Mormon Messages: "Waiting on Our Road to Damascus"

The scriptures tell the story of Saul, later Paul, who experienced a dramatic transformative event while traveling on the road to Damascus, when the Savior spoke to him. (Acts 9.) Speaking of this event in his April 2011 General Conference address, "Waiting on the Road to Damascus," Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained:

There are many others who, for different reasons, find themselves waiting on the road to Damascus. They delay becoming fully engaged as disciples. They hope to receive the priesthood but hesitate to live worthy of that privilege. They desire to enter the temple but delay the final act of faith to qualify. They remain waiting for the Christ to be given to them like a magnificent Carl Bloch painting—to remove once and for all their doubts and fears. 

The truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle—one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us—not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed.

Elder Uchtdorf concludes his address with an invitation:

Do not doubt. Remember, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29.) God loves you. He hears your prayers. He speaks to His children and offers comfort, peace, and understanding to those who seek Him and honor Him by walking in His way. I bear my sacred witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is on course. We have a living prophet. This Church is led by Him whose name we bear, even the Savior Jesus Christ. 

Brothers and sisters, dear friends, let us not wait too long on our road to Damascus. Instead, let us courageously move forward in faith, hope, and charity, and we will be blessed with the light we are all seeking upon the path of true discipleship.

The Church recently produced a Mormon Messages video with excerpts from Elder Uchtdorf's address and interviews of two members who describe their own personal conversion experiences. That video is immediately below, followed by the full video of Elder Uchtdorf's address. Enjoy.