"This is a Test. This is Only a Test." by Sheri L. Dew | BYU Women's Conference, 1998

[Music] thank you kathy i'd like to thank my sister michelle for that beautiful prayer and if you'll indulge me uh michelle and i'd like to take the liberty of saying hello to our sister cindy in topeka kansas who would have who wanted to be here today with us but she just had her fifth child a few days ago and thought the timing was poor i asked her what the big deal was but she thought it was too soon that's spoken by a woman who's never had a baby you're saying we wish she were here we

we miss her and love her i'd like to also just tell you how much i love the two women i sit with on this pulp on this podium it's been my great pleasure and privilege this last year to serve under the direction of president smoot and to learn from her and president jensen they are wonderful women they are great women because they're so good and believe me it has taken a great deal of charity on their part to put up with me and my crazy schedule and i i cannot tell you how i have grown

to love them i i wish you could sit in some of our presidency meetings and feel the tremendous love that these women have for all of us and the great desire president smoot has to to have every one of us feel involved and valued i think it's no small thing it shows great courage on her part in my opinion that she had the courage to call a woman who had never been married and who has to have a full-time job to serve as one of her counselors she is a wonderful woman so i'm grateful for

the experience i've had this past year let me begin by telling you that my mother made me take piano lessons are you laughing because you're a mother that's making your children take piano lessons or because your mother made you take piano lessons and because i'm her eldest child and she had not yet been worn down by the absolutely thankless task of prodding five children to practice every day my whining about practicing fell on deaf ears the fact that i eventually studied the piano for about 15 years is largely a tribute to mother's resilience i wish

i had a dollar for every time she prophesied that i'd thank her one day for all that musical torture you know what i have thanked her again and again for that introduction to the keyboard because somewhere between those first bars of here we go up a row to a birthday party was that your first song you learned i know what you're thinking i hope that gal doesn't give up her day job somewhere between that and rhapsody in blue i fell in love with music especially classical music which in its more magnificent pages passages made my

heart feel like it was going to leap out of my chest in other words it make my young it made my young spirit sore here again mom deserves all the credit i couldn't have been more than 10 when she gave me a stack of classical albums which introduced me to some of the great composers whose works were characterized by dramatic musical passages and what i call the big finish i love music that has a big finish and i would lie in front of the stereo for hours listening to the third movement of rachmaninoff's second piano

concerto or to his prelude in c sharp minor all the while imagining myself at a shiny black concert grand in carnegie hall i pictured my debut there standing ovation and all i imagined that i would be humble about it but brilliant brilliant enough to move an entire audience and especially my mother to tears well somewhere in all of this daydreaming i caught a vision of how it would feel to play so beautifully that others hearts would soar at that point mother no longer had to encourage me to practice once i had a vision of the

possibilities the motivation to master the piano came from inside now was practicing suddenly enjoyable no absolutely not it was usually sheer drudgery but i found a technique that helped me endure those tedious hours of practice day in and day out when i set out to tackle a new piece i would master and memorize the big finish first all the while visualizing myself in concert where the audience jumped to its feet at the last chord and then at the beginning of each practice session i would play the big finish first and there in the basement of

our farm home i would bow to my imaginary audience imagining how grand the big finish would be kept me going through months of rehearsal on technical passages that didn't provide nearly the same sense of drama but that had to be mastered nonetheless in short my progress on the piano and my motivation to practice increased dramatically when i caught a vision of my potential now sisters we are all temporarily afflicted with the amnesia of mortality but just as my spirit was stirred by the majesty of those dramatic musical passages and the possibility of performing them flawlessly

through the power of the spirit we can often catch a spark as joseph f smith taught us from the awakened memories of the immortal soul which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home it is the spirit that will also shed light upon our ultimate potential which is the grandest finish of all if on the other hand we are not able to catch a vision of the big finish meaning a clear image of who we are and what we are becoming we won't be motivated to practice life like classical music

is full of difficult passages that are conquered as much through endurance and determination as any particular skill remember those announcements that used to interrupt your regularly scheduled television programming this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system it is only a test this were a real emergency you'd have been notified through this station well you've probably seen the poster that reads live is a test it's only a test had this been a real life you would have been instructed where to go and what to do it kind of reminds me of a greeting card that

a good friend gave me that shows an absolutely frazzled woman who says mother told me there would be days like this but she failed to mention they could go on for months at a time there are times aren't there when days feel like months and when life feels like the test that it is days when the vision and hope of a big finish are dimmed by immediate demands and pressures days when one might wish for a mortal exam that was a little more manageable for indeed this life is the test it is only a test

