"Grace is much more than a word; it is an eternal principle with major force in our lives today," said Relief Society Gen. Pres. Elaine L. Jack during her closing remarks at Women's Conference at BYU.
Speaking in the Marriott Center on the conference theme, "From Grace to Grace," taken from D&C 93:13, Pres. Jack related: "After these sessions, we can appreciate more fully our covenant of grace. We are a covenant-making people. A covenant is a mutual agreement or promise between two people."Our covenants hold great significance because we make them with the Lord," she continued. "Each week as we take the sacrament, we covenant to always remember Him. We covenant at baptism to take His name upon us. We covenant to pay our tithe, and we covenant in our temple ordinances. . . .
"The Savior showed us just how to apply this grace for grace. To the woman at the well He offered kindness and concern. So can we. To Peter, Christ reached His hand over the waters to lift His faltering disciple . . . . To the Nephites, He took their little children one by one and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
"We are here today," she related, "not because of what we do, but because of who we are, daughters of God. We value such definition. We are women of covenant. Indeed, we stand before the world today to rejoice in the grace of God. The greatest power on earth. Our goodness reaches out to all around us. It changes lives and touches hearts, heals souls and lights the paths so others can follow."
Pres. Jack pointed out: "We see all around us the adversary at work and succeeding. He has twisted truth to his purposes and throngs have followed. But there are in the masses those who stand out, who witness by their lives the covenants they have made to the Lord.
"Sisters, we are in a different position than women of the world. We have made covenants with the Lord. These covenants include our willingness to lay aside the things of this world and to seek for the things of a better."
Pres. Jack continued: "We must stand united as a people for the Lord to call us one. This is a Church of eight and a half million people - a force for good yoked by priesthood power to accomplish the Lord's will.
"Often we feel the Savior's love in a touch of a friend, a note from a neighbor, a flower picked in the garden by a small child, a smile, a wave from across the street, or a silent but clearly enunciated answer to a pressing problem while reading the scriptures.
"This cause is our only cause in these latter days. His work is not cluttered by other agendas. We are on the path of eternal life, and we must not be deterred."
Pres. Jack explained that the Lord's grace is sufficient for all. "We have no need for more."
