Not If, but How and When
From “Jesus Christ Is the Great Deliverer!,” by Elder Kevin J. Hathaway · Saturday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
Hard questions are not sin or weakness; they are a moment to choose to turn toward Jesus Christ, who will deliver us in His time and way.
Objective
Youth will be able to explain the four-part pattern of deliverance in Elder Hathaway's talk and choose one specific way to turn toward the Savior the next time something hard happens.
Before you teach
- Read the talk, especially the story of Sister Brinkerhoff, so you can tell it gently in your own words.
- Bring slips of paper, pens, and a cup or bowl.
- For each team of two or three, write the four parts of the pattern on four separate strips and mix them up: Opposition brings heartrending questions and emotions / Sincere seeking invites assurances / Christ's grace enables us to endure and grow / Deliverance comes in the Savior's time and way.
- Ask youth to have their scriptures or the Gospel Library app ready.
- If someone in your class is grieving, do not call on them by name during this lesson. Let every personal comment be volunteered.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
The question cup
- As youth come in, hand each a slip. Ask them to finish this sentence without writing a name: A question someone my age might ask God when life gets hard is…
- Collect the slips in the cup. After the prayer, read four or five aloud without comment.
- Take a quick vote with thumbs up, sideways, or down on the question below. Do not settle it yet.
- Is it all right for a faithful person to ask God questions like these?
Questions are not sin
- Race: who can find D&C 121:1 first? Have the winner read it aloud and tell who asked it and where he was (Joseph Smith, in Liberty Jail).
- Read the first key quote, which begins “Such questions and emotions.” Ask a youth to say it back in their own words.
- Share Sister Runia's sentence from this conference (see aligned quotes).
- In pairs, give one minute for the first question below. Then hear from two or three pairs.
- What does turning toward Jesus Christ with a hard question look like? What does turning away look like?
- Why do you think Elder Hathaway called that moment a sacred space?
Pattern scramble
- Put youth in teams of two or three. Give each team a set of mixed-up strips. The first team to put the four parts in the right order wins. Check against the second key quote.
- Tell the freeway story: the Hathaway family was driving in two cars to begin serving as mission leaders. In a construction zone two large tires came loose from a semitruck and struck both cars at high speed. The airbags deployed and the cars were destroyed. They stood on the roadside wondering why this had happened when they had left everything to serve the Lord. Then the Spirit brought them peace that everything would be all right. With the help of many wonderful people, they arrived on time and began their mission without serious injury.
- Round two: each team lays its strips in a row and decides which moment of the story fits each one. Ask one team to explain its matches.
- Point out one detail: they were not delivered right away. The peace came first.
- Why might the Lord send peace before He sends the solution?
Most awful and most sacred
- Say that the next account is tender. Tell it simply: Sister Kenzie Brinkerhoff was a missionary one week from going home. On her last preparation day her dad called early in the morning to say he loved her, was proud of her, and was excited to hug her soon. That night he was in a vehicle accident on his way home from work and passed away. When Elder and Sister Hathaway came to her, she asked through her tears how this could happen when she was a week from hugging her dad.
- Ask where her question fits in the pattern on the strips.
- Invite a youth to read the third key quote: what Sister Brinkerhoff said several weeks later.
- Have everyone open Alma 7:11–12 and silently find two things: what the Savior took upon Himself, and why. Hear answers, then ask the questions below.
- Sister Brinkerhoff said she knows that Jesus knows what this feels like. How does Alma 7:11–12 back that up?
- She did not say the pain was gone. What had changed?
When it feels too late
- Read Mark 5:35–36 together. Ask what message Jairus had just received and what Jesus said to him.
- Read Elder Kearon's words that Elder Hathaway quoted (see aligned quotes), then the fourth key quote about three kinds of timing for miracles.
- Create: in the same teams, write a short message of two or three sentences you could send to a friend who has been praying about something for a long time and is tired of waiting. Use one idea from today. Be honest, not cheesy.
- Ask one or two teams to read theirs aloud.
- Which is hardest to trust: a miracle that is immediate, one that comes after long waiting, or one that awaits the Resurrection? Why?
My turn-toward plan
- Return to the opening vote and ask if anyone would answer differently now.
- Remind the class how Elder Hathaway described sincere seeking: heartfelt prayer, purposeful fasting, and scripture study. Ask each youth to open a note on their phone or a slip of paper and write: The next time something hard happens, the first thing I will do is…
- 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. Add your own short testimony of Jesus Christ.
- Follow up next week: start class by asking who used their plan and what they noticed. Share your own experience first.
Key passages from the talk
“Such questions and emotions are not sin or weakness; they can create a sacred space where agency is activated and we choose whether to turn toward Jesus Christ.”
“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.”
“In His time and way, Jesus Christ will deliver you. Some miracles are immediate, some come after long waiting, and some await the Resurrection.”
Scriptures
- D&C 121:1 Race to find it. Read it aloud and name who asked this question and where. Use it to show that prophets have asked hard questions too.
- Alma 7:11–12 Read silently on phones or in scriptures. Find what the Savior took upon Himself and the reason given in verse 12.
- Mark 5:35–36 Read together. Identify the bad news Jairus received and the Savior's five-word answer, which Elder Hathaway repeated to all who face pain, fear, and loneliness.
Other voices that agree
“Not understanding is not the same as not believing.”
“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.”
Three things to remember
- Asking God hard questions is not sin or weakness.
- Jesus Christ knows what my pain feels like, and He knows how to help me.
- He will deliver me in His time and way, and He sends peace while I wait.
Ways to act this week
- Take one honest question to Heavenly Father in prayer this week. Say it out loud if you can, then stay on your knees for one quiet minute.
- Read Alma 7:11–12 each night for a week and note one word that stands out each time.
- Send the message your team wrote, in your own words, to someone who is having a hard time.
- The next time something goes wrong, try your turn-toward plan first, before anything else.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Where Can I Turn for Peace?
- I Believe in Christ
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with one or two youth: skip the competition. Lay out the four strips together and match them to the freeway story as a family.
- Large class: run the scramble as boys against girls or by rows, and collect the written messages to read a few aloud.
- Short on time: keep the question cup, the first key quote, Sister Brinkerhoff's words with Alma 7:11–12, and the closing plan.
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.