Introduction: How to Use This Lesson Help

This guide is built to help you lead a thoughtful, Spirit-led Relief Society conversation that is doctrinally rich, practically actionable, and deeply personal. The outline follows Elder Holland’s message in chronological order, dividing the talk where his focus shifts. In each section you’ll find:

• Anchoring long quotes (not a scatter of snippets) that teach doctrine and spark discussion
• 10 engaging questions tailored to Relief Society dialogue
• 5 simple object lessons you can demonstrate in a few minutes
• 10 personal sharing prompts to invite stories, testimony, and application

Select the sections that best serve your sisters, or teach them across multiple weeks.

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Section 1 — Why Jonah Matters for “Every Humble Seeker of Happiness”

Anchoring Quote (opening and thesis)

“We laugh, but we should not miss the power Jonah’s story offers every ‘humble seeker of happiness,’ especially those struggling. … God commanded Jonah to ‘go to Nineveh’… Jonah promptly heads the exact opposite direction… As he sails away… a ship-wrecking storm develops. … Miraculously, Jonah escapes death when a ‘great fish’ the Lord ‘prepared’ swallows him. … He then accepts his call to Nineveh. Yet, when the city repents and is spared destruction, Jonah resents the mercy shown his enemies. God patiently teaches Jonah that He loves and seeks to rescue all His children.”

Doctrinal focus: Jonah’s flawed journey is a mirror for disciples: resistance, consequence, divine rescue, reluctant obedience, and God’s universal mercy.

10 Engaging Questions

1. What makes Jonah’s story uniquely helpful “for those struggling”?
2. Where do you see yourself in Jonah’s stages: running, storm, rescue, repentance, resentment, re-learning?
3. How does God’s preparing the fish reshape your view of “discipline” vs. “deliverance”?
4. Why might obedience born out of crisis still be precious to God?
5. What do we learn about God’s character from His patience with Jonah after Nineveh repents?
6. How does the story challenge our limits on whom we think “deserves” mercy?
7. When have you misread a divinely prepared constraint as punishment rather than protection?
8. What helps us re-enter our callings after we’ve run from them?
9. How can Relief Society embody God’s persistent rescue for “all His children”?
10. What does Jonah teach about the difference between being used by God and becoming like God?

5 Object Lessons

1. Compass Reversed: Set a compass; deliberately turn the map the wrong way—illustrate “Tarshish” choices vs. “Nineveh” callings.
2. Storm-in-a-Bottle: A clear bottle with water and dish soap—shake (storm), then let settle (deliverance) to discuss God’s timing.
3. Prepared Fish Envelope: Place a “prepared by the Lord” card inside an envelope labeled “Fish”—open to reveal rescue in unlikely forms.
4. Two Arrows: One arrow labeled “Comfort,” the other “Calling.” Ask which one we naturally choose.
5. Door with Two Handles (picture or prop): Inside handle labeled “Repentance,” outside handle labeled “Rescue”—both are God’s work.

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A time you went the opposite direction from a prompting—and how God pursued you.
2. A “prepared fish” moment that turned out to be mercy.
3. How God used a constraint to steer you home.
4. An assignment you resented but later understood.
5. A person or group God asked you to love beyond your comfort.
6. A storm that clarified your calling.
7. What helped you move from reluctant to willing.
8. Seeing God’s patience with your learning curve.
9. Where Relief Society “found” you like the sailors found calm.
10. How God’s universal rescue broadened your view of the gospel.

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Section 2 — A Testimony of the Fall: Why We Struggle and Why That Matters

Anchoring Quote

“Stumbling more than once in his duties, Jonah provides a vivid testimony that in mortality, ‘all are fallen.’ … Having a doctrinal understanding and spiritual witness of why every single one of us struggles with moral, physical, and situational challenges is a great blessing. … Here on earth, ugly weeds grow, even strong bones break, and all ‘come short of the glory of God.’ But this mortal condition… is essential to the very reason we exist: ‘that [we] might have joy’! … Only by tasting the bitterness and feeling the pain of a fallen world could we even conceive of, let alone enjoy, true happiness.”

