“To fulfill the purpose of Relief Society, the Lord has commissioned each Relief Society sister and the organization as a whole to:
1. Increase in faith and personal righteousness.
2. Strengthen families and homes.
3. Serve the Lord and His children.” (Julie B. Beck-2008)
When we increase our faith and personal righteousness, we can strengthen home and family, and be better prepared to serve the Lord and his children. This in turn increases our faith and righteousness.
“To do our part under the plan of the Lord, we are to increase our faith and personal righteousness. Membership in the Church requires faith, which we nourish throughout our lives with great “diligence, and patience, and long-suffering.” In the common heritage we share, we have remarkable examples of faith in the early women of the Church. Early pioneer women were driven from homes and persecuted because of their faith. Others survived fires and floods. They crossed oceans and walked thousands of miles, tolerating dirt, illness, and near starvation to help build the Lord’s kingdom on the earth. Many of them buried husbands, children, parents, and siblings along the way.
Why did they do this? They did it because the fire of their faith burned in their souls. These remarkable women were not seeking fine clothing, greater leisure, large earthly mansions, or more possessions. Like you, they had a conviction and a testimony that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was true and that the Lord needed them to do their part in establishing His kingdom on the earth. Their pursuit of personal righteousness was a daily effort to become more like the Savior through repentance, scripture study, prayer, obedience to commandments, and through seeking after everything “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” Julie B. Beck- 2008
In order to increase our faith we need to understand it as a concept. I love the way Elder Bednar can break down universally large and sometimes mind numbing concepts in to smaller pieces I can actually digest.
“The Apostle Paul defined faith as “the substance of things hoped for [and] the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Alma declared that faith is not a perfect knowledge; rather, if we have faith, we “hope for things which are not seen [but] are true” (Alma 32:21). Additionally, we learn in the Lectures on Faith that faith is “the first principle in revealed religion, and the foundation of all righteousness” and that it is also “the principle of action in all intelligent beings.”
These teachings highlight three basic elements of faith: (1) faith as the assurance of things hoped for that are true, (2) faith as the evidence of things not seen, and (3) faith as the principle of action in all intelligent beings. I describe these three components of faith in the Savior as simultaneously facing the future, looking to the past, and initiating action in the present.
Faith as the assurance of things hoped for looks to the future. This assurance is founded upon a correct understanding about, and trust in, God and enables us to “press forward” (2 Nephi 31:20) into uncertain and often challenging situations in the service of the Savior.”
When I was a young women and a new convert to the church, I found my self overwhelmed with homework because of my tendency towards procrastination. I really didn’t want to go to Young Women’s on Wednesday. It entailed a 30 min drive to and from church not to mention the time required for the meeting and picking up and dropping off friends.
My mother, a woman of great faith, promised me that if I went to Young Women’s I would blessed and everything would work out. Somehow, she had been taught by the Spirit and her subsequent acts of faith, if we take care of spiritual business first, all other things in life would fall into their appropriate places. I grudgingly complied, and with hard work late into the night, managed to get my school work done. I am grateful for her example to me in those formative years of my spiritual self.
“Faith in Christ is inextricably tied to, and results in, hope in Christ for our redemption and exaltation. And assurance and hope make it possible for us to walk to the edge of the light and take a few steps into the darkness—expecting and trusting the light to move and illuminate the way. The combination of assurance and hope initiates action in the present.
Faith as the evidence of things not seen looks to the past and confirms our trust in God and our confidence in the truthfulness of things not seen. We stepped into the darkness with assurance and hope, and we received evidence and confirmation as the light in fact moved and provided the illumination we needed. The witness we obtained after the trial of our faith (see Ether 12:6) is evidence that enlarges and strengthens our assurance.” (Elder Bednar)
Many years later, I was struggling with three school aged children, work, and launching myself back into school. I had a very stern professor in my first semester. I really wanted to make a good impression on her, as I thought this would affect the rest of my time at the university. Loaded down with homework and a paper due on Monday I found myself on the Saturday before only partially done with a concept paper on mentoring. I had an example of what mentoring was not, and a poor example of mentoring, but lacked the perfect example.
