Elaine Cannon
Elaine Cannon was a former general president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before receiving that call, she was a member of the Mutual Improvement Association’s governing board and the Church’s curriculum planning, writing, activities, and correlation committees.
She also served as associate editor of Church magazines for youth and their leaders. Lecturing extensively throughout the world, she has had opportunities to meet members of the Church of all ages and nationalities.
Elaine authored or coauthored more than 50 books and has recorded dozens of talk on tapes. Among her books are Adversity, Baptized and Confirmed: Your Lifeline to Heaven, Choose the Right, Women Testify of Jesus Christ, The Truth About Angels, and three "Little Books": The Little Book of Big Ideas about Hope, The Little Book of Big Ideas about Joy, and The Little Book of Big Ideas about Love, her latest.
For thirty years she was a daily columnist for intermountain newspapers. She has hosted her own TV show and was a featured speaker on a weekly radio program broadcast internationally.
Elaine Cannon passed away in 2003 at the age of 81.
“By strict obedience Jesus won. He did not succumb to Satan’s temptings. And if we do what the Lord says, we have no need to fear the consequences. ‘Thy will, not mine, O Lord’ can be comforting in times of testing or decision. God loves us. He loves you! His will for you when obeyed means your ultimate joy.”
“Agency is an eternal principle and is implicit in the test of life. We must constantly choose between opposites: good and evil. Satan sought to destroy the free agency of man, and here on earth he’s still working to entangle man in sin.”
“The scriptures remind us, ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ (John 8:32.) Our job is to search for the full truth and apply it in our lives. Though we are free to act, we are not free to decide what is right or wrong. That was determined eons ago. We can scoff at sacred things, rationalize our behavior, spout our own ideas, agree or disagree, but it doesn’t change anything. We cannot alter God’s laws, his truth. We can choose to use truth wisely and reach our goal, or we can refuse to learn truth, to live it, and then pay the inevitable penalty.”
“Accountability is the natural product of agency and is the basis of the plan of life. We are responsible for our own actions and accountable to God for what we choose to do with our lives. Life is God’s gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to him.”
“Spiritual maturity is understanding that we cannot blame anybody else for our actions. Some factors may make it harder for us to perform according to God’s plan for us but being accountable for how we use our agency means being answerable for our own behavior.”
“There are so many options, so much to so, so many demands on women. There is no point in taking one hour to do a ten-minute task , nor should we slap together an hour-worthy project in ten minutes.”