Doctrinal focus: A testimony of the Fall reframes frustration, fuels compassion, and preserves joy.

10 Engaging Questions

1. What changes when we gain not just knowledge about the Fall but a testimony of it?
2. How does “Fall → Joy” challenge the idea that happiness equals ease?
3. Where are you currently tasting “bitterness” that could enlarge your capacity for joy?
4. How does this doctrine temper criticism of family members and leaders?
5. What practices help you avoid cynicism while acknowledging a fallen world?
6. How does the Fall help you interpret unanswered prayers or lingering trials?
7. What boundaries does “a testimony of the Fall” not remove (diligence, virtue, accountability)?
8. How can our ward culture hold both standards and sympathy?
9. How does the temple endowment deepen your witness of the Fall and Redeemer?
10. How does this doctrine help you forgive yourself?

5 Object Lessons

1. Bitter Herb & Sweet Honey: Taste a tiny bit of bitter, then honey—“by tasting bitterness we know to prize the good.”
2. Broken Bone X-ray (image): Strong bones break—so do strong people. Healing is real but takes time.
3. Garden Weeds: Show a weed next to a flower—both grow in the same soil of mortality.
4. Contrast Lenses: Two tinted lenses: one “only bitterness,” one “only sweetness”—neither sees reality clearly; the gospel lens sees both.
5. Tug-of-War Rope: Mortality pulls against us; joy is found in learning to plant our feet in Christ.

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A trial that eventually increased your joy capacity.
2. How doctrine (not just platitudes) sustained you in grief.
3. A time you chose compassion because of a testimony of the Fall.
4. Learning to be patient with your own limits.
5. A priesthood blessing that reframed your struggle.
6. How the temple helped you hold sorrow and hope together.
7. Teaching a child that struggle isn’t failure.
8. Choosing diligence and virtue amid disappointment.
9. Repenting without self-loathing.
10. Seeing God’s kindness in the middle—not just the end—of a hard story.

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Section 3 — The Sign of Jonah: Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Personal Rescue

Anchoring Quote

“Even greater than manifesting the effects of the Fall, Jonah’s story powerfully directs us to Him who can deliver us from those effects. … Three times when Jesus is pressed for a miraculous sign of His divinity, He thunders that ‘there shall no sign be given … but the sign of Jonas,’ declaring that as Jonah was ‘three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’”

Doctrinal focus: Jonah is a type of Christ—pointing us to the atonement and resurrection that make every other doctrine operative.

10 Engaging Questions

1. Why does the Savior select Jonah as the singular sign of His divinity?
2. How does the three-day pattern speak to seasons of waiting in your life?
3. Where do you look for “other signs” when the Lord has already given the decisive one?
4. How does Christ’s descent into death reframe your “belly of the fish” experiences?
5. What is the difference between admiring the sign and trusting the Savior it points to?
6. How do ordinances bind us personally to the death and resurrection of Christ?
7. What helps you keep the Atonement central rather than supplemental in problem-solving?
8. How might our discipleship look different if we lived as if resurrection is certain?
9. How does sacrament worship weekly re-center you on the Sign, not substitutes?
10. Where have you seen “new life” emerge after a three-day (or three-year) darkness?

5 Object Lessons

1. Seed in Dark Soil: Place a seed in soil—life emerges from dark places.
2. Hourglass: Turn it over—waiting is part of God’s pattern; the sand does run out.
3. Before/After Photo Frame: One frame, two images—death/resurrection; despair/hope.
4. Tide Chart: Low tide/high tide—absence and return are cyclical; faith bridges the interval.
5. Candle Relit: Blow out, then relight—life restored through divine power.

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A season you felt “entombed” and how Christ met you there.
2. The sacrament renewing your covenant hope.
3. A time you stopped chasing lesser signs and trusted the greatest one.
4. Seeing small resurrections (habits, relationships, faith) in your life.
5. Waiting with Christ between promise and fulfillment.
6. A hymn or scripture that anchors you in the three-day pattern.
7. How a temple ordinance deepened your bond to the Living Christ.
8. A “doctrine first” decision that changed outcomes.
9. Teaching youth to look to Christ, not spectacle.
10. The resurrection doctrine sustaining you through loss.

