starts their journey of discipleship like that. Normally we start and we're just a little uncomfortable and we're like Bambi trying to stand. And we're just figuring out life. But the more knowledge we have of Jesus Christ and of His gospel, the more natural these things will come to us.
Elizabeth Nielson: I am going to share a little bit about Sarah because I think in this idea of being comfortable in Christ and in commandments and in our covenants, that it can go the opposite direction, right? We also can become comfortable outside of them. We can be comfortable just taking our garments off for different things.
Oh I'm just not going to wear them for this, or I'm not going to wear them for that. And then we get more and more comfortable in that. practice, or we might get comfortable in our language or comfortable in our Sabbath day, like all the different things, our level of comfort can change. It just depends on what direction we want to go with it.
And so for Sarah, there was a noticeable difference in her life as I watched her in junior high and high school. And we all know junior high and high school, like junior high, the worst.
Sarah Nielson: The armpit of life.
Elizabeth Nielson: I think about the Studio C skit where they talk about this horrible thing they're going to create and it's junior high.
For me, it was terrible. It was so hard. There were so many tears. Kudos to all the parents that have junior high school children and youth because it takes so much work and effort and prayer and emotional strength and just everything to parent our teenagers through their junior high and high school years.
But it was hard as a teenager, too. 7th, 8th, the 9th grade, it got a little better in 9th grade, but 7th and 8th, we were rough. And it's that age where we're trying to figure out who we are, who do we want to be, where is our comfort level, what direction should we head, and we experiment, we're trying to figure it out, what happens if I actually read my scriptures and I pray about it first and I'm really devoted there? or what happens if I don't, or so many different things. And I saw Sarah going through this and it was a challenge and there were tears, there were hard things. And then something changed. Was it ninth grade or was it eighth grade when you started getting up early?
Sarah Nielson: It was the summer of 2017.
Elizabeth Nielson: Summer of 2017. Okay I think that was the summer. Between eighth grade and ninth grade.
Sarah Nielson: I'm not sure, but it was in junior high.
Elizabeth Nielson: And unbeknownst to me, she had made the decision that she wanted to know for herself and she wanted to put forth the effort. And so what she started doing was getting up really early and this wasn't just summer. You continued it into the school year and you were getting up maybe 5:30 in the morning. You were not just opening up the Book of Mormon and reading a chapter, but you were seeking to really know.
Sarah Nielson: Yeah, what I figured if the church is true, I'd want, I need to figure it out, and if it's not, I'll go somewhere else.
And I knew that if I wrote the Book of Mormon, by the end, I'd either know if it's true or not. But I didn't want to just read the Book of Mormon. I really wanted to say that I gave it everything I could. And so I found these videos that BYU had made discussions on the Book of Mormon with different religion professors, or history professors.
And so I'd get up and I, they had them divided up by chapter sections. And so I would just get up and read the sections and then go watch the video and take notes. Then I would go back and re-read the chapters over again to make sure I really got everything out of them that I could.
Elizabeth Nielson: And it was amazing to watch. I didn't know this was happening for probably a couple months that she was getting up and doing this. But I was noticing a change in her behavior, in her attitude, in her resilience, and especially in her joy. I saw a huge difference in the light and the happiness and the joy that she was experiencing.
And even though there were still hard things, it wasn't that really a lot changed in circumstance. It changed in her and it made a huge difference. And then into high school, a couple of years later, she actually had some really hard, really hard things and decided to go the other direction a little bit.
And I saw it in her. I saw the attitude change. I saw her interactions with me. The way she spoke, the tone of her voice, there was some belligerence even there was some rebellion that was taking place. There were things and I was like, what? This is not the Sarah I know. What is happening here? And something I was worried as a parent, I was so worried.
I was fasting. I was praying. I was pleading. I was following on the phone. Where is she? And the spirit was saying to me, she's not safe. Something's happening and she's not safe. And nothing I did I would talk to you. We try all these things and you were just like, mom, you just don't know. And how many moms have heard that?