meaning that's all it is nothing more but nothing less it's a test of many things of our convictions and our priorities our faith and our faithfulness our patience and our resilience and in the end our ultimate desires for in the long run as alma taught us whatever we truly desire we will have it's a scary thought when you think about it quote i know that god granteth unto men according to their desire yeah i know that he allotteth unto men according to their wills whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction unquote thankfully our experience

here is an open book test we know why we're here and we have from prophets ancient and modern and extensive set of instructions that never become passe or grow outdated life is a test of many things but at the risk of sounding terribly simplistic may i suggest that the poor mortal experience is largely a test of vision our vision of ourselves and the ultimate our ultimate big finish vision is determined by and connected to our faith the firmer our faith in jesus christ the clearer our vision of ourselves and what we can ultimately achieve and

become now the adversary on the other hand is intent on obstructing our vision and undermining our faith he will do anything and everything to confuse us about who we are and where we're going the reason because he's already forfeited his privilege of going there a vision of our potential is central to survival both spiritually and physically i've always been a little curious about lehigh and his family i want you to imagine the family home evening when lehigh comes home and tells his wife and children that the lord has directed them to pack a few belongings

because they're going to march into the wilderness i doubt anybody was enthused about the news can't you kind of imagine the dialogue you want us to do what we're supposed to pack a few things and leave home yes that is what the lord has asked us to do well where are we going i'm not entirely sure i only know we're to leave jerusalem and by the way we're going to travel light so leave most of your things here but when are we coming back home that's not entirely clear perhaps never we know how layman and

lemuel responded initially and in perpetuity why didn't nephi their younger brother react the same way he probably wasn't thrilled with the news either the difference i believe is an absolutely classic demonstration of the power of vision while laman and lemuel whined and rebelled nephi asked the lord if he might see what his father had seen he had the faith to seek his own vision quote i nephi did cry unto the lord and behold he did visit me and did soften my heart that i did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father

wherefore i did not rebel against him like unto my brothers that vision or sense of purpose sustained nephi through a life of trial and tribulation it helped him pass his test joseph smith was persecuted from the time he announced that he had seen the father and the son until he died a martyr how did he do it let us never forget that his prophetic mission began with a vision quote i have actually seen a vision and who am i that i can withstand god or why does the world think to make me deny what i

have actually seen for i had seen a vision i knew it and i knew that god knew it and i could not deny it neither dared i do it at least i knew that by so doing i would offend god and come under condemnation unquote where there is no vision the people perish solomon proclaimed perhaps nothing is more vital today than having a vision manifest by the spirit of who we are and what we can become of our intrinsic value to the lord and of the unparalleled role we must play in these latter days we

are literally the offspring of god his begotten sons of daughters with the potential of exaltation quote the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god and if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ unquote how do we get a clear vision of who we are how do we gain an internal perspective that is compelling enough to move us to action and to govern our choices and our priorities from whence cometh the vision i'm a little sensitive to this issue of vision at the moment because i

have i'm going through that midlife eye crisis where i can't seem to hold things far enough away for me to read them i've noticed lately my tendency to turn on lamps and lights everywhere i can that's because light is a key to vision and jesus christ is the ultimate light the light which shineth in darkness the light which chases darkness from among us the light created by our faith in jesus christ is the key to our vision to seeing ourselves as the lord sees us so to improve our vision we must improve increase and improve

our faith in and connection to the savior it's no accident that the first principle of the gospel is faith president gordon b hinckley has said that of all our needs the greatest is an increase in faith in alma's brilliant discourse we're told if ye will awake and arouse your faculties even to an experiment upon my words and exercise a particle of faith yea if you can no more than desire to believe let this desire work in you even until you believe in a manner that you can give place for a portion of my words can't

you just hear the savior saying if you only want to believe that i'll do for you what i've said i do will do will you try it we experiment put me to the test as lehigh and his family learned their liahona worked according to their faith when they became slothful in their devotions and ceased to exercise faith the marvelous work ceased this is in keeping with divine law for as james e talmage taught faith is of itself a principle of power and by its presence or absence even the lord was and is influenced and in

