Throwing the Door Wide Open to More Jesus Christ in Our Lives
2026 BYU Women’s Conference
Thursday, April 30, 2026
It is fabulous to be here with all of you. My spirits rise and my optimism increases as I look out at you and consider the many others who are watching outside this venue. This is a gathering of women of light who are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Will you take a mental snapshot of this moment? Look around you and think of the thousands who have joined this meeting virtually. Commit the moment to your memory. You are the women prophets foresaw who “reflect righteousness in … [your] lives.” You are “distinct and different—in happy ways.” You shine forth as women of light. In those moments when you feel alone or discouraged and wonder if standing out and speaking up in defense of truth is worth it, remember this moment and how it feels to be part of a gathering of sister Saints who demonstrate deep strength, profound capacity, steady conviction, and faith in Jesus Christ.
Eliza R. Snow said: “If we have each a little of the right spirit and come together, it is like putting coals of fire together. When they are separate, they cannot burn and soon go out; but when they are put together, soon burst out in a blaze.”
You, dear sisters, are a blessing and the blaze in my life!
My association with women—professionally, in my Church callings, in Relief Society, as neighbors and friends, and the beloved women in my family—my associations with you have polished me, lifted me, enlightened me, and strengthened my testimony in a loving Savior.
I have been blessed by the influence of smart women, courageous women, virtuous women, women of faith, women of light.
In March, I delivered a message to you in the Relief Society Devotional: A Worldwide Gathering of Women. I felt impressed to be very real with you. I didn’t sugar-coat the circumstances in which we find ourselves. The world is sin-sick and self-indulgent. Perhaps my message felt a little raw. I said it plainly. Life is hard. You can do hard things with Jesus, or you can go at it alone. That is your choice. I testify, based upon my own personal experience and from the experiences recounted to me by my Relief Society sisters, that when you do hard things with Jesus Christ, the hard times become holy. When our focus is fixed on Jesus Christ, difficult seasons can become sacred and sanctifying.
Faith in Jesus Christ may not remove your hardship—but it can transform it.
To summarize my message, I reiterate the what and the why.
First, the what.
We are having a mortal experience in bodies that are subject to aging and disease. We, and others, have the glorious opportunity to exercise our agency for good or ill. So life will be hard. We simply cannot eliminate all the struggles of mortality. But we can invite Jesus Christ to be with us in the struggle.
Second, the why.
When we invite Jesus Christ to be with us in our struggles, the hard times become holy seasons, and we become more like Him. We become holy women. Sanctified by those refining experiences, we are prepared to live in the presence of the Savior and our heavenly parents.
With the what and why in mind, let’s explore the how.
How do we have more Jesus Christ in our lives? What does it look like to be a woman whose focus is fixed on Jesus Christ?
The Savior promises, “I stand at the door, and knock: if any [woman] hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to [her], and will sup with [her], and [she] with me.”
Let us hear His knock, throw the door wide open, and welcome Him into our lives.
How will we do that?
More Jesus Christ and Less of Lesser Things
First, for more Jesus Christ in our lives, we may need less of lesser things.
Perhaps we should take inventory of what fills our days and keeps us “busy.” Are we thick in thin things?
To Emma Smith, and all of us, the Lord counseled, “lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.”
President Dallin H. Oaks explained, “Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming.” So it starts with desire. Do you desire more Jesus Christ in your life?
And if that is your truest desire, what will you lay aside, prioritize, choose, and do?
My desire is a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who provide the way for me to spend the eternities with the people I love, including Them.
I’m inspired by how Nephi describes his relationship with the Savior. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Nephi writes, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.” And in the final chapter of Nephi’s writings, his closing testimony, Nephi says, “I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul.”
Do you hear and feel how personal that relationship is between Nephi and Jesus Christ? That’s precisely the kind of relationship I want with “my Jesus.”
Do my priorities, choices, and actions reflect that desire?
What is the desire of your heart?
