PROVO, Utah — With softer, more open hearts, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can prepare for Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, taught Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, at BYU Education Week.
“As we strive to be pure vessels, the Lord can more readily speak to our hearts and teach us of His ways,” Sister Yee said on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Covenant-keeping disciples of Jesus Christ can help bless and benefit the world for His purposes — just as the theme of this year’s conference states, “Inspiring lifelong learning to benefit the world.”
As Sister Yee travels on assignments around the world, she said, she has learned how much the Lord loves and blesses His children. With that in mind, Sister Yee gave seven ways that Latter-day Saints can become pure vessels in the hands of the Lord.
1. ‘Realize that what you have to offer the Lord is good’
Sister Yee said each person has gifts, personalities, experiences and perspectives that are needed now, and the Lord will not waste any consecrated efforts.
“You were not sent here to be someone else. You were sent here to be you and to let the Lord refine your spirit and to grow your gifts and talents for His glorious purposes,” she said.
2. ‘Strive to keep your heart soft, yielding to the Spirit’
The Lord will have a humble people, Sister Yee said. Trials and troubles are to this end — to become humble with a deep and abiding relationship with Heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ.
“The Lord will never abandon us. We are in His gentle, powerful hands,” she said.
Sister Yee is an artist, and when she paints, certain colors come only with layers of paint and glazes built upon each other. Thus, she said, some of the most beautiful parts of life come with layers of experience, challenges, heartache and growth — and trusting God.
3. Minister and be ministered to
As people serve and are served, they gain compassion, understanding, purpose, belonging and peace. They learn to become more like the Savior.
Blessings come while caring for someone else, Sister Yee noted. “When we give the Savior’s love and relief, we are blessed to find our own relief in Him. It is a divine pattern that never fails.”
Those who welcome and invite the ministering of others allow them to keep their covenants and draw closer to God as well, she said.
4. Seek to do things in the Lord’s way — for ‘the battle is the Lord’s’
Sister Yee spoke about the example of David, who told Goliath, “And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s” (Samuel 17:47).
Later, David also trusted in the Lord’s wisdom and ways during an interaction with King Saul. “David let God prevail in his challenges and battles, and we can choose to do the same,” Sister Yee said.
5. Worship regularly in the house of the Lord
In the most recent general conference, President Russell M. Nelson invited all to increase their capacity for charity and virtue and to spend more time in the temple to prepare for the Lord’s Second Coming.
Sister Yee said President Nelson often speaks of covenants. “Why? The Lord is trying to answer our prayers, and He knows they will be answered as we strive to love God and honor our covenants with Him.”
6. ‘Let the Lord carry what you cannot’
Covenants are an opportunity to partner with the Lord and to counsel with Him, Sister Yee said.
“The Lord is not limited by mortal constraints; the Lord has time for you. You are not a burden to Him,” she said, adding He is more powerful than any weight of sin, weakness, infirmities or bondage.
7. Trust in the Lord that you may not ‘run faster than [you have] strength’
Sister Yee said that when she paints, it can be hard to walk away from what she is doing because she sees things that need to be fixed or changed. She literally has to turn her painting to face the wall before going to sleep.
Mosiah 4:27 talks about people not running faster than they have strength. Sister Yee said the Lord can help people know when to find rest and when to “turn it to the wall.”
When all trust their time and energies to the Lord and let Him prevail, He will bring peace, perspective, power, guidance and joy into their lives.
“We have been shown the way through our Savior. May we consider those things taught to us today by His Spirit as we strive to be pure vessels in His hands in preparation for His Second Coming.”
