Sharon Eubank - Shine Your Light: 2021 Mothers Day Booklet

The prophets are speaking about women. In fact, more than forty years ago, President Spencer W. Kimball wrote a remarkable prophecy. September 1979 was only the second time the women of the global Church had met in their own general meeting. President Kimball had prepared his talk, but when the day of the conference came, he was in the hospital. So instead, he asked his wife, Camilla Eyring Kimball, to read his remarks on his behalf.

Sister Kimball read the prophets words, which emphasized the influence of Latter-day Saint women on the good women of the world prior to the Second Coming of the Savior. Near the end, there was an electrifying charge to the women of the Church that we have been talking about ever since.

Let me quote a little of what President Kimball said:

Finally, my dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world... will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and differentin happy waysfrom the women of the world.

Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. These real heroines have true humility, which places a higher value on integrity than on visibility....

... It will be... female exemplars of the Church [who] will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days.

What a prophetic statement that is. Just to summarize:

• It will be the good relationships of women that will trigger much of the major growth coming to the Church in the years ahead.
• The friendships that Relief Society women, young women, and Primary girls build with sincere, faithful, godly women and girls of other faiths and beliefs will be a significant force in how the Church grows in the last days.
• President Kimball called these women from other backgrounds heroines who will be more concerned with being righteous than selfish, who will show us that integrity is more valuable than visibility.

I have met so many of these good women in my work around the world. Their friendships are precious to me. You know them too among your friends and neighbors. They may or may not be members of the Church right now, but we connect in friendship that is very important. Well, how do we play our part? What should we do? President Kimball refers to five things:

The first is to be righteous.

Being righteous doesnt mean being perfect or never making mistakes. It means developing an inner connection with God, repenting of our sins and mistakes, and freely helping others.

Women who have repented change the course of history. I have a friend who was in a car accident when she was young, and from her injuries she became addicted to pain medication. Later on, her parents divorced. She became pregnant from a brief relationship, and her addictions continued. But one night, she looked at the chaos and mess of her life and thought, Enough. She cried out to the Savior Jesus Christ to help her. She said she learned that Jesus Christ was stronger than even her terrible circumstances and that she could rely on His strength as she walked the road of repentance.

By coming back to the Lord and His ways, she changed the course of her history and her little boys history and her new husbands. She is righteous; she has a wide-open heart for others who have made mistakes and want to change. And just like all of us, she isnt perfect, but she knows how to repent and to keep trying.

The second is to be articulate.

Being articulate means to clearly express how you feel about something and why. Earlier this year, there was a post on my Facebook news feed that disparaged Christianity. I read it and I was a little annoyed, but I shrugged it off. But an acquaintance who is not a member of our faith responded with a comment of her own. She wrote: [This is] the exact opposite of what Jesus stood forhe was... radical [in] his time because he... equalized the world.... He [spoke to] prostitute[s], [he ate] with... tax collector[s]... , befriended powerless women and children... , [and] gave us the story of the Good Samaritan.... It follows that... true Christians would be striving to be the MOST loving people in the world. When I read that, I thought to myself, Why didnt I write that?

Each of us needs to be better at articulating the reasons for our faith. How do you feel about Jesus Christ? Why do you stay in the Church? Why do you believe the Book of Mormon is scripture? Where do you get your peace? Why does it matter that the prophet has something to say today? How do you know he is a real prophet? Use your voice and your power to articulate what you know and feelon social media, in quiet conversations with your friends, when youre chatting with your grandchildren. Tell them why you believe, what it feels like, if you ever doubted, how you got through it, and what Jesus Christ means to you. As the Apostle Peter said, Be not afraid... ; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:1415).

The third is to be different.

Let me tell you a story that happened on Panama City Beach in Florida. Late in the afternoon, Roberta Ursrey saw her two young sons screaming for help from 100 yards (90 m) out into the ocean. They had become caught in a strong current and were being carried out to sea. A nearby couple tried to rescue the boys, but they also got caught in the current. So members of the Ursrey family dove in to rescue the struggling swimmers, and quickly nine people were caught in the rip current.