As parents of teenagers. Oh yeah. Still hearing it for some of my other teenagers. You just don't know. And yet, I was like, but I do know the Spirit is telling me and I do know cause I see this. And then I was gone with my youngest daughter. We were on a trip and I got a call from Sarah and she was sobbing and something had happened that had essentially woken you up and made her face what she knew to be true all through that hard time.
And you knew. Didn't you?
Sarah Nielson: Yeah, I think it's a principle of, in the Book of Mormon a lot, they're always saying, oh remember, and how the Lamanites would forget their fathers. And it's not that they didn't know, they would just forget. And then all of a sudden, they would be awakened to a remembrance of Jesus Christ.
And I think that's exactly what happened through the experience of turning my heart away from God. It wasn't, I did not believe in God, I knew He was there. And I didn't doubt my testimony, but I just forgot that the gospel brings joy. And I forgot a lot of things about the gospel, and so I'm grateful for that moment that did awaken this remembrance inside of me.
And it was cool to watch as I went through this journey of then coming back to Christ. And it took three months of really just depending on him like hour by hour, day by day. It was really cool because there were so many experiences I had where I really truly felt the arms of the Savior just outstretched to me.
And I think that's that principle that Christ will always be true to us. Cause I just remember kneeling down and praying that night when it felt like the world had ended and just instantly, I was like I'm so sorry. I like turned my back on you, God. And I really didn't feel like I deserved any love from God or from Jesus Christ.
And all of a sudden I just felt this overwhelming feeling of love and I was surprised, but I knew that I shouldn't be surprised because Christ is always there with his arms outstretched and not always will that feeling of love come so immediately, but I knew that Christ really wanted me back, back with Him.
And so over the next couple of months, I kept having those experiences that Christ is right there and He's ready and He's willing. He's just waiting for us to choose Him. And to choose to put our hearts and turn them to choose to turn our hearts to Him. And I think that's where this journey of mine started of wanting to be true in Christ.
After that experience, I realized there really is nothing the world can offer me that is going to be better than what the Savior or what Heavenly Father has offered us already. As I was preparing to serve my mission, I did not want to serve a mission. It came completely out of left field and it wasn't very far. After that experience where I was, I turned away from God, it was less than a year, probably six months after that, where the Lord told me I needed to serve a mission, and that was really when that desire to serve God and to love Him and to be true started because I realized that if I was going to be serious about my discipleship, I was going to have to sacrifice some things that I really thought I wanted.
And that were really important to me at the time. I think about what we're asked to give on Earth, what Heavenly Father, what Jesus Christ asked of us. And what they ask is for our hearts. They ask for us. And then I think of what they've promised to give us. And I like to think in the really long term.
And I think about life in the celestial kingdom. With my family, and... With Heavenly Father, with Jesus Christ, with so much joy and so much happiness. And then I think about anything hard that I could go through on Earth. And I'm like, what could possibly be worth not sacrificing to have that eventual goal of being in the Celestial Kingdom with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
And it really is, there's nothing that I wouldn't do. There's nothing I wouldn't sacrifice if it meant to be with my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and my family forever. And so I think when we think about the long term, the really long term, the eternal consequences of what happens here on Earth, being true in Christ to me is really the only option.
It's the best way to live on Earth, and it sets us up for the most amazing eternity. And I've always been impressed by the Scriptures Doctrine & Covenants section 76. It talks about the Celestial Kingdom. It talks about how life will be there. And it talks about the terrestrial kingdom, and it says that
"In the Terrestrial Kingdom, these are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ. They were only honorable, but they would not be valiant."
And so if we are going to receive these eternal blessings, if we're going to have joy on earth right now, but most importantly, we get to receive all the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ in eternity, it's going to take valiant discipleship. It's going to take sacrifice. And it's going to take us being willing to be true in Christ, no matter what situation we're in.
