Julie B. Beck

Sister Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came and spoke to just our stake relief society today... it was awesome. She took questions and didn't answer them directly per se, just opened the scriptures and spoke by the spirit and covered everything that way. It was so good. It was just awesome to have someone speak who was so in tune with the Spirit and so knowledgeable.

Here are some of my notes:

Believe in God above yourself.

“The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—

But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;

That faith also might increase in the earth;

That mine everlasting covenant might be established;

That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.” D&C 1:19-23

“My qualification to be here is that I keep saying yes!” The Lord qualifies us through our service. We don’t try out for the Lord’s service; we covenant for the Lord’s service.

“Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadfulday of the Lord.

And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.” D&C 2:1-2

Priesthood is a family responsibility. The reason a young man receives the Melchizedek priesthood is to receive the covenants to be reserved in families.

Covenants = Godly power

Godly power received when baptized is the power to have your sins remitted. To be new, every week. I don’t have to be the old me. To make that kind of change is a powerful Godly power through the Atonement & the covenant of baptism.

Holy Ghost gives us the power to know what is true. Helps us do thing we can never do, gives us power to do the impossible.

Not because of great force of will, but the Godly power in my life that I can do great things & make great changes.

Best way to prepare for a covenant is to keep the ones you already made.

Prepare every day to increase personal faith & righteousness. Not necessarily mission, marriage, career, etc. Faith first. What are you learning at BYU to align yourself with the Lord’s plan for you? You didn’t get here to be on a different path. Establish your platform of faith first, then build everything on that.

We should all study and learn from Rebekah. Abraham’s servant was sent to find a girl whose life was aligned with the Lord’s path. She was important in the Abrahamic covenant. Make your decisions based on alignment with the Lord.

Commandments that the Spirit gives you are just as binding as the ten commandments & general conference commandments.

Tools of the devil: discontentment, apathy, entitlement (flattery is another word for entitlement)

Pride is essentially competition. anti-gospel of Jesus Christ. Nobody can match who we are in a contest. Impact is made even by a stillborn baby. You don’t have to be the -est. No winners/losers in the gospel.

3 purposes of relief society are our battle strategy (Alma 48:7-9)

“Moroni... had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.” ~ Increase in faith and righteousness

“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, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land.” ~ Strengthen home & family

“In their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land.” ~ Seek out & help those in need.

Never suppress a generous thought.

Adam & Eve’s transgression = mortal experience. Praise God for it. Eve teaches us the value of a mortal experience in order to get "the dream." In order to reach the dream of eternal life we must go through the mortal experience. They couldn’t gain eternal life in the paradisaical Garden. Experience draws us closer to God, shapes us into fit companions for the gods. You won’t have The Dream in this life. You’ll have The Experience. Eternal life came from the mortal experience.

Focus on aligning yourself & helping those around you be aligned.