Zoom Out: No Asterisk Next to Your Name
From “How Long Will It Be Ere They Believe Me?,” by Elder Dale G. Renlund · Saturday afternoon session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
When we zoom out and remember what the Lord has already done, we can trust that His promises are for us, with no exceptions, and find peace in Him even on hard days.
Objective
Youth will list specific things the Lord has done for them and identify one promise of God they will choose to believe applies to them.
Before you teach
- Read Elder Renlund’s talk. Be ready to tell the stories of Mr. Martin and of Linda in your own words.
- Bring an index card or half sheet and a pencil with an eraser for each person.
- Write three references on the board: Exodus 14:11–12, Exodus 16:2–4, Exodus 17:3–6.
- Ask the youth to have their phones or scriptures ready.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
Zoom in, zoom out
- As soon as the prayer ends, ask everyone to open a photo on their phone and zoom in as far as it will go. If phones are not available, hold a paper tube up to a picture in the room.
- Have each person show the zoomed-in screen to a neighbor, who gets three guesses at what it is. Then zoom out.
- Say: Today is about what happens when we live zoomed in.
- What could you not tell about the picture until you zoomed out?
The oatmeal isn’t hot
- Tell the story of Mr. Martin. In the late 1980s he was dying of heart failure. His first heart transplant did not work well. A second donor heart, one no one else would use, functioned beautifully. Ten days later, about to go home, he was gripping his breakfast tray, irritated that the oatmeal was not hot and the milk was not cold.
- Read the first key quote. Explain that Elder Renlund calls our zoomed-in frustrations “cold oatmeal.”
- Ask each person to tell a neighbor one harmless piece of cold oatmeal from this week: a slow connection, a bad grade, a chore.
- Why is it so easy to forget something huge and good when something small and annoying is right in front of us?
Evidence hunt
- Divide into three teams and assign each team one reference from the board.
- Give four minutes. Each team finds two things: what Israel complained about, and, by reading the verses just before and after, what the Lord had done or was about to do for them. The team with the clearest two-column list wins.
- Have each team report in thirty seconds.
- Explain that when Israel reached the promised land they were intimidated and complained again. Read Numbers 14:11 aloud, then Elder Renlund’s restatement: “Why don’t they trust me? Despite all I have done, why won’t they believe me?”
- If you had walked through the Red Sea, do you think you would still have complained? Why do people forget?
- What do you think the Lord was feeling when He asked that question?
The asterisk
- Tell Linda’s story. Elder Renlund’s younger sister read the Lord’s promises in the scriptures but saw a big asterisk in her mind, as if the blessings applied to everyone except her. Later she realized, “The blessings are promised to me too.”
- Hand out cards and pencils. Ask each person to draw an asterisk and, privately, think of a promise of God that feels like it is for other people: being forgiven, being heard, feeling peace. No one will see the cards.
- Read 2 Nephi 2:3 together and ask whose righteousness Jacob’s redemption depended on. Read the key quote about hope resting on the Savior’s faithfulness, and share President Oaks’s words from the aligned quotes.
- Read the key quote about the asterisk. Invite everyone to erase theirs.
- Be honest about the hard question below. Read John 16:33 and note that the Savior promises peace in Him, not a life without tribulation. Share Elder Dunn’s words from the aligned quotes.
- Why might someone your age feel like the exception to God’s promises?
- What about when I have prayed and the hard thing has not changed? What does John 16:33 actually promise?
Zoom-out list
- Read the second key quote, which begins with striving to remember.
- Give three minutes: in a phone note or on the back of the card, each person lists at least five things the Lord has done for them. Title it “Great things.”
- Invite a few volunteers to share one item. Share one of your own.
- As a check for understanding, ask one person to explain to the class, in one sentence, what cold oatmeal means and what the cure is.
- How do you feel about your cold oatmeal after writing that list?
Challenge for the week
- Offer the challenge: add one line to your list every day for seven days, and when cold oatmeal shows up, open the list before you complain.
- Explain why it is worth doing. Elder Renlund taught that as we remember the Lord’s goodness and mercy we are better positioned to grasp the bigger picture and rely on His promises, and that the Savior promises spiritual peace no matter our circumstances when our faith is centered on Him.
- Bear your testimony that God’s promises are for each person in the room. Sing or read the chorus of “Standing on the Promises” if you wish.
- Next week, start class by asking who kept the list for seven days and what they noticed.
Key passages from the talk
“We focus on the here and now—the ‘cold oatmeal’—and lose sight of the bigger picture, both where we have been and God’s promises to us.”
“Strive to remember all the times He has inclined His ear to you, especially when confronted with cold oatmeal.”
“Faith in Jesus Christ frees us from uncertainty because our hope rests on His faithfulness and righteousness, not on our own.”
“there is no asterisk excluding you from God’s richest blessings. If you think there is, take out a big eraser and obliterate that asterisk. You can rely on God’s promises.”
Scriptures
- Exodus 16:2–4 One of three team passages (with Exodus 14:11–12 and 17:3–6). Teams list what Israel complained about and what the Lord did for them.
- Numbers 14:11 Read aloud after the teams report. Ask what the Lord was feeling when He asked this question.
- 2 Nephi 2:3 Read together during the asterisk activity. Ask whose righteousness Jacob’s redemption depended on.
- John 16:33 Read when discussing prayers that seem unanswered. Notice what the Savior does and does not promise.
Other voices that agree
“His grace is for all.”
“Peace will come even when hoped-for outcomes do not.”
Three things to remember
- Zoomed in, I see cold oatmeal; zoomed out, I see what the Lord has done.
- My hope rests on the Savior’s righteousness, not on my being good enough.
- God’s promises have no asterisk next to my name.
Ways to act this week
- Add one line a day for seven days to your list of great things the Lord has done for you.
- Before you complain about something this week, read your list first.
- Find one promise in the scriptures, put your own name in it, and pray about it.
- Tell a friend or family member who is having a rough week one thing the Lord has done for you.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Standing on the Promises
Adapting the lesson
- At home: do the zoom game with a family photo, then make one shared family list of great things the Lord has done.
- Very small class: skip the teams and read Exodus 16:2–4 together, building the two-column list on the board.
- Short on time: keep the zoom game, Linda’s story with the eraser, and the list.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.