Helping the Lord Keep His Promise
From “Fear Not, I Am with Thee,” by President Henry B. Eyring · Sunday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
The Lord keeps His promise to be with us in our trials, through the Holy Ghost and through faithful disciples, and He trusts us to be those disciples for others.
Objective
Learners will recognize one way the Lord has kept His promise to be with them and will choose one person to reach out to this week as His helper.
Before you teach
- Read President Eyring's talk, marking paragraphs 5–8 (his mother's answer), 11–13 (the hospital) and 16–21 (four ways to help).
- Read Isaiah 41:10 and Mosiah 18:8–9.
- Write on the board: The promise is not for the removal of challenges.
- Bring slips of paper and pens, and four cards labeled with the paragraph numbers 16, 17–18, 19–20 and 21.
- Pray to know who in the class may be carrying something heavy today.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 5 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
A promise sung to us
- After the prayer, sing or read together the verse of “How Firm a Foundation” that President Eyring quoted (paragraph 4 of the talk). Explain that the choir had just sung this hymn and that he said its words come from Isaiah 41.
- Tell the class his message in one line: the promises in that hymn are true.
- Ask the first question and give a full minute of silence before anyone answers. Take two or three brief responses.
- Which phrase in this verse do you most need to be true this week? You do not have to say why.
What the promise is, and what it is not
- Point to the sentence on the board. Invite someone to read paragraphs 5–7: the boy who asked his mother why life is so hard, her answer, and what he realized years later about her own trials.
- Have everyone read Isaiah 41:10 silently and count what the Lord says He will do. List the answers on the board.
- Read paragraph 8 aloud. Ask the questions below. Let people answer each other; you do not need to comment on every reply.
- If it helps the discussion, share Elder Hathaway's sentence about grace as an enabling power.
- President Eyring's mother said life is a test while she was living through one. What does that add to her answer?
- What is different about praying for a trial to end and praying to feel the Lord with you in it? When have you needed each?
- According to paragraph 8, why does a loving God allow the test to be hard?
Evidence from a hospital room
- Retell paragraphs 11–12 simply: in her last days his mother was bedridden; the only picture on her bedroom wall was of the Savior, where she could see it from her bed. His father had a cot placed beside her in the hospital room so he could help her at once during the nights. After she died, his father walked the ward to thank and shake the hand of every nurse who had helped her.
- Read President Kimball's statement from paragraph 13, and President Eyring's sentence that the Lord sends faithful disciples to help Him keep His promise.
- Ask learners to turn to one person and share for two minutes.
- Who are the disciples in this story? What did each one do?
- When has the Lord's help reached you through another person? What did that person actually do?
Four ways we already help
- Explain that President Eyring used the rest of his message to thank those who serve this way and to encourage others to join. Divide into four groups and hand out the cards: paragraph 16 (praying to know whom to help), 17–18 (a discouraged missionary), 19–20 (those serving in callings), 21 with Mosiah 18:8–9 (comforting those who plead for comfort).
- Give groups four minutes to find two things: what the helper does, and what the person helped comes to know about the Lord.
- Have each group report in thirty seconds. Write the second answers on the board; they will be nearly the same: the Lord knows me and loves me.
- Check for understanding by asking the question below.
- How small are the acts President Eyring describes? Why do you think he chose such small ones?
A face or a name
- Read paragraph 22 aloud. Note the two parts: the Lord will comfort all who try to follow Him, and He offers us the blessing and trust of helping.
- Hand out slips of paper. Allow two minutes of silence. Invite each person to pray silently and write any face or name that comes to mind, and one simple thing to do for that person within the next few days.
- Bear your testimony that the Savior keeps His promises. Tell the class that next week you will begin by asking what happened when they reached out, and what they noticed about the Lord's care for that person.
- Close with the last verse of “How Firm a Foundation” if time allows.
Key passages from the talk
“It is important to realize that the promise is not for the removal of challenges.”
“the Lord sends faithful disciples to help Him keep His promise to succor others in their distress”
“That you felt prompted to reach out to them was evidence to them that the Lord knew and loved them.”
“We know that the Lord will comfort all of those who try to follow Him. And He offers us the great blessing and trust to help Him keep His promise to succor Heavenly Father’s children in their tests along their mortal journey toward home.”
Scriptures
- Isaiah 41:10 Read silently in the second segment; count and list on the board what the Lord says He will do. Notice that removing the trial is not on the list.
- Mosiah 18:8–9 The fourth group reads it with paragraph 21 and names what those who want to be called His people are willing to do for one another.
- Isaiah 53:4 Optional in the third segment: read with paragraph 9 and ask what it means that the Savior carried our sorrows, not only understood them.
Other voices that agree
“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”
“This grace does not remove the pain and difficulty of affliction; it is an enabling power”
Three things to remember
- The Lord's promise is to be with us and strengthen us, not to remove every challenge.
- He keeps that promise through the Holy Ghost and, usually, through another person.
- A prompting to reach out to someone is the Lord's trust in me and His love for them.
Ways to act this week
- Each morning this week, pray to know whom the Lord would have you help, and act on the first face or name that comes.
- Speak to a missionary, in person or by message, and tell them one specific thing you appreciate about their service.
- Thank someone serving in a calling in your ward or branch and tell them how their service has blessed you.
- Sit with, call or visit one person who is mourning or worn down. Listen more than you speak.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- How Firm a Foundation
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with fewer than six people: skip the groups. Read paragraphs 16–21 together, pausing after each way to ask who comes to mind.
- Large class: keep the four paragraph assignments but have people work with the two or three sitting nearest them, and take only one report for each paragraph.
- Short on time: shorten the hospital-room segment to the story and President Kimball's words, and protect the last five minutes of silent writing.
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.