Welcome to our digital mini BYU women's conference.
My name is Sandra Rogers, chair of this year's conference.
Wherever you are, I am grateful to have you with us.
I'm delighted to introduce the speaker for this session.
Rosemary Thackeray will address the topic,
"The Lord Knows You and is Aware of You."
Rosemary is a professor of public health at Brigham Young
University and currently serves as the assistant
to the president for planning and assessment.
She has degrees from Utah State University
and the University of Utah.
She is currently the Stake Relief Society president
in the Orem Utah Cascade Stake, and previously served
on the Young Women's general board.
She is the favorite aunt of six nieces and nephews and one
great niece.
I invite you to read more about Sister Thackeray on our women's
conference web page.
We appreciate Rosemary's preparation
and know that you will enjoy her presentation.
I am a gatherer.
It is in my DNA.
My parents were gatherers.
They relish the opportunity to join together
with friends and family, usually with an abundance of food.
We often made room for extra people
around our kitchen table.
It was my uncle for noon-day lunch
when the brothers were working cattle.
Our Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the trimmings,
including made-from-scratch hot rolls and pie
was shared with individuals who had no family or place to go.
And for many years, every Sunday evening,
friends came by for homemade ice cream
and freshly baked chocolate chip cowboy cookies.
I have found joy hosting Sunday dinners for the Thackeray
cousins while they attended Brigham Young
University, and some even after they graduated.
At the end of the meal we posed for photos, some serious
and others humorous, like using our hands to make
deer antlers on our heads.
I display these photos on my dining room wall
beneath the saying, "The fondest memories
are made when gathered around the table."
Most of us enjoy gathering.
One lesson we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
is that human interaction is vital to our
mental and emotional health.
It was not easy for us to follow the rules to stay home and stay
safe, to keep six feet apart from other people,
to greet each other without an embrace or handshake,
and to limit our gatherings to immediate family.
We missed congregating for Sunday worship,
participating in temple ordinances
to gather our ancestors, and meeting
to celebrate weddings, funerals, birthdays, baptisms, and more.
A well-known gathering parable is found in the New Testament.
It is a story of the wedding feast.
The king has prepared a great meal
to honor his son's marriage.
He extends the invitations.
People begin to send their regrets saying
they are unable to attend.
The food is ready.
The time for celebration has arrived,
but there are no guests.
The king sends his servants into the street
to invite others to come and join the supper.
In Revelation chapter 19, verse 9, referring to this event,
it reads, "blessed are those who are invited to the marriage
feast of the lamb."
You and I are invited to this feast
by Jesus Christ, the Master gatherer.
Christ refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.
Shepherds gather their sheep to the fold.
Jehovah, the Lord of the Old Testament,
covenanted with ancient Israel that He
would gather in His people.
Today, I would like to share four truths that
can help us respond to Christ's invitation to gather to Him
and increase our ability to gather scattered Israel as we
prepare the world for the Savior's Second Coming.
Truth number one, He knows you.
He knows you, and He knows your name.
Jesus Christ not only calls the stars by their name,
but He knows and calls His sheep--you and me--by our name.
We read in the scriptures when Moses, Enoch, Enes, Joseph
Smith, and others were called by name.
If the Lord knew these people by name,
then we have confidence that He knows us also.
He knows each of us individually, not collectively
as a group of His children.
It is not the same level of knowing
as I know the students in my class
or the sisters in my stake Relief Society.
He knows our innermost thoughts, the desires of our hearts,
our dreams, our disappointments.
He knows each of us one by one.
He knows I like Aggie ice cream, and that
is my favorite, as well as Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby.
He knows I'd rather sleep in a hotel
than go camping in the mountains,
but I went to Young Women's camp anyway.
He knows I have no sense of direction
and can easily get lost.
He knows I sometimes mourn the missed opportunity to have
been a wife and a mother.
When my nephew Justin was 5 years old in late August,
he started exhibiting behaviors that
were concerning for my sister, Laura, and her husband, Mark.
For example, he forgot how to pull up a zipper on his jacket;
he would stumble walking up the school bus steps;
when washing his hands, Justin said
he could not see the soap on the bathroom sink;
and he became increasingly ill for no apparent reason.
Laura reached out to her pediatrician.
The doctor suggested that Justin had just started school,
so he was likely experiencing separation anxiety
being away from his mother.
One Sunday afternoon in early October,
Laura's family and I were visiting my parents.
Usually, Justin would eagerly respond to my invitation
to walk to the school playground for a few rides on the swing.
That day, he was not interested.
He said, "I just want to stay with my mom."
