Prince of Peace

This past weekend was my favorite weekend of the year, LDS General Conference! All of the sessions were so great, and it was amazing to hear talks given in native languages for the first time! The gospel is the same, the message is the same, the spirit is the same, no matter what language. I also had the opportunity to attend conference live for my first time! I attended the Sunday morning session, which was so great. The general authorities have such strong spirits they can simply be felt by being in the same room as them.
I want to talk today about my favorite talk given in conference. It was given by Elder Richard G. Scott in the Sunday afternoon session. His talk is entitled "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority".
My favorite title of Christ is that He is the Prince of Peace. I have a personal testimony of this title because I have cried to Him in prayer and every time I am encompassed with His love and I find peace in my life through Him.
Elder Scott talks about our trials and how we can use the Atonement to find peace through these hard times. The four tools he talked about to find this peace are four things that those of us who have grown up in the church have been taught since we were in primary. But, his conviction and emotion when speaking about these topics changed these simple things for me.
The first one is prayer. He said "CHOOSE to converse with your Father in Heaven often...as you exercise this agency and include Him in EVERY aspect of your life, your heart will begin to fill with peace."
The next is scripture study. Throughout high school, I (regrettably) often made the excuse that I had too much studying to do to read the scriptures. I would often just read a few verses really quick and then get back to studying. This was even happening to me the first couple weeks here at BYU. But, my Book of Mormon class has really helped me with this because studying scriptures now has become homework. Elder Scott said that studying scriptures is even more important than sleep and school. He promises that peace does not come from the outside world, but by reading scriptures we will feel His peace.
The third is family home evening. Here at BYU, we are put into FHE groups in our ward and hold family home evening every Monday night. Some nights it's really hard because I just need to study, but just as Sister Linda S. Reeves testifies, family home evening takes away stress.
The last is temple attendance. This is the section that I felt most influenced by the spirit. Coming to BYU in the summer, I came with the goal to go to the temple every week, but unfortunately that goal only lasted about 2 weeks. The temple is the most peaceful place on this earth. Elder Scott said, "The temple is one of the best places to come to understand the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ...Seek Him there." After hearing this, I rededicated myself to going to the temple every week. I went yesterday, restarting this goal, and Satan has already tried to get me to slip up on this goal of mine. I woke up at 5 AM to go before classes. My alarm went off and I woke up, but then laid my head down for just a couple more minutes. I kept thinking 'I'm so tired, maybe I'll go later'...and then I sat up and literally said, "NO!" I knew Satan was telling me that I was too tired to go to the temple. Though I hadn't gotten much sleep, I got dressed and walked to the temple at 5:30 AM. The whole time, I was thinking of the line in Praise to the Man that says "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven". I knew that I would be blessed by sacrificing a couple more hours of sleep. I promise the temple brings so much peace and the blessings we receive are so great.
My favorite line in this talk was "Challenges help make us more like our Father in Heaven, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to endure these challenges." That thought is amazing to me. Our trials we go through are making us more like our perfect Father and more worthy to be able to stand in front of Him again one day. Instead of focusing on the negative in our trials, which is much easier said than done, we can realized how blessed we are through these hard times. He is giving us the opportunity to be perfected like Him. Elder Uchtdorf reminds us, "He is not waiting to love you after you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles."
Remember, peace does not come through this world, but only through applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ into your life. Pray for peace. Study the scriptures. Make family home evening a habit. Attend the temple. Peace will flow into your hearts.