If your desire is to hear His knock and throw the door wide open, inviting the Savior into your life, what will you chose to do less of to make space in your day for Him?
For me, it is often a matter of choosing best over good and better. I am not generally inclined to spending my days doing bad, but I spend a fair amount of time with good when I could be choosing better and best to have more Jesus in my life.
For example, am I deliberate when I pick up my devices? Am I using these tools for their best purpose? Or am I scrolling on my phone because I am bored, lonely, angry, stressed or tired? I ought to identify the emotional trigger for the activity and seek the Savior’s help. We can find emotional resilience in Him. He can help if we are bored, lonely, angry or stressed. And if I am just plain tired, I ought to put down the phone and put my head on a pillow.
Elder Dale G. Renlund taught: “I cannot add more time to your days or eliminate the many concerns modern life brings. But I can offer this counsel: Not all matters are of equal value, and maintaining an eternal perspective helps us prioritize the things that are of greatest value.”
The familiar story of the sisters Mary and Martha, who were dear friends of the Savior, illustrates this principle.
Jesus came to Martha’s home, and her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’s feet and heard His word. And while Mary sat, Martha, was cumbered about attending to the household and preparing food. Martha, responded the way I think I would have and wondered out loud why her sister had left her to serve alone. In response, Jesus commended Martha for what she was doing but taught that “one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Martha was doing good, but Mary chose best in learning of and from the Savior.
Are we cumbered about in the thick of good things and missing the best thing—more time to learn of and from Jesus Christ?
Before we leave the story of Mary and Martha, it is worth noting this beautiful exchange between the Savior and Martha, which comes later in time.
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died. As Jesus approached, Martha ran to meet Him and said, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”
Jesus responded, “Thy brother shall rise again.”
Martha replied, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Then Jesus explained, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
Martha responded, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
This informs me that Martha desired and prioritized the best part and was blessed by an unwavering, certain testimony of Jesus Christ. I am sure she still attended to her household, a good thing, but she didn’t miss the opportunity for the best part.
For more Jesus Christ in your life, what are you willing to do, see, and hear less of?
Will you sit with that question for a moment and commit to less of something for more Jesus Christ in your life?
Choosing More Jesus Christ
And what could we choose more of?
To have Jesus Christ in my life, I need prayer, scripture study, covenant making and keeping—including weekly participation in the sacrament. I need temple worship, repentance, forgiveness, and service.
Sisters, this is a list you have seen before. I don’t have some new formula for strengthening your relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you are not doing the things I referenced, you should start. That is not just a helpful suggestion, it is prophetic direction. Remember, that in his last address to the sisters President Russell M. Nelson invited us to “make the scriptures [our] personal Liahona, the temple [our] place of refuge and recalibration, and [our] personal prayers the way [we] learn where the Lord needs [us] to be that day.” President Oaks has taught about the significance of making covenants with God and the blessings that come from keeping those covenants. And prophets regularly invite us to repent, forgive, and serve.
So, where I begin today, as our baseline, is that you are praying with some regularity, reading your scriptures some days, attending sacrament meeting, going to the temple on occasion, repenting and forgiving along the way, and serving too.
I am not suggesting you add something more to your “to do” list to strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ. I am inviting you to do more with what you are already doing.
Let’s begin with prayer.
How can we do more with our prayers to throw the door wide open and invite the Savior more fully into our lives?
At the RootsTech event in 2025, Elder Neil L. Andersen took the stage with President Jeffrey R. Holland and asked him what he would teach us about prayer. These are President Holland’s words:
“I had had a near-death experience. For four weeks, I was somewhere with a foot in another world. And the two lessons that I was given there and in effect told to take back to the Church—and now I speak much more to adults than the children. And those two lessons were: pray more than you pray. And I thought I prayed all the time, more or less, but the lesson was pray more than you pray. However much you’ve prayed, pray more. And in however many places you’ve prayed, pray in more places. However many times during the day you pray, pray more times in the day. And it started to give meaning to me—an overwhelming meaning to me that there really was significance, there really was meaning—it was quite literal when God had said, ‘Pray always. Pray always.’ And I thought that meant just, kind of, be serious about it. Well, it is to be serious about it, and a lot more. …
“The other lesson was to testify, to be a witness. And however much you testify, testify more. However many people you meet and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ to, however many that is, it’s got to be more.”
