Sunday 20 October 2013

Elder Holland

What a breath of fresh air it was to hear from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference. I was attempting to watch the session live. As I am in the UK, this session ran from 9:00pm. As I dosed, my wife pointed out that Elder Holland was addressing mental health issues. Having, half heartedly, tried to focus I realised I would need to revisit this talk. As I drove to work later in the week, I listened again. My interest was piqued right away. Elder Holland, as forceful as ever, spoke about mental health issues in black and white terms. It was liberating to hear emotional issues compared to some of the more socially acceptable physiological problems that can afflict us. I felt that it was a call not to lie down to mental health problems but to acknowledge and deal with things, as opposed to lying down to difficulties. It also meant that opportunities were given to priesthood leaders to see emotional issues as real. I'm grateful to the Lord for inspiring his servants to help so many sinking souls feel some hope.

2 comments:

  1. Hello to my UK Friend,

    My wife and son and I just returned from a 16-day trip to the UK where I taught a bunch of seminars all over the Island (from Bristol to Edinburgh and from London to Hull, and several places in between). What a beautiful place the UK is. We enjoyed our visit very much. As a university English major and a descendent of largely UK ancestry, I feel at least partially English even though I hail from Texas. (SMILE)

    I agree with your comments on Elder Holland's talk. As an LDS sufferer of OCD, it definitely grabbed my attention, and I was thrilled to see a General Authority comment on the realities of mental illness to such a large audience.

    I recently published a book wherein I shared my story of OCD. As far as I know, it is the only book out there that describes what it is like to be a Mormon with OCD. I could be wrong about that. Hard to know who has written what in such a big world and Church.

    I was wondering if you ever invite guest bloggers to share their story on your site? If so, I would be willing to volunteer if you ever had the need. Feel free to contact me at jordan.jensen@freedomfocused.com. In the meantime, you can visit my Blog, where I have posted recently on OCD and Depression. It is located at http://www.freedomfocused.blogspot.com/ My website is at www.freedomfocused.com

    Cheers mate!

    -Dr. Jordan Jensen

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  2. Hello. Thank you for your blog. Have you stopped? It would be so helpful if maybe your wife could write about things she has done on her end and how, if it has been difficult at all for her, what she did to cope. Thank you.

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