PROVO, Utah — A favorite Primary song of Primary General President Susan H. Porter is “I Will Walk With Jesus.”
“The main message of this beautifully simple song is that when we open our heart and minds to receive the Savior and walk in His way, He will walk with us,” said President Porter during a keynote session of BYU Women’s Conference on Thursday, May 1.
At President Porter’s invitation, the voices of thousands of Latter-day Saint women filled the Marriott Center to sing “I Will Walk With Jesus” as depictions of the Savior and children played over the overhead video boards and screens.
In introducing the song, President Porter said: “I invite you to behold yourself choosing to walk humbly with Jesus. I pray you will feel His love for you.”
President Porter was one of several Church leaders participating in the three-day conference.
Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, opened the conference with a keynote address on Wednesday evening, April 30. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will conclude the annual gathering with an address on Friday afternoon, May 2.
Speaking on the “life-altering” words of the Lord to the prophet Enoch and the theme of this year’s conference — “Behold my Spirit is upon you, … thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me” (Moses 6:34) — President Porter highlighted the need for humility as individuals walk with the Savior — and the strength that follows.
“I pray that we may focus on becoming ‘humble followers of Christ’ (2 Nephi 28:14),” President Porter said. “As we do so, we will receive His power to strengthen us in our weakness and enable us to walk forward with Him, becoming the women of God He knows we can be,” she promised.
The perfect example
“Humility is not weakness,” President Porter taught.
Quoting the Gospel Topics entry on “Humility,” she said humility “is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. … To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord — to understand that we have constant need for His support. … We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous.”
As individuals grow in humility, they become less critical and more compassionate, less demanding and more helpful.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of humility, President Porter said. “Throughout His mortal life, He consistently looked to His Father as His source of strength and power and as the example for all He did.”
Jesus taught, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
Said President Porter: “As the Savior humbled Himself before His Father, He received His Father’s strength. Likewise, when we humble ourselves before God, our hearts open to receive strength from Him, bringing the power of God into our lives to help us become as He is.”
Humble as a little child
In the most recent general conference, President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, recounted the story of a young deacon named Easton, who tried with all “his heart and might” to make his way up the three steps to the stand to pass the sacrament.
“That story and President Holland’s message was centered on an invitation the Savior gave to all of us: ‘Whosoever … shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 18:4)," said President Porter.
She played a clip of one of the singers in the children’s choir that sang “Gethsemane” in the October 2024 general conference, who shared his testimony of the Savior. She then quoted 3 Nephi 17:23, “Behold your little ones.”
Said President Porter, “Behold their humility. Humility touches hearts. Humility changes hearts. Humility opens our hearts to receive the Spirit of God. Being humble fills us with the desire to leave behind old habits and choose to walk with the Savior. We receive His strength and His power to persevere and stay with Him through our hard battles of life.”
Examples of strength in humility
President Porter then shared several examples of individuals who are trying to rely on the Lord and walk in humility with Him.
When Alma the Younger gives up the judgment seat to teach the word of God, he invites the people of Gideon to “be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated” (Alma 7:23).
Last year, President Porter met a woman in the Caribbean who left her home at 5 a.m. each day to travel two hours by bus to work in the city and then traveled another two hours home by bus, often in hot, humid conditions.
One night after dinner, as this woman lay down to rest, her 10-year-old son asked if they could read from the Book of Mormon together. She considered refusing but felt something and got up.
“She humbled herself, enabling her to be ‘easy to be entreated,’” President Porter noted, “receiving the strength she needed to nourish her son’s testimony and her own as they read together the words of God.”
After sharing the experiences of a granddaughter, a sister-in-law and a grief-stricken family in Argentina who were all striving to walk with the Savior despite their weaknesses or challenges, President Porter shared of her own experience.
After moving to Munich, Germany, with three children 3 years old and younger, President Porter said she felt isolated and alone. Her husband was working and serving as the branch president, and most of their congregation lived 30 minutes away on a military base.
“I began to feel that I was not contributing in any way or accomplishing anything,” President Porter related. Her husband, Elder Bruce D. Porter, served as a General Authority Seventy from 1995 until his death in 2016.
One day she was asked to teach in Relief Society. After the lesson, several sisters approached to express their gratitude. As she listened to them, the words “The Lord loves a plodder” came to her mind.
“Those five words, delivered by the still, small voice, were like a healing balm to my soul,” President Porter said. “I was a plodder. I was walking slowly. But I knew in that moment that not only was the Savior perfectly aware of my situation, but He loved me. He was walking beside me. It was humbling to care for young children. Their needs were constant. He recognized that I was not moving forward in great leaps and bounds, but that I was moving. I had not given up but was plodding forward. And that, for Him, was enough."
President Porter noted that many of her listeners have most likely felt like they have walked alone. “Perhaps you are walking a challenging path right now. Like the disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, there will be times when we don’t recognize His presence. I testify as we continue humbly walking in His way and seeking His help, we will be given vision and understanding to see that He has been and is walking with us, upholding and strengthening us by His righteous, omnipotent hand.”