In the last year of President Holland’s life, I heard him teach several times about prayer. In the notes I recorded for myself after hearing him address the subject, I wrote: “Nothing that we are going to do from now until the Savior comes again is the way we’ve always done it. I can’t have the habits I’ve always had. I ought to pray like I never have before. I need to pray when I am alert and energetic. My prayers should be more passionate and purposeful.”
Sisters, I believe we can be more intentional with the prayers we are offering to Heavenly Father to have more of His Son, Jesus Christ in our lives.
At President Holland’s invitation I have been praying differently. I have reasonably good prayer habits. I pray first thing when I wake up in the morning by the side of my bed, and in the same spot right before I go to bed at night. There is nothing wrong with my prayer habits, except that those are not my best times of day. I am drowsy in the morning and tired in the evening. So, I have been trying to pray at different times during the day, in different places, and more often than just morning and night.
I always use the respectful language of prayer. This isn’t casual conversation. But I am trying to be more honest in expressing my concerns and worries and disappointments. I believe in a Heavenly Father who already knows my heart—so why do I need to be brave when I express my feelings to Him? Following the counsel of President Nelson, I am trying to make my prayers a “living discussion” with my Heavenly Father, not just a “polite [recitation] of past and upcoming activities, punctuated with some requests for blessings.” And I am trying to make my expressions of love and gratitude more specific. I have more Jesus Christ in my life when I express appreciation for Him.
I have prayed “vocally as well as in [my] heart; … before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private.” And in those prayers, always offered in the name of Jesus Christ, I am opening the door to having the Savior in my life.
Next, how can we do more with our scripture study to have a more personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
I begin with a personal story.
I was a little surprised when Doug and I were called to serve as mission leaders in Arequipa, Peru. About seventy percent of our missionaries were Latino and few of them spoke English. And I didn’t know Spanish.
Many missionaries are blessed with mission leaders who bake delicious cookies. I wasn’t that mission leader. I love people. I love words. I wanted to be with my missionaries, to talk with them, to get to know them, to share experiences with them. I didn’t want to spend my time in the kitchen baking. I love cookies, but they are not my love language. I needed words.
I was sure that when I was set apart as a mission leader, the general authority would bless me with the gift of tongues. But he didn’t say a word about the gift of tongues or learning the language.
So I did my best with the missionary language books I had been provided, and I used Duolingo on my phone. I tried to speak to our Latino missionaries in Spanish and asked them to speak to me in English so that we could help each other in our mutual quest to be bilingual.
Most significantly, I chose to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish—every year we served in Peru. Three times, I read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover, in Spanish. It was hard. Sometimes—many times—I did not understand everything that I was reading, but I persisted.
And do you know what happened?
I didn’t receive the gift of tongues. Spanish did not roll beautifully off my lips. But I did receive a grand blessing—the ability to communicate in Spanish my immense love for my missionaries. And, in Spanish, I taught and testified about the Book of Mormon, another testimony of Jesus Christ.
President Nelson said, “When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.”
The words of the Book of Mormon strengthened me, enlarged my soul, enlightened my understanding of life and God’s plan and of Jesus Christ.
I found my Jesus in the pages of the Book of Mormon. My personal relationship with Him was strengthened and deepened by that purposeful exercise in studying the Book of Mormon in Spanish.
