Women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received counsel to keep their covenants and remember that God is mindful of them during a general Relief Society meeting with the Relief Society general presidency and President Thomas S. Monson Sept. 28.
These leaders urged women to remember the love of God for each one of them and let their confidence in that love empower them to keep covenants with God and serve one another.
Hymns sung at the broadcast reflected this theme, as the congregation sang, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go” during an interlude between speakers. More music was provided by a choir made up of sister missionaries of all ages from the Provo Missionary Training Center, who sang a medley of the hymns “Go Forth with Faith” and “As Sisters in Zion.”
Sister Linda K. Burton, general Relief Society president, conducted the meeting. Her address focused on the need for women in the Church to keep their covenants and teach their children, by example, to do the same. The motivation for these actions should always be love.
“Covenant-keeping is one way to express our love for the incomprehensible, infinite Atonement of our Savior and Redeemer and the perfect love of our Father in Heaven,” she said.
She used the Biblical love story of Jacob and Rachel to demonstrate the kind of love that leads to covenant-keeping.
“Who of us is not moved by Jacob and Rachel’s biblical love story as we read, ‘And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her’?” she asked. “Sisters, do we keep our covenants with that kind of deep and devoted love?”
President Thomas S. Monson gave the evening’s final address and reminded women that God has that same love for each individual.
“(That love) is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful,” President Monson said. “It is simply always there.”
He demonstrated this idea through a story about a woman who became depressed and over-burdened with the cares of her busy family. This woman told a friend that the only thing that sounded good to her was homemade bread. A fresh loaf arrived at her doorstep the next day.
“And so it happened that the Lord sent a virtual stranger across town to deliver not just the desired homemade bread, but also a clear message of love to Tiffany,” President Monson said.
Trusting fully in this love can be difficult, but it will help women remember that God has a plan for them during challenges, taught second counselor Sister Linda S. Reeves. She compared this concept to the story of the Provo Tabernacle, which was devastated by a fire. This seeming tragedy was transformed when President Monson announced that the tabernacle would be rebuilt as a temple.
“(God) didn’t cause the fire, but He allowed the fire to strip away the interior,” Sister Reeves said. “He saw the tabernacle as a magnificent temple — a permanent home for making sacred, eternal covenants.”
Sister Carole M. Stephens, first counselor in the general Relief Society presidency, reminded the women that as “covenant-keeping daughters in the Lord’s kingdom,” they can be “instruments in the Lord’s hands” and find joy through doing His work in small and simple ways.
President Henry B. Eyring, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Elder Jeffery R. Holland and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve also attended the meeting, which was broadcast worldwide and can be viewed online at lds.org.