great measure controlled in the bestowal or withholding of blessings unquote therefore let us not be slothful because of the easiness of the way the way is prepared that if we will look we may live forever looking seeing seeking our own vision we sometimes tend to define unbelievers as apostates or agnostics perhaps that definition is far too narrow what about those of us who have received a witness of the divinity of the savior and yet deep in our hearts do not believe he'll come through for us we'll believe we believe he'll do it for others he'll

do it for president hinckley for the quorum of the twelve even the stake young women's president but maybe not for us have you ever carefully selected a gift for someone only to present the gift and have it kind of fall flat perhaps a simple thanks feels nonchalant and even ungrateful similarly it must be disappointing to the lord who offered the ultimate sacrifice when we by our unbelief essentially refuse his gift and therefore his offer of help not long ago a friend who is a respected gospel scholar told me about a fireside he had given on

the power of the atonement two sisters came up to him afterwards and said what you've taught us is great but frankly it sounds way too good to be true the lord's gift to us is too good to be true which makes a tepid reaction to that gift all the more regrettable more than once nephi chastened his older brothers for their unbelief quote how is it that ye have forgotten that the lord is able to do all things according to his will for the children of men if it so be that they exercise faith in him

unquote how indeed it's a question we might ask ourselves the lord can do all things but it is our faith in him even our willingness to believe that activates the power of the atonement in our lives we are made alive in christ because of our faith i love nephi's words when he tells his brothers speaking of the lord and he loveth those who will have him to be their god or in other words those who accept him and his gift one would think it would be easy to embrace and have faith in the gift of

the atonement but let me confess something to you i fear that some lds women know just enough about the gospel to feel guilty and that they're not measuring up but not enough about the atonement to feel the peace and strength it affords us it was elder bruce r mcconkey who said that too often the best kept secret in the church is the gospel of jesus christ perhaps some of us don't know how to draw the power of the atonement into our lives maybe others aren't willing to seek its blessings and then i imagine there's some

who just don't ask because they don't feel worthy it's quite the irony that the gospel of the great jehovah which contains the power to save every human being and to strengthen every soul is sometimes interpreted in such a way that feelings of inadequacy result do you remember the exchange in the animated classic the lion king between the deceased king mufasa and his lion cub simba who returns to who turns to riotous living after his father's death simba sees his father in a vision and when he attempts to justify his aimless lifestyle his father teaches him

a truth simba you have forgotten who you are because you have forgotten me as truman madsen has said the cruelest thing you can do to a human being is to make him forget that he or she is the son or daughter of a king there is a direct relationship between our personal experience with the lord and with our heavenly father and with how we see ourselves the closer we grow to him the more clear and complete becomes our vision of who we are and what we can become i have tender feelings about the connection between

our faith in the lord and the way we see ourselves because i've spent a lot of my life struggling to feel that i measured up growing up i was painfully shy my mother could tell you dozens of stories to document this the phrase social reject comes to mind to make matters worse i hit 5 foot 10 inches in the 6th grade can i just tell you 5 foot 10 is not a popular height for a girl in the sixth grade i was an lds girl in a very non-mormon community and the fact that i had

a great jump shot and could dribble behind my back didn't do much for me socially the guys were my best friends but not my dates and i was from a farm though our little rural town had all of four thousand residents three stoplights there was a clear social distinction between the town kids and the country kids and i was a country kid i laugh about it now but it wasn't very funny then there was nothing cool about being a tall sturdy is how my grandma used to describe me mormon farm girl i couldn't do what

my friends did or go where they went i was different and for a teenager different is deadly the summer after my sophomore year i had an experience that convinced me i was destined to a life of mediocrity our small mia group came out to byu to education week and one of the classes i attended was on the dreaded topic of self-esteem well one day mid-lecture the presenter now remember that i'm painfully shy the presenter suddenly pointed me and asked me to stand and introduce myself out of the whole group it's no wonder she selected me

i still remember what i was wearing a bright yellow print dress that considering my bulk at the time probably made me look like something out of aaa tent and awning well the sudden attention panicked me and i could manage nothing more than to mumble my name and slump back down in my chair i mean it was absolutely pathetic i had obviously not demonstrated what the speaker was hoping for so she pointed to the other side of the room to another young woman in the audience a tall thin girl of course she was thin with beautiful

long hair poise oozed out of the cells of this girl as she stood to introduce herself concluding with a gracious word of thanks to the speaker for her marvelous presentation all the while i'm thinking to myself oh for heaven's sake she didn't ask for a eulogy sit down but the comparison between the two of us was not lost on me the lecturer did not help things when she said and i quote these words are engraven in my memory it seems that the young girl from kansas doesn't feel as good about herself as the girl from