That Saturday was the General Relief Society Broadcast. It would use precious time I could be trying to search for the perfect example and finish my paper. I just didn’t have time or patience for Relief Society. However, the Spirit spoke to me and reminded me of my mother’s wise words. I grudgingly, again, scooped up my school articles and a highlighter as well as my scriptures thinking I would have a little time before the meeting to pack in some more reading. As I stepped into the chapel doors that evening, I was greeted by the warm and comforting feeling of the Holy Ghost approving of my actions, despite my reticence. In what was a miracle to me, President Faust, spoke about a famous pianist who mentored a young boy who had escaped his mother’s awareness to run up on the stage and commence playing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”. He played an accompaniment to the boys simple song and made a beautiful performance together. Here was my perfect example! I learned my participation in Relief Society would bless me in ways I couldn’t conceive of beforehand.
“Assurance, action, and evidence influence each other in an ongoing process. This helix is like a coil, and as it spirals upward it expands and widens. These three elements of faith—assurance, action, and evidence—are not separate and discrete; rather, they are interrelated and continuous and cycle upward. And the faith that fuels this ongoing process develops, evolves, and changes. As we again turn and face forward toward an uncertain future, assurance leads to action and produces evidence, which further increases assurance. Our confidence waxes stronger, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.” (Elder Bednar.)
When we exercise our faith by attending our Relief Society meetings we will be empowered to meet the needs of our families and our own personal growth. We don’t have time not to be in Relief Society!
Sister Bonnie D. Parkin relates this man’s experience:
“Looking back on his life, a man recently shared this tender story with me: ‘When I was growing up my father was less active in the Church. He struggled with alcohol and in his darkest moods could become harsh and accusing. He normally didn’t object to Mom serving in the ward. She worked in Primary for 38 years, and during much of that time she served in Young Women. She carried a heavy load. Her marriage was difficult, and I now know that she was discouraged at times, but I didn’t know it then.
‘I didn’t realize until later that the sisters in our ward were her strength. She didn’t work in the Relief Society leadership, but she always attended the meetings, and she loved her friends there. I never thought of them as the ladies of Relief Society; they were simply Mom’s sisters. They cared about her and loved her. She had all brothers and all sons. She found the sisters she wanted and needed in our ward. I know she shared her feelings with them—feelings she couldn’t express anywhere else. None of that seemed ‘Relief Society’ to me then, but I understand now that it was.”
This son’s memory of Relief Society touched my heart. Yes, Relief Society’s members are women, but Relief Society does not bless only the women; it blesses each one of us.’
She asks “How has Relief Society blessed you?”:
Although my children are perfect for me, I haven’t always been perfect for them, yet through the companionship of Relief Society sisters, I’ve learned how to be a better mother, and home strengthener. It is difficult sitting through 3 hours of meetings with young children or physical or emotional ailments, but as I’ve persisted, I’ve been taught by the Spirit that benefits far outweigh the costs.
Some of my deepest friendships have resulted from Relief Society. One RS service auction where I offered a Cuban dinner and my friend offered gooey caramel brownies for auction resulted in a friendship that has lasted through growing up children, deaths of family members, workplace frustrations and other hard and difficult challenges. Who knew that such a simple beginning could bring such great rewards? I believe our Father in Heaven knows that friendships made in the Gospel are absolutely necessary to our spiritual/physical and emotional wellbeing.
Meetings like Homemaking/Enrichment/Weeknight meetings have enriched me as well as any self help book or TV show. Sister Beatty, a marvel in the housekeeping skills, taught us to clean right to left and top to bottom, a huge help for my ADD tendencies to get distracted and totally off task. Even if I didn’t come away with something I didn’t know before, I felt the strength and companionship of sisters in Zion which buoyed me up for my weeks and months ahead.
Finally, Relief Society has strengthened my faith through the gentle teachings of sisters who love the gospel and bear testimony of its truthfulness. These sisters are college students, working, keeping homes, single, married, divorced, young, middle-aged, and well patina-ed, some with young children, older children or no children at all. We value all of these faithful women and their life experiences.
Sister Parkin expresses my thoughts and feelings about Relief Society well:
“My belonging to Relief Society has renewed, strengthened, and committed me to be a better wife and mother and daughter of God. My heart has been enlarged with gospel understanding and with love of the Savior and what He’s done for me. So to you, dear sisters, I say: Come to Relief Society!
It will fill your homes with love and charity; it will nurture and strengthen you and your families. Your home needs your righteous heart.I pray that mothers and daughters will participate with more vigor, that husbands will support their wives, and that both mothers and fathers will prepare their daughters for Relief Society. I encourage priesthood leaders to shepherd God’s daughters, young and old, into Relief Society—one of the many miracles of the Restoration.”
