By Julie B. Beck

Relief Society General President


Julie B. Beck As daughters of God seeking eternal life, we can go forward with confidence inspired by examples of those who have gone before us.

When we were called as a new Relief Society general presidency, we were given a history of the Relief Society to study. We prayerfully did so, searching to know what the Lord wanted us to learn and then do as a result of that study. Our study revealed a heritage rich in the spiritual power and contribution of Latter-day Saint women. It was an impressive record of the Lord's dealings with His daughters and His expectations for them. Through our study and the inspiration that came with that effort, we came to know the purposes of Relief Society. We learned that in our preparation for the blessings of eternal life, the Lord wanted His daughters to increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help those in need. As sisters today prayerfully read their history, they will receive insights, answers, and inspiration just as we did.

Our hope is that as we study the history and work of Relief Society we will see how our Heavenly Father helped sisters in the past. As we learn how He helped them, we will gain a testimony that He will also help us today. We will learn that if, through the Holy Ghost, God could guide a woman more than a hundred years ago, He can do the same for women in our day.

Sister Eliza R. Snow, our second Relief Society general president, was a strong and faithful early leader. She understood that the Spirit "satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum." Through different seasons in her life, she struggled with poor health and loneliness. However, she was strengthened as she was able to receive and act on personal revelation. To her, personal revelation and the constant companionship of the Spirit were like a fountain. She said, "And is it not our privilege to so live that we can have this constantly flowing into our souls?"1

Examples such as this throughout our history help us remember that the ability to receive and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill we can acquire in this life. With it we cannot fail; without it we cannot succeed.