salt lake city i'm thinking to myself well did it take a phi beta kappa to figure out that i can still picture myself in the back seat of our car as we drove home to kansas in between little bursts of tears i contemplated the future and things didn't look that promising i didn't measure up and i feared that i never would i wasn't cute enough smart enough thin enough and i didn't come from the right place now i don't want to overstate things because i had great experiences growing up and i had disappointing experiences probably

just like you but i suffered from a deep feeling of inadequacy my insecurities followed me to college here at the y and they affected me socially scholastically and spiritually when during graduate school a friendship ended in a disappointing way i hopped in my little brown toyota and drove home for a few days of consolation for a week i just smoked around the house feeling sorry for myself then one afternoon i walked down to my little brother's room and notice his journal on the nightstand brad was 13 and i thought it might just be fun to

see what pearls of wisdom a 13 year old boy had written in his journal his entries were predictable they were about sports and girls and motorcycles but then i came to the entry he had made the day i arrived home unexpectedly from school sherry came home from byu today i'm so glad she's home but she doesn't seem very happy i wish there was something i could do to help her because i really love her you can imagine the tears began to just flow but the sweet emotions unleashed by my brother's words triggered an even more

powerful sensation for almost instantly i had a profound feeling of divine love and acceptance wash over me and simultaneously a very clear impression that i ought to quit focusing on everything i didn't have because i had enough and it'd be nice if i'd start doing something with what i did have for me it was a profound moment i didn't pop up and suddenly feel confident about life but i couldn't deny that the spirit had spoken and that the lord loved me and felt i had something to contribute it was the beginning of seeing myself with

new eyes now let's fast forward a decade to my early 30s when i faced another personal disappointment and this one absolutely broke my heart from a point of view distorted by emotional pain i couldn't believe that anything or anyone could take away the loneliness or that i would ever be happy again in an effort to find peace comfort and strength i turned to the lord in a way i never had before the scriptures became a lifeline filled as they were with promises i hadn't noticed in quite the same way that he would heal my broken

heart and take away my pain that he would sucker or run to me and deliver me from disappointment fasting and prayer took on new intensity and the temple became a place of refuge and revelation what i learned was not only that the lord could help me but that he would me a regular farm-grown member of the church with no fancy titles or spectacular callings it was during that agonizing period that i began to discover how magnificent how penetrating and how personal the power of the atonement is i pleaded day after day month after month with

the lord to change my circumstances because i knew i'd never be happy until he did instead he changed my heart i asked him to take away the burden but he strengthened me so that i could bear up under the burden i had always been a believer but i'm not sure i had understood what or who it was i believed in president george cucanan described what i experienced quote when we went forth into the waters of baptism and covenanted with our father in heaven to serve him and keep his commandments he bound himself also by covenant

to us that he would never desert us never leave us to ourselves never forget us that in the midst of trials and hardships when everything was arrayed against us he would be near into us and would sustain us that was his covenant unquote and it all begins with the willingness to believe for if there be no faith among the children of men god can do no miracle among them do you believe that the savior will really do for you what he has said he will do that he can ease the sting of loneliness and enable

you to deal with that haunting sense of inadequacy that he will help you forgive that he can fill you with optimism and hope that he will help you resist your greatest temptation and tame your most annoying weakness that he will respond to your deepest longing that he is the only source of comfort strength direction and peace that will not change will not betray you and will never let you down an unwillingness to believe that the savior stands ready to deliver us from our difficulties is tantamount to refusing the gift it is tragic when we will

not turn to him who paid the ultimate price and let him lift us up life is a test but divine assistance is available to help us successfully complete this most critical examination of our eternal lives since that difficult period 10 years ago i've had many opportunities to experience the workings of the lord in my life he hasn't always given me what i've asked and the answers have not always come easily but he has never left me alone and he has never let me down each experience with the savior leads to greater faith and as our

faith increases our vision of and confidence about who we are grows clearer the more we visualize and sense through the impressions of the spirit our ultimate potential the more determined we are to achieve it it is the difference between your mother hounding you to practice the piano and reaching the point where you want to do it yourself you simply will not be denied the ultimate reward now why is it vital that we as lds women have a clear vision of who we are and what we are about and a bedrock faith in the lord jesus

