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President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, closed the Women’s Session of the 185th Annual General Conference on Saturday, March 28. He assured listeners that the Holy Ghost would comfort them as they fulfilled their promise to comfort others.
“You can and must be an important part in his giving comfort to those who need comfort,” President Eyring said. He then quoted Matthew 11:28–30 and said there was a reason that women feel compassion toward those in their lives that are struggling with sin or other trials in life.
“A great change began in your heart when you came into the Church. You made a covenant, and you received a promise that began and changed your very nature,” President Eyring said. That promise is the gift of the Holy Ghost, whom he referred to in his talk as the Comforter.
He said women will be more apt to fulfill their responsibility to Heavenly Father and help those in their life who are struggling if they understood more fully how Heavenly Father answers prayers of help. “You promised that you would help the Lord make burdens light and be comforted. You were given the power to help lighten those loads when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost,” President Eyring said.
He told a story of a family who was grieving the death of their 5-year-old son and how the Comforter administered to them throughout the mourning process. He testified of the truth of the experience told in Mosiah 24 and the relief that Heavenly Father gave to the people. “We lighten the loads of others best by helping the Lord strengthen them. That is why the Lord included in our charge to comfort others the command to be His witnesses at all times and in all places,” President Eyring said.
He used the story of Job to show that, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, there is hope no matter how difficult the road back to Heavenly Father is. He encouraged women to uplift others they encounter on their difficult journey.
“I bear my witness the Lord has asked each of us, his disciples, to help bear one another’s burdens. We have promised to do it,” President Eyring said. “His love never fails, and we never will cease to feel in our hearts the urge ‘to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort.’ Nor will the peace he promises ever leave us as we serve others for him.”
