Let His Radiance Shine through You!
2026 BYU Women’s Conference
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
I love that you’re here. And I love that I get to be here with you!
And I was so excited when I woke up this morning and was getting ready. I brushed my hair. I brushed my teeth. But I didn’t floss, and I’ll tell you why.
One of the very first times I was asked to speak to a group of young women, their moms, and their leaders, I didn’t want to be late. So I wrote down what I had felt prompted to share, and I fixed dinner early and helped my kids with their homework. I was prepared—so prepared, in fact, that when I was ready to go, I thought to myself, “Well, I have about five extra minutes before I need to leave. What should I do?”
Then I remembered that I had forgotten to floss my teeth that morning. So I leaned in really close to the mirror and had just begun flossing when something small and white flew out of my mouth, hit the mirror, and dropped into the sink. I looked down in shock to see part of my tooth lying there.
Now, my dad was a dentist, and way back in high school he had fixed a front tooth that had chipped, but I had completely forgotten about it.
So I picked it up not knowing what to do next and looked around. Luckily, right next to the sink was some superglue. (Back then I had long, red acrylic nails.) I carefully put the superglue all over that little chip of a tooth, stuck it back in my mouth, and then counted to 10. But when I took my finger away, I realized … that I had accidentally superglued my lip to my tooth.
Now I really started to panic, because I could see I was going to be late, and I knew that if I tried to pull it apart, my lip would tear and start bleeding. Then, just when I needed it, I spotted a bottle of fingernail polish remover! So I quickly poured it onto a cotton ball, trying frantically to undo the glue. And it worked—a little too well. Because now I had red nail polish running down my hands onto my crisp white blouse.
(I promise I’m not making this up!)
Ten minutes later, I had changed my clothes, grabbed my notes, and got in the car. I remember looking in the rearview mirror, picking the last bits of cotton ball from my teeth, and thinking, “I can never tell anyone what just happened.” But my next thought was, “Why not?” I was going to speak to those young women and their leaders about being real, and why wouldn’t I share what life is really like for me? (And fun fact—the superglue actually worked until I made it back to California and had my dad fix it!)
Tonight I want to be real.
So before we go any further, I want to try something together. In a moment, you’re going to see some questions on the screens around you. And if a question resonates with you, even a little, hold up your phone light. Or just raise your hand if there’s not a phone light nearby.
No pressure. No judgment. Just be as real as you can.
Let’s all hold up our lights.
OK, first question. This is an easy one … Raise your light if you like chocolate!
(I knew I liked you … That we’d be friends!)
Raise your light if you have felt overwhelmed by life lately.
Have you been afraid of the future and what’s ahead?
Are you carrying stress about things you can’t control?
Are you tired of comparing yourself to everyone else?
Do you struggle to see yourself the way God sees you?
Is the light you’re supposed to let “shine” feeling dim?
Once more, let’s all hold up our lights.
Look around. Every light you see represents a story, a sister of yours who is carrying something heavy. You are not alone. And maybe tonight, for the first time in a long time, you will feel that you don’t have to carry it alone, that nothing is beyond the reach of Jesus Christ.
Here’s a powerful truth: together, all of these lights help push back the darkness. And that’s exactly who Jesus Christ is—light in the darkness. He’s not standing at a distance waiting for you to have it all together, because His radiance in you doesn’t come from your perfection—it comes from your connection to Him and to each other.
The light you’re seeing is what Jesus Christ does in our lives. He changes stories, and every one of us has a story that includes the Savior.
You and I, we are all connected—united—in hope!
Here is hope.
Be Not Afraid, by Michael Malm
Thank you for being brave.
Let’s talk for a minute about light. We just saw that even the smallest light pushes back darkness. But did you know that most things don’t create their own light; they reflect it.
The moon doesn’t shine on its own; it reflects the light of the sun. And in a lot of ways, we’re the same. On our own, we sometimes feel dim, afraid, not enough, even overwhelmed. But when we turn toward Jesus Christ, we begin to reflect His light.
It reminds me of part of Mother Teresa’s daily prayer. She prays:
“Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.
“Penetrate and possess my whole being
“So utterly that my life may only be
“A radiance of Yours.
“Shine through me and be so in me
“That every soul I come in contact with
“May feel Your presence in my soul.
“Let them look up,
Isn’t that beautiful? Letting His radiance shine through you is not about being perfect or even pretending you’re perfect. It means staying close to Him so His light naturally shines in your life.
