While We Wait for Deliverance
From “Jesus Christ Is the Great Deliverer!,” by Elder Kevin J. Hathaway · Saturday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
Jesus Christ will deliver the righteous from every affliction in His time and way, and while we wait He visits us with assurances and with grace that enables us to endure.
Objective
Learners will be able to describe the pattern of divine deliverance Elder Hathaway taught, recognize where they are in it now, and choose one way to turn toward the Savior this week.
Before you teach
- Read the talk once, marking the four parts of the pattern in the paragraph that follows the freeway story.
- Write the four parts on the board before class: 1. Opposition brings questions and emotions. 2. Sincere seeking invites assurances. 3. Christ's grace enables us to endure and grow. 4. Deliverance comes in His time and way.
- Bring a small card or slip of paper and a pen for each person.
- Write the four group assignments from the third segment on slips of paper.
- Pray for those in your class who are waiting on the Lord right now. You may not know who they are.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
A burden no one else can see
- After the prayer, slowly read the question Elder Hathaway asked at the start of his talk: have we ever felt left out, wondered if we were enough, lost someone we loved, faced illness, experienced family difficulties, or carried a burden no one else could see?
- Give each person a card. Allow one quiet minute to write one burden they are carrying or waiting on. Say clearly that no one will see the card or be asked to share it.
- Ask the question below and take two or three brief answers.
- Read the first key quote, which begins “His deliverance is certain.” Say that today's lesson is about the how and the when.
- Without naming the burden, what is the hardest part of waiting for the Lord's help?
A pattern on the roadside
- Retell the freeway story briefly and faithfully: the Hathaways were driving in two cars to begin their service as mission leaders when two large tires came loose from a semitruck in a construction zone and struck both cars at high speed. The airbags deployed, the cars were destroyed, and the family stood stranded on the roadside wondering why this had happened when they had left everything to serve the Lord.
- Tell what came next: in that moment the Spirit brought them peace that everything would be all right. They were not immediately delivered, but the assurance gave them hope. With the help of many wonderful people they arrived on time and began their mission without serious injury.
- Point to the four parts on the board and read the second key quote, which states the pattern in Elder Hathaway's words.
- Ask the question below. Help the class notice that the assurance came before the problem was solved.
- Which parts of the pattern can you see in this story, and in what order did they come?
Search the pattern in scripture
- Divide into four groups (or four pairs). Give each group one slip.
- Group 1, opposition and questions: D&C 121:1–8. Group 2, sincere seeking and assurances: Mosiah 24:10–16. Group 3, enabled enduring: D&C 123:17 with Alma 7:11–12. Group 4, deliverance in His time: Mark 5:35–42.
- Ask every group to read and prepare a one-sentence answer to the two questions below.
- Walk among the groups. Give a one-minute warning before time is up.
- What did the people in these verses feel or do in their affliction?
- What did the Lord give them before the affliction was over?
Report, then hear Sister Brinkerhoff
- Invite each group to give its one-sentence report, in order, so the class hears the whole pattern. Keep each report under a minute.
- Tell the account of Sister Kenzie Brinkerhoff with care. On the last preparation day before she returned home from her mission, her father, Kelly, called early in the morning to tell her he loved her, was proud of her, and was excited to hug her soon. That night, driving home from work, he was in a vehicle accident and passed away. When Elder and Sister Hathaway arrived, she asked through her tears how this could happen when she was one week from hugging her dad.
- Read the third key quote, her words to Elder Hathaway several weeks later. Pause before you ask the questions.
- Point out what Elder Hathaway taught about such questions and emotions: they are not sin or weakness. They can be a sacred space where we choose whether to turn toward Jesus Christ.
- How can the same weeks be both “most awful” and “most sacred”?
- When has holding to your covenants helped you endure something you could not carry alone? Share only what you are comfortable sharing.
When the hour seems too late
- Read the fourth key quote, which begins “the Lord is not delayed.”
- Read Elder Kearon's words that Elder Hathaway quoted (see aligned quotes), then the words of Elder Chigbundu from this conference.
- Explain that Elder Hathaway taught that grace does not remove the pain and difficulty of affliction. It is an enabling power. He also taught that some miracles are immediate, some come after long waiting, and some await the Resurrection.
- Ask the question below. Let silence do its work before anyone answers.
- What have you learned while waiting that an earlier rescue might not have taught you?
Choose one way to turn toward Him
- Ask learners to look again at their card and silently write which part of the pattern they are in right now.
- Remind them how Elder Hathaway described sincere seeking: heartfelt prayer, purposeful fasting, and scripture study. Invite them to write one of these they will do this week for the burden on the card.
- Share the promise taught in the talk: as we humbly and patiently keep our covenants, the Savior will visit us in our afflictions and bring assurances of deliverance. Bear your own brief testimony that Jesus Christ is the Great Deliverer.
- Follow up next week: begin by asking what assurance class members noticed this week. Be ready to share one of your own first.
Key passages from the talk
“His deliverance is certain; the question for most righteous followers is not if He will deliver but how and when He will do so.”
“Opposition brings heartrending questions and emotions, sincere seeking invites assurances, Christ’s grace enables us to endure and grow, and deliverance comes in the Savior’s time and way.”
“The past few weeks have been the most awful and the most sacred time in my life. I have never clung so tightly to my covenants. I know that Jesus knows what this feels like, and He will heal me.”
“the Lord is not delayed, distracted, or derelict in His deliverance. He has not forgotten you. He does not take joy in your suffering. However, He knows that lessons learned while waiting can bring converting growth that an earlier rescue might not produce.”
Scriptures
- D&C 121:1–8 Group 1 reads it. Look for Joseph Smith's questions in the first verses and the Lord's assurance in verses 7–8, given while he was still in Liberty Jail.
- Mosiah 24:10–16 Group 2 reads it. Mark what Alma's people did in bondage and what the Lord gave them before He led them out.
- D&C 123:17 Group 3 reads it with Alma 7:11–12. Find the two things we are asked to do, then discuss how the Savior's grace makes the first one possible.
- Mark 5:35–42 Group 4 reads it. Notice the moment Jairus hears it is too late and what Jesus says to him next.
Other voices that agree
“Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. And He’s really good at it. In fact, He’s perfect at it.”
“The burden we carry may not always be removed, but our backs will be built to carry the load placed upon them”
Three things to remember
- The Savior's deliverance is certain; the open questions are how and when.
- Hard questions and deep feelings are not sin or weakness. They are a moment to turn toward Jesus Christ.
- While we wait, He sends assurances and grace that help us endure and grow.
Ways to act this week
- Keep your card where you pray. Each day this week, tell Heavenly Father honestly about that one burden and then listen for a moment.
- Choose one act of sincere seeking for the week: a heartfelt prayer at a set time, a purposeful fast, or a daily reading of Mosiah 24:10–16.
- Write down any assurance of peace, faith, or hope that comes, with the date, so you can remember it later.
- Think of someone who is waiting on the Lord. Reach out this week simply to listen.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Be Still, My Soul
- How Firm a Foundation
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with a very small group: skip the groups. Read Mosiah 24:10–16 and Mark 5:35–36 together and answer the two search questions as you go.
- Large class: use eight groups, two for each passage, and take one report per passage.
- Short on time: keep the card, the freeway story, Sister Brinkerhoff's words, and the closing choice. Assign the scripture passages as study for the week.
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.