WEBVTT

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Paisley: Hi there, Paisley
imperfect here to talk about

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being still, this is gonna be
our topic throughout the month

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of June. And I picked this topic
because the month of May was a

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really rough one for me. I don't
want to get into too many of the

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details. I think that there are
people out there that may not

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appreciate it. If I got into too
many details. Excuse me, I mean,

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I would love to, but I also, I'm
not here to hurt people's

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feelings, right. Just suffice it
to say that I felt all of the

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fill all the fields. In May, I
was left out, I was blamed for

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something that I shouldn't have
been blamed for, which led to

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some really hurtful gossip. And
I had to deal with some other

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really difficult things that I
really just can't talk about

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here. At some point, in the
middle of the month, I found

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myself on my knees again, just
desperate for relief I just

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wanted I was just praying hard
that some sort of relief would

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come. And at some point during
this prayer, I just heard the

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word simply be still. And it
stopped me for a second. And

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then I just kept going. It was
kind of a little bit of a

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downward spiral, to be honest.
And still, during this prayer a

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few more times I heard be still
after three or four more times

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of hearing it, I could finally
start to feel it. Did I say feel

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it? After a few more times of
hearing it. I could finally

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start to feel it inside to feel
it in my soul. Just be still I

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needed to calm down. So the next
morning I felt like I needed

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just another bit of reassurance.
I needed a again, I needed that

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reminder again to be still. I
said another quicker prayer this

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time and was able to get that
peaceful feeling again. Got up

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did my thing. And then when it
was time to sit down and start

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my day, I pulled out a sticky
note. And I wrote down on it be

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still it's still right here in
front of my store right here on

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my docking station for my
computer. Just a little sticky

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note to remind me to be still I
needed to calm down. I needed to

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calm down my insides like I was
I just felt like I was

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everything inside was so messy.
turmoil comes to mind

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turbulence, just anxiety. I just
everything felt so noisy, noisy.

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I think that's the word I'm
looking for. Everything just

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felt so noisy inside. And it was
starting to creep past just my

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mental state and it was starting
to affect me physically. And so

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putting this little sticky note
right here, just to remind me to

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be still helped a lot. I would
see it every once in a while as

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I was going throughout my day
and just take a second to take a

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breath and just try and calm
everything. Everything down. I

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think I mentioned in the makeup
plan Monday video that we were

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going to start off with elder
Bednar's talk called Be still

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and know that I am God from this
most recent April 2024 General

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Conference. But I was as I was
reviewing that top oh my

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goodness, as I was reviewing
that talk again. He makes a

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really cool point in there that
I want to save that talk for so

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we'll look at that later in the
month. I don't know if it'll be

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later this week or if it'll be
next week yet but we'll take a

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look at that talk later on.
Because like I said there's some

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build up that I think we want to
take care of on our way there.

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So today instead we're going to
talk about a different general

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conference talk still from April
but April 2020. And this one is

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called Finding refuge from the
storms of life and is by other

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Ricardo P Gimenez. I probably am
butchering his last name

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G-I-M-E-N-E-Z and he goes. And
he starts off by telling a story

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about how you He was a
firefighter or he had just he

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was serving in the Santiago Fire
Department in Chile. And he was

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told to plan to spend the night
on New Year's Eve, because there

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was always some kind of an
emergency or something that

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happened on New Year's Eve. He
was kind of surprised. But he

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did. You know, that was that was
his job. That's what he's going

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to do. So he stayed the night
there. And sure enough, that

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night, they got called out on an
emergency. He didn't share any

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of the specifics of the
emergency. But what struck him

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was that as they were on their
way to this emergency, the he

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noticed the people that they
were passing on their way. And

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these people, he said they were
largely unconcerned and

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carefree. They were relaxed and
enjoying the warm summer night.

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And doesn't feel like that
sometimes like, we feel like

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nobody understands, because
we're the only one going through

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hard things, or maybe our hard
things are worse than somebody

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else's. And so we see all of
these people enjoying their

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lives and having all these good
times, and we are struggling.