We are beings of light here on this planet to gain more light. And because light is an attribute of our Heavenly Father, this becomes part of our quest. I imagine Him saying to us before we left our heavenly home, “You’ll come back to me, and your body will be filled with more light!”
Our Savior taught, “If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you.”
Just as light waves fill the universe, your light can fill the earth. And tonight the light waves from your phones filled this Marriott Center. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? What if we started a wave of light right here, right now? You know how to do this. Turn on your light. Here we go. We’re going to start on this side. You’re the first ones to stand up and show your light and do the wave.
On three—one, two, three. Here we go! Keep it going. Keep it going. Keep it going around! Behind the screen, are you ready? Well done! Well done. Right over here. Perfect.
Oh, do you want to keep going? I could do this all night! I could! That was awesome. But I saw this going differently in my head.
Let’s explore what I like to call “the big three”: things that keep us from shining or reflecting God’s light: first, fear that holds us back, second, worry that we’re not enough, and third, life’s overwhelming, heavy load.
1. Does fear overshadow your light because you don’t know what’s ahead?
I’m not sure when it started or even how it’s kept going, but in our family sometimes we surprise each other.
It was mostly between the kids, but every now and then, one of them was brave enough to hide behind a door and surprise Mom and Dad.
For a while, we all had this scary what’s-around-the-corner feeling anytime we walked into a room. And I’ll be honest; it’s not my favorite!
But lately, that scary what’s-around-the-corner feeling is what I have been suppressing.
All.
Day.
Long!
Even though I’m sincerely trying to choose faith over fear. Do you know this feeling? Maybe don’t raise your phone light, just raise your eyebrows, so I know I’m not alone.
I’ve often heard that faith is like a muscle that grows stronger when we use it. But how does that really work? Sometimes, when life gets tough, we may quietly wonder, “Where did my faith go?”
And if I’m being real, in those moments I often feel like the desperate father seeking Jesus to heal his son: “Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
For some reason, every time I’m going through a rough patch, I keep forgetting that our faith isn’t static! It doesn’t stay in the same spot. It’s like our physical health—to maintain it, we just have to keep exercising!
Has anyone here ever worked out or trained hard every single day to be at their healthiest, the top of their game, and then said—maybe even out loud—“Well, I’ve done it; I reached my goal, and now I can quit”? In my experience, it doesn’t work that way. And every day I wake up and remember that sad truth. And if I were sending you a text, right here I would add a sad face emoji!
Faith, too, is a lifelong quest. It takes practice and exercise. And if life was always easy, if everything was effortless, our faith in Christ (like a muscle) would grow weak because we didn’t have to use it.
This is what I’ve learned: faith isn’t faith until it is tried. The moment we need it is the moment we may question it. And this is the moment our faith can truly expand.
This is what I experienced when my appendix ruptured a few months after we arrived in Sydney, Australia, on our mission. After emergency surgery, I ended up back in the hospital for the third time. And I remember wanting so badly to be healed and thought I was exerting as much faith as I could muster to get better.
We were away from our home and family to serve the Lord, and I have to admit that I wondered, “Heavenly Father, are you really there, and do you really care?” But in those fearful moments, I came to understand this great truth.
My faith isn’t in a certain outcome or even a timely outcome; my faith is in Jesus Christ and His ability to work all things together for my good.
Now we’re away from our heavenly home. And it’s like we said yes to surgery before we came to this earth, and then after the veil or the anesthesia kicks in, we change our minds because we’ve forgotten what we agreed to before.
There are days when life feels like I’m in the middle of an operating room, and I’m trying to stop the surgeon midway through the operation, saying something like: “I’m really sorry to bother you right now. I know I said yes to this surgery, but I’ve changed my mind. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and it’s so much messier. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s going to leave a scar.” (And by the way, this is a picture of my appendix surgery. I’m just kidding. It was my gallbladder surgery! No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t.)
It helps me to remember that when we turn to God, we’re recapturing the faith we had before we arrived here on this planet. When we were all together in our premortal home. We said yes! We may feel weak now, but we weren’t then. Remember, our imperfect or desperate faith is still faith! And because our faith is centered in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to do this alone.
I once heard the story of a young blind girl being held by her father on a crowded train. After some time, a friend nearby said, “Let me give you a break” and reached over and took the little girl in their arms. A few moments later, the father asked his daughter, “Do you know who’s holding you?”
