The covenant of grace—what a glorious promise! And what wonderful discussions were generated by this topic in the 1993 BYU-Relief Society Women's Conference. Women in the Covenant of Grace brings together some of the finest of those talks from Elaine L. Jack, Bruce and Marie Hafen, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Chieko N. Okazaki, Ruth B. Wright, Elder Alexander B. Morrison, and many others.
Here is just a sampling of the intelligence and inspiration of these chapters:
"Grace is a gift of love from our Father and our Savior, so tender, so loving, and so lovely that it pierces us with sweetness. At such moments, the masks that cover our everyday lives suddenly drop, and we see divine reality. . . . If we are oppressed and wearied by many things, suddenly we realize that we are also surrounded and sustained and uplifted by the loving hands of Jesus Christ, who walks beside us and lends us his own strength."—Chieko N. Okazaki
"How often has God told us, My grace is sufficient for you?. . . Do we ever really ponder what that means? I think he wants us to give grace its due in our lives, to yield ourselves to that unearned blessing more often so that it might lighten our spiritual load and diminish our sense of inadequacy."—Carol Cornwall Madsen
"The interaction between our effort and God's grace is represented by the covenants of the Atonement, described in the sacrament prayer. Our part of that covenant is not that we may never make a mistake; it is, rather, that we are willing to take upon ourselves his name, willing to always remember him, and willing to keep his commandments. That willingness shows where our hearts really are."—Bruce and Marie Hafen
"I believe that the full, courageous acceptance of our agency is the step that allows us to take possession of our own hearts and to invite the gifts of grace. Those gifts cannot come to us unless we are consciously and freely electing to follow the truth, because God will never subordinate our recognition of what is right to his own."—Martha N. Beck
"Our attention to 'grace for grace' is not a strident shout for rank in the world, a scramble for recognition or acclaim. It is a quiet reassurance speaking softly to our souls that peace and love, hope and gentility, reverence and joy bring about change and good works."—Elaine L Jack
Filled with such thoughts and others equally pertinent to women's concerns in the latter days, Women in the Covenant of Grace will be a lasting treasure. In the words of editors Dawn Hall Anderson and Susette Fletcher Green, "We are grateful for [the contributors'] honesty, intelligence, and willingness to share their lives with our readers."
