Me... Relief Society President? You're Joking Right?

Yep, that about sums up my reaction. Just over a month ago, I was called as the Murrieta Springs Branch Relief Society President. I told the new Branch President he was crazy for two VERY GOOD REASONS... A.) I'm getting married in 6 months(it was six months then) and B.) I DON'T LIKE RELIEF SOCIETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That just goes to show you when you have a rather strong dislike for something with regard to the Gospel or the Church, Heavenly Father finds a way to first slap you across the face in a rather large way, and then humble you so far as to make you drop to your knees and beg for mercy! :) Well, I don't know about the begging, but in my case, it was pretty close. The former Relief Society President was PHENOMENAL! She is one the most kind and caring women I have ever met. She is non judgemental, meek, patient, long suffering, and a million other things that I could only hope to become in this life. All I kept thinking was why on earth would I be called to serve as her successor?
Yesterday, during Fast and Testimony meeting, I think my answer came. You see, just a few days after I was called as the new President, our wonderful Stake President called me up out of the blue and guilt ed me in to speaking in Stake Conference. ( I can say that because he is a very good friend )anyway, he asked me to speak on a Chapter in the book of Matthew in the New Testament referring to "Seek ye first to build up the Kingdom of God, then all things shall be added unto you." That is paraphrasing of course, but there I stood in front of 3,000 plus members of the church proclaiming to know what it's like to seek first the Kingdom of God and having all things added unto me. Realizing now that I hadn't a clue what that meant I felt prompted to stand from that same pulpit once more and shed some different light on the subject.
Any of you who have served in this calling, or even in the Presidency itself, can fully relate. I'm certain of it. When you are set apart as the Lord's steward of the women in your ward, there immediately follows this added measure of gifts and talents that seem to appear from no where. There comes this flood of compassion and desire to do what is good and right to support and sustain your fellow sisters in Christ. There comes this added burden of cares which strangely enough is not a burden at all, rather a feeling of trust from our Father in Heaven to see fit that these wonderful women are continuing to grow and progress and become the Divine Women that they promised our Father in Heaven they would become while in mortality.
As I stood at the Pulpit yesterday looking around the chapel at different faces, more often then not Franks, I realized that the things that I would have added unto me weren't the things that I was seeking after, and certainly not of this world, they were things of a much more glorious nature. They were and are and will be every necessary thing from talents to thoughts to carry me safely home in to the arms of my loving Father in Heaven and to hear Him say in me He is well pleased. AS I woke this morning, I reflected briefly on that feeling, but more so now as I sit here in silence... I am beginning to realize the weight of my calling... by no means do I feel overwhelmed, but I do feel a sense of urgency to impress upon, especially the younger sisters in the Branch, the importance of learning and then living the Gospel Standards. Especially as we are being faced with more and more opposition to what we believe to be correct and true. I realized that the importance of our meetings just stay there in the Relief Society rooms, but that they should and must carry over in to the days and sometimes even weeks between Church meetings. The strength of the sisterhood of the Relief Society begins with the President and her Presidency and that is something I am striving to accomplish while serving in this capacity. I also taught the lesson in Relief Society yesterday and as I was standing there speaking I felt the need to focus on the fact that we each have HOLY PLACES, places where HEAVEN and EARTH come together, and it is those places that the most valuable lessons are taught and it is the Relief Society room in which I preside that I hope to bring Heaven and Earth together for the growth that is necessary for each women to solidify her testimony in the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the understanding that she is of great worth, her nature is divine, her beauty and grace is found in her virtue, and that she is of the Nobelist of birthrights. She is not only a Child of God, but a Daughter of God. What a powerful thing to come to know.
How truly grateful I am for the Lord trusting me enough to be an example to the women of my branch and how I lucky I am that my Branch President wasn't joking when extending this assignment because the amount of growth which has taken place already is insurmountable, I can only imagine what is coming throughout the rest of my time serving.