Visiting Teaching Message:

Blessings of Belonging to Relief Society

Prayerfully select and read from this message the scriptures and teachings that meet the needs of the sisters you visit. Share your experiences and testimony. Invite those you teach to do the same.

How Can Relief Society Strengthen Your Relationship with Jesus Christ?

Sarah Cleveland, former first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency: “We design to act in the name of the Lord—to relieve the wants of the distressed, and do all the good we can. … We have entered into this work in the name of the Lord. Let us boldly go forward” (Relief Society Minutes, Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mar. 17, 1842, 12; Mar. 30, 1842, 24).

Kathleen H. Hughes, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency: “Whatever our circumstance, we are blessed as women. We have made covenants with Heavenly Father to do His work—and we are doing that work! Like Mary and Martha, we have placed ourselves at the Master’s feet and have ‘chosen that good part’ [see Luke 10:42]. We have chosen Christ, and we have chosen Relief Society. … It is pleasant to think that [Mary and Martha], and other faithful women who were Christ’s disciples, might have met together to learn their part in building the kingdom. They were covenant women like us. They had determined to give the Savior all their hearts. So, too, when the Relief Society was organized, it grew out of our divine calling and our desire to serve, to love, and to care for each other” (“In Covenant with Him,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2003, 108).

Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

How Can Relief Society Bless You and Your Family?

President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “Relief Society guides mothers in nurturing their daughters and in cultivating in husbands and sons and brothers courtesy and courage. … The defenses of the home and family are greatly reinforced when the wife and mother and daughters belong to Relief Society. … Strong Relief Societies carry a powerful immunizing and healing influence for the mothers and the daughters, for the single parent, for the single sisters, for the aging, for the infirm. … Both [Relief Society and priesthood quorums] have as their consummate purpose to secure the family eternally” (“The Relief Society,” Ensign, May 1998, 72–74).

President Gordon B. Hinckley: “God bless the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. May the spirit of love, which has motivated its members for more than a century and a half, continue to grow and be felt over the world. May their works of charity touch for good the lives of uncounted numbers wherever they find expression. And may light and understanding, learning and knowledge, and eternal truth grace the lives of generations of women yet to come, throughout the nations of the earth because of this singular and divinely established institution. May they recognize, one and all, their great responsibility and blessing to be ‘instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work’ (Alma 26:3)” (“Video: Instruments in the Hands of God,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2005, 106).

Illustration by Shannon Christensen