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Section 4 — “Forsake Not Your Own Mercy”: Jonah’s Psalm, Temple Turning, and Covenants

Anchoring Quote (extended)

“Jonah’s cry is that of a good man in crisis… ‘I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord… out of the belly of hell cried I. … I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. … The waters compassed me about, even to the soul… yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption. … When my soul fainted… I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came… into thine holy temple. … They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. … I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.’
… “For anyone today… my plea, inspired by Jonah, is forsake not your own mercy. You have immediate access to divine help and healing despite your human flaws. … Start by refusing to listen to the ‘lying vanities’… Instead… cry unto God. Turn to the temple. Cling to your covenants. Serve… with sacrifice and thanksgiving.”

Doctrinal focus: Mercy is yours in Christ—don’t abandon it. Repentance is a templeward turn, covenant keeping, and grateful service.

10 Engaging Questions

1. What “lying vanities” most tempt modern disciples to forsake their own mercy?
2. Why is the temple Jonah’s directional choice when he feels cast off?
3. How do gratitude and sacrifice coexist in crisis?
4. What does “I will pay that that I have vowed” look like practically today?
5. How do we hear the Lord’s present-tense mercy when shame narrates the past?
6. What helps you distinguish godly sorrow from self-condemnation?
7. Why is covenant clinging more vital than covenant perfection during trials?
8. How can service be a conduit of healing without becoming avoidance?
9. What systems in our ward help sisters access “immediate help and healing”?
10. Where might you personally be forsaking mercy without realizing it?

5 Object Lessons

1. Anchor & Line: A small anchor tied to a line labeled “Covenants”—cling when storms rage.
2. Noise Card “Lying Vanities”: Read common lies (“You broke it forever”; “God is tired of you”), then overlay a transparent card labeled “Mercy.”
3. Temple Photo Compass: Place a small compass next to a temple photo—reorient to covenant north.
4. Receipt Book: “I will pay that that I have vowed”—write one covenant action you’ll “pay” this week.
5. Thank-You Note: Write a quick gratitude to God during class—practice “voice of thanksgiving.”

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A lie you believed—and the truth that displaced it.
2. A time the temple re-centered you mid-crisis.
3. “Paying what I vowed” in a small, specific way this month.
4. Gratitude that did not wait for resolution.
5. How ministering others softened your own pain.
6. A prayer that felt like it reached “into thine holy temple.”
7. Choosing to ask for a priesthood blessing instead of isolating.
8. A covenant phrase that became a lifeline.
9. Relinquishing perfectionism to cling to Christ.
10. One act you’ll take this week to not forsake mercy.

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Section 5 — Hesed: God’s Loyal, Exhaustless Mercy and the Surprise of Joy

Anchoring Quote

“Doing these things brings a vision of God’s special covenantal love for you—what the Hebrew Bible calls hesed. You will see and feel the power of God’s loyal, untiring, inexhaustible, and ‘tender mercies’ that can make you ‘mighty… unto… deliverance’ from any sin or any setback. … As you continue to ‘pay that that [you] have vowed,’ such a vision will shine brighter and brighter… you will not only find hope and healing, but… joy, even in the midst of your crucible. President Russell M. Nelson… ‘When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan… we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening.’”

Doctrinal focus: Covenant loyalty (hesed) is God’s disposition toward you; our covenant fidelity clears our eyes to see it, yielding joy in the midst.

10 Engaging Questions

1. How does hesed differ from generic “niceness” or mere pity?
2. What habits help you perceive hesed when pain feels louder?
3. How does covenant loyalty change how you interpret delays and detours?
4. What does it mean to become “mighty unto deliverance” even before deliverance arrives?
5. Where have you felt joy before outcomes changed?
6. How can Relief Society culture center joy without denying grief?
7. How do we avoid transactional thinking (“I kept a vow; God owes me X”) while trusting covenant promises?
8. What language in your prayers signals growing confidence in God’s loyal love?
9. How do you teach children that God’s love is loyal, not fragile?
10. Which ordinance most tutors you in God’s hesed, and why?

