By Nathanael Harward
While millions of people across the country stormed the polls on Election Day, thousands of students braved the rain to go to the Marriott Center and enjoy the spiritual solace of the weekly devotional.
Bishop Richard C. Edgley, first counselor in the presiding bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, addressed students Tuesday morning on the subject of hope.
Bishop Edgley said hope is 'a most powerful force in our lives' and necessary to succeed and move into 'what lies ahead.'
'As I look into your faces,' he told the students, 'I see goodness, optimism, determination, and I see hope for the future.'
Bishop Edgley said he gained a new perspective on hope from a coworker who survived the Holocaust.
During a discussion while the two were traveling together for business, the man said: 'Hope is the most powerful force. It was hope that kept me alive. It was hope that I would survive. It was hope for freedom. It was hope that I would someday be reunited with my loved ones.'
Bishop Edgley said 'Like the life-saving motivation to a young Jewish boy in a concentration camp, hope becomes the catalyst for works that brings us to the life-saving ordinances.'
International economic turmoil, high energy costs, staggering unemployment and 'alarming rates' of home foreclosures trouble the world, Bishop Edgley said. 'Yet we have every reason for optimism. We are the people of hope. We are the disseminators of hope. This is our mission.'
Edgley said spreading hope must follow tending to one''s faith.
'We need to hold to the iron rod and rely on the sure knowledge that comes from personal revelation,' he said.
He said personal revelation leads to 'sure knowledge' of Christ''s plan that is necessary to earn the 'victory over the obstacles of life.'
Bishop Edgley said Satan has always worked on individuals to prevent them from having these personal, revelatory experiences.
Sometimes, the reassurance individuals seek does not come immediately, Bishop Edgley said.
But he said 'When one does all he can to seek assurances and then moves into the darkness with faith and hope, the confirmation ... eventually comes.'
'Never, never, never let Satan''s power of belittlement or discouragement or disillusionment direct your lives,' Bishop Edgley charged students. 'Ours is the opportunity to be a carrier of optimism, of faith and to spread the hope of the gospel to others around the world.'