Elder Paul B. Pieper, a General Authority Seventy, spoke during the Sunday morning session of April 2024 general conference. He spoke about how to have trust in the Lord and build a relationship with Him. The following is a summary of what he said.
Elder Pieper’s talk summary
Trust is foundational to the success of every relationship and can be created only when two individuals trust each other. A relationship cannot exist if one person trusts another completely but the other does not trust the first.
Heavenly Father wants to have a relationship with each of His children, and that relationship is so close and personal that God is willing and able to share all He has. And He created a plan to make that possible. That plan included giving all of His children agency while they were tested by coming to earth.
Heavenly Father knew that His children would not always make the right choices, so He provided a Savior — His Son, Jesus Christ — to atone for the sins of all His children. This allows them to repent — a gift He hopes is used regularly.
God is focused on the growth and progress of His children. As the master teacher and complete coach, He stretches His children to help them realize their divine potential. That means that once someone shows trust in Him once, He will always give another invitation to trust Him. He will not stop providing opportunities for growth.
Individuals can choose to trust God every day.
Notable quotes
“Sometimes the best way to learn to trust God is simply by trusting Him.”
“God invites us to grow by trusting His spiritual tutoring through soul-stretching experiences.”
“Each time we accept and act on an invitation, our trust in God grows. If we ignore or decline an invitation, our progress stops until we are ready to act on a new invitation.”
See the full text of Elder Pieper’s talk: ‘Trust in the Lord’
Who is Elder Pieper?
- Elder Paul B. Pieper was sustained as a General Authority Seventy during the April 2005 general conference.
- Elder Pieper previously served a full-time mission in Mexico and, with his wife, Sister Melissa Pieper, was a mission leader in St. Petersburg, Russia.
- He met Melissa Tuttle in a BYU student ward and married her in the Salt Lake Temple in 1979. They have six children.
- He was employed by law and management consulting firms, working in Latin America, Asia and countries of the former Soviet Union.
What has Elder Pieper done recently?
- During the October 2018 general conference, he spoke on taking upon oneself the name of Jesus Christ.
- In a September 2021 BYU devotional, Elder Pieper shared three ways BYU students could strengthen their community.
- A member of the Africa Central Area presidency, he met with the United Religions Initiative-Africa ambassador in Kenya.
Read more of Elder Pieper’s general conference addresses.
