By Sister
Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency
is truly loving and caring for others as the Savior would. It is a way of being; it is the way of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In my first general conference message, I briefly shared how the transformative power of the Savior’s ment changed my father.
Today I would like to tell you a little more about how that change began. My father hit a very low point in his life when two brothers began to visit him. One of them invited my father to come with him and his wife to the . He accepted the invitation. Each week they picked him up and drove to the next city to worship and serve in the house of the Lord. This continued for three years. Then my dad decided to become a worker.
I remember seeing changes in my father during that time. He became aware and attentive to the needs of others. He took better care of his health. He began to care about His relationship with God and subsequently all the relationships in his life. The change was real. He now had the Spirit with him, and I felt it.
Bless this couple for helping my dad. They didn’t judge him for where he was in his life. They walked with him and helped him to develop his relationship with God. They are still my father’s closest and dearest friends.
Because these humble and devoted disciples of the Savior quietly ed to a seemingly lost and dejected man, my and I have been eternally blessed.
When we choose to in our inspired assignments and our daily interactions, we are helping to bless someone’s father, someone’s sister, someone’s son. When we , we are helping to answer each other’s prayers. We are the Savior’s hands.Oh, how I am grateful for all those who have blessed families like mine by with .
I know the Lord is aware of you and your struggles as you strive to keep your s and to others. He has promised blessings and divine help for you and your as you exercise your to serve Him.
We may not be able to fix difficult or heartbreaking circumstances as we hope; some changes are not ours to make. But we can choose to and as the Savior would.
by the Spirit invites the Savior’s healing into our lives and the lives of those we to. I often find peace, clarity, healing, and purpose when I . I find the Savior when I . This is by divine design.
is truly loving and caring for others as the Savior would. It is a way of being; it is the way of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is not a program or a checklist; is the essence of who God is and who we can become as we follow Him.
We are not called to or released from . It is part of fulfilling the s we made at and in the . We ed to take upon us the Savior’s name—becoming as He is as we and consecrate our lives to Him. When we as He would, we begin to think, feel, and as He would.
Our Father in Heaven carries out His eternal work by to the individual needs of His children one by one.
The Savior showed us this pattern often during His mortal ministry as He ately blessed, healed, and cared for “the one.” He invites us to do likewise—to in individual and personal ways, ways that help us to feel the of God. When we feel d and seen by Him, it changes everything. And when we bless the one, we bless the whole.
The Savior shows us the ultimate individuality of God’s through His atoning and the divine capacity He has to heal and to you and me on an intimate level.
Jesus Christ chose to suffer for our sins and to in indescribable agony that we might be saved and receive divine succor. All this He did without the assurance that we would Him in return. “But God commendeth his toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This is the kind of He has for you and me. And this is the kind of He desires us to have for each other: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye one another; as I have d you.” We can demonstrate our for Him by keeping His commandments and to others while they and we are yet imperfect.
We’ve been sent here to learn to God and each other as the Savior did—to in sacrificial and transformational ways, ways that will bring our greatest happiness. Through the Savior’s ment we can come to in ways that may feel impossible.Elder Quentin L. Cook taught,
“Our of God and our fellow man is the ultimate test of the condition of our spirit.”
Choosing to isn’t always convenient or comfortable. It requires , , vulnerability, and trusting things will work out as we let God prevail. When we pause and choose to care for someone over something, His Spirit and can enter in and we can receive the peace and perspective that we really need.
A young sister shared that she often feels nervous about because she doesn’t know how others will respond. I asked how she works through that. She smiled and said, “I go—and it usually turns out much better than I thought.” She exercises , and the Lord helps her.
As we in , we do not go alone. The Lord will be with us. He will “provide [the] means whereby [we] can accomplish the thing which he has commanded”—including the blessing of God’s priesthood power as we keep our s and His priesthood authority to represent Him through our assignment. The Lord knows the hearts of those we to. He s them and He s you. He will help you to bless them in the ways they need.
Think of the significance of our assignments. Relief Society and elders quorum presidencies receive revelation from the Lord to extend inspired assignments to you and me—assignments to represent Him and labor with Him in caring for God’s children. As President Jeffrey R. Holland taught, we are invited to give “the God and Father of us all a helping hand with His staggering task of answering prayers, … drying tears, and strengthening feeble knees.”
If you want to feel grounded, gain a sense of divine belonging, and make a real difference in the world, I invite you to follow the Savior and in His name. Never was the need greater than now for souls to be lifted, strengthened, and healed through the ment of Jesus Christ. “So many of us desperately need to feel of His .”
As His disciples, you and I have the blessing and responsibility to bring the Savior’s and relief to all of God’s children. When we offer His and belonging to others, we will find it ourselves. The Savior promised, “Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
The Savior did not limit His to His and close associations. He ed to all and invites us to do the same. We receive assignments to grow our capacity to others and to ensure no one is . We pray for them, care for their needs, and strengthen their in Jesus Christ.
I believe our Father in Heaven wants you to be happy. He s you. His work, including , is designed to bring you and me the greatest joy we can experience.
I testify that
not only “brings forth the blessings of heaven,” it is the way of heaven. I testify that Jesus Christ lives. As we emulate His by loving and as He would, we will be blessed to find our own joy, healing, and relief in Him. We will become even as He is. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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