Elizabeth Nielson: Thank you, Sarah. That's powerful.
I hope you're feeling what I'm feeling and I just know I watched her go through this season of growth and then growing on her mission and this didn't just come by chance.
What Sarah did is she put forth the effort to get the knowledge like you talk about, to spend time with the Lord. There was a time where she listened to the talk "Stand Forever" by Lawrence Corbridge every day. Every day. And that is almost an hour long talk, I think it's maybe 45 minutes. Every day.
She knew that she had to do the work and she did it and she's still doing it. And I think that is to me such a lesson and such a marvelous example is that she's committed to this relationship with Jesus Christ, as you can tell, she is going to be true to him just as He is true to her. And that's what's required in any relationship we have.
Whether it's with our children, with our spouse, with a friend, but with Jesus Christ, He's the true friend to us. Can we be a true friend to Him? And what does that mean we need to change in our lives? What right now? What's one thing that you can do that I can do that Sarah can do to be more true to Jesus Christ?
I was listening to a podcast and John Bytheway kept talking about having our eyes on Christ. Just keep your eyes on Christ. Keeping our focus on Jesus Christ and keeping our focus on Jesus Christ is everything being true to Him is everything and as you were talking Sarah it reminded me of the sons of Helaman the Stripling Warriors and how they chose to be, even we use some of the same words, valiant, they were courageous. They were true in all things. They were actually, let me get the words because so much of it applies to the definition of what it means to be true.
In chapter 53 of Alma, it says "they were exceedingly valiant for courage and also for strength and activity." Actually, that just jumped out to me this morning, strength and activity. And I thought, okay, that means they weren't just sitting around, they were just sitting on their phones. They weren't being idle. They weren't just watching movies, they were active in their valiance, " but behold, this was not all. They were men who were true at all times whatsoever thing they were entrusted. Yea, they were men of truth and soberness for they had been taught. To keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him."
And I want to be like them. I want to be true at all times with whatsoever I have been entrusted. And that made me think, so what have I been entrusted with? What have you been entrusted with?
Sarah Nielson: First to think about is each individual that Heavenly Father sends to earth has a mission. has a purpose, we each are here for a reason, and we have a mission to perform. And that mission is not about us, it's really about others, and what is our role in helping others of God's children come closer to Him.
And so I think that's the thing I feel very strongly that I've been interested in. As a missionary, but even off the mission, and then two, just becoming the daughter of God that, that I know He wants me to become, and I think everyone can relate to this, that we all are children of God, and that He has a purpose, and He sees our potential, and so I hope that we feel the weight of trying to start, even just a little bit, to become who God wants us to become, and who He is encouraging us to become. And that feels really daunting to me, and I feel that we'll ever get there. In this Earth life, it'll take a lot of repentance and eventually being perfected through Jesus Christ to become that. But while I'm here on earth to just do my very best to even begin the process of becoming who He needs me to be.
Elizabeth Nielson: I love that. I was thinking, potential is one of the words I thought of when I was pondering what I have been entrusted with, that each of us as children of God have been entrusted with potential, the potential to become like Him. And that's huge.
And like you said, it can be daunting. It can feel like a lot sometimes. And then I just, I love that as you were speaking, it made me think of, again, Elder Cook's talk. Here it is. And from October 2022, he says he talks about the importance of repentance. He talks about our need to rely on the Savior's atonement and let Him heal us, and help us, and strengthen us.
And then he said, "we, in our day, we all need to seek our own testimony of Jesus Christ to bridle our passions, repent of our sins and find peace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." And then his final thing is, "and be true to God and His work." And then he repeated what President Nelson said, "I plead with you to take charge of your testimony of Jesus Christ, work for it, own it, care for it, nurture it so that it will grow. Then, watch for miracles to happen in your life."
