Just before the tip-off of a basketball game, just before the first note of a piano recital, just before giving a talk in church, how many of us feel some anxiety or a momentary lack of confidence? Just as we start something new like a new job, a new relationship, going on a mission, going off to college, becoming engaged or married, or dissolving a marriage, losing a loved one, or … on and on, how many of us have felt a challenge to our confidence?
In the concluding session of the April 2025 General Conference, our dear prophet President Russell M. Nelson taught us that in life we “will face challenges. We all will experience illness, disappointment, temptation, and loss. These challenges can knock our self-confidence. However, disciples of Jesus Christ have access to a different kind of confidence.”
President Nelson explains that “When we make and keep covenants with God, we can have confidence that is born of the Spirit.” We can have “confidence in the presence of God!” We can have “confidence in approaching God right now! I am referring to praying with confidence that Heavenly Father hears us, that He understands our needs better than we do. I am referring to having confidence that He loves us more than we can comprehend, that He sends angels to be with us and with those we love. I am referring to having confidence that He yearns to help each of us reach our highest potential.”
President Nelson taught that “charity and virtue open the way to having confidence before God!”
President Nelson beautifully expounded on the message of confidence that we have received many times.
In his April 2024 General Conference talk, A Higher Joy, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said: “Like all of you, I have felt my share of disappointment, sorrow, sadness, and remorse. However, I have also experienced for myself the glorious dawn that fills the soul with joy so profound that it can scarcely be kept in. I have discovered for myself that this peaceful confidence comes from following the Savior and walking in His Way.”
Also in April 2024, Elder Ulisses Soares taught about having “covenant confidence through Jesus Christ” which is “the quiet yet certain assurance of receiving the blessings that God promises for those who keep their covenants … “Elder Soares encouraged us to “cast not away therefore thy confidence.”
President Nelson concludes with an invitation and a promise: “As we diligently seek to have charity and virtue fill our lives, our confidence in approaching God will increase. I invite you to take intentional steps to grow in your confidence before the Lord. Then, as we go to our Heavenly Father with increasing confidence, we will be filled with more joy, and your faith in Jesus Christ will increase. We will begin to experience spiritual power that exceeds our greatest hopes.”
May the Lord bless us to follow the counsel of prophets and apostles to increase our confidence and our joy.
