Sheri L. Dew, CEO of Deseret Book, encouraged members and visitors to triumph over their trials at her devotional in the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center on Sunday, Nov. 13.
“She’s like the female version of Elder [Jeffery R.] Holland,” said Honu Lindsey, a senior majoring in psychology from Big Island.
Sister Tausinga, a sister missionary serving at the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center, said, “She explained a lot of what she went through in her life. I loved how she really emphasized that questions are good and that it really strengthens our faith.” Sister Tausinga was impressed with Dew’s honesty and her desire to draw near to Christ.
The Visitors’ Center had previously scheduled a Tongan Choir to perform, but the choir conductor was unable to organize for the event, said Sister Andrus, a senior missionary who works at the center. In its stead, President and Sister Swinton, who oversee the Temple Visitors’ Center, invited Dew to give an impromptu devotional.
Dew is best known for her work on the biographies of Presidents Ezra Taft Benson and Gordon B. Hinckley. She is also a former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, serving in that capacity from 1997-2002.
“Sister Dew knows the Lord and knows the Spirit. But it is the imprint of the Spirit on her heart that’s most significant, helping her do what she does best: preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Sister Swinton said in her introduction of Dew.
Around twelve years ago, Dew said she went to New York City on an errand from the First Presidency. She had checked into the 33rd floor of the hotel she was staying at when she heard a fire alarm go off. After quickly gathering her things, Dew decided to go down all 33 flights of stairs and not take the elevator. Because of that experience, she said she tore up her right knee and had to get surgery.
“I literally gave my right knee to the Book of Mormon,” Dew said jokingly. After the surgery, Dew had to undergo physical therapy. “One of the lessons I’ve learned by going through physical therapy was something written on the wall [of the center]. It said, ‘Don’t worry about perfection, worry about progress,’” she said. “It’s very good advice for a recovering knee patient and for us here in mortality.”
She described her physical therapy as “hard” because she couldn’t even lift her foot off of the table. However, her physical therapist encouraged her to push further each day. “Even a little bit of progress is awesome. Our spirits are divinely programmed, if you will, to progress,” Dew explained.
Likening her physical therapy to spiritual progress, Dew asked attendees, “What does it feel like to do better on anything? Reading your scriptures or going to the temple? Why is it crucial for men and women during the latter days to progress?”
Giving more focus to the importance of our progression and the progression of others, Dew quoted President Hinckley, “Ours is a vision greater than that granted any other people who have walked the earth…no other people in any other dispensation have ever had so great a responsibility.”
“How do we do that when we’re just trying to handle our lives? With the challenges that come with families, with jobs and health and everything else that can come – how do we do that?” Dew asked. “I’ve been drawn to something that President Russell M. Nelson said, ‘The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible.’”
Using the example of Joseph Smith, Dew pointed out, “If you were planning the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, would you have given it to a 14-year-old boy? If you were planning on taking the gospel throughout the world, would you really trust it to 18 and 19-year-olds?” Despite the seeming inexperience of those young missionaries, Dew mentioned the miracles that happen to the missionaries and those they teach.
Dew said soon after the mission age change, a young journalist, who wasn’t a member of the Church, went to Salt Lake City, Utah, to research women of the Church, specifically on sister missionaries. “In her research, she then found out about a woman, me, who was leading a Church-owned media company. That seemed curious to her,” Dew recalled. “That defied her image she had of Latter-day Saint women, so she asked for an interview.”
Dew agreed to meet with the reporter for an interview. “Within minutes we connected, I liked her very much,” she said. Because of the connection they had during the interview, Dew said she answered any questions the reporter had.
One question the reporter had was about women and the priesthood. In response, Dew said, “I explained, in a very general way, that because of the covenants I made with the Lord, in the temple, I had direct access to the power of God for my own life.” As Dew spoke, she paraphrased the journalist who questioned her further: “‘Wait, so you think you have more access to the power of God than I do?’” Dew said she knew it was a loaded question.”
Carefully responding to this question, Dew said, “Well, actually, yes. The answer is yes. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that he loves me more than you. That’s one of the reasons, many reasons, to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Dew said the Spirit “came rushing in” and it affected the reporter, who then became emotional. The reporter responded, “‘That’s really beautiful. Would you tell me how being a member of this Church has affected you personally?’” Dew, in short, testified to her and said every opportunity she’s had in her life has come as a result of her being a member of the Church.
Dew related several life questions people have asked her in the past and answered with a question. She asked those present: “Are you willing to engage in a wrestle? Are you willing to engage in an ongoing, life-long spiritual wrestle?” Referring to the wrestle Enos and Alma had with God, Dew investigated the matter further. She asked some wrestlers what makes a champion wrestler. Their response was that a successful wrestler learns how to leverage his strength against his opponent to overpower him.
“I think a spiritual wrestle is taking the strength of our doctrine, the strength of truth, and leveraging it against our questions,” Dew said. She invited the audience to engage in their own spiritual wrestle.
Dew gave the example of her being single for her entire life as a personal spiritual wrestle that she had. “I may not have borne children in this life, but I was endowed with the gifts of motherhood before I was ever born here,” Dew said. “Eve was made the ‘mother of all living’ before she ever had a child.”
Dew concluded her devotional saying, “The Lord will tell us amazing amounts of things if we approach him in faith and in prayer. I testify that when we’re willing to engage in an ongoing spiritual wrestle, and make that a hallmark of our lives, the Lord will help us and He’ll teach us.”
Stetson Richey, a sophomore majoring in business from Utah, said, “Her faith impressed me the most. Just who she was showed her faith and the spirit that she brought.”
Writer: Dylan-Sage Wilcox