what matters the most.

What matters the most is what lasts the longest.
-Elder M. Russell Ballard

I have so been looking forward to a weekend entirely devoted to the two most important things in life: my family and my faith in so many, many things.

The gospel has brought so much joy in my life and in the lives around me, I can't think of any day more joyful than the day I got married. But the older I've grown, at least over the last year or so, I have become so much more acutely aware of the peace the gospel brings too.

Today as I watched the morning and afternoon sessions of the LDS General Conference, I was particularly impressed when I was reminded of what the Savior taught in the scriptures: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

I remember an experience I had during my first semester of college. My first day of college, actually. I was a newly-18-years old freshman, not knowing a single soul on that small campus all the way out on the north shore of Hawaii. I remember realizing as I sat in my dorm room and looked around, how awfully alone I felt. I was scared and uncertain and honestly, afraid. I look back and remember realizing that the only thing I could do (beside call my parents for the tenth time) was to pray. So I knelt down in prayer next to my small bed, and began to talk with my Heavenly Father. I don't even remember what I asked for or what I said, and it didn't change the fact that I was by myself or that my family and friends were still thousands of miles away, but I will never forget the way I felt. I knew as well as I knew anything else that at that moment my prayers were being heard. I had a Heavenly Father who was watchful of me, who loved me, who was just as aware of my prayer and my hopes and my worries as I was. Not everything was immediately solved or changed during that time on my knees, but the way I had felt was. I felt loved and I felt at peace, and knowing that I was going to be okay was enough.

I share that experience only to explain the way the gospel felt for me lately, today as I watched conference, whenever I hear discouraging news on the television or between family and friends, or even when I simply wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I have always been grateful of the joy the gospel brings, but am now so grateful for the peace I can always feel too.