She filled 3 church buildings with women who wanted to hear her. Three buildings. One city (for the most part - I'm sure a few outsiders snuck in). I know.
Sometimes it's surreal to remember that I live in Utah, surrounded by people of my own faith. I often have to pinch myself. It's so different from how I grew up. And I like it. I remember first walking into Walmart and seeing a book by President Hinckley and nearly fainting. A church book in WALMART?!
I feel like I'm supposed to be excited about living in the "mission field" and having opportunities to teach the gospel to non-members. I've been there. And now I have to say I enjoy the benefits of living in Happy Valley with many like-minded folks immensely. I know, it's not perfect, and the people here are still regular people with all of the issues you see everywhere else, but lots of things are so nice. Like how your whole neighborhood is in your ward, and those 2 houses who are not active better watch out! We still get to do lots of missionary work; the difference is we don't usually have to start with an overview of basic beliefs and repeat our long church name several times. It's pretty fun when everyday life and religion actually collide - not the least of which include bumping into President Eyring and his wife in an elevator (when you've only ever seen them on the big screen in the church), or traveling 2 minutes down the road to hear the General Relief Society President speak. To only women. In one little city.
Crazy.
Sister Beck is an amazing and inspired individual, and I admire her even more now. Her husband is pretty dang funny - he said when they stepped off the airplane in Africa, he'd never felt so large and white in all his life, and the people thought she'd brought along food storage. "I was like food storage!"
Sister Beck is a study in poise, compassion, knowledge, wisdom, education, teaching, kindness and clarity. Most of her past talks in conference have made me think, "I need to print that off." (Coincidentally, I'm starting a binder like the one I saw here. Been trying to get to this for years now.) Yesterday she spoke of what it was like to first be called as General Relief Society President, how she could be in the ranks of the amazing women in church history, and said, "You can think of dozens of people who could fill a calling better, but when the Lord points his finger and says 'YOU' then you just do it! It's His way of making beggars of us." And He helps you. She talked about how studying the history of Relief Society has helped her with her focus immensely, and I have been trying to spend more time learning the lessons of the past to help me as well (if you would like a wonderful starting point in your study, check out http://www.societysunday.com/). I love learning from the great women of history, as well as the great women of present, and I feel so blessed today to have access to both. This has been a year of spiritual growth for me and I am grateful!
Most of her talk was similar to the review I found here when she spoke recently in Idaho. Then she did the same thing she did there: opened up the remainder of the time for questions. I was shaking in my boots for her! I mean, anyone could have thrown anything out, and we've all been there when that blasphemous question is asked in Sunday School, or a testimony bearer starts rambling and venting. That easily could have happened (but it would have been interesting to see how she handled that). I can't imagine feeling prepared to answer anything that was thrown at me, on the spot in front of thousands. This is where the poise and knowledge stuff came in :) The questions were excellent, and the answers were astounding. She was able to back up each answer with quotes, scriptures and experiences. Wow. I truly hope to be like that some day. It will take a lot of work, not to mention a real closeness to the Spirit.
Some of the answers she gave:
How can we best help those who have so little when we have so much?
-Study D&C 1
-One of the most important ways we can help those who struggle in other countries is to raise prepared missionaries. The 2,000 stripling warriors are a metaphor for women creating a force for good that can be sent out into the world and do what needs to be done in the name of righteousness.
-preparing men and women to enter the temple establishes covenants on the earth - no small thing!
-use the Internet to share the gospel, not waste time or neglect children while you "talk over the back fence" (uh oh, guilty)
What is your biggest concern for the women of the church?
-they are not always aligned with the Lord, in their priorities - I mean LOCK STEP
-those who need strengthening do not have strength around them
-2 Nephi 28 - v.20: they are angry about their roles and responsibilities in the plan - angry about that which is good. We are the female half of the plan, and without us it will fail.
v. 21: apathy
v. 22: entitlement - need to have sensuality, power, prestige, which the world thinks is important but is not. We are here with a responsibility. Nobody owes you anything; we owe everything to the Lord.
Priorities:
Essentials: making covenants, serving, scriptures and prayer. Every day. These are the Lord's expectations. This is the short list.
Necessary: eat (shop, cook), clean (to have a home where the spirit can reside), things to do to become self-reliant so we can build the kingdom. This is the long list.
Nice-to-do: if we take care of the other things it's amazing how much time we have for nice-to-do things. The Lord blesses us for our efforts.
How do I know I have the Spirit with me every day?
-With the Spirit, the mountains could fall around me and I'm OK
-Without the Spirit, the littlest thing is too hard to surmount
-D&C 11:12-14
-we can learn to know the Lord's voice very clearly
I better wrap this up before I get accused again of talking over the back fence :)
No comments:
Post a Comment