Sister Julie B. Beck: "And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit"

This talk, by Relief Society General President Julie B. Beck is excellent. Although she addresses primarily the sisters, everything she says about our duties and ability to find happiness applies to Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood holders also.

She notes from her travels around the world and visits with sisters that, "there is much distraction and not enough peace and joy. Despite popular media messages to the contrary, no one is rich enough, beautiful enough, or clever enough to avoid a mortal experience."


Sister Beck continues with an observation of sisters around the world that could also be applied to the brothers: In my visits with the sisters, I have felt that there has never been a greater need for increase faith and personal righteousness. There has never been a greater need for strong families and homes. There has never been more that could be done to help others who are in need.


Continuing, and talking about "a good woman" and revelation (but what could be also applied to "good men") she states:  A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worth things her heart years to do. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently.


The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. So that is why we are here. Sister Beck then describes the things that sisters (and brothers) can do to receive personal revelation. The list includes:

• Qualifying for the Lord's Spirit begins with a desire for that Spirit and implies a certain degree of worthiness. (1) Keeping the commandments, (2) repenting, and (3) renewing covenants made at baptism lead to the blessing of always having the Lord's Spirit with us.
• Making and keeping temple covenants also adds spiritual strength and power to a woman's life.
• Many answers to difficult questions are found by reading the scriptures because the scriptures are an aid to revelation.
• Daily prayer is also essential to having the Lord's Spirit with us. Those who earnestly seek help through prayer and scripture study often have a paper and pencil nearby to write questions and record impressions and ideas.
• Being in the right place allows us to receive guidance. It requires a conscious effort to diminish distractions.

Having the Spirit of revelation makes it possible to prevail over opposition and persist in faith through difficult days and essential routine tasks. Because personal revelation is a constantly renewable source of strength, it is possible to feel bathed in help even during turbulent times. Promised personal revelation comes when we ask for it, prepare for it, and go forward in faith, trusting that it will be poured out upon us.


Sister Beck talked directly about the proper role of Relief Society: When Relief Society functions in an inspired way, it lifts women up and out of a troubled world and into a way of living that prepares them for the blessings of eternal life.


Sister Beck talked about measuring success. She paraphrased a list found in Preach My Gospel. I would like to include the list directly from the manual. On page 10 it starts out, "You can know you have been a successful missionary when you . . ." I would like to insert "priesthood holder" where "missionary is:

• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you. (This could family members, church members, or non-members. 
• Love people and desire their salvation. (See the above list!)
• Obey with exactness.
• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you where to go, what to do, and what to say. (Just as Sister Beck counseled the sisters.)
• Develop Christlike attributes.
• Work effectively every day, do your very best . . ., and seek earnestly to learn and improve.
• Help build up the Church wherever you are assigned to work.
• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments.
• Teach and serve . . . 
• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity.

Sister Beck finished with a reference to Joel 2:28-29 and the sons and daughters of God prophesying. She then quoted President Spencer W. Kimball on the same topic. It is good for us as priesthood holders to remember so that we can support the women (and girls) of the church:

Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers.  This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different - in happy ways - from the women of the world . . . Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and spiritual growth of the Church in the last days.

Relief Society President Julie B. Beck: Relief Society-A Sacred Work

Tonight I hope to enlarge our testimony and understanding of Relief Society as a faith-based work.

We know that the purpose of Relief Society as established by the Lord is to prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them:

1.  Increase their faith and personal righteousness.
2.  Strengthen their families and homes.
3.  Serve the Lord and His children.

Relief society is a faith-based work and has a three-fold mission. Next, Sister Beck talked about the role of Relief Society in relation to the Priesthood. This was the first time I've had the relationship between the two explained.


Relief Society is unique because it was organized after the “pattern of the priesthood”³ and we operate on a general and local level under the direction of priesthood leaders. We work in partnership with priesthood leaders, who hold keys which give them authority to preside in the name of the Lord. We operate in the manner of the priesthood—which means that we seek, receive, and act on revelation; make decisions in councils; and concern ourselves with caring for individuals one by one. Ours is the priesthood purpose to prepare ourselves for the blessings of eternal life by making and keeping covenants. Therefore, like our brethren who hold the priesthood, ours is a work of salvation, service, and becoming a holy people.


She then quoted Elder Boyd K. Parker who gave some interesting insights as to how seriously the sisters should take Relief Society - As seriously as men take the priesthood. That tells me two things: Men need to take the priesthood seriously and women need to approach Relief Society with a new found (for most) respect.

“Attendance at the Sunday meeting is but a small part of your duty. Some of you have not understood this and have set aside much of what Relief Society has meant over the years—the sisterhood, the charitable and practical parts of it.”

“The Relief Society, the Prophet [Joseph] told us, is organized after the pattern of the priesthood. When a man holds the priesthood, . . . it requires full dedication and loyalty. . . .   

“If you sisters follow after that pattern, . . . you will serve your organization, your cause—the Relief Society. . . . 

“Service in the Relief Society magnifies and sanctifies each individual sister. Your membership in Relief Society should be ever with you.”