And I can do more in my scripture study to open the door to Jesus Christ in my life. Some days I read the scriptures. That is good. But my days are best when I study the scriptures, searching for connections, patterns, and themes. We can be more purposeful in looking for types and symbols of Jesus Christ. I have learned important lessons from women whose stories are told in scripture. They poignantly make the point that when choosing Jesus Christ in difficulty, we discover increased strength and purpose and enjoy spiritual growth. Sisters, don’t wait until you are parched and thirsty. Drink daily from the living water Jesus Christ offers and which is communicated to us through scripture.
In my travels, I met a Relief Society sister who lives in a country in which the Church is not yet recognized. That means that she cannot gather with other Saints to worship on Sunday. For her, a congregation is five hours away and across a political boundary. And yet my friend opens the door to the Savior every day as she joins 10 or 12 other sisters from her own and a neighboring country to read from and discuss the Book of Mormon, and then they pray together. Every morning and every evening, these tenaciously faithful latter-day sister Saints unite in faith in Jesus Christ to study and pray together and for each other and to drink His living water.
For me, doing more with my scripture study includes being deliberate in studying the words of living prophets, particularly one called as Jesus Christ’s mouthpiece on the earth.
Shortly after President Nelson called me to serve as the Relief Society General President, I began the practice of a “daily devotional” with him. Every morning, I started my day by listening to at least one of his general conference talks, with particular attention to those he had given since he became the prophet. I took him on many walks with me. It felt like I was walking with Jesus.
Exercising faith, I planted the words of President Nelson, in my heart. As I listened over and over again, I became familiar with his words and his prophetic voice. My ability to discern the Spirit has been enhanced, my focus is better fixed on the Savior, I am more joyful in challenging circumstances, and I am better prepared to be a peacemaker.
The delicious fruit of President Nelson’s prophetic counsel is optimism in the face of uncertainty. It is confidence even when we don’t have an answer to every question. It is joy and grief coexisting. It is trusting Jesus Christ.
And, upon President Nelson’s passing, I have assumed a new habit, a daily devotional with President Oaks. Sisters, I testify that Dallin H. Oaks is Jesus Christ’s mouthpiece on the earth today. If we desire more Jesus Christ in our lives, we ought to be studying his words.
Next, let us turn to sacrament meeting. You are attending, but how can you make more of your sacrament meeting experience to throw the door wide open to the Savior having a place in your life?
Of course, the glorious focal point of our Sunday meeting is to partake of the sacrament, when we renew the promises we made at baptism and make anew a new covenant, in return for which we are promised to always have His Spirit to be with us.
Elder Renlund explained: “Each week we partake of the sacrament and make a covenant with our Heavenly Father. We promise to link our identity to the Savior’s by pledging our willingness to take upon us His name, to always remember Him, and to keep His commandments. Conscientiously preparing for and worthily making these covenants each week anchors us to the Savior, helps us internalize our commitment and powerfully propels us along the covenant path.”
Of significance are Elder Renlund’s words, “conscientiously preparing for” and “worthily making” these covenants. All of us can make more of our sacrament experience by conscientiously preparing to take the emblems of the Savior’s death. That requires some advance work. Because of my desire, I can choose to prioritize a Sabbath day atmosphere that invites self-reflection and softens my heart. I can joyfully repent in anticipation of partaking of the sacrament so that my covenant making is worthy. In repentance, I find my Savior because I realize that I am engraven upon the palms of His hands. I can improve my focus during those precious minutes when the sacrament is blessed and passed to be on the atoning gift of Jesus Christ. I can reflect on His suffering in Gethsemane, His agony on the cross, or the joy His gift makes possible.
Elder Patrick Kearon has helped me understand the difference between attending sacrament meeting and coming on Sunday to worship. He said, “To attend means to be present at. But to worship is to intentionally praise and adore our God in a way that transforms us!”
Worshipers surely have more Jesus Christ in their lives than attenders! Will you be a worshiper?
