A woman of faith trusts God. . . . She
knows of His interest in her life. She knows that He knows her. She
loves His words and drinks deeply of that living water.
I love the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, which has been
restored to the earth in our day. I treasure the teachings of His
holy life from newborn infant to resurrected man, Son of God.
As I have read from the pages of the Bible, in my mind's eye I
have watched Him as He "increased in wisdom and stature, and in
favour with God and man."1
In my reading, I was there when He raised the dead. He healed the
sick, fed the 5,000, brought comfort and hope and a process for
peace into the world that He had created. He forgave those who
mocked and tortured and crucified Him—for they knew not what they
did. I saw the divine love and concern He had for His mother, though
He suffered in supreme agony Himself. He overcame death so that we
can too. He has prepared a place for us in heaven with our Eternal
Father. He has taught us the plan for happiness and given us the
vision of it and the hope to follow it. His was the ultimate life of
sacrifice and a life of service to fulfill the plan of God His
Father.
A Latter-day Saint woman who follows Christ's example in her
daily living begins to fulfill the plan of our Heavenly Father for
her. By so doing she can be a powerful influence for good in today's
world and meet the challenges of mortality. I have known such women,
and they have been a guiding light to me. The Latter-day Saint woman
who follows Christ is a true Christian in the very best sense of the
word. She is a woman of faith who trusts God and is confident and
fearless.
A woman of faith trusts God and faces adversity
with hope. She knows of His interest in her life. She knows that He
knows her. She loves His words and drinks deeply of that living
water. She is grateful for the prophet He has sent for these latter
days, and she trusts his counsel and follows it, for she knows that
by so doing she will find safety and peace. In prayer she seeks the
kind, unfaltering guidance and help of a listening Heavenly Father.
As she prays, she listens—allowing the communication to be two-way.
She trusts that in His still and quiet way, He will lead her by the
hand and give her answer to her prayers.2
A woman of faith is confident because she
understands the divine plan of our Heavenly Father and her role to
bless lives. She is confident that any sacrifice she makes is worth
something in an eternal sense. She knows about sacrifice from
knowing of the life of the Savior. She knows that her sacrifices may
be small by comparison, but she knows that Heavenly Father
understands and values what she does to strengthen her home and her
family and the world in which she lives. Her confidence grows
because she is virtuous and lovely and gracious, which is even
better than beautiful. She has pure motives. She is loving and
gentle and kind. The hearts of her husband and her children safely
trust in her.3
And so do the children or youth or women that she has been called to
teach, lead, serve, and love—they are drawn to her because of that
special spirit that she radiates. It is the image of God that she
has in her countenance that is appealing and important.4
She is confident that she is fashioning a character and a record of
performance that will be invited to stand in the presence of her
Heavenly Father. She will be able to do so with the sense that she
fully belongs there, that she is known by Him and loved and valued
and treasured forever and always.
A woman of faith is fearless. She fears no evil,
for God is with her.5
There is no ambiguity, no uncertain trump in her life. She can live
a principled life because she studies the doctrine and teachings of
a perfect teacher, the Master. She is a noble example to all who
know her. She is less than perfect, of course, not because she
doesn't have perfect principles or the perfect example in Christ,
but because she is human. She stays away from the evil influence and
the unclean thing, and if it encroaches on her territory, she is as
a lioness protecting her cubs. A fearless woman of faith has the
courage to talk with her children about practices which would
destroy them. They not only hear her discuss her commitment, but
they see her commitment in her daily living—in the way she dresses,
what she reads and watches, how she spends her leisure time, what
she loves and laughs at, who she attracts, and how she acts at all
times, in all things, and in all places. She has a certain style of
her own that is attractive and joyful and bright and good. Our
little girls and our young women can safely trust in her example. We
pray that they too will be fearless as they seek out and promote
that which is uplifting and happy and decent, for they are our
future.
Thank heaven for women of faith in our lives. A woman of faith
loves the Lord. She wants Him to know it by the life she lives, by
the words she speaks, by the service she renders to His children, by
her every action. She knows that He loves her even though she is
imperfect and still trying to be better. She knows that when she
does her very best, that it is enough, as President Hinckley has
told us.6
A woman of faith is blessed by faithful men in her life who hold
the priesthood of God and honor this privilege: her father, bishop,
husband, brothers, sons. They value her and the divine gifts given
by God to His daughter. They sustain and encourage, and they
understand the great mission of her life as a woman. They love her;
they bless her. They are in turn blessed by this woman of faith as
they walk the path of life together. They know, as scripture
teaches, that "two are better than
one. . . . For if they fall, the one will lift
up his fellow."7
I express my gratitude for wonderful women of faith, for great,
noble men, and for my beloved family, who have lifted me up and
inspired me throughout my life. They have been an especially great
blessing as I have tried to fulfill the sacred errand from the Lord
as the Young Women general president.
Dear brothers and sisters, please know of my love for you and my
great gratitude to our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I will honor and serve Them with all my heart
forever and be thankful for the privilege. In the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
Notes
1. Luke
2:52.
2. See D&C
112:10.
3. See Proverbs 31:11.
4. See Alma 5:14.
5. See Psalm 23:4.
6. See "Women of the Church," Ensign, Nov. 1996,
69.
7. Ecclesiastes
4:9–10.
Previous