As we gathered around the kitchen table eating lunch,
Justin had a far-away look in his eyes.
A somber feeling permeated the house.
Laura, mom, and I sat on the living room couch,
the warm afternoon sun streaming in the windows
as we tenderly discussed Justin's situation.
We gently wiped away tears as they trickled down our cheeks.
The next morning when I arrived at work,
I picked up the telephone and called Laura.
I can still remember exactly where
I was standing in my office in the Richards building
on the campus of Brigham Young University.
I said to her, Laura, I know you're the mom,
but there is something seriously wrong with Justin.
In a quivering voice full of emotion
she quietly responded, I know.
I encouraged her to call Sandy, a relative who
was a doctor about an hour drive from her home.
I knew that Sandy would get Justin an appointment
to see him.
Within a few hours, Justin was in Sandy's office
where he immediately made a diagnosis.
Sandy sent Laura and Justin home for brain scans
at the local hospital.
The next day, Justin was at Primary Children's Hospital
in Salt Lake City, Utah meeting with two surgeons.
One of the surgeons who was not supposed to be on
call that day, but he was, and not
by coincidence, he was a brain tumor expert
and familiar with this rare astrocytoma.
On Wednesday, a shunt was inserted into Justin's head
to drain the accumulated fluid.
On Friday, the surgeons performed
an eight-hour surgery, removing as much
of the brain tumor as they could without destroying
Justin's vision.
Because Jesus Christ knows you and me,
we can trust Him to help us.
He knows what assistance we need and when
it would be best for us to receive that support.
He knows how and when to reach out and succor us.
In John chapter 10, verse 14, it reads, "I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and am known of mine."
The Savior knows us.
The question for us is, do we know Him?
Knowing the Lord is required for us
to be gathered and eventually receive eternal life.
The Savior added, "and if they know me, they shall come forth
and shall have a place eternally at my right hand."
Elder David A Bednar our stated the following
about how we can come to know the Lord.
"A grand objective of mortality is not merely
learning about the only begotten of the father,
but also striving to know Him.
Four essential steps that can help us come to know the Lord
are exercising faith in Him, following Him, serving Him,
and believing Him," end quote.
As we come to know the Savior, our desire
to reach out and gather others in love just as He would
increases.
I invite all of us to consider what
we can do to know the Savior better than we do today.
Truth number two, He hears you.
In the Book of Mormon, the Savior commanded the Nephites,
and us today, to always pray unto the Father and His--that
is, Jesus Christ's--name.
Elder David L Frischknecht shared the following
about the miracle of prayer.
He said, "While we should pray every day continually,
there is nothing ordinary, or automatic, or formulaic,
or common about prayer.
Every time we sincerely pray to the Father
in the name of the Lord, a unique sacred miracle occurs.
And the miracle is not simply that you found your lost car
keys, or that you remembered the right answer on the test,
or even that you received an answer to a urgent question
in your life, though these might be
the miracles you would recall.
The miracle is that you actually talked with God,
and that He, in fact, heard you and answered you."
I am confident that each of you could share an experience where
you prayed and God heard you and answered you.
It may have been when you poured out your soul to him
in audible prayer, or it may have
been a silent prayer offered in a public place,
or a prayer you held in your heart for years.
Sister Bonnie D Parkin and former Relief Society General
President, shared the following story
about her husband's grandmother receiving a direct answer
to prayer.
Anna Matilda Anderson was a young girl who
lived in Sweden in the 1880s.
When she and her family joined the Church,
they were ridiculed for their beliefs.
Anna's mother decided that they should move to America
and join the Saints in Utah.
Anna was 11 years old when she and her sister Ida
were sent ahead to earn money and bring
the rest of the family.
They sailed to the United States,
then traveled by train to Ogden, Utah,
where Ida left by covered wagon to work for her sponsors
in Idaho.
Anna was completely alone on the train
as she continued to Salt Lake City.
She spoke no English and knew no one.
Can you imagine the loneliness and terror of her ride?
The train pulled into the darkened Rio Grande station
just before midnight.
The relative who was to meet Anna was not there.
Anna stood watching with dread as the station slowly emptied.
Finally, she was alone with a German family
who had no one to meet them.
The darkness was thick and threatening,
closing in all around her.
She later recalled, "I started to cry
and thought about the last thing my mother told me.
If you come to a place where you can't understand
what the people are saying, don't
forget to pray to your Father in Heaven,
because He can understand you."
Anna knelt by her suitcase and pleaded with all her might
for heavenly help.
Haven't we all said prayers like that?