christ sister pat holland said something that i find profound quote if i were satan and wanted to destroy a society i think i would stage a full-blown blitz on women unquote is that not exactly what he has done hasn't he tried to discourage us and distract us in every conceivable way doesn't he try to block our understanding of how vital we are to the plan and purposes of the lord satan wants us neutralized because he knows that the influence of a righteous woman can absolutely reach through the generations his stated purpose is clear he desires

to make us miserable like he is he wants us to fail the test and to give up any hope of our own personal big finish peter delivered a very sobering warning quote be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour unquote indeed through eons of practice the adversary has perfected the arts of deception deceit despair and discouragement many of his tactics are bold and brazen and played out daily on everything from the internet to the nightly news but despite the fact that the adversary's handiwork

is outrageously displayed everywhere pornography abuse addiction dishonesty violence and immorality of every variety many of his strategies are brilliant for their subtlety quote and others will he pacify and lull them away into carnal security that they will say all is well in zion yea zion prospereth all as well and thus the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell unquote c.s lewis said something similar quote the safest road to hell is the gradual one the gentle slope soft underfoot without sudden turnings without milestones without signposts unquote see if any of the

following subtle techniques sound familiar first as we've been discussing satan tries to blur our vision of why we're here he would have us distracted by and involved in anything and everything except what we came for second he wants us to feel insignificant that no matter how hard we try we'll never make much of a difference oh sure our work is necessary but not very important that is a big fat lie it is a lie in a diversion designed to keep us so focused on any perceived injustices that we completely overlook the opportunities and privileges that

are ours that we underestimate the vital nature of our contribution and that we never come to understand the power we have to change lives president henry d moyle said quote i have a conviction deep down in my heart that we are exactly what we should be each one of us i have convinced myself that we have all those peculiar attributes characteristics and abilities which are essential for us to possess in order that we may fulfill the full purpose of our creation here upon the earth the allotment which has come to us from god is a

sacred allotment it is something of which we should be proud each one of us in our own right and not wish that we had somebody else's allotment our greatest success comes from being ourselves unquote the world can make us feel that we're just another number to the irs to the bank to the guy who reads the gas meter every time i go to new york city on business and though i absolutely love that city i feel swallowed up by hundreds of skyscrapers that block the light from reaching the ground and by a sea of black

limousines carrying important people doing important things the sheer number of people can make you feel like a tiny blob in a mass of humanity and yet the great jehovah the creator of worlds without number has extended the unparalleled invitation for us to come unto him one by one he who knows even when the sparrow falls also knows our name our names our needs and our desires the gospel with its sanctifying and redeeming power is available to all thus we may see that the lord is merciful unto all i love that word all who will in

the sincerity of their hearts call upon his holy name yea thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all even to those who will believe on the name of jesus christ unquote there are no qualifiers relative to age appearance intellect or talent marital status ethnicity social standing or church calling when i think of the times in my life that i have felt excluded because i didn't have the right marital status or the right look or the right social connections it comforts me to know that the keeper of the ultimate gate has placed

no limitation on my accessibility to him he has invited all of us to come unto him to learn to hear his voice to attach and commit ourselves to him and to ultimately enter his presence during the mount tempenoga's temple dedication president hinckley said that in the temple there is no aristocracy only the aristocracy of righteousness all of us are eligible to come unto him to the extent to which we seek to take upon us the name of christ and reflect his image in our countenances for he has promised every soul every soul who forsaketh his

sins and cometh unto me and calleth on my name and obeyeth my voice and keepeth my commandments shall see my face and know that i am we are not insignificant not one of us don't allow yourself to fall for that deception third satan tries to wear us down by creating the image that there's nothing glamorous about enduring to the end it's the very reason i learned the big finish first to keep the ultimate reward in front of me so that i would keep practicing those difficult difficult passages that required lots of endurance i've always hated

talks let me confess on enduring to the end because the very phrase makes life seem like drudgery rather than an adventure and yet the most haunting regret imaginable would be to pass through the veil and with the full sweep of eternity open before us realize that we had sold our birthright for a mess of pottage that we had been deceived by the distractions of satan and that there would never be a big finish fourth the adversary encourages us to judge and evaluate each other a practice that is demeaning to both the person who judges and

the one who is judged i recently had a young woman whose marriage crumbled tell me how much she loves the gospel but how weary she is of feeling that she'll never be accepted because her life hasn't unfolded as she expected it to if there is anywhere in the world where every one of us should feel accepted needed valued and loved it is here as sisters in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints we ought to give up telling each other how to live our lives it is wonderful to talk about principles which apply equally