“No,” she answered, “but you do.”
When life is messy and heaven whispers, “Do you know why this is happening to you?” what if we could have the faith to answer, “No, but You do”? We’ve been asked to trust that God knows what He’s doing with us even though we cannot see how He can possibly do it.
And sometimes to move past the fear, I literally close my eyes and try to see with the “eye of faith.” Your human eyes see what is present, but the eye of faith sees what is possible with God. It looks forward to a future that is so bright, even when things feel dark right now.
Will you be brave and use this eye of faith?
As the Apostle Paul put it, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”
I believe the eye of faith is like a compass in your heart, looking deeply into a future that only God sees—not what is now present but pointing to a future full of hope instead of fear.
Are you with me? Can you feel that light of hope shining through you and ahead of you?
For many years, I had this quote on my fridge: “It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning.”
Do you know who said this? A prophet of God! President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us.”
And every day when I opened my fridge to make breakfast for my kids (by getting out the milk so I could pour it on their cereal) or late at night when I snuck into the freezer to eat ice cream, I said out loud, “Don’t worry. It will all work out.” And I thought, “Right now, a prophet of God is saying it too.” (OK, maybe he wasn’t saying it while he was eating ice cream late at night.) But it helped me to feel that our Father in Heaven isn’t panicking right here, right now, because He knows who we’re going to become here.
Therein lies our faith. The eye of faith sees the big picture, takes the long view.
You and I, we can do this. Let’s pray for the big picture every day so we can have this kind of faith.
2. Does your light dim because you don’t think you’re good enough?
I remember exactly where I was sitting when I first heard about the social mirror and the divine mirror.
The social mirror is like one of those crazy carnival mirrors that distorts your reflection. We know it’s not an accurate image of ourselves. But what if this were the only mirror you had? Wouldn’t you come to believe it? It wouldn’t be true. But that is the danger of the social mirror.
And if this social mirror could talk, it might say something like, “You know, you’re not that smart or talented” or “You’re never going to be as good as everyone else.” Just like the social mirror, social media isn’t accurate and it’s based on comparisons. And too often, our self-image or self-worth comes from comparing ourselves to others.
Comparisons and competition may be fine in some dimensions of our life—but they are not how God sees us. God doesn’t compare or grade on a curve. Rather, He sets standards and then invites and helps us get there. So when you hear that negative chatter in your mind, you have to say to yourself—maybe even out loud—
“That can’t be true, because I am Heavenly Father’s daughter. I am His! And He would never think or say those things about me.”
It fills me with joy that we have a divine mirror, an accurate mirror that’s completely different from the social one. It reflects back to us our potential and what’s possible! Each one of us has unique gifts and talents, and our nature is divine.
This is real.
The FSY guide says, “Use social media to uplift [and to] focus on light, faith, and truth. Don’t compare your life to what other people seem to be experiencing. Remember that your worth comes from being a child of heavenly parents, not from social media.”
And if we could wake up every morning and, after looking in the mirror to get ready, set that mirror aside, get on our knees, and ask to see ourselves as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ see us, I know it would make all the difference. I know They want us to use this divine mirror. They are pleading with us to remember who we are and whose children we are and that They love us so much. And the Holy Ghost is the testifier of this truth. He can teach you who you truly are and comfort you on days when you forget this truth.
And I can always tell when I forget by the things I do and say!
I remember the “aha” moment I had when someone pointed out that being critical of others and low self-worth go hand in hand. Just imagine a circle, and at the top you have low self-worth, which causes us to be critical of ourselves and others at the bottom, which leads back to low self-worth! And when we’re in the middle of this cycle, it’s hard to see that one creates the other. In fact, the more we do of the one, the more we get the other.
So for this next visual demonstration, I’m going to need everyone to scoot to the edge of your seats and just mirror what I am doing.
Raise this hand as high as it will go! (Yes, you know what’s going to happen next!) Now take your other hand and make some small circles. We’re going to just live here for a minute.
Maybe you made a list of all the things you were supposed to do today. So you got up early to read your scriptures. You listened to a conference talk in the shower. You did 14 leg lunges and planked for 30 seconds. You even found time to declutter your room and bring cookies to your ministering sister. Look at you!
But what if your day didn’t go so well?