5 Object Lessons

1. Weighted Blanket: Warmth/weight—hesed both comforts and steadies under pressure.
2. Ever-flow Pitcher: Refill a small cup from a larger pitcher repeatedly—“inexhaustible” mercy.
3. Headlamp: Joy as light in the cave, not just outside it—turn it on in a darkened room.
4. Knot Tied Twice: Single knot (effort) vs. double knot (covenant loyalty)—stronger under strain.
5. Magnifying Glass: Vows + patience magnify vision: hesed comes into focus.

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A time you sensed God’s loyal love specifically for you.
2. Joy that arrived before the fix.
3. A sacrament/temple phrase that re-rooted you in hesed.
4. Teaching a child or youth about God’s covenant constancy.
5. Words you now use in prayer because of experienced mercy.
6. A ministering moment where you felt like a delivery agent of hesed.
7. How you resisted a transactional view of obedience.
8. A hymn line that sings hesed over your life.
9. A journal entry where you recognized “mighty unto deliverance.”
10. One way you’ll “pay that that you have vowed” in quiet loyalty this week.

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Section 6 — Final Invitation: Look to the Living Christ

Anchoring Quote (conclusion)

“Whether we are facing a deep, Jonah-like catastrophe or the everyday challenges of our imperfect world, the invitation is the same: Forsake not your own mercy. Look to the sign of Jonah, the living Christ, He who rose from His three-day grave having conquered all—for you. Turn to Him. Believe in Him. Serve Him. Smile. For in Him, and Him alone, is found the full and happy healing from the Fall, healing we all so urgently need and humbly seek.”

Doctrinal focus: The remedy is a Person. Turn to Him. Keep turning. Keep serving. Receive His happy healing.

10 Engaging Questions

1. What does it look like this week to “forsake not your own mercy”?
2. Where is the Spirit inviting you to “look again toward the holy temple”?
3. What one “lying vanity” will you refuse to entertain anymore?
4. What covenant action will you “pay” with thanksgiving in the next seven days?
5. Where might God be asking you to extend mercy you once resented?
6. What could Relief Society do to make mercy more accessible to seekers?
7. How will you keep the Sign of Jonah central in your worship?
8. Where do you need to smile—trusting His happy healing is at work?
9. Who is your “Nineveh,” and what is your first step toward it?
10. How will you record and remember God’s hesed so you won’t forsake it?

5 Object Lessons

1. Small Mirror: Turn the mirror to the temple picture—practice turning your gaze.
2. Trash Bag “Lying Vanities”: Write lies on slips; physically discard them.
3. Calendar Sticker “Vow Paid”: Mark one covenant act you will intentionally fulfill.
4. Path Tape on Floor: A short taped path labeled “To Christ”—invite sisters to step onto it as a sign of intent.
5. Smile Card: A simple card that reads “In Him is happy healing”—take it home as a reminder.

10 Personal Sharing Prompts

1. The first place you’ll turn when the next storm hits.
2. A temple-related habit you’ll restart.
3. A mercy you will finally receive as your own.
4. Someone you will serve with sacrifice and thanksgiving.
5. A covenant you’ll keep more deliberately this month.
6. A resentment you’ll release to resemble God’s patience.
7. One concrete way you’ll keep Christ as the remedy, not a supplement.
8. A scripture from Jonah you’ll memorize.
9. How you’ll bring “happy healing” into your home.
10. Your testimony of the living Christ as Jonah’s true Sign.

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Conclusion: Why This Format Strengthens Relief Society

• Chronological structure keeps discussion grounded in the prophet’s flow of doctrine.
• Long, meaty quotes center the class in revealed truth and invite the Spirit.
• Thoughtful questions move beyond recall into conversion—identity, repentance, covenant loyalty, and Christ-centered healing.
• Simple object lessons make abstract doctrines tangible in minutes.
• Personal prompts open hearts, build belonging, and foster testimony.

As you prayerfully select from these sections, expect the Spirit to do what He always does when we look to Christ: expose the lying vanities, re-orient us to the temple and our covenants, and flood us with the Father’s hesed—loyal, untiring, inexhaustible mercy—until joy rises in the very midst of our crucibles.

Posted By: Lia · In: Relief Society