Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening,
this post should take approximately three minutes to read from start to finish.
This post focuses on October 1983 General Conference talk, and it is called "A Season for Strength" by Sister Barbara B. Smith. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk.
Sister Smith has mentioned the following;
"... Although our ages, and stages in life, and circumstances create different challenges, the scriptural words of the beautiful hymn the choir has just sung should be the statement for all of us young and older “The Lord is the strength of my life.” (Ps. 27:1.)
I hope that through this message we will have manifested and affirmed in our hearts the reality that the principles of the gospel are timeless and timely and that eternal truths supply precise answers for our present need. Such needs are notable in their diversity and demanding in their urgency, but in groping for answers we sometimes overlook the evident.
... When the Lord restored the gospel to the earth in its fulness and purity, he also organized the Church as a means to turn precepts into living principles, to help believers become Saints. And become Saints they did when, as converts, they were drawn by their compelling faith to put precept to the test; and in the strength of the Lord they saw goals achieved, hopes realized, and their own strength grow.
... While the demands made upon women in pioneer days may seem to be of more heroic proportions than those commonly faced by women today, in a sense we share the whole range of problems - disease, divorce, drugs, death, immorality, economic insecurity, abuse, loneliness, depression, single parenthood and on and on problems with which women have always struggled and with which they must now contend.
We are in a time when the swift changes of our social structure are thrusting enormous challenges upon us. We must remember that the work of women is important and still must be done. The spirit children of God must have the experience of mortality, and that means babies must be wanted, nurtured, loved, and cared for. The Lord has given women a primary responsibility in the establishment of good homes and well-cared-for families. No matter what the challenges are, we must find ways to accomplish this life-giving and eternal work. “Good family life is never an accident; it is always an achievement.”
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| "With the new day comes NEW STRENGTH and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt. |
... Our lives require discipline, coping without compromise, conversion of precepts into living principles that will make us saintly. We can see examples about us today. ... Even as the Lord organized the Church, we who have the gospel need to organize our lives to do what has to be done, to become “doers of the word” (James 1:22), and in the doing to come to know strength in the Lord.
That strength comes when we prepare for his blessings, recognize them, and use his gifts to make his ways our ways. ... By looking closely, we can find in that single incident in Church history some of the gifts God has given to strengthen Latter-day Saint women: revealed truth, priesthood leadership, individual talents, and opportunities for service.
These are available to every woman and can give us the power to triumph over the most difficult circumstances and move forward in strength. ... In a very real sense, when Joseph Smith knelt in the Sacred Grove and asked his question, it was for each of us. The answer he received provides a sure foundation of fundamental truths upon which we should structure our lives. He also demonstrated that through personal prayer eternal truths answer individual needs.
Heavenly power can help us understand and relate the timeless to our immediate concerns. Whatever your circumstances, this can be your season of strength, because one of the most compelling concepts in the gospel is that the Savior will come again. ... We must live with constant anticipation of his coming.
Being ready to receive him is the position of our greatest strength. ... Let it cause us to read the Savior’s words, to search our hearts, and to try to live every principle of righteousness he taught. This will require us to love as he loves. Then, we are told, when he comes we shall know him, for we shall be like him. (See 1 Jn. 3:2.) ..."
If you would like to read the whole talk either now or in your own time, here is the link below.
Stay Tuned until next time.
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