to each of us but it is rarely helpful to suggest how those principles should be applied we would do more good by encouraging each other to develop our spiritual sensitivity so that we can receive inspiration about our lives and know how the lord would direct us to implement eternal principles fifth lucifer with lucifer whispers that life's not fair and that if the gospel were true we would never have problems or disappointments i mean bad things don't happen to good members of the church should they he would have us believe that with baptism comes a magic

kingdom club card and that if our lives aren't like perpetual trips to disney world we're getting shortchanged well the gospel isn't a guarantee against tribulation that would be like a test with no questions rather the gospel is a guide for maneuvering through the challenges of life with a sense of purpose and direction i feel happy brigham young said mormonism has made me all i am and the grace the power and the wisdom of god will make me all that i will ever be either in time or eternity unquote sixth the adversary attempts to numb us

into accepting a sliding scale of morality and values sometimes rationalization overtakes even the best among us our movies don't bother me you ever heard that i just go over the story or the music i skip over the profanity and all those sexually explicit scenes and yet advertisers pay millions of dollars for a few seconds of air time on the bet that during brief but repeated exposure to their product will be persuaded to buy them if 60-second ads can influence us to spend money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we

don't even like then then how will minutes hours months and years of watching infidelity violence and promiscuity affect us the litmus test for entertainment of any kind is simple can you watch it or participate in it and still have the spirit with you seventh the adversary promotes feelings of guilt about anything pick a topic you can feel guilty for having a large family i mean really how can any one woman possibly care for nine children or for having just one child you're not really doing your duty are you for working outside the home don't you

know what the prophet has said about mothers who seek employment outside the home or for choosing to stay home what's the matter no ambition guilt does not originate with the savior who invites us to step to a higher way of living and a more ennobling way of thinking to do a little better and perhaps a little more promptings that come from him are hopeful and motivating rather than defeating or discouraging eighth lucifer works hard to undermine our innate tendency to nurture and care for others his object is to get us so busy that we don't

have time for each other voice messaging is great but it doesn't replace a listening ear and a caring heart if the adversary can cause us to focus more on our differences than our similarities if he can keep us so busy running from one commitment to another that we no longer have time for each other he has made great strides towards neutralizing the strength and influence that we have we need each other we need each other's testimonies and strength each other's confidence and support understanding and compassion it is as martin luther said quote the kingdom of

god is like a besieged city surrounded on all sides by death each man and woman has a place on the wall to defend and no one can stand where another stands but nothing prevents us from calling encouragement to one another unquote ninth the adversary would have us hung up on perfection and stymied by the commandment to become perfect he wants this glorious potential the big finish to loom as a giant stumbling block rather than the promise of what it ult of what is ultimately possible in other words to make the big finish seem little more

than a dream every prophet in this dispensation has explained that we should not expect to achieve perfection in this lifetime the goal instead is to become pure so that we are increasingly increasingly receptive to the promptings of the holy ghost the savior doesn't want us to be paralyzed by our errors but to learn from them and grow from them he sees us as works in progress the brother of jared's faith was so strong at one point in his life that he was allowed to behold the lord yet prior to that remarkable event there was a

time when the lord chastened him for three hours if the scriptural had ended with the chastening minus the rest of the story our impression of this righteous man would be different well the rest of our stories remain to be told let us not be unreasonably hard on ourselves it is purity rather than perfection that we are seeking at this stage of our eternal quest tenth lucifer would have us be so busy with family friends careers and every soccer league in town that there's no time to live the gospel no time to fast and pray to

immerse ourself in the scriptures to worship in the temple all the things we need to do to study for our mortal test in other words he wants us to be a little more concerned with the world than with the gospel a little more interested in life today than in life forever eleventh he delights in portraying religion as something restrictive and austere rather than liberating and life-giving he depicts the father and the son as aloof rulers rather than our deified father and elder brother who love us who have a vested interest in our future and whose

motive is to help see us through this life so that we are worthy to return to them he paints eternal life as something out of reach even otherworldly something for prophets and a few other select people a condition you and i could never hope to achieve and he does everything he can to block the memory of our former home he loves it when we seek for security in bank accounts or social status or professional credentials when ultimate security and peace of mind comes only from a connection with the lord jesus christ he claims victory when

