A few favorite excerpts from this wonderful devotional address given in 2015 at BYU Women's Conference.Watch the full video HERE
Or read the full transcript HERE
My take aways:
She taught:
Because when covenant women keep their covenants, they have greater access to the power of God. The power of God flows into them, and that power, His power, generates a decrease in stress, an increase in energy, more and clearer revelation for their lives, renewed focus, courage to make needed changes, an increase in patience, and more time for what matters.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught that increased spiritual power comes to us as we keep our covenants. He was explicit in his counsel that
“in times of distress,
let your covenants be paramount,
and let your obedience be exact.”
let your covenants be paramount,
and let your obedience be exact.”
2. Keep my covenants and call upon angels to assist me! She said,
As we keep our covenants, to what else do we have access? Joseph Smith declared that if we as covenant women “live up to (our) privilege,” the angels will not be able to be restrained from being our associates. Our “privilege” includes our covenants. Our covenants are a “privilege”! Therefore, as we live up to our covenants, the angels will not be able to be restrained from being our associates.3
“Ask for angels to help you.” - Elder Holland
3. Sacrifice little things and use that time for greater good - like family history
4. Learn the words of my covenants and repeat them often in my mind.
5. Make my weekly covenants consciously and actively keep them!
4. Learn the words of my covenants and repeat them often in my mind.
5. Make my weekly covenants consciously and actively keep them!
Sacrifice & Family History
When Elder Scott said to me, with 15 million others listening in, “This work is a spiritual work,” I believed him. And I found myself praying,
“Please lead me to those who are ready to make covenants with Thee
and receive their ordinances.”
That prayer opened the heavens for me!
When Elder Scott taught that “some sacrifice” would be involved, I believed him. But I couldn’t think of anything I could sacrifice. I thought I was using my time really well on things that really mattered. And then I thought about the time I spent playing Scrabble by myself on my iPad. I set Scrabble aside for two months. Now that may not seem like much of a sacrifice, but for me it was giving up a bit of harmless fun. In the first two weeks, I learned three things I can never forget:
First,
those on the other side of the veil are very much alive,
and not all that cheerful about being called “dead”;
and not all that cheerful about being called “dead”;
second,
they are eager—no, actually they are desperate—
to make covenants with God, and to receive their
essential ordinances by proxy, and to be freed from spirit prison!
Covenants, and only covenants with their associated ordinances, have the power to unlock the gates behind which our ancestors live.Internalizing our Covenants
What else can we do to keep and increase the flow of God’s power in our lives? President Gordon B. Hinckley taught a great truth at the dedication of the Conference Center in October 2000. In the concluding session of that general conference, President Hinckley’s parting words included this counsel: “The great ‘Hosanna’ salutation in which we participated this morning should remain an unforgettable experience. From time to time, we can repeat quietly in our minds, when we are alone, those beautiful words of worship.”6
My dear sisters, if it is good for us to repeat quietly in our minds, when we are alone, the beautiful words of worship of the “Hosanna” salutation, wouldn’t it be good for us to follow that same pattern with other beautiful words of worship?
What about the beautiful words of our baptismal and temple covenants, and other sublime words spoken in the temple? There is spiritual power in the words of our covenants.
Do we know the words?
Do we know what we said we would do?
Do we know what the Lord has promised?
Sometimes when we hear words frequently, they can become background noise rather than a foreground focus to help us worship. But we can change that. We can make a personal plan for learning and remembering the words of our covenants. It will take some effort, but we can do it!
How would our experience with the sacrament change if we imagined the Savior to be The One blessing the bread and water, just as He did for His Twelve Apostles? Can you picture that? And then, if the Savior stood before us, and while offering the emblems to us and looking directly into your eyes and mine, said,
Sometimes when we hear words frequently, they can become background noise rather than a foreground focus to help us worship. But we can change that. We can make a personal plan for learning and remembering the words of our covenants. It will take some effort, but we can do it!
How would our experience with the sacrament change if we imagined the Savior to be The One blessing the bread and water, just as He did for His Twelve Apostles? Can you picture that? And then, if the Savior stood before us, and while offering the emblems to us and looking directly into your eyes and mine, said,
How would our experience with the sacrament change if we imagined the Savior to be The One blessing the bread and water, just as He did for His Twelve Apostles? Can you picture that? And then, if the Savior stood before us, and while offering the emblems to us and looking directly into your eyes and mine, said,
“Are you willing to take upon you my name this week?
Are you willing to always remember me?
Are you willing to keep my commandments this week?
Are you willing to always remember me?
Are you willing to keep my commandments this week?
Would we then, truly and finally, experience a cleansing of our spirits and “the wounds of [our] spirits being healed, and [our] loads . . . lifted?”7
And what about our temple covenants? What can change for us as we learn, feel deeply, and remember the words of our temple covenants?
Let me tell you about another young friend. Let’s call her Jean. Jean was put on bed rest during her second pregnancy and couldn’t attend the temple for a little while. Jean wrote, “I was sincerely struggling with feelings of being pulled so many different ways and of entering a new season of life that just didn’t lend itself to weekly temple attendance at that point. It was in response to these feelings and prayerful pleadings that the words entered my mind,
‘You may not always be able to go through the temple,
but you are always able to have the temple go through you.’
but you are always able to have the temple go through you.’
That was my answer and the one I so desperately needed!” Jean continued, “Now, I daily repeat the words we say in the temple (in my mind, of course) every morning as I get ready for the day. I reverently and with power say those words in my mind. I recovenant and rededicate myself each new day.”
On keeping covenants
So, in the words of Elder Holland,
“if you have made covenants, keep them.
If you haven’t made them, make them.
If you have made them and broken them,
repent and repair them.”
If you haven’t made them, make them.
If you have made them and broken them,
repent and repair them.”
And,
We can be morally strong covenant women who are sin-resistant Saints—women who, because of time spent in the temple, know how to deal with the adversary and how to pray with power.
We can be diligent covenant women who are true disciples of Jesus Christ in this digital age and who know how to use technology righteously!
We can be articulate covenant women who are consistently seeking to understand the doctrine of Jesus Christ so that we are not swayed by every “wind of doctrine”11 that blows through a blog!
We can be enlightened covenant women who seek to understand more about our covenants— women who understand that when we let the Lord know we are serious about learning more, He will teach us!
We can be wise covenant women who eagerly remove from our lives anything that is preventing us from receiving even more of God’s power.
It is my testimony, my dear sisters, that there is nothing more important than making covenants with God and then keeping them with increasing precision, because
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