The German family motioned for Anna to follow them.
Having no other choice, she walked behind them crying.
Arriving at Temple Square, they heard rapid footsteps.
A woman was hurrying towards them.
Studying each person she passed, she
looked at the German family, then passed on.
Anna caught the woman's searching gaze.
The woman stopped, unbelieving.
She recognized the young girl, and with a shock,
Anna recognized the woman.
She was her Sunday School teacher who
had left Sweden a year earlier.
Pulling Anna tightly into her arms,
the teacher wiped away her frightened tears.
She told Anna, I was awakened over and over again,
and images of the arriving immigrants
raced through my mind.
I could not go back to sleep.
I was prompted to come to the temple
to see if there was anyone I knew here.
Can you believe it?
A Sunday school teacher sent in pitch black night
like an angel of light.
"So you see," Anna remembered, "my Heavenly Father
more than answered my prayers.
I only asked for someone who could understand me,
and he sent someone I knew."
I now return to Justin's story.
As I drove home from my parents that October
evening reflecting on Justin's situation,
I had a distinct impression come into my mind.
I either believed that when I prayed God heard and answered
my prayers, or He did not.
The time to develop faith was passed.
During the next few days, weeks, and months,
I prayed frequently, sincerely, and earnestly
for Justin's health and recovery.
I know from personal experience that not all prayers
are answered in the way we would like or in the time we prefer.
We pray, we petition, we wait upon the Lord.
Today, Justin is a healthy, happy, talented, and kind young
man.
Justin's life is a miracle.
He is a reminder to us that Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ are in the details of our lives.
They were and are mindful of Justin and his situation.
They knew what he was experiencing
and what medical assistance he needed at that exact moment
and who would be able to provide that care.
God hears us when we pray.
The question for us is, do we hear and know
the Good Shepherd's voice?
The ability to hear the Lord's voice
is an indication that we are His disciples.
After King Benjamin's people made a covenant
to take upon themselves Christ's name and obey his commandments,
King Benjamin admonished them to both know and hear the voice
by which they were called.
Ministering to others in ways that
are uniquely suited to them is one way
we participate in gathering.
As we increase our capacity to hear Jesus Christ's voice,
we are able to receive promptings for how we can best
serve others.
One day at church, my friend Kathryn
received a prompting to take a meal to a lady sitting
a few rows in front of her.
Kathryn approached the woman and offered her services.
The woman indicated they were moving that week and the meal
would be greatly appreciated.
During the conversation, Kathryn asked
if the woman's mother would be helping her family move.
In response, the woman said she had recently passed away.
Kathryn then received an impression from the Spirit.
It was this woman's mother who was asking for someone
to please help her daughter.
Kathryn responded to a quiet prompting
and helped a sister feel encircled in Christ's love.
Sometime later, one morning Kathryn
prayed to feel her own deceased mother's presence
and recognize her influence.
That day, a neighbor appeared at her doorstep
with a pan of sweet rolls just like her mother used to make.
Hearing the Good Shepherd's voice
allows Christ to gather us and for us to safely gather others
to Him.
President Russell M Nelson has specifically
invited us to think about how we hear the voice of the Lord
and to take steps to hear Him better and more often.
Truth number three, He sees you.
Perhaps there have been times you felt insignificant, even
invisible.
It may have seemed that nobody, including God,
was aware of, you.
Even Joseph Smith cried out in Liberty Jail, "Oh God,
where art Thou, and where is the pavilion that covereth Thy
hiding place?"
The truth is the Lord sees us, even though we cannot see Him.
In Doctrine and Covenants section 38, verse 7
we read, "But behold verily, verily, I
say and to you that mine eyes are upon you.
I am in your midst and ye cannot see me."
My friend Liz shared the following experience
about how she knew God was aware of her and the choices
she was making.
Quote, "Some time ago, I transitioned out
of a young single adult ward into a conventional family
ward.
I wondered if I was giving up the chance
to be married as I chose not to attend the older singles ward.
"As I prayed and asked if the opportunity for marriage
would pass me by with this decision,
I felt an impression from the Spirit.
I know where you are.
Heavenly Father was aware of the decisions I had made,
and he knew exactly where I was and what I was doing.
He knows where to find me when He needs me," end quote.
It seems that when we feel little or no control
over our circumstances, that is when we earnestly
seek an affirmation that the Lord sees us and is
aware of our situation.
That is how I felt last summer when both my parents were
experiencing failing health.
My dad was diagnosed with cancer followed
by the discovery of a volleyball-sized tumor
on his kidney.
