Women of the Relief Society organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “are women of faith, virtue, vision and charity,” as stated in the Relief Society Declaration.
“A woman of faith trusts God and faces adversity with hope.” (Margaret D. Nadauld, “A Woman of Faith,” Ensign, Nov 2002, 73) I have been strengthened by the women of faith in my ward. These women pray for each other and nurture each other through visiting teaching and friendships.
I have a neighbor, Laverne who lost her husband ten years ago, to multiple cancers. Soon after his death she discovered that she suffers from leukemia. Each Sunday she sits in the choir seats, where the congregation can see she is still here. Over the course of her leukemia she has been on the hospice home care twice, which usually means you are in your last six months, yet she still lives. Yet, this woman continues to attend church and the temple regularly. She has shown up at my door with lovely roses that she had nurtured in her own yard. She is aware of everyone’s struggles. In lean times for us, she has climbed the stairs to our front door and brought us a Stouffer’s lasagna, to freeze and eat later. Laverne is a woman of faith, virtue, and charity, as she continues to serve and help others, even though she suffers.
My neighbor, Jackie, was dying of breast cancer and still had children in the home. She still continued to serve in her calling and attend the temple. Her children were in high school and junior high. Many women of the Relief Society took meals in, visited her to encourage her, and assist her with care for her home and family. She faced her trail with faith and vision, working to prepare her family for her death, knowing they would be together again in the resurrection.
Recently, a friend’s husband, Alvin, was in need of a kidney, had been on dialysis for a few years and had a donor fall through. A young mother in our neighborhood, Tara, felt the promptings of the spirit to offer her kidney. Doctors found that she was a match and six weeks ago she gave her kidney to Alvin. This was a great act of charity for this very young woman of faith. She had vision, in exercising her faith that this man would be made whole.
These women, those they served, and those that served them, have strengthened me by their example of faith, virtue, vision, and charity over the years. As a result, I have had faith and vision to overcome adversity, have found ways to exercise charity, and have been inspired to be more virtuous.
