M. Russell Ballard - His Daughters, His Disciples

Women really do have remarkable influence.

No one can do what you sisters can do to help move the gospel kingdom forward and make the world a better place. No one.

You have been divinely endowed with a unique kind of discernment and strength that differs in some ways from the gifts our Heavenly Father gave His sons. These differences are intentional and eternal. They dont make you better than a man, nor do they make you inferior to him. They just make you differentwonderfully, deliberately, everlastingly so.

When you join with other women of covenant in unity and harmony, there is no limit to your influence for good.

I have witnessed your significant and eternal influence in individual lives as well as in families, and I have seen it in countless cultures and countries around the globe. I have also seen what you can accomplish in branches, wards, stakes, missions, temples, and general Church assignments. Your contributions in small and large businesses and charities, as well as in civic, educational, health, and sports organizations, are immeasurable.

I am particularly impressed by your ability to nurtureto care for and encourage the healthy growth or development of others as you help shepherd them along the covenant path. This is a gift from God and is an important part of your divine endowment from a loving Heavenly Father.

Your efforts to nurture in the family, the Church, the school, the community, and in the professional world have been a blessing to many, including those who are deceived, lonely, hurt, sick, and aging. This is a Christ-like attributea blessing to a world that desperately is in need of nurturing.

I have been the beneficiary of a lifetime of nurturing by the incredible women in my life, beginning with my mother and extending through the years to my wife Barbara, my sisters, my daughters and daughters-in-law, my granddaughters, my friends and colleagues, and faithful women leaders with whom I am privileged to serve. For the next few minutes I would like to share with you some of what I have learned from these women of determination, faith, dedication, and action, in the hope that you may be as inspired by their insights as I have been.

In October of 1993 and April of 1994 I spoke in conference about the power of councils with faithful women participating. Your insight and counsel is absolutely essential. Today the Lord has richly blessed the Church and the world because there are more sister missionaries serving faithfully in mission leadership positions and participating in mission leadership councils. More are receiving their endowments earlier, thereby enlarging the number of temple covenant women serving in the Church. The sister leaders of the general presidencies pray and speak in general conference.

I know some women wish they could find more stories of women in the scriptures and in our history. We need to develop the skill to find their influence, like one young sister. She said, Mormon must have had an amazing wife to have raised a remarkable son like Moroni!

If you look carefully and with the right spirit, you can find similar manifestations of effective nurturing throughout the scriptures.

For a number of years now, the Church has been focusing attention on the faithful sisters in the Church and their contributions. For example, I invite you to examine the topic of Women of Conviction on the Church History Library webpage.

Remember, the role of the pioneer sisters was remarkable. When writing about the Mormon pioneers, author Wallace Stegner noted that he had admiration for the men, but stated, Their women were incredible.

As we look for and find women in our scriptures and in our history, we will see far better the power and influence women have in our family, community, the Church, and the world.

I realize that women often deal with a kind of ambiguity not necessarily faced by men, as there is an endless array of choices as well as uncertainties in front of you. This can be particularly challenging today because the world offers women an increasing number of opportunitiesmany more than were available to women a generation ago. In fact, in my lifetime we have seen numerous women appointed and elected to public offices, fill positions as CEOs of major corporations and organizations, and admitted in increasing numbers to prestigious business, law, and medical schools.

Joseph Smith said in 1842, I now turn the key to you in the name of God, and this society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this timethis is the beginning of better days [for women].

We are seeing the fulfillment of this prophetic vision as new opportunities and advancements for women unfold in unprecedented ways.

Women today are told that they can have it all: education, careers, church service, marriage, and family. However, most women discover that this is not always true. As Meg Whitman, an American business executive and political candidate, once said in reference to the question of whether you can have it all, I actually dont think so. I think you can have a wonderful life, but you have to decide what trade-offs youre willing to make.

Balancing everything among all of the available options can be a challenge. In the end, most of us have to choose among competing options to determine what is best for us.

Of course, we have a divine pattern to follow as outlined in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, but we know that mortality can be complicated. Many women are single for long periods of time in their lives. Some women are married; others become single when a spouse dies or when they divorce. And some women may never marry.

Nevertheless, if we are faithful and endure to the end, no righteous desire will be denied, and all blessings all blessings ultimately will be received.

Each of you must come to know what the Lord wants for you individually, given the choices before you. Sister Julie B. Beck said, The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. I agree with her.

Once you know the Lords will, you can then move forward in faith to fulfill your individual purpose. One sister may be inspired to continue her education and attend medical school, allowing her to have significant impact on her patients and to advance medical research. For another sister, inspiration may lead her to forego a scholarship to a prestigious institution and instead begin a family much earlier than has become common in this generation, allowing her to make a significant and eternal impact on her children now.