Maybe you slept in and didn’t get to your scriptures early. Not only did you not listen to a conference talk, you didn’t shower today either (but don’t feel bad if you didn’t shower today; I didn’t floss). And the only lunging you did was to make it over the piles of dirty clothes on the floor. And you tried to make cookies for your ministering sister, but it ended up turning into one big pizookie, so you ate it all by yourself.
Where is your worth? Has this hand moved at all? Sometimes we think we earn our worth by being good at life or crossing things off a list. But I want you to know that’s not true, because your worth isn’t something you earn. Our worth never changes. It was given to you by God and cannot be increased or diminished by what you accomplish or don’t accomplish by the end of the day.
What has made the difference for me? It’s being able to separate my worth from what I do—or haven’t done! I feel like this is a pretty important awareness, because sometimes we draw our feeling of worth from outside things—what we accomplish, what we have, or what other people say about us. And that is a slippery slope.
Think for just a minute. Can you separate your accomplishments from your identity or who you are?
Maybe write it down. Make one list of what you do, and then make a list of who you are. Maybe you’ll write, “Playing the piano is what I do. A beloved daughter of heavenly parents is who I am” or “Working part-time is what I do. But a disciple of Christ is who I am.”
When we were on our mission at a zone conference, we talked about some of the obstacles our missionaries faced. A few missionaries shared that sometimes they weren’t as confident or brave as they wanted to be. So we invited them to think of a pose, a power pose, to show they were ready for the day—just before they walked out the door to leave. A confidence pose. A power stance or a self-worth stance. And as companionships, they would do it every morning!
A few weeks later when our adult children came to visit us, just for fun, each one of them came up with their own power poses. Then we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And at the very top, they took some pictures and asked, “Do you want to make a short video?” So guess what we did? We made a video of our self-worth stances.
You’re laughing now, but guess what we’re going to do next!
If you could make a self-worth stance or power pose before you started your day, first thing in the morning, just before you left your bedroom or your front door, what pose would you do? I’m going to give you a second to think about it.
Now stand up and get ready to show me your self-worth stance. (Just be careful to not bump into your neighbor!)
On three—one, two, three.
Good! Well done. And you can work on that later tonight.
Who knows if the power stance is a real thing? But the source of your power does matter. Let the Savior’s light shine through you because of covenants you have made. His light shines from your eyes and your countenance reflects His image when you make good choices.
I remember my daughter Carly telling me about a time she was driving with her four-year-old daughter Margot in the back seat of the car. Little Margot was busy eating her chocolate Easter candy. Carly looked back and said, “Margot, if you eat all of that candy, you’re not going to feel very good afterward and your stomach is going to hurt and be so sad.”
It was very quiet in the backseat, so Carly looked in her rearview mirror and heard Margot whisper to herself in a Cookie Monster voice, “No, I think my tummy’s going to say, ‘Thank you, Margot. That. Was. Delicious!’” (We really like chocolate in our family.)
Carly’s story reminded me of this amazing quote from the For the Strength of Youth guide: “Just as your body is affected by what you eat and drink, your mind and spirit are profoundly affected by what you read, watch, and listen to.”
Because we are beings of light, we’re either adding light or losing light by the ordinary decisions we make every day. So when you’re watching a show, listening to music, reading something, scrolling something, or running faster than you have strength, can you ask yourself, “Do I see any light in this? How do I feel right now? And how will I feel afterward?” You can even ask, “Is this dimming my light or helping me shine?”
When we choose light, our spirits get stronger and tremendous forces are unleashed!
Years ago, a friend was in the kitchen after school with her teenagers. And they were sort of joking and teasing her because she had stopped going to the gym and her muscles weren’t as strong and toned as they used to be. Then she smiled and said, “You just wait until you see my spirit body. It’s amazing! You’re totally going to tell that I’ve been working it. Just you wait and see!”
So how do we work our spirit bodies? Find yourself in those sacred spaces where there is an abundance of light—an exchange of light—places like the temple or a sacrament meeting or even a setting like this, where because of the Spirit you receive more of God’s light.
Our spirits are getting brighter. And the scriptures confirm this truth: “He that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”
So how do we let in more light? In photography, a picture is created when light hits the sensor. Something called the aperture and the shutter speed control how much light is permitted to enter the camera. What is fascinating is that when you are in dim light, the aperture must expand and the shutter speed has to drastically slow down to allow more light to come inside.
When you are in the dark, dim moments of your life, I believe Christ is inviting you to slow down, be still, and open up to the light—His light.