Under the heading "Working in the Lord's Way, Sister Beck discusses a key issue for women AND for men - time. She also models a great method for understanding what we are doing: understand the group's purpose; and, find the appropriate way to carry out individual responsibilities. And then says that we are respecting the Lord other sisters when you use Relief Society in the appropriate way. Then comes a great quote and some thoughts from President Uchtdorf about getting rid of "non-essential" things.

When our purpose is clear, it naturally follows that there is an appropriate way to carry out our responsibilities. One of the most precious commodities we all have is time. Most women have many responsibilities and never have sufficient time to do everything their hearts and minds want to do. We show respect for the Lord and the sisters when we use Relief Society time in an inspired way.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught: “A wise man once distinguished between ‘the noble art of getting things done’ and ‘a nobler art of leaving things undone.’ True ‘wisdom in life,’ he taught, consists of ‘the elimination of non-essentials.’ ” President Uchtdorf then asked: “What are the nonessential things that clutter your days and steal your time? What are the habits you may have developed that do not serve a useful purpose? What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning, and joy to your life?”⁵ We can apply his questions to all Relief Society meetings and work. 

She talked about the different types of Relief Society meetings. This entire section should serve as a training manual for Relief Society Presidencies and Bishops. I started copying points down and found myself copying most of this long section! If you need to, review the actual talk and what it had to say about the role of the Sunday meeting and the weekday meetings.


Then Sister Beck talked about Visiting Teaching. She talks about how it is important and how it is set up. I like this quote about Visiting Teaching because it applies very nicely to Home Teaching:


Visiting teaching becomes the Lord’s work when our focus is on people rather than percentages. In reality, visiting teaching is never finished. It is more a way of life than a task.


Great talk for both the sisters AND the brothers!

SIster Silvia H Allred: Every Woman Needs Relief Society

I will speak today about why every woman needs Relief Society in her life. Sister Allred's thesis statement.


The deepest desire of our presidency is to help each woman in the Church prepare to receive the blessings of the temple, to honor the covenants she makes, and to be engaged in the cause of Zion. The Relief Society inspires and teaches women to help them increase their faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families, and seek out and help those in need.


I wonder if this should also be the goal of the Priesthood and if every bishop, high priest group leader, and elder's quorum president has the same desire.


But we are also aware of the many women in the Church who are not fully enjoying the blessings of activity in the Church and in Relief Society. To those of you who already attend Relief Society, we extend a call. We ask you to go to the women who are not engaged in Relief Society work in your wards and branches to teach them with love what Relief Society will do for them. Testify to them that Relief Society will enrich their homes and personal lives. Offer your friendship and sisterhood. Watch over and strengthen them. Help us reverse society’s trend of disintegrating families. Help your sisters turn to the Lord and His plan of happiness for His children. They will find guidance, comfort, peace, understanding, and inspiration. They will know Heavenly Father loves them and cares for them in ways beyond measure.


This is quite a charge to the active women of the church. I should say, active women who attend Relief Society. What can Relief Society do for you? That is probably a question we should ask about every organization in the church. And every activity.

RS Sister Barbara Thompson: Mind the Gap

Many of us have gaps in our own lives. Sometimes it is the difference between what we know and what we actually do or the gap between our goals and what we actually accomplish. These gaps can be reminders of ways in which we can improve or, if ignored, can be stumbling blocks in our lives.


I want to mention a few gaps I see either in my own life or in the lives of others. The ones I will address tonight are the following:


First, the gap between believing you are a daughter of God and knowing in your heart and soul that you are a precious, beloved daughter of God.


Second, the gap between completion of the Young Women program and becoming a fully participating member of Relief Society—“the Lord’s organization for women.”¹


Third, the gap between believing in Jesus Christ and being valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ.


Sister Thompson started with a nice analogy to signs found in "The Tube" in London. We need to pay attention to those gaps in our lives - to 'mind' them. We need to be aware of who we are (children of a Heavenly Father), beware of the gap of inactivity, and live our testimony and belief in Jesus Christ.

RS President Henry B. Eyring: The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society

The history of Relief Society is recorded in words and numbers, but the heritage is passed heart to heart.

This is a great sub-title for President Eyring talk. It says a lot just by itself. He said he is going to talk about charity and the role it has played in the history of the Relief Society. I like the following description of the early sisters in the church as they moved and moved, having very little for themselves, they still gave:

The history of the Relief Society is filled with accounts of such remarkable selfless service. In the terrible days of persecution and deprivation as the faithful moved from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois and then across the deserts going west, the sisters in their poverty and sorrows cared for others

He then relates, through the circumstances and desires of those sisters, what we could (and should) be:

They were from many lands and peoples, as you are today. But they were of one heart, one mind, and with one intention. They were determined to help the Lord build His Zion, where there could be the happy existence the Book of Mormon had described so vividly for them. You remember some of the scenes from 4 Nephi which they carried in their hearts wherever the Lord led them on the journey to Zion:

He also talked about Visiting Teaching and how it provides the localized support for members.

This next section is a good description of the relationship between the bishop and the relief society president:

The members of Relief Society have always been trusted by local priesthood shepherds. Every bishop and every branch president has a Relief Society president to depend upon. She has visiting teachers, who know the trials and the needs of every sister. She can, through them, know the hearts of individuals and families. She can meet needs and help the bishop in his call to nurture individuals and families.

This was a very good talk that home teachers should read and apply as they feel impressed.