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And just like him, I imagine him
in his fire truck with other

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people on their way to this
emergency and just passing by

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all these people and thinking,
we are headed to someone whose

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life is completely changing
right now. There's trouble

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ahead. And but these people are
happy, and they're carefree. And

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they're relaxed and enjoying
their life. And I think one of

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the things that we need to
remember is that sometimes,

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sometimes we're those people,
sometimes we're the people who

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are enjoying their life. And
sometimes we're the people who

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are struggling with our lives.
That was me for me. He also

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taught that, quote, The time
will come for each of us when we

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will face unexpected challenges
and storms that will push the

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limits of our ability to endure.
And then he quotes other hills

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as saying, quote, suffering is
universal. How we react to

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suffering is individual.
Suffering can take us one of two

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ways. It can be a strengthening
and purifying experience

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combined with faith, or it can
be destructive, a destructive

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force in our lives if we do not
have the faith in the Lord's

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atoning sacrifice. So when we
hit that crossroad in our lives,

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which we're going to do multiple
times, it's not just a once in a

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lifetime event. But when we hit
that crossroads in our lives, we

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have a choice, we can, we can
allow that difficulty to be a

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strengthening and purifying
experience and face it with

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faith. Or we can allow it to be
destructive. And May was hard,

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and I was pushed to my limit.
And it truly felt like it was

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coming from all sides. I was
feeling it from all of the

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different things that are that
are in my life. And I needed

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that reminder, to be still I
needed the reminder to be still

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and know that I am God. And all
things are possible with him,

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right? I can I can do this. I
can do hard things. And then so

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later on elder Gimenez quotes
President Nelson is having said,

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quote, faith is the antidote for
fear. Now, I wasn't afraid. I

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wasn't afraid of anything. I was
just desperate for relief. But

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the outcome was the same. Faith
is what took me to my knees.

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Because I knew that the only
person who really understood

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where my heart and soul were, at
that moment was my savior. He

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was the only one that knew
exactly where I was coming from.

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And exactly what I was feeling
and I I just needed him to tell

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me that it was going to be okay.
But he didn't tell me that it

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was going to be okay. He told me
to be still. And I feel now that

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he told me that because at the
time I was feeling so just

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despondent that I couldn't have
heard, even if I had been

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trying, I wouldn't have been
able to hear that still small

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voice tell me that it would be
okay. Because there was so much

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noise inside. I would not have
been able to hear or feel that I

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needed to be still first. Be
still and know that I am God.

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We're still not talking about
elder Bednar's talk. We're still

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talking about elder Gimenez's
talk. So we're out of may now

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it's June. And I'm hoping that
June will be better. However, I

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also understand that that will
largely depend on me. So here's

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another quote from elder
Gimenez. We have limited

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understanding of the things that
happen here on Earth. And often

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we do not have answers to the
question of why. Why is this

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happening? Why is this happening
to me? What am I supposed to

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learn? When answers evade us,
that is when the words expressed

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by our savior to the Prophet
Joseph Smith and liberty jail

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are completely applicable. And I
love that he takes these verses

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and he tells us that these
verses are also applicable to

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us. Because think of think of
Joseph Smith, in Liberty jail,

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think of anybody at the very end
of their rope. And that's what

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he's doing. He's trying to help
us. When we are at the very end

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of our rope like I felt that
day, we haven't when we are at

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the very end of our rope. These
words are applicable to us.

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Here's what he says this is in
Doctrine and Covenants, section

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121, verses seven and eight.
Okay, and it applies to

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everybody. So this counts for
you. This counts for me, this

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counts for everybody who feels
like they are at the end of the

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rope. This is what he says, My
son, for if I'm going to

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personalize this for me, it's my
daughter, right? My daughter,

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peace be unto thy soul, Thine
adversity, and then afflictions

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shall be but a small moment. And
then if that wonder at will, God

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shall exalt the own high. How am
I handling my afflictions?

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Admittedly, not well, especially
not a few days ago, not a couple

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of weeks ago, I was not handling
these afflictions well, at all.

