Holy Women Fix Their Focus on Jesus Christ

One of the sweetest blessings of my calling is to feel a profound, soul-stirring love for you, the women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my mind’s eye, I am with you in your sacred spaces—perhaps gathered in a chapel, or under a tent, in a casita, or fale, or your apartment—and we are sitting knee-to-knee so that I can tell you that I love you, that I am sure you are a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father, and that I am certain you can trust Jesus Christ.

It is a gift to sit with sister Saints all over the world who demonstrate profound strength, capacity, conviction, and faith in Jesus Christ. God’s love for women is demonstrated in giving us the opportunity to learn from and with each other.

What do I know from time spent with the women of the Church of Jesus Christ—those ministering visits, the parking lot encounters, and grocery story discussions?

I know that life is hard.

You can do hard with Jesus, or you can do hard alone. That is your choice. But when you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy. You become holy women.

I met a sister in a parking lot recently. She came up to me to tell me that her daughter had been in a roll-over automobile accident and was hospitalized. She confided that she had earlier lost a daughter to cancer. I assumed my new friend wanted consolation from me. But that isn’t what she wanted at all. She wasn’t coming to me for comfort, she sought me out to express testimony that her daughter had been watched over by ministering angels, she knew that her deceased daughter was one of those angels, and that she was sure her family was eternal because of her sealing in the house of the Lord. A covenant daughter of God, she was tackling the challenges of life with faith and confidence in her loving Father’s plan of happiness, the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, and the promise of angels having charge over her and her loved ones. She still had a daughter in the hospital. Her mortal experience remained hard. But my friend chose to do hard with Jesus Christ rather than doing hard alone. Her hard had become a holy time, a holy season.

I know a sister with four young children who was raising them on her own and working to support her family when her own mother was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. She told me that during this devastating time she started praying more earnestly and more often—even for help in how she was going to feed her children. She engaged the help of Heavenly Father and the Savior. Trusting Them, she prepared to make covenants in the house of the Lord. Her mother’s health was failing, nonetheless they traveled as a family and with friends to the nearest temple, where my new friend was endowed shortly before her mother died. Her mortal experience remains hard but choosing to be bound to the Savior by covenant, the way forward feels easier. Not easy, but easier, because she has greater access to His healing, strengthening power. I asked her about her relationship with the Savior, forged in the fire of adversity. This holy woman confided that she could not have come to know and trust Jesus Christ as deeply as she does now without these challenging experiences.

You see, the fire of refinement is hot. It’s the price of holiness. A refiner and purifier of silver uses fire to burn away impurities. But the refiner does not toss the ore in the furnace and walk away. The refiner carefully monitors the temperature and the time for introduction of oxygen, watching the silver dross to form on the surface of the molten metal. The refiner blows the dross off, leaving pure silver, the surface of which is glowing and light—like a mirror, reflecting the refiner’s image.

“He [referring to Jesus Christ] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” We are the precious silver, refined and chosen in the furnace of affliction. And like silver having been refined, impurities burned away, we have a godlier character, we become holy women.

Will you recognize, meet, and embrace the watchful eye of the Refiner when you are in the fire of adversity?

President D. Todd Christofferson has counseled: “In the midst of this refiner’s fire, rather than get angry with God, get close to God. Call upon the Father in the name of the Son. Walk with Them in the Spirit, day by day. Allow Them over time to manifest their fidelity to you. Come truly to know Them and truly to know yourself.”

It’s going to be hard. You can do hard with Jesus, or you can do hard alone. When you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy.

The holy woman Hannah is a scriptural example of this principle.

Hannah went to the house of the Lord, where she wept. In humble prayer she expressed to God the bitterness of her soul and her sorrowful spirit because she was childless. It wasn’t murmuring. It was raw honesty with Him about her deep disappointment and grief. She “poured out [her] soul before the Lord,” holding back nothing, even though He surely knew the depth of her pain.

And then Hannah vowed a vow—an expression of her willingness to consecrate that with which the Lord blessed her to His purposes. She boldly declared: “O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt … give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.”

Eli, the priest, told Hannah to “go in peace” and assured her that her petition to the

Lord for a son would be granted. Hannah’s meekness is evidenced in her response, “Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.” And she left and her “countenance was no more sad.”

In time, Hannah was blessed with a son, Samuel. Once he was weaned, she honored her commitment by bringing the boy to the house of the Lord. She sang praises of thanksgiving to the Lord in prayer. She exclaimed, “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord.” “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides [thee]; there is no rock like our God.”

And then she left Samuel with Eli the priest, dedicating him wholly to God’s service. A child just weaned. Can you imagine it? While she was later blessed with five more children, at the time she lent Samuel to the Lord, he was her only child. She could not have known that other children were coming. She hadn’t enjoyed all the tender moments that a mother longs for—watching him run and play, teaching him to love and share, tucking him in bed.

Each year when she and her husband came to the house of the Lord to make their yearly sacrifice, she brought a new little coat she had made for Samuel. What did she say when she saw him? How did her mother heart feel when she had to say goodbye all over again?

The scriptures do not describe her heartache. But I imagine it.

You see, Hannah was faithful, and life was still hard.

My Relief Society sisters include modern-day Hannahs, holy women, who even in their adversity worship in the house of the Lord, fast, pour out their whole souls to the Lord in prayer, consecrate that with which the Lord has blessed them, keep the commitments they have made with Him, and trust in the Lord—His will for them and His timing.

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 it’s going to be hard. You can do hard with Jesus Christ, or you can do hard alone. I am certain that when you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy—holy seasons, holy spaces, holy women.

Recently, I heard children sing these lyrics:

Sisters, we need more Jesus Christ. His light, His love, His hope, and His healing, strengthening power.

Holy women fix their focus on Jesus Christ. We “talk of Christ, [we] rejoice in Christ, [we] feast upon the words of Christ, and press forward with steadfastness in Christ.” Charity, that is the pure love of Christ, never fails us.

If, perchance, you aren’t feeling challenged by your mortal experience, consider this counsel from Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “When, for the moment, we ourselves are not being stretched on a particular cross, we ought to be at the foot of someone else’s—full of empathy and proffering spiritual refreshment.”

That is the work of holy women.

I testify that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and our watchful, loving Refiner. When we trust Him in the fire of affliction, hard times become holy seasons, and we become holy women. I love you; I am sure you are daughters of loving heavenly parents, and I am certain you can trust Jesus Christ.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.