What if you gave yourself permission to slow down, to be still, and to open up to His light? What would you feel? What would you hear?
Remember, the Spirit has special acoustics, and so even in a group this large He can speak to each one of us. Right now, sound is moving through this room. It’s traveling in waves—constantly—whether you notice it or not. You can’t see them, but they’re real. And if something is really quiet, you might not hear it—not because it’s not there but because it’s hard to pick up.
Let’s try an audio demonstration.
Maybe you’ve heard of the mosquito app? It emits sound waves at various frequencies. As we get older, it’s harder for us to hear the higher frequencies. So let’s try this. I’m going to need everybody to quietly stand up. I’ll begin by playing a tone that everyone can hear. Then I’ll increase the frequency each time. And when you can’t hear it anymore, just have a seat. (I don’t make the rules … That’s just how we play!)
So here’s a tone everybody should be able to hear. Here we go. (7 KHZ.)
You’re good? All right.
Next we’re going to play a tone for 60 years and younger (10 KHZ).
50 years (13 KHZ).
40 (14 KHZ).
30 (15 KHZ). Can you hear it?
20 (17 KHZ).
15 (13 KHZ).
13 (19 KHZ).
11 (20 KHZ).
Do we have some still standing? A few? You each get 1,000 points! Well done!
So I’m curious how many of you had a moment when you suddenly couldn’t hear it and thought to yourself, “Is she really playing it right now?”
I’ve actually heard that some high school students use this mosquito tone as their text alert so teachers can’t hear when they’re getting a text. Yeah, we’re onto you!
The Spirit, like that frequency, is always there even when you can’t feel Him clearly.
Hearing Jesus Christ can feel like that. He is always there, but sometimes life gets loud, not just with noise but with stress, contention, distractions.
And sometimes anxiety, depression, or emotional pain can make everything feel muted or distant, even God.
I know of this struggle.
So if you’ve ever thought, “Why can’t I hear Him?” it doesn’t mean He’s not speaking. And it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong.
“Is He speaking to you?” Yes, He is! And when prophets invite us to hear Him, it’s not pressure; it’s an invitation—a loving invitation to keep looking for Him, listening for Him, and turning toward Him again and again.
3. Does life feel so overwhelming that you don’t have extra light left to give?
I have a theory that everyone we meet carries around a bag of rocks—something difficult that feels heavy. And most of the time, we try to hide it, camouflage it, so others can’t see that it’s there.
But it is.
And sometimes it’s wrapped with a big pretty bow, so others wonder, “How hard can that be? It’s wrapped in a bow!”
But it may still be painful.
It’s been my experience that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a preventative from all pain; it is a resource in the event of pain—pain that, if I’m honest with you, has felt so heavy at times I haven’t known where to put it or what to do with it.
Do you know this pain? Pain that makes it hard to feel light?
Now, I want you to imagine for just a moment that all of the heavy things in your life have a physical shape and a heft to them, that they are outside you—weighty things that you have to carry around. So you’d probably go and get a basket, the kind you’d use when you go to the pharmacy.
And if a neighbor came up and asked, “Hey, can I help you with that?” you would smile and say, “No, it’s nothing. In fact, I’m getting my upper body workout right now!”
But then some time goes by, and life gives you more to carry, things you certainly hadn’t planned on. So you have to go get a grocery cart. Could you push that around? Sure! Even if it was filled with a lot of things. Been there, done that!
Fast forward to the present, right now, and maybe life is really hard, and you can see that a normal shopping cart isn’t going to cut it. You realize that this is going to take one of those orange flatbed Costco carts. You know the ones? And if someone saw you pushing one of those, stacked up high with big heavy things, and came over and said, “I can see you’re struggling. Let me help you with that,” you still might say, out of stubbornness and sheer pride, “Thanks, but I’ve got this.” Because you’d think to yourself, “These are my heavy things that require this orange flatbed Costco cart. It’s all my stuff.”
But you’re exhausted, and you aren’t sure you can keep pushing it around all day, every day. Do you know this moment? And what if it’s uphill? If your life is anything like mine, it isn’t always a flat path. There are mountains and valleys, right? So I’ve been working on a song called “The Orange Flatbed Costco Cart.” I’d like to sing it for you now. (I’m just kidding. But that would have been pretty exciting, right?)
But this is real.