Elder Kearon explained how:
“We may have been conditioned to suppose that the purpose of the sacrament is to sit in the pew thinking only about all the ways we messed up during the week before. But let’s turn that practice on its head. In the stillness, we can ponder the many ways we have seen the Lord relentlessly pursue us with His wonderful love that week! We can reflect on what it means to ‘discover the joy of daily repentance.’ We can give thanks for the times the Saviour entered into our struggles and our triumphs and the occasions when we felt His grace, forgiveness, and power giving us strength to overcome our hardships and bear our burdens with patience and even good cheer.”
Will you commit to do more with what you are already doing and make sacrament meeting a joyful expression of worship of your God? I am confident we invite more Jesus Christ into our lives when our Sunday experience includes attendance and worship.
Turning next to temple worship, let us take the lessons we are applying from our sacrament meeting experience into our temple worship. It is celebratory worship in the house of the Lord. The cause for celebration has been articulated with clarity by President Nelson. He taught: “All who worship in the temple will have the power of God and angels having ‘charge over them.’ How much does it increase your confidence to know that, as an endowed woman … armed with the power of God, you do not have to face life alone? What courage does it give you to know that angels really will help you?”
He explained, “Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. … Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.”
At baptism we promise to serve God, keep His commandments, take the name of Jesus Christ upon us. We make that promise anew each week when we partake of the sacrament. We deepen that commitment in the covenants we make in the house of the Lord.
Elder Renlund explained why multiple covenants, made in the ordinances of baptism, endowment, and sealing are needed. “It is because the multiple covenants are not only sequential but are also additive and even synergistic in our relationship with God. Each covenant adds a bond, drawing us closer to and strengthening our connection with God. … This means that we develop a stronger and closer connection to God through those multiple covenants. When we confront life’s challenges, the likelihood is decreased that we distance ourselves from God.”
Covenant making and keeping—on Sunday during the sacrament and when we joyfully worship in the house of the Lord—reflect our desire for a relationship with Jesus Christ. When we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ through covenant, we invite Him to help us, and He will!
How can we make more of our temple worship experience to invite the Savior more fully into our lives? I am looking for evidence of and symbols of the Savior when I participate in initiatory, endowment, and sealing ordinances. I find Him more frequently when I am purposeful and deliberate in my temple worship.
Sisters, my focus fails me too. I do not want you to think that I have mastered this. I am working at it with you. Surely, my mind has slipped to whether I put the roast in the oven when I was participating in the sacrament, and I have been distracted by the next appointment I have to get to during a temple session. I am striving. You are striving. And it lifts my spirits to know that we are striving together.
Another way that we evidence our desire for a relationship with Jesus Christ is in wearing the garment of the Holy Priesthood.
For all those who have been endowed in the house of the Lord, the temple garment serves as a daily, physical, joyful reminder of our covenant relationship with God. President Nelson has taught that when we put on the garment, we put on ourselves a “very sacred symbol of … Jesus Christ.”
Each day, when we dress in the temple garment, we have a sweet opportunity to reflect on the Savior, how He lived, what He has done for us, and how He wants us to live. Will you schedule that joyful opportunity into your day? A few minutes to reflect as you dress in the garment of the Holy Priesthood. Wearing the garment is evidence of our “continuing commitment” to Jesus Christ and invites more Jesus in our lives.
“The blessings of keeping our temple covenants include love and merciful patience; learning ‘how to ask for God’s angels to attend [us];’ learning how to ‘better … receive direction from heaven;’ ‘power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better;’ and ‘power [that] eases our way.’”
Sisters, I testify that the temple is our “place of refuge and recalibration.”
President Nelson has said, “Everything taught in the temple, through instruction and through the Spirit, increases our understanding of Jesus Christ.”
We surely find Jesus Christ in His holy house. It is there we make additional covenants with Him and our Heavenly Father. Keeping those covenants gives us access to God’s power and to an extra measure of His love and mercy. He will never tire of our pleas for help, and “we will never exhaust His … patience.”
We have talked about joyful repentance in anticipation of worthily participating in ordinances. Let us look at the other side of that coin, forgiveness.