we rely on others for spiritual strength on husbands and leaders friends and family members he doesn't want us to find out how intimate our connection with our father and elder brother can be and how palpable and sustaining their love is in short he tries to keep us at arm's length from jesus christ oh fine if we profess him to be the savior because frankly talk is cheap and if the adversary can keep us so distracted that we never really seek embrace and commit ourselves to the lord then we will also never discover the healing strengthening

power available because of the atonement we will never know that because of the savior we have access to everything we need to pass this test the antidote to the distractions of the adversary is jesus christ the savior illuminates our vision of who we are and why we are here and gives us courage to move forward in the journey toward our heavenly home the potential reward is too good to be true a big finish that makes rock mononof pale by comparison just as satan's motives have been clearly identified so are the saviors whose expressed work in

glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man for he doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world for he loveth the world even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him the contrast between the savior and satan is stunning it is the quintessential difference between light and dark arrogance and humility self-interest and charity power used to destroy and power used to bless it is the battle between good and evil personified eleven years ago president ezra taft benson issued this challenge

quote there has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time than there is of us never before on the face of this earth had the forces of evil and the forces of good been so well organized the final outcome is certain the forces of righteousness will win but what remains to be seen is where each of us will stand in the battle and how tall we will stand great battles can make great heroes and heroines my dear sisters you who have been called to live and work and raise families

in the twilight of the dispensation of the fullness of times are nothing best than the lord has ever had you are heroines in every sense of that word which is why the lord needs us to arise and be everything we can be president howard w hunter put it this way quote there is a great need to rally the women of the church to stand with and for the brethren in stemming the tide of evil that surrounds us and in moving forward the work of our savior only together can we accomplish the work he has given

us to do and be prepared for the day when we shall see him unquote i believe him the impact of righteous determined pure-hearted women today is immeasurable it doesn't matter matter where you live whether or not you have children how much money you have or how talented you think you are or are not this is a day when the lord and his kingdom need women who are firmly grounded in their testimony of jesus christ women of vision who have their their sights trained on the purpose of life women who can hear the voice of the

lord expose the distractions of the adversary for what they are and press forward with a sense of purpose and a desire to contribute women who are articulate as well as compassionate women who understand who they are and where they're going and are determined to not let anything keep them from getting there i believe that good women all over the world are desperate for leadership for role models for the assurance borne out and lives well lived that families are important then virtue is not outdated and that it is possible to feel peace and purpose in a

society spinning out of control sisters we have the reason to be the most reassured the most determined the most confident of all women in saying this i don't mean to minimize our personal challenges but we know what we're here for and we know that we are beloved of the lord remember president spencer w kimball's statement nearly 20 years ago about the vital role righteous women would play during the winding up scenes of this dispensation we are in the winding up scenes i have a friend who's an executive with a fortune 500 company one day we

sparred verbally over a definition of the word power his response interested me he said power is influence well if my friend is right and i am i am inclined to agree with him then collectively and individually we have tremendous power because the influence of the sisters of this church is overwhelming we need not be shy or apologetic about who we are and what we believe nowhere else in the world are there 4.1 million women who because of their beliefs and vision of the eternal possibilities seek after and defend all that is virtuous lovely of good

report or praiseworthy women who are devoted to building lifting helping and loving talk about influence who is better suited to defend the sanctity of home and family who better prepared to celebrate virtue and integrity who better to demonstrate by example that women can be strong and savvy and articulate without being shrill or angry or manipulative are we not like captains captain moroni's armies who though vastly outnumbered were quote inspired by a better cause for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties yea for their rights

of worship and their church unquote you and i comprise a pivotal battalion in the army of the lord remember what happened when captain moroni hoisted the title of liberty quote behold whosoever will maintain this title upon the land let them come forth in the strength of the lord unquote may we arise as sisters in this the greatest cause on earth may we go forward together in the strength of the lord more than ever he needs our faith and faithfulness our vitality and our ingenuity our unwavering commitment and our conviction we are witnesses of the lord

jesus christ the living capstone of all that has come before us and a vital link to all that lies ahead this life is a test it is also a glorious privilege may we work toward the kind of big finish the apostle paul described as he anticipated his journey back home i have fought a good fight i have finished my course i have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord shall give me at that day may we build and keep the faith may we go forward together

with a clear vision of who we are what we are about and how vital our contribution is to the lord's kingdom this is the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints we can make the difference the lord needs us to make i know we can more importantly he knows we can for in the strength of the lord we can do all things in his sacred and holy name [Music] amen