I Love Relief Society!

I know it has been almost a week since the General Relief Society Meeting, but I loved it so very much that I couldn't let another day go by without putting it up here. I LOVE Relief Society! I get so excited when I get to go to Relief Society(I am in YW and so it doesn't happen very often). I am so grateful that Heavenly Father organized a place for women where we could go to be taught more about our divine natures and where we could work together and strengthen and help each other. I love it! I also loved the meeting last week and wanted to post just a few tidbits from it.

Our dear, sweet President Julie Beck said:

"There is a worldwide hunger among good women to know their identity, value, and importance. Studying and applying the history of Relief Society gives definition and expression to who we are as disciples and followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our faithfulness and service are signs of our conversion and commitment to remember and follow Him.....The history of Relief Society teaches us that our Heavenly Father knows His daughters. He loves them, He has given them specific responsibilities, and He has spoken to and guided them during their mortal missions."

Sister Silvia H. Allred said:

"I know that each of us has a vital and essential role as a daughter of God. He has bestowed upon His daughters divine attributes for the purpose of forwarding His work. God has entrusted women with the sacred work of bearing and rearing children. No other work is more important. it is a holy calling. The noblest office for a woman is the sacred work of building eternal families, ideally in partnership with her husband."

Sister Barbara Thompson said:

"The Savior has asked us to do the things which He has done, to bear one another's burdens, to comfort those who need comfort, to mourn with those who mourn, to feed the hungry, visit the sick, to succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and to "teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom." To me these words and actions describe visiting teachers- those who minister to others.

Visiting teaching gives women the opportunity to watch over, strengthen, and teach one another. Much like a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood is charged with the responsibility to
"watch over the Church always" and to "be with and strengthen them", a visiting teacher shows her love by prayerfully considering each woman she is called to serve."

Our inspired and wonderful example, President Thomas S. Monson counseled us:

" My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. There are those of you who are married. Some of you stay at home with your children, while others of you work outside your homes. Some of you are empty-nesters. There are those of you who are married but do not have children. There are those who are divorced, those who are widowed. Many of you are single women. some of you have college degrees; some of you do not. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate Sunday outfit. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?

Mother Theresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth. "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." The Savior has admonished, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer-with Mother Theresa-"No; we cannot."

True Charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere....Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down; it is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others."

Love it, love it, love it!!! I am so excited to hear more of the words of my Heavenly Father through His servants this weekend! Happy feasting, everyone!

(You can read or watch the entire Relief Society meeting by going to lds.org.)