President Eyring: “Trust in That Spirit Which Leadeth to Do Good”
Contributed By Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News associate editor
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, was the concluding speaker at the general women's session of the April 2016 general conference on March 26.
Article Highlights
- Go and serve knowing that you do not go alone.
- Remember the Lord as you go in service for Him.
- Be modest about your good works.
“I hope and pray that you will feel gratitude and joy as the Lord puts you together with others to serve for Him.” —President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency
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The faith of Latter-day Saint women—“wherever they may be or in whatever circumstances”—will lead them to do “all they can for those God asks them to serve,” said President Henry B. Eyring on March 26.
“As they do, I promise that they will move up the path to become holy women, whom the Savior and our Heavenly Father will welcome warmly and reward openly,” he said.
Speaking during the general women’s session of the Church’s 186th annual general conference, President Eyring addressed the topic “Trust in That Spirit Which Leadeth to Do Good.”
[View President Eyring's full address.]
President Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, noted that during the session the women of the Church had been “inspired to do more to help our Master in His work to lift up and to succor the children of our Heavenly Father.”
The desire of Church members to serve others is magnified by their gratitude for what the Savior has done for them, he said.
“When our faith in Jesus Christ leads us to qualify for the joy of His forgiveness, we feel a desire to serve others for Him,” he explained.
President Eyring said during the meeting he thought of the women in his life. “There are 31 women and girls in our family, beginning with my wife and progressing to include our three newest great-granddaughters,” he said. “Some are here with us this evening. … Each will take a different set of memories and make her own commitments from this experience tonight.”
President Eyring said there are three memories and three commitments that he prays will stay with them over a lifetime and even beyond. “The memories are of feelings. And the commitments are of things to do,” he explained.
The feeling of greatest importance is love, he said. “You have felt love for others tonight—for friends, schoolmates, neighbors, and even someone who just came into your life, a stranger. That feeling of love is a gift from God.”
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency
A second feeling “you have had tonight was the influence of the Holy Ghost,” President Eyring continued. “Sisters have promised you this day that the Holy Ghost will guide you to find the service the Lord would have you give to others for Him. You have felt by the Spirit that their promise was from the Lord and that it is true.”
The third feeling “you have had tonight is that you want to be closer to the Savior,” he said.
“So, with those feelings, the first thing you must commit to do is to go and serve knowing that you do not go alone,” said President Eyring. “When you go to comfort and serve anyone for the Savior, He prepares the way before you. As the returned missionaries here tonight will tell you, that doesn’t mean that every person behind every door is prepared to welcome you or that every person you try to serve will thank you. But the Lord will go before your face to prepare the way.”
President Eyring said time and again President Monson has said he knows the reality of the Lord’s promise: “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).
President Eyring told the women one of the ways the Lord goes “before your face” is to prepare the heart of the person He has asked them to serve. “He will prepare your heart as well. You will also find that the Lord puts helpers by your side, on your right, your left, and all around you. You do not go alone to serve others for Him. …
“I hope and pray that you will feel gratitude and joy as the Lord puts you together with others to serve for Him.”
President Eyring told the women the second thing they “must do is remember the Lord as you go in service for Him.”
“The Lord not only goes before our faces and sends angels to serve with us, but He also feels the comfort we give others as if we had given it to Him,” he explained.
President Eyring said Latter-day Saint women, as counseled by Sister Linda K. Burton, will pray to know whom God would have them serve out of love for Him and for the Savior.
“And you will not expect or want a public memorial. … My hope is that the sisters in our family will do the best they can out of love for God to serve those in need, but the third thing I hope they will do is be modest about their good works.”