My mom had several health challenges, all of which
were compounded by advanced dementia which
seemed to progress exponentially with my dad's declining health.
I was starting a new position at work;
my schedule would be more demanding,
and I was anxious about how my three siblings and I would
care for my mom once our dad passed away.
During this time, my friend Brad shared with me
his experience when his mom was dying from lung cancer just
a few years earlier.
He said, quote, "I prayed to ask Heavenly Father to relieve
my mom's burden.
The thought came to me that my mom was in His hands and care,
and that my responsibility was to be faithful
to Him and to my mom."
It was a sobering experience for me.
I was reminded that the Lord is not in some distant galaxy
far away from us.
He is near to us and in the details of our lives.
He knows and controls when it is time for us to return to Him.
One day, I went to the temple with the purpose
of seeking an answer to a course of action for my mom.
As I waited to participate in the ordinances,
I was seated next to a beautiful painting
of a young girl with long blonde hair cascading
over her shoulders.
She sat in a bright green pasture
against a clear blue sky with flowers in bloom
all around her.
I thought of my mom.
When she was a young girl, she had long blonde hair.
She wore it in braids.
She found joy in flowers and gardening.
The impression came that many family members
were waiting on the other side of the veil to greet her.
As I spent time pondering, I picked up the scriptures
and the pages fell open to Doctrine and Covenants
section 44, verse 6, which reads, "Behold, I
say to you that, ye must visit the poor and the needy
and administer to their relief, that they
may be kept until all things may be
done according to my law which ye have received."
My answer was, I just needed to keep
visiting Mom and doing what I could to relieve her suffering.
As Brad had said, the Lord was mindful
of us and of Mom's situation.
Five days later, Dad passed away.
In the early morning hours on the day of Dad's funeral,
Mom quietly crossed the veil to be
reunited with her sweetheart.
My prayers were answered, and her burden was lifted.
The Savior sees us.
How often do we look for Jesus in our life?
One day during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period,
a lady in our neighborhood suggested that we
have a "Look for Jesus Day."
She invited us to put a picture of Jesus in our front window,
and then the kids and adults could walk around
the neighborhood looking for photos of the Savior.
My heart was lifted and testimony strengthened
as I stroll through the neighborhood on Sunday evening
and noticed the quiet simple declarations of we
believe in Christ.
In the scriptures, the prophets repeatedly
admonish us to remember the goodness of God.
Likewise, we are commanded to thank the Lord in all things.
There are many blessings that come
from following this counsel.
One key blessing is the ever-present gift
of His Spirit to be with us.
The Spirit will guide our journey back to God.
Recognizing and recording the moments
when we experience Christ's hand in our lives
is not just for our benefit.
Sharing these stories with others
can help them to trust in God and keep His commandments.
Indeed, bearing witness of the Savior and of His goodness
is essential to gathering others to Christ.
As we share testimony, the Spirit
can confirm the truth to another's heart.
Throughout time, women who had the courage
to stand as witnesses of Christ have had a profound effect
on individuals and communities.
Think of the women who, in the early morning hours,
went to the Savior's tomb only to find it empty.
The Samaritan woman at the well, and Abish in the Book
of Mormon.
President M. Russell Ballard promised,
the more you recognize the Lord's hand in your lives,
the more you will see it in your lives today.
Truth number four, He loves you.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated, quote, "Our Savior, the Good
Shepherd, knows and loves us.
He knows and loves you.
He knows you when you are lost, and He knows where you are.
He knows your grief, your silent pleadings, your fears,
your tears.
It matters not how you became lost,
whether because of your own poor choices
or because of the circumstances beyond your control.
What matters is that you are His child and He loves you.
He loves His children."
My colleague Jeff shared the following
about his daughter, Caroline, and Christ's love for her.
Due to complications at birth, Caroline was deprived of oxygen
causing severe disabilities.
Jeff said, "Sometimes, frequently, Caroline
becomes sad.
She will cry and cry, and neither we nor the doctors
can determine what is wrong.
We just have to wait it out and pray.
"Caroline is often sad and loud at church,
or sometimes happy but still loud,
and Christine, or Lizzie, or I, or a kind ward member
will take her out to the foyer of the chapel
where we push Caroline around in her chair
calming her with the movement."
And now the rest of the story in Jeff's own words.
One Sunday a couple of years ago,
I came to church pushing an especially sad Caroline,
thinking we might just stay for the sacrament.
As I walked to the foyer and Caroline remained sad,
I began to wonder if we would even make it to the sacrament.
All my efforts to comfort her seemed fruitless,
and Caroline's crying was certainly disturbing others.
