Filled with the Spirit and with Gospel Truth

Since the talks from the General Women's Session of Conference are listed first this year (which makes sense, if you ask me), and they have the text of those talks available for easy reading and quoting, I think I'll start blogging about them and go chronologically from there. The first talk of this General Conference was Sister Cheryl A. Esplin's talk, Filling Our Homes with Light and Truth. In it, she shared a visual illustrating the difference in integral strength between and empty soda can and a full one, then she drew this comparison:

We likened this demonstration to our individual lives and to our homes and families. When filled with the Spirit and with gospel truth, we have the power to withstand the outside forces of the world that surround and push against us. However, if we are not filled spiritually, we don’t have the inner strength to resist the outside pressures and can collapse when forces push against us.

In this blog, I frequently post about the trials of life and the need for the ability to withstand those trials. In this lesson, Sister Esplin said that we can withstand such forces if we are "filled with the Spirit and with gospel truth." Remaining filled with the Spirit can be difficult, as the Spirit of the Lord is easily driven out of our hearts by unclean thoughts or actions. Thankfully, filling our minds with gospel truth is easier - as easy as remembering the words of a favorite scripture or hymn - and it can invite the Spirit back into our hearts.

From my personal experience, I know that I'm far more capable with the Spirit's help than without it, and remembering spiritual truths can help me put my trials into perspective and resist temptation. The strength the comes from being "filled with the Spirit and with gospel truth" is one of the blessings of the gospel that we can have in our lives constantly. It takes effort, but only so much effort as thinking of a spiritual truth whenever we need extra strength. The truth I'll carry with me today is that God is always there to help me when I need Him. In His strength and with His Spirit, I can withstand anything.