Jesus Christ taught: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Our own salvation depends upon forgiveness, and it comes with a promise of peace. The Lord says, “Leave judgment alone with me, for it is mine and I will repay. [But let] peace be with you.”
But how can the sin be greater for us if we refuse to forgive? Elder James R. Rasband explained that “when we refuse to forgive, what we are really saying is that we reject, or don’t quite trust, the Atonement [of Jesus Christ]. And it is our acceptance of the Atonement [of Jesus Christ] that ultimately saves us.”
Forgiving others is a profound act of faith in Jesus Christ and His promises.
Elder Rasband went on to explain:
“In our live-and-let-live society, we may believe that being forgiving is just etiquette and good manners. It is not. We may think that forgiveness requires us to let mercy rob justice. It does not. Forgiveness does not require us to give up our right to restitution. It simply requires that we look to a different source. The nonjudgmental worldly phrases ‘don’t worry about it’ and ‘it’s no big deal’ are not illustrations of the doctrine of forgiveness. On the contrary, when a person sins against us, it can be a very big deal. The point is that the Atonement is very big compensation that can take care of very big harms. Forgiveness doesn’t mean minimizing the sin; it means maximizing our faith in the Atonement [of Jesus Christ].”
Forgiving others is an elegant way to invite more Jesus Christ into our lives. Sometimes we make our own mistakes, sometimes our troubles are no fault of our own, and sometimes they are because others exercise their agency poorly. In all those cases, the Atonement of Jesus Christ works for us. Accepting both sides of His Atonement—that His power pays for our sins and sorrow and for the sins and sorrows of others—is throwing the door wide open to the Savior.
Finally, serving in the way the Savior would deepens and strengthens our relationship with Him. When I act as His hands and feet or His kind-speaking lips or patient ears, I draw closer to Him, become more like Him, and prepare to live with Him. “For how knoweth a [woman] the master whom [she] has not served, and who is a stranger unto [her], and is far from the thoughts and intents of [her] heart?”
Of course, ministering is one way we serve by assignment, and with that assignment comes priesthood authority. When you minister with priesthood authority, you represent the Savior. What would He say and do? What invitations would He extend? Surely, we can all be more deliberate and purposeful in our ministering assignments. Recognizing we are on the Lord’s errand when we minister, we recognize the assignment as an invitation to work with the Lord to bless the life of another.
“Because we love God and have covenanted to serve Him, we can partner with the Savior to help provide temporal and spiritual relief for those in need—and in the process find our own relief in Jesus Christ.”
Conclusion
I conclude with the song I referenced in the Relief Society devotional—a song I heard sung by a diverse congregation of children.
“No matter what my day brings
“I know just who I need
“I need more Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
“A little more light
“A little more love
“A little more hope
Sisters, we need more Jesus. I testify that all of us can find relief in Jesus Christ in the midst of our struggles. We can be whole in Him while we wait for healing and reconciliation and hard times to pass. We choose to be made whole by hearing His knock and throwing the door wide open inviting Him into our lives. With faith in Jesus Christ, my hope increases, and that hope reinforces my faith in Jesus Christ. “It is a powerful cycle.”
I leave you with two questions:
Can you do less of lesser things to invite more Jesus Christ into your life?
And can you make more of the important things you are already doing—prayer, scripture study, sacrament and temple worship, repentance, forgiveness, and service to draw closer to the Savior?
I am not inviting you to do something more, I am asking you to do more with what you are already doing.
Let us be the holy women whose lamps are full of the oil of conversion and who let their light shine.
Eliza R. Snow exclaimed:
“I will go forward. …
“… I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance. …
“… And the ’testimony of Jesus’ will light up a lamp that will guide my vision through the portals of immortality, and communicate to my understanding the glories of the Celestial kingdom.”
I testify that Jesus Christ is relief. He is my strength, my song, and my salvation. I know that I can trust Him to sanctify my affliction to my good. I am sure you can trust Him too. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.