Relief Society

[I was asked to share my feelings on "How the Relief Society Has Blessed My Life" tonight at Enrichment (excuse me... at our Relief Society Activity). I am a terrible terrible terrible public speaker. I would much rather sing than speak. But if I have to speak, then I have to write it all down. So, since it was already written down, I thought I'd share.]

When I think about how the Relief Society program has blessed my life, I immediately think about my first real exposure to it. My freshman year at BYU I lived in the dorms and was in a student ward consisting completely of other College Freshmen. For most of us, we had never been to a Relief Society meeting or activity, and suddenly we were asked to organize, conduct, teach, prepare, fellowship, and promote this society we knew very little about. It was an organization meant for our mothers, not us. But, as most girls like to do, we had fun putting on our mother’s shoes and role-playing. Our visiting teaching statistics were close to 100% every month! At first, I felt like I was just “pretending” to be a member of the Relief Society. But as my attendance and experiences with the program increased, so did my testimony of its divinely inspired organization. It was then I knew that I did not just attend Relief Society, but that I actually belonged to the Relief Society. That is what makes the Relief Society so special. It is something we all belong to - without having to pay dues, or subscribe to literature, or hold a card membership. As LDS women, we all belong to this wonderful society and it belongs to us.

The Relief Society is always there. No matter where we go. When my husband and I moved EIGHT times in the first five years of our marriage, I found comfort knowing that with each move, I would be able to latch onto a community of sisters who would encourage and sustain me when I needed it.

I feel extremely blessed to currently hold the calling of Compassionate Service Leader. It has been inspiring and humbling to watch so many of you drop what you are doing to come to the aid of a sister in need. Every call that I make, I do with apprehension - always worried that I will be told “no way” or “take a hike”. But I have been in awe of the willingness to sacrifice that every woman has that I have called. Whether it’s taking in meals, providing a phone call or a thoughtful note, or planning a wedding, the sisters in our ward have really stepped up. And it has been a wonderful blessing to witness.

But probably the way that the Relief Society has most blessed my life has been the role it has played in sustaining me since my mother unexpectedly passed away two years ago. I was left with so many questions, so many why’s, what now’s, how’s, and who do I’s. I was Lost. But in the Relief Society General Meeting that was broadcast soon after my mother’s passing, President Julie B. Beck told a story that Found me. She tells of a time in her young-adulthood when her parents, who had been her neighbors, announced that they would be moving to another part of the world. Since this was before the time of modern communication, she felt she would be especially deserted and alone. She says, “One day before my mother left, I sat weeping with her and asked, ‘Who will be my mother?’ Mother thought carefully, and with the Spirit and power of revelation which comes to women of this kind, she said to me, ‘If I never come back, if you never see me again, if I’m never able to teach you another thing, you tie yourself to Relief Society. Relief Society will be your mother.’”

And that is what the Relief Society has become to me. It is as dependable, loving, forgiving, comforting, inspiring, constant, knowledgeable, compassionate, understanding, and beautiful as my mother. I have truly been blessed to have the Relief Society in my life.