More than 20,000 women gather for LDS Church's General Relief Society Meeting

During her remarks, Sister Burton said making, keeping and rejoicing in covenants will be the evidence that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is truly written in the hearts of Latter-day Saint women.

The Relief Society general president asked women gathered in the Conference Center and around the world to remember three principles: One, all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Two, there is power in the Atonement to enable church members to overcome the natural man or woman and become true disciples of Jesus Christ. And three, the Atonement is the greatest evidence Latter-day Saints have of the father's love for his children.

"I invite us to ask the Lord to write these principles of the Atonement in our hearts," she said. "I testify that they are true."

Sister Stephens said Relief Society sisters must be spiritually awake to fulfill their duties. "Is our heart soft? Do we have a humble heart, a teachable heart, a gentle heart? Or have our hearts become hardened as we have allowed too much of the noise of the world to distract us from the gentle promptings that have surely come from the spirit?"

Sister Reeves said individuals must turn to the Lord for strength and comfort when they are weighed down by the anguish, sin, adversity and pains of life. "He has not forgotten you," she said. "Whatever sin or weakness or pain or struggle or trial you are going through, he knows and understands those very moments. He loves you. And he will carry you through those moments."

Email: sarah@desnews.com, mholman@desnews.com