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What does it mean to be self-reliant?

What does it mean to be self-reliant?

Prepare Yourself Spiritually

When we are self-reliant, we use the blessings and abilities God has given us to care for ourselves and our families and find solutions to our own problems. As we become self-reliant, we are also better able to serve and care for others. The Lord wants us to become both spiritually and temporally self-reliant.

Resources to Help You Prepare

These resources are to help you prepare for the “Learn together” section of the meeting.

Questions to Ponder before You Teach

How have you used the blessings and abilities God has given you to care for yourself and your family? How has being self-reliant allowed you to bless others? What other blessings of self-reliance have you experienced?

Why is it important for the young women to become self-reliant? How will self-reliance help them endure times of adversity? How will it bless their future families?

What can the young women do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to this doctrine.

Teaching in the Savior’s Way

The Savior trusted His disciples. He prepared them and gave them important responsibilities to teach, bless, and serve others. How can you encourage the young women in your class to bless those around them through their teaching and service?

Meeting Outline

1. Counsel Together and Share Experiences

Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

Lead a discussion about items such as the following:

  • Our class: Who is missing today? What visits do we need to make? Who should we invite to an upcoming activity? Who needs our help and prayers?

  • Our responsibilities: What assignments do we need to make? What assignments have we fulfilled? How have we invited others to come unto Christ, and how can we invite others now?

  • Our lives: Remind the class of the discussion from the last meeting. What experiences have we had with applying what we learned? What experiences have we had in the past few weeks that strengthened our testimonies of the gospel?

If possible, discuss these items beforehand in a class presidency meeting.

2. Learn Together

Led by a leader or teacher or a member of the class; approximately 15–25 minutes

After studying the above resources and following the inspiration of the Spirit, you may select one or more of the activities below to help class members understand the doctrine.

  • Divide the young women into groups and assign each group one of the following aspects of self-reliance: education, finances, relationships, and spiritual strength. Invite each group to review the sections of Elder Robert D. Hales’s talk “Meeting the Challenges of Today’s World” that address these topics. Invite the young women to share what they learned and something they will do to become more self-reliant in one of these areas.

  • Write on separate slips of paper the following topics related to self-reliance: Health, Education, Employment, Home Storage, Finances, and Spiritual Strength. Allow each young woman to pick a topic that she is interested in, and invite her to read about her topic in a copy of section 6.1.1 of Handbook 2 (pages 34–35). Ask each young woman to briefly teach the class what she learned about her topic, how it relates to self-reliance, and what she can do now to prepare to be self-reliant in the area. How can the young women’s efforts in their youth bless their own futures? How can these efforts bless their families when they become wives and mothers?

  • Invite each young woman to read one of the stories in Daughters in My Kingdom (pages 51–56) about women who were self-reliant in early Church history. Ask the young women to retell their stories in their own words and share what they learn about self-reliance. What can the young women do to follow these examples while they are in their youth?

  • Give each young woman either five coins, two coins, or one coin. Have them read Matthew 25:14–29 to find what happened to the person in the parable who was given the same amount of money they were given. Discuss questions such as “What did the three servants do with the money they were given?” and “How does this parable relate to self-reliance?” Invite the young women to ponder the things God has given them that will help them become self-reliant, such as talents, personality traits, and abilities. How can they use these qualities to become more self-reliant? How can they use them to bless their future families?

  • Ask the young women what they and their families might do to prepare for a natural disaster (such as an earthquake or hurricane). As a class, read the first three paragraphs of President Henry B. Eyring’s talk “Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady.” What are some “spiritual disasters” or trials that we might face? What can we do to prepare spiritually for these trials? Give each young woman part of the remainder of President Eyring’s talk, and ask them to look for answers to these questions. Invite them to share what they find.

3. Plan to Act

Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

  • Ask the young women to discuss any feelings or impressions they had during the meeting. What was meaningful to them? Is there something they can do personally or as a class to apply what they have learned?

  • Give the young women a few minutes to record what they will do in the coming weeks to act on their impressions. Invite them to share their ideas.

  • Remind the young women that they will have the opportunity to share their experiences at the beginning of the next meeting.

Related Youth Activities

Plan a Mutual activity that will help the young women apply what they learned in this lesson.