And I can honestly say I've seen, they may not feel like miracles in Sarah's life, but I have seen them. They are miracles happening in her life. And I've felt miracles happen in my life as I have been faithful and strived to be true. And keep my covenants and I'm going back to the Stripping Warriors because they were exceedingly faithful and we all know the miracle that happened where none of them lost their lives.
But all of them were wounded. And it says many wounds had received many wounds, but these young men knew more about them. It said they were firm and undaunted. So even though we have that great potential. Even though maybe feeling like we have a mission to do or that just the world around us is so Challenging and wicked there's so much going on that we can feel the haunted we don't have to be we can be undaunted and or we can feel that it is daunting.
I don't even know that daunted is a word. We can feel the world around us is very daunting or scary, but we can be undaunted like them.
And then in verse 21 of chapter 57, it says, "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness. Yea, and even according to their faith, it was done unto them."
And then if we skip over to 26. It says, "and we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God." So there's that miracle, right? The miracles that we are promised "because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe that there was a just God and whosoever did not doubt that they should be preserved by his miraculous and marvelous power."
They were firm. They were exceedingly faithful and they chose to put their trust in God continually. And I find so much strength in this example of these young men that we, as they've researched it more, they think they were maybe 11, years old. And now I look and I see so many around me and Sarah is one of those, these faithful undaunted, firm and through disciples of Jesus Christ, who are choosing to put their trust in Him continually and doing the work and going out into the battle with the armor of God, trusting that He will be true to them. He will deliver them and that they will receive the promised blessings and the promise blessings are that we will have joy, that we will have light and truth, that we will be delivered.
We will be protected and that we will be able to dwell with Him forever and live in a state of never ending happiness. That's bliss. These tremendous, marvelous promises that He will be with us here in this life. We can have His spirit to be with us, to guide us, protect us, teach us, shore us and teach help us know the truth, but also that we can be with Him and dwell in His presence forever and have joy.
Men are, women are, that we might have joy and that joy comes from being indwelling in the presence of God. And we should have that when we are true to Him. And how do we know when we're being true?
Sarah Nielson: Have the Spirit with us.
Elizabeth Nielson: Yes, and we've also been told, how do we know that we qualify for the Celestial Kingdom? If we have the spirit with us, then we know it all comes back to living so that we have His Spirit with us and keeping our focus on Jesus Christ, being true to Him as He is true to us. And so I encourage you and myself, I don't ever ask you to do anything that I'm not going to do myself or that I'm not doing myself.
And I'm Sarah. I think it's the same way that we are choosing and striving to be true and to be more true. And ask yourself, what does that look like? What does that look like in my life? How can I be more true? And if you want a good one, source or resource to help us figure that out to go to the talk from 2019 and it was from October 2019 given by, we just looked it up for you, Terrence M. Vincent.
And he talks about being true disciples of the Savior and he uses the phrase fair dinkum, but maybe you remember that fair dinkum. And that means according to his definition of Australian lingo, it means. That to be committed, people are fair dinkum when they are what they say they are. And he shares his own experience and life lessons about being fair dinkum and encourages us to give our all to be fully committed to the Savior.
And that is what it means to be true, to be 100 percent consistent in our devotion to the Savior. And are we going to fail sometimes? Yes. But He is true to us. He's there for us in His power through the Atonement, is there to heal us and help us lift us up when we fall. We can trust that forever and ever.
So I invite you, he says, don't be half hearted. He asks, are we fair dinkum about the gospel? Because being half hearted is not being fair dinkum, and God is not known for showering praise on the lukewarm. Can we instead be true followers of Him? Who gave His all for us. That is what he says. Get fair dinkum now.
Be fair dinkum now. Choose to be true. Commit to be true in Christ. I know the blessings will come. It won't be easy. We will still get many wounds, but we will not perish. So I invite you to explore. What can you do to be more true? True to Christ, true to His covenants, true to His commandments. What knowledge can you seek and gain?
