Arise and Shine Forth as Women of Light
2026 BYU Women’s Conference
Friday, May 1, 2026
Dear Sisters, I am so pleased that Elder Bednar and I can be with you today.
As I look into your faces, I’m remembering times I attended Women’s Conference with my mother and sisters, former college roommates, and friends. These are special memories for me.
I pray the Holy Ghost will be with me today, that my tongue will be loosed, and I will say something that may increase your desire to “arise and shine forth as women of light.”
You are a great gathering of amazing women—women who know who you are as daughters of God. You believe in God’s plan, you know that Christ is your Savior and Redeemer, you know the Holy Ghost guides and directs you, and you know that prophets of God teach truth.
Today I’d like to share examples of prophets teaching the Savior’s doctrine and how we are blessed when we follow their teachings.
Example 1
A few years ago, I accompanied Elder Bednar on an assignment to Brazil. The Area Presidency asked that I assist their wives in teaching the importance of chapter 9 in Daughters in My Kingdom, entitled “Guardians of the Hearth: Establishing, Nurturing, and Defending the Family.”
I was impacted greatly as I reread in that book the prophetic teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball given in general conference in October 1980. That was 46 years ago, and I was 28 at the time! His prophetic insights and teachings truly are being fulfilled and are even more true, poignant, and applicable today.
Let me read what President Kimball said:
“Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the [evil gathering] around us.
“… There are those who would define the family in such a nontraditional way that they would define it out of existence. …
“We of all people … should not be taken in by the specious arguments that the family unit is somehow tied to a particular phase of development a mortal society is going through. We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and which play up the significance of selfish individualism. We know the family to be eternal. We know that when things go wrong in the family, things go wrong in every other institution in society.”
Then, 15 years later, in 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” to the sisters in the General Relief Society Meeting. I remember the tenderness with which President Hinckley spoke and the feelings I felt as I watched that meeting in our stake center. I left that gathering with a desire to memorize the document. “Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The second-to-last paragraph states: “Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”
Sisters, we live in a time of increasing turmoil and commotion. The road ahead will not be easy. I have lived long enough to see the correctness of the prophetic teachings of President Kimball and President Hinckley. I know we all face a wide variety of personal and family challenges, but I have great admiration for those of you who are willing to defend the family regardless of your own personal situation.
Dear sisters, may we arise and shine forth now as women of light by teaching about, testifying of, and defending the importance of families in God’s eternal plan.
Example 2
In 2018, President Nelson explained we were retiring the term visiting teaching and instituting the word ministering as a “holier approach to caring for and ministering to others.”
After his message, I remembered a ministering experience from long ago. I had a wonderful visiting teacher. Her name was Sister Madewell. She was an older, quiet-spoken, and godly woman who had been tried and tested by the vicissitudes of life. She taught me a lesson one day that I will never forget.
To provide context, I had been in extremely poor health during a pregnancy and from complicating issues that followed the birth of our third son. I had suffered one bout of illness after another. I wondered if I would ever be well again. One day when I was so sick, Sister Madewell came to our home. If I remember correctly, she came unexpectedly.
Let me read to you some excerpts from the journal entry I made after Sister Madewell’s comforting visit.
“My visiting teacher came today. Although I really don’t know her well, I truly feel she was sent by the Lord.
“The visiting teaching message was about repentance, but as she started to give the message, she didn’t talk about repentance. Instead, she told me how weak things are made strong and how the strength we receive comes from the Lord lifting us up. As she left, she looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You’ll be all right, Susan. I promise.’”
Sister Madewell was the ministering angel I needed in that moment. Sisters, she came! She came! Her spiritual influence, her righteous presence, and her inspired words were just what I needed on that day.
“After she left, a spirit of peace and comfort touched my heart.”
Sister Madewell was a minister before ministering was the norm.
The change announced by President Nelson in 2018 caused my ministering companion and me to pray earnestly about how we could minister to our sisters in a higher and holier way. But we could not come up with a good plan. As we counseled together, we were inspired to find our answer in a question. “Why don’t we ask them? Ask each sister what higher and holier ministering looks like to her?” We were excited about their responses. Each sister volunteered information she had never shared before. The answers we received made it possible for my companion and me to serve these sisters in more meaningful ways.
To you caring and charitable sisters, let us “arise and shine forth as women of light” by truly ministering with love and compassion in a higher and holier way to the sisters in our wards and branches.
Testimony
Sisters, as I close this afternoon, I want you to know that I have a testimony that God lives. He is our Father. He loves us. He’s concerned about us. He cares about us. I know His Son, Jesus Christ, died for us and that through that atoning sacrifice we have access to strength that comes from Him to do hard things. I know the Holy Ghost is real. He is a testator and teacher and helps us every day.
And I know that the Lord continues to speak to men on earth whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. I know that Elder Bednar has been called of God by prophecy and by the laying on of hands by those who have the authority to do so.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.