We each have times in our life when it feels like we’re at the top of a mountain because things are going well, and we have good mental health, and we’re praying and reading our scriptures to connect with heaven. But there are also times when it feels like we’re down in a valley, when life feels heavy and we feel anxious or alone, when things aren’t easy.
It is my testimony to you that Christ is there during your highest and lowest moments, for He is the God of the mountain and He is the God of the valley.
It has been my experience that down in that valley, at rock bottom, when I choose Christ, His light shines on something I may have forgotten was there—a sure foundation. We’ve been promised if our foundation is built on Jesus Christ, the stone of Israel, the rock of heaven, we cannot fall beyond His reach.
Three years ago, I was a music leader in Primary, one of the all-time great callings in the Church, right? And I was teaching a brand-new song, “I Will Walk with Jesus.” And when I got to the third verse, I put the word strips on the chalkboard and I read them out loud: “He will never leave me, even when I fall.”
I turned and looked at the Primary children with tears in my eyes, and I said, “If you remember only one thing from singing time, I want you to remember this truth, that Jesus Christ will never leave you, even when you fall.”
(And then I thought, “I hope they forget about the time I gave away a live goldfish to the best singer in Primary. I’ll admit that was a bad idea. But I hope they don’t forget this song!”)
How is it possible that He can never leave you? One way is through His Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Remember that the Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead, alongside Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And as a member of the Godhead, He is a God! As a personage of spirit, He is allowed to dwell within you. Through His companionship, you can literally have God with you. This is why we can have His light in us and “hope smiling brightly before us.”
Think of the account in the Old Testament where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into that fiery furnace and then King Nebuchadnezzar literally turned up the heat! But when the king looked into the fire—do you remember this? The Old Testament says he saw four men “and the form of the fourth [was] like the Son of God.” God is with us! It’s literally one of the names of the Savior that was prophesied before His birth—Immanuel, meaning “God with us.”
You are never left alone! What our human eyes do not see is that He walks with us. Let’s use that eye of faith not only to look forward into the future but to look backward too.
What if you could travel back in time? A few years—5, 10, 20, 40 … I can go higher!
What would you say to your younger self? I’ve thought about this a lot. For example, if I could travel back in time to before the pandemic, I might say, “Tammy, I know this sounds crazy. But you should go out right now and buy toilet paper—lots and lots of toilet paper.”
What I really want to say to my younger self is, “You ding dong. Stop worrying about the small stuff.” Then I suddenly have the feeling that I want to alert her to what is ahead, to tell her to watch out, to buckle up!
But as I look back, I can see the Lord’s hand helping me and how some things fell together beautifully. How even the most difficult things prepared me for the next so that I was given exactly what I needed to make it through. And I end up just wanting more than anything to give myself a hug and say, “I don’t know how you’re doing it, this really hard thing, but you’re doing it. You’re going to be OK. It’s going to be OK.”
Remember, He will lead you along. When you walk in God’s light, you write a brighter story, a life and a light that reveal Him. I have learned that we shouldn’t care if the world’s spotlight isn’t shining on us—it’s more important to know that God’s light is shining through us! In other words, “Don’t shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him.”
I love that my husband often asks, “When you walk into a room, do you say, ‘Here I am’ or ‘There you are’?” We’re here to reflect God’s light, so let your light shine to bless, not to impress.
Let’s return to these words from Mother Teresa’s daily prayer, and envision light all around you as I read this:
“Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.
“Penetrate and possess my whole being
“So utterly that my life may only be
“A radiance of Yours.
“Shine through me and be so in me
“That every soul I come in contact with
“May feel Your presence in my soul.
“Let them look up,
In a world where people are struggling to feel light and love, this is one thing we can do. It is my testimony today that when you and I finally get it—this truth that we are not so different, that we are one in Christ—it feels like God looks down on us, smiles, and says, “It’s working.”
Now we’ve talked about light waves and sound waves. Now let’s talk about ocean waves.
© The Trustees of the British Museum.
My grandmother Annetta Vincent Wood lived on a street in the shadow of the Oakland California Temple. And down in her basement there was a painting. This painting was of a young woman named Ida, who lived in New England. She was a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who rescued people stranded at sea. Ida Lewis was credited with saving at least 18 lives, and in most cases, she did this by rowing alone and pulling the victims from the water. She made her first rescue at sea as a teenager and earned the title “bravest woman in America” during her lifetime.