And what joy can you experience? That is a promise blessing. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know He is the way, the truth, and the life. I know He is true to me. He's true to you. And I desire to be true to Him forever, for I know that He is the only to salvation and happiness for eternity.
Sarah Nielson: Absolutely. Something we'd say in the mission is if someone asked, how are you? You say I'm true, and I think for what we've talked about today, this idea of being true, it's really all about Christ and it's all about having Christ in our hearts. And I know that as we are true to Christ, that is the best way to be true to ourselves.
And I know that being true to Christ is how we live with joy. That's how we receive the peace that is talked about in the scriptures. And that's how we feel that rest. That Jesus Christ also talks about in the scriptures, take my yoke upon you. You'll have rest in me. And we receive that rest when we decide to be true in Christ.
And I have a testimony of this gospel and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. And I love this idea of being true to Him. And I know that as I made sacrifices and made mistakes and had to repent lots and lots of times that He is always true and that He's always inviting us to be true to Him as well. And I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share my thoughts and discuss with my mom and she truly is an angel in my life.
I'm so grateful for how she's taught me to live the gospel and to put Christ in the center of my life. And that is my testimony. And I hope that based on what we've said today, that you have a little bit, some sort of desire that this Spirit has spoken to you through something we've said, or just the Spirit being in an environment where it can speak to you at all, that you can feel this desire to be true.
Elizabeth Nielson: Thank you, sarah. And I know Jesus Christ is your true friend. That's great. So how are you?
Sarah Nielson: I'm true.
Elizabeth Nielson: I am going to share a little bit about Sarah too. So she is doing something that I think is Amazing. I think it is so powerful and I know it's being directed by our Heavenly Father. I have seen Him preparing her for this and I have also seen her working so hard at it.
And so I invite you if you have young women. In your family, if you have young adult women, and even if just as women, you want some added boost of strength and light, I invite you to go to Sarah's Instagram account. Is that the best way to find you? It is called Stand Up and Shine. And I've also heard being true in Christ.
I've also heard it referred to as standing up for Christ. And that is what she's doing right now. And I'm so proud. And I don't want to say it like pride, but pleased to have watched parts of her journey and to see where she is now. And that now she is being called and asked to share her light, to share the light of Christ and to strengthen others and help them to be true, especially young women and young adult women.
And I invite you then to go to Stand Up and Shine. Not only that, it's just really cute and it's fun and you're going to love it. There's some beautiful artwork. There's some great quotes. There's cute jewelry. There's all kinds of things. She just has a lot more flair than I do. And so you will enjoy going to Stand Up and Shine and subscribe and follow and continue to learn from her because there's great things ahead and I'm just so excited and so filled with love and gratitude. That she has chosen and is committed to being true in Christ.
And I'll also invite you to go to prosperstronger.com. And if you'd like, just download the free guide or worksheet for personal revelation. That has been an invaluable tool for me. In learning who I am, learning my true identity, Sarah touched on that a bit and helped me to know truly what God wants me to do and answered so many questions and giving me direction so that I can be more true in Christ.
So that's totally free. Just go to prosperstronger.com and also Stand Up and Shine. And we just thank you for being here today, Sarah. Thanks for being here.
Sarah Nielson: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Elizabeth Nielson: And thank you for listening. We love you. We know God loves you. We know joy comes in and through Him, safety, peace, all the things that Sarah said, and rest. Be true. We believe in you and we believe in Christ.
Thank you for joining the Prosper Stronger podcast today. We hope that you have felt inspired and empowered. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and share it with your friends and family. I also invite you to join me at prosperstronger. com where you will find free resources to help you grow and learn as well as join in our discussion. Where we go deeper into some of the things that we talk about here on our podcast.
Remember that you are loved and cherished by Heavenly Father who wants you to prosper and thrive. Until next time, may you continue to cultivate covenant connections with God, with others, and with yourself, and find strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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