PROVO, Utah — Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, knows that even the smallest light can displace darkness. But most objects don’t produce light on their own, she said, but instead reflect light, much like the moon reflects light from the sun.
“And in many ways, we are the same,” Sister Runia said. “On our own, we can sometimes feel dazed, afraid, not good enough, or overwhelmed. But when we turn to Jesus Christ, we begin to reflect His light.”
“Letting God’s light shine through you doesn’t mean being perfect or even pretending to be perfect. It means being close to God so that His light shines naturally into your life.”
Sister Runia spoke about the power of the light of Jesus Christ on Wednesday, April 29, at Brigham Young University’s Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. She was one of several keynote speakers at the 2026 BYU Women’s Conference, which ran from April 29 to May 1.
BYU Women’s Conference is one of the world’s largest annual gatherings of Latter-day Saint women and has been bringing them together since 1976. The conference celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, with activities and events held on BYU’s campus.
faith like a muscle
In her keynote address, Sister Runia explored three factors that prevent people from reflecting God’s light.
“The fear that holds us back.” “The worry that we are not good enough.” “The overwhelming burden of life.”
Regarding the first point, Sister Runia asked the audience if they sometimes allow fear to overshadow their light because they do not know what will happen.
But faith is not static, she said. And to maintain it, you need to exercise regularly, just as you need to exercise your body to stay healthy.
“If life were easy, if everything was easy, our faith in Christ would become weak like a muscle, because we would not have to use it,” Sister Runia said. “This is what I learned: Faith is not faith until it is tested. The moments when faith is needed are the moments when faith is questioned. And this is when faith can truly expand.”
“Remember, our imperfect and hopeless faith is still faith. And because our faith is centered in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to do this alone.”
unchanging value
Regarding the second point, Sister Runia asked the audience if their light ever dims because they think they are not good enough. Comparison and competition may be okay in some aspects of life, she said, but that’s not how God views children.
“Sometimes we think that we can earn our worth by living well in life or by crossing things off our list,” Sister Runia said. “But I want you to know that that’s not true, because your worth is not something you earn. Our worth never changes. It’s given to you by God, and it doesn’t increase or decrease depending on what you accomplish or don’t accomplish by the end of the day.”
She also emphasized that Jesus Christ is near even when someone is struggling to hear His voice due to stress, strife, anxiety, depression, or other emotional distress.
“When a prophet invites us to listen to the Lord, it is not pressure,” Sister Runia said. “This is an invitation, a loving invitation to keep seeking Him, to listen to His voice, to keep turning to Him again and again.”
God of mountains and valleys
Regarding the third point, Sister Runia asked the audience if they ever felt like life was so overwhelming that there was no light left to give.
She said the gospel of Jesus Christ does not protect against pain, but it helps when pain occurs, which can be overwhelming at times. Thankfully, Christ is both the God of the mountains and the God of the valleys.
“It has been my experience that when I choose Christ at the bottom of that valley, the light of Christ illuminates something I may have forgotten was there, a solid foundation,” Sister Runia said. “We are promised that if we build our foundation on Jesus Christ, the Stone of Israel and the Rock of Heaven, we will never fall out of reach of God.”
She recalled that in her life, like a disciple of Christ sailing through a storm, she was asked, “Do you not care that we perish?” (See Mark 4:35-40)
But the Savior never abandoned His disciples even in that storm, Sister Runia said.
“My testimony tonight is that you are not alone,” she said. “You are not alone in this beautiful, complex world. We are all one, all of us who love Christ, believe in Him, and stand in Christ. And we can let God’s brightness and love shine through us, because we belong to God.”