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I was angry. Like I said, I was
despondent, I was desperate for

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relief. I just wanted it to
stop. Now, I need to believe

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Jesus, when He says, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are

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heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. It worked for me that day.

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It's worked for me in times
past. I don't want to make this

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too long. Because that's not the
point of this, right? We're

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trying to feast on the words of
Christ or eat this elephant one

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bite at a time. So I don't want
to, I don't want to. I'll tell

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that story another time, I'm
sure. But it worked for me that

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day. I prayed and I poured out
my heart. And I got be still, I

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went to him. After I had done
all that I could and just was

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feeling that darkness come in,
and he's still my soul. I'm

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nobody special. I'm not any more
special than you are, or anybody

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else. So if he'll do it for me,
he'll do it for you. Here's

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another one. He's elder Gimenez
is quoting President Nelson. And

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he says, quote, saints can be
happy under every circumstance.

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When the focus of our lives is
on God's plan of salvation, and

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Jesus Christ in His gospel, we
can feel joy regardless of what

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is happening or not happening in
our lives. Joy comes from and

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because of him, he is the source
of all joy. Our Savior is the

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source of all joy, because he
understands where we are coming

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from 100% he understands where
we are coming from. Now. I know

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as well as you do that these
things are really a lot easier

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to say than they are to do,
right? It's hard to be still

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when someone is trying to
convince your friends that

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you're not as awesome as they
think you are. It's hard to be

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still when you've told your
children 50,000 times to put

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their shoes on, and now you're
late, and their shoes still

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aren't on. It's hard to be still
when you're being told that your

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performance isn't quite as what
is what was expected. It's

00:14:06.866 --> 00:14:11.264
sometimes it's just, it's hard
to be still. There's so much to

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do. So many places to go, and an
awful lot of people to try and

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keep happy. But Alma said,
quote, I do know that whosoever

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shall put their trust in God
shall be supported in their

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trials and their troubles and
their afflictions and shall be

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lifted up at the last day. So if
we put our trust in God, we put

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our trust in our Savior, we will
be supported in our trials and

00:14:37.582 --> 00:14:41.909
troubles. He doesn't say that he
will take them away. He says

00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:46.378
that he will support us we will
be supported in our trials and

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troubles. So that's our
challenge for the month of June.

00:14:50.492 --> 00:14:54.677
Learn what it means for us
individually to be still for me.

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I needed to see it. I needed to
take a breath and say Don't my

00:14:59.217 --> 00:15:03.544
insights. What do you need? Do
you need a sticky note? I have

00:15:03.615 --> 00:15:08.155
some more. I can write be still
on a sticky note for you. Do you

00:15:08.226 --> 00:15:12.766
need yoga, breathing exercises?
go swim laps, run a mile. Do you

00:15:12.837 --> 00:15:16.667
need more scripture study? Do
you need more meaningful

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prayers? I mean, who doesn't
need more meaningful prayers?

00:15:20.923 --> 00:15:25.250
But you get the point, right?
The answer is different for you

00:15:25.321 --> 00:15:29.648
than it is for me. And frankly,
I think I'm about ready for a

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little bit more than a sticky
note. The sticky note was great.

00:15:34.188 --> 00:15:38.302
I think it's time that I took
that sticky note to the next

00:15:38.373 --> 00:15:42.559
level. Anyway, thank you for
hanging out with me today. And

00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:47.028
for going over this talk with
me. I think it was a really good

00:15:47.098 --> 00:15:51.496
refresher to think about other
people who may be going through

00:15:51.567 --> 00:15:55.611
something hard. We all do. We
all go through hard things.

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Sometimes we're the person that
he passed on the street, who's

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enjoying their life, and
sometimes we're the person who's

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in trouble that he's coming to
save. It's going to change and

00:16:08.663 --> 00:16:13.132
that's okay. I hope that there's
something in this message that

00:16:13.203 --> 00:16:17.317
helps to bring you peace and
stillness. But even more than

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that, I hope that you can find
refuge from your own storms and

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find that refuge in in and
through the Atonement of Jesus

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Christ. Thanks, everybody for
being here.