But then the sacrament hymn began,
and Caroline calmed briefly when I started to sing.
She quickly got fussy again, so I put my face close to hers
and I sang to her.
She quieted and listened.
The sacramental hymn that day was Reverently and Meekly Now,
which is written in the first-person voice
as if the Savior were singing.
Admittedly I was focused on Caroline and not the song
until we came to the fourth verse
when I found myself singing these words to my daughter.
"I have loved thee as my friend with a love that cannot end."
I looked into Caroline's big blue eyes,
and I felt deeply the tender, personal truth of those words
for my daughter.
Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world,
loves Caroline with a love that cannot end.
Even there in the foyer in her less-than-ideal state,
Caroline is loved.
When she is sad or hurting, and her parents
are clueless and incapable of comforting her,
there is one who is her everlasting friend who
knows how she feels and how to succor her.
The corollary is also true.
Jesus is my friend, and He is yours.
He knows my frailties, including my frailties of faith,
and He knows yours.
And He loves us not in spite of those frailties
but with a full, compassionate understanding of them.
He loves us in our crucible of spirit because He has felt what
we feel--our doubt and our discouragement,
as well as our sin and sorrow.
The Savior loves us.
Do we love Him?
If we love God with all our might, mind, and strength,
we are promised that His grace is sufficient for us.
In Hebrew, the root word for grace
is chanan, which means to bend or stoop in kindness.
What a powerful image.
Because of Christ's Atonement, He
is bending down or stooping in kindness to help us
through our challenges in life.
When we love the Savior, we in turn
extend charity, the pure love of Christ, to others.
We love without judgment or conditions or any expectations
of love in return.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland suggested
that one day we will individually
report on our love for God.
Quote, "My beloved brothers and sisters,
I am not certain just what our experience
will be on Judgment Day.
But I will be very surprised if at some point in that
conversation God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked
Peter, 'Did you love me?'
"I think he will want to know within our very mortal, very
inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things,
did we at least understand one commandment?
The first and greatest commandment of them all?
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,
and with all thy mind," end quote.
I invite all of us to make a conscious effort
to develop a testimony of these simple truths.
It will be a quest of a lifetime to come to know the Savior,
to hear Him, to see and recognize
His hand in our lives, and to demonstrate our love for Him.
Having a conviction deep down in our heart
that the Lord knows us, sees us, hears, and loves
us will change our life.
We will know why we are here and how
we should be spending our time.
Our confidence will increase.
We will not be swayed by the opinions and philosophies
of the world.
It is our work to respond to the invitation
to help gather scattered Israel and prepare
for the Savior's Second Coming.
President Russell M. Nelson has indicated
that this gathering is the greatest challenge the greatest
cause and the greatest work on the earth today.
To the sisters he specifically said, "We need you.
We need your strength, your conversion, your conviction,
your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices."
When these four truths are written
in the fleshy tables of our hearts,
we will care less about what people think about us,
including how many likes or followers we have
on our social media accounts.
The Lord's love is deeper and more
enduring than any fleeting praise and adoration
the world has to offer.
Knowing the Lord has our back will give us
the courage and confidence to face any trials that
will come our way.
When our foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the devil may send forth his winds, yea his shafts
and the whirlwinds, but they will
have no power to drag us down to the gulf
of misery and endless woe.
Several years ago, I was earnestly seeking an answer
to a life question.
One Sunday, I approached the Lord in fasting and prayer.
I determined to end my fast after I
met with the stake presidency to be set apart for a calling.
During the setting apart, the blessing I received
was beautiful, but my question remained unanswered.
At the conclusion of the meeting,
the stake president invited me to remain
after the other seven or eight people had left the room.
He then told me that there was more to my blessing,
but he felt it was too personal for other people to hear.
In that sacred setting as the stake president
and his counselor once again placed their hands on my head,
I received direct, unmistakable personal revelation.
This event has been a touchstone for me.
When I begin to wonder if God knows me, sees me, hears
my prayers, and loves me, I reflect back to that evening
when God answered a prayer that was known only to Him
and me alone.
The Good Shepherd has extended the invitation
to each one of us.
We can use our agency to respond or not.
He will never force us.
Our positive response will result in Him gathering us
into the fold.
The lyrics to the well-known Christian hymn Softly
and Tenderly say it best.
"Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling--calling for you
and for me.
See on the portals he's waiting and watching.
Watching for you and for me.
Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home.
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling.
Calling, o sinner, come home."
I joyfully testify of these truths.
I know the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live.
They are mindful of me and of you.
They are in the details of our lives.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.