Last night was the General Relief Society broadcast. I was lucky enough to get to attend the broadcast downtown in the conference center. It has been a long time since I had attended in person, and I had forgotten the enormity of the building, and how vast the number of members that can fit into it.
I was immediately struck by singing the beautiful music with thousands of sisters singing with me. It is definitely a spiritual experience to get to go and listen to the leaders first-hand give us counsel from the Lord.
A new general relief society presidency was called at the last general conference, so this was their first time speaking as a presidency to all the women of a church. As usual, the talks were poignant, meaningful, and full of the spirit. I love listening to the Apostles and Prophet speak, but there is something special about women speakers that I love too. Perhaps it is their ability to connect on a direct level with me, another sister in the church.
I especially loved Sister Burton’s talk, the new General Relief Society President. She spoke of the atonement, and three things that we should try and realize in our lives to try and better understand the atonement.
First, that “all that is unfair can be made right through the atonement of Christ”. Life does seem unfair, and our trials are hard, but through the atonement of Christ, we can overcome.
Second, “there is power in the atonement to enable us to overcome the natural man (or woman)”. This life can often make us feel inadequate because of our weaknesses, but the more that we understand the atonement, the easier it will be to understand that our weaknesses can be overcome.
Last, “the atonement is the greatest evidence we have of the Father’s love for his children.” I especially loved this one. It is true that we don’t often ponder the fact that Heavenly Father’s Son was sacrificed. All because He loves us. All because He wants us to return and live with him one day.
I can’t wait to re-read these talks when the Ensign comes out and ponder on all that was shared. It was truly a beautiful meeting.