To Strengthen Ourselves & Our Family

Today I had the privilege of attending a Women’s Conference where Sister Silvia Allred of the General Relief Society Presidency was the speaker. As often happens when I have the opportunity to attend something like this, I woke up this morning with a hundred different reasons why I’d rather just stay home. Lately I’ve been determined to Raise the Bar in my own personal life and attending this conference was on my list of one of the ways to accomplish this goal. So in spite of my excuses, I found myself sitting at the Stake Center listening to this special woman speak about the privileges we have as women and the responsibilities that come with those privileges. I’m so grateful to have been in attendance today.

Sister Allred spoke of our commitment to live a life of righteousness as well as to guide our families to do the same. She shared her feelings about a few scriptures in Alma 48 that she uses to accomplish this task and I found it to be such an interesting perspective, that I wanted to share because it applies to each of us, no matter who we are.

In Alma 48:7 we find the wicked Amalickiah who is trying to obtain “power by fraud and deceit” but at the same time, Captain Moroni is preparing to protect his people by using entirely different methods.

First, (verse 7) Captain Moroni was “preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.” As we try to protect both ourselves and our families from the wickedness around us, we must do as Captain Moroni counseled and first prepare ourselves by being faithful. She said we can do this by following Helaman 5:12 “Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation.”

Second, (verse 8) “he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about.” She said we, too, can build “small forts” to protect ourselves and our families by making our homes a place of refuge where the Spirit can dwell. There we can teach and study the scriptures to help strengthen our “fort” against wickedness.

Last, (verse 9) “And in the weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land which was possessed by the Nephites.” All of us have personal weaknesses in our defense against the adversary and we need to make “fortifications” by trying to strengthen these weaknesses, whatever they may be. As with Captain Moroni, it is possible to make improvements in our lives and turn our weaknesses into strengths.

The Spirit was certainly present today at this conference and I, too, felt the witness of the truth of the things she taught us. May we all work to strengthen ourselves and those we love! Lots of love to you all!