I love the imagery of the lighthouse—a beacon of light pointing the way back to that safe harbor—and of you and me going to rescue those who may feel lost. Others need our light!
Will you be brave?
Jesus said, “Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up.”
My husband often shares the story of the Savior saying to His disciples, “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.” So they all got into the boat and headed over to the other side.
One time, I listened to Scott telling this story when I was going through a lot of hard things. He spoke of the winds blowing and the waves and the storm filling the boat with water almost to sinking. And the disciples calling out to the Savior, who was sleeping, “Carest thou not that we perish?”
When Scott got to this part of the story, my mind caught hold of those words, and I heard them as if for the first time. And I immediately thought to myself, “Carest Thou not that my mom just passed away, and I couldn’t be with her at the end? Carest Thou not that our two youngest children just left Australia and are going back to Utah to live without parents?”
Maybe you have thought, “Carest Thou not that my life isn’t turning out at all how I’d planned?” or “Carest Thou not that my child is struggling?” or “Carest Thou not that I feel so alone?”
Now I want you to think about the Savior’s next words: “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”
Did His disciples look at Him and think He didn’t care about them? Of course He did. Didn’t they trust Him? Of course they did. But maybe they were questioning Him because He was the one who said, “Let’s go to the other side of the lake,” and when they did, they went straight into a storm.
Does that sound familiar?
You feel like you’re following the Savior, and you still end up in a storm?
Remember that the storm doesn’t mean He has abandoned you. He’s in the boat with you. I believe He is saying to you and to me, when we cannot see the lighthouse, “I’ve got you. I’ve got this. And I’m going to get you to the other side.”
Testimony
When will that happen? When will the promises finally be fulfilled?
We don’t know. But we do know the time is drawing near.
We were on our mission when President Nelson said, “Time is running out.” And I was in the Conference Center when he said, “In a coming day, Jesus Christ will return.”
Sometimes if we can’t imagine how it will happen, we think that maybe it won’t happen. But that’s not true.
It is my testimony that the Savior of the world will return. And I got a glimpse of what it might feel like. I got to be part of the Hill Cumorah Pageant with hundreds of other actors wearing costumes and portraying people in the Book of Mormon. And toward the end of the play, there is a scene that has stayed with me. When the Savior was crucified, there were earthquakes and the houses shook. There were fires and cities sinking into the sea. And somehow, in the pageant they made it sound like it was really happening. Onstage, people were crying and wailing.
Then it was dark and silent, and hundreds of us made our way onto the stage on the Hill Cumorah, just as they had gathered in Book of Mormon times to the temple.
And then we waited.
Suddenly, we turned our eyes upward, to the top of the hill, to see a bright figure descending in the dark. He was bathed in light. It was completely quiet as He came down and stood among us, and we all fell to our knees at the same time and reverently declared, “Blessed be the name of the Most High God!”
This happened night after night.
And I remember when Christ called Nephi to come to Him, I thought, “How must Nephi have felt?” He had stayed faithful to the end, even when the people around him were denying that Christ was real. And here He was—real.
And night after night, the Spirit whispered to me, “One day, this will really happen again.”
It is my testimony that the Savior of the world will return.
We are all here at the very end of this very last dispensation getting ready for something—the arrival of our King, the return of the real King, Jesus Christ. And one day, you and I will really see Him!
I used to be afraid of that moment when I meet my Savior, but not anymore.
The thought of standing before someone who sees the pain that no one else sees, who knows the things that have made life so hard, who understands just how hard I’m trying, gives me such great hope.
And it is a fearless hope, not because I’m good but because He is.
I bear testimony that we have a Savior who knows us intimately. He knows your heart and your heartache. He knows your DNA, the very circumstances you were born into, and the predispositions that are part of the mix precisely because you would grow the most in these conditions. And because of this, He knows the degree of difficulty you are living with.
I have thought about this moment a lot, and I think I know what I will do. First, I will thank my Savior and fall at His feet and bathe them with my tears.
But the next thing I will do is point backward and say, “That was hard. That was hard.” And He will say, “I know,” because He does.
It is my witness tonight that you are not alone. You’re not just one person fighting by yourself in this beautiful, complicated world. All of us who love, believe, and turn to Christ, we are one.
And we can let His radiance and His love shine through us because we are His, so let us be one.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Now my friend Kenzie Robinson will perform her beautiful song “Heavenly Home.”