Wendy Ulrich

Wendy Ulrich, Ph.D., M.B.A., has been a psychologist in private practice, president of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists, and a visiting professor at Brigham Young University. She founded Sixteen Stones Center for Growth, which offers seminar-retreats for Latter-day Saint women and their loved ones (sixteenstones.net). Her books include national bestseller The Why of Work, coauthored with her husband, Dave Ulrich.

Latter-day Saint Life

What to say to help your missionary through a hard time

By Wendy Ulrich

October 19, 2023 07:39 AM MDT

While missionaries’ challenges are many, our support from home can make a big difference! Here are a few practical ways parents and friends can help.

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Latter-day Saint Life

The Difference Between Priesthood Power and Priesthood Authority (and How Women and Men Can Access Both)

By Wendy Ulrich

April 23, 2019 09:04 AM MDT

Priesthood power is more than priesthood authority. With priesthood authority (authorization through someone holding priesthood keys), women and men can fulfill callings and assignments, represent the Church as missionaries, make covenants, and perform ordinances that are valid. With both priesthood authority and priesthood power, they can do these things in ways that magnify those callings, invite the Spirit, bless lives, develop spiritual gifts, and even bring about miracles. Relief Society General President Linda K. Burton affirms, “There is a difference . . . between priesthood authority and priesthood power. Priesthood authority is conferred by ordination, but priesthood power is available to all.”1

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Latter-day Saint Life

Wendy Ulrich: How the Savior fully knows what women experience

By Wendy Ulrich

April 13, 2019 12:57 PM MDT

"I’m grateful that female lives provide at least some of the images Christ draws on in explaining the mighty realities behind some of our most important symbols for who He is."

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Latter-day Saint Life

What My Friend's Unsolved Murder Taught Me About Christ's Power to Deliver Us from Evil

By Wendy Ulrich

January 08, 2019 04:00 PM MST

One of the most distressing phone calls I ever received came late one evening while my husband, Dave, fairly recently sustained as the bishop of our ward, was out of town on business.

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What It Means to Be the "Bride of Christ" + How to Build a Lasting Relationship with God

By Wendy Ulrich

December 28, 2018 02:00 PM MST

I’ll admit it: sometimes I get tired of the scriptures referring so extensively to men, and I wish I didn’t have to work so hard to apply them to me as a woman. Just to keep sane, I have painstakingly collected scriptures in which Jesus compares Himself to a woman, refers to Zion as “she,” or calls the temple “the house of the daughters of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:11, 26–27). So I really appreciate scriptures like those above that refer to all of Israel, men and women alike, as the bride of Christ. I’m sort of sadistically grateful that when men read such verses they get to do the same mental gymnastics I have to do in order to remember how we all fit into the picture of God’s relationship to man. Mankind. Humanity. Huwomanity. People. All of us. You know what I mean.

7 Min Read

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Latter-day Saint Life

3 Ways to Combat Shame + the Difference Between Guilt and Shame and Why It Matters

By Wendy Ulrich

December 27, 2018 01:59 PM MST

Godly sorrow, or mature guilt, is a constructive emotion. We are guilty of sin, and so feeling guilty is completely appropriate, including feeling deep remorse for our rebellion against God and sorrow for the hurt we have caused others. Awareness of our guilt is the first step in repentance and change. This godly sorrow appropriately follows the recognition that we have violated our own moral code.

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Latter-day Saint Life

The Beautiful Truth the Spirit Told One Woman Overwhelmed by Her Weaknesses and Imperfections

By Wendy Ulrich

September 22, 2018 12:00 PM MDT

With all the emphasis in the scriptures on repentance, worrying about our weaknesses has almost become a national pastime for good Christian folk and Latter-day Saints in particular. But a psychologist named Martin Seligman figured out that we don’t necessarily become happier by trying to fix what’s wrong with us. Fixing what’s wrong gets us to neutral—to being less miserable and having more options. But we are more likely to get to the positive side, to happiness, by pursuing our strengths.

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Latter-day Saint Life

6 Ways God's Grace Turns Our Weaknesses into Strengths

By Wendy Ulrich

August 20, 2018 04:24 PM MDT

In response to our humility about our weakness, God offers to “make weak things become strong” unto us (Ether 12:27). There must be ways for weak things to become strong other than through noticeable improvement in our ability. . . .

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Latter-day Saint Life

How We Can Let Go of Anxiety, Guilt, and Shame and Love Ourselves Now—Mistakes and All

By Wendy Ulrich

July 21, 2018 12:39 PM MDT

Although Latter-day Saints are among the best people I know, they are also among the most self-critical. Too often we work hard to improve and repent and then fail to fully claim the “amazing grace” of Jesus Christ. As a psychologist and as a Church member, I’ve struggled to help clients, missionaries, friends, and colleagues let go of excessive self-blame and like themselves again.

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Latter-day Saint Life

How an Unanswered Childhood Prayer Strengthened Me as My Mother Was Dying

By Wendy Ulrich

March 22, 2018 04:33 PM MDT

When I was about 5 years old, someone gave me a small, iridescent butterfly pin with hinged wings that formed a tiny clasp. I loved how it held securely to my shirt so it would never get lost. I loved that even with my small fingers I could make its wings move, like the wings of a real butterfly. I still remember how much it delighted me.

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Latter-day Saint Life

2 Reasons We Don't Let God Love Us (and How We Can)

By Wendy Ulrich

December 28, 2017 04:16 PM MST

We learn who we are and what we can expect from others in the context of relationships. Some of what we learn from our mortal relationships encourages us to trust our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, and to reach optimistically toward Them. Some of what we learn can interfere with that trust, making it hard to comprehend Their love, let alone be filled with it.

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Latter-day Saint Life

6 Ways Christ's Grace Turns Our Weaknesses into Strengths

By Wendy Ulrich

November 04, 2017 02:58 PM MDT

The following is an excerpt from Weakness Is Not Sin: The Liberating Distinction That Awakens Our Strengths by Wendy Ulrich.

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Latter-day Saint Life

The Incredible Thing That Happened When a Church Teacher Had to Teach a Room of Religious Experts About the Book of Mormon

By Wendy Ulrich

August 21, 2017 01:05 PM MDT

Admitting our weaknesses is not the easiest thing to do, but we should strive to follow the counsel given in D&C 1:28, "And inasmuch as they were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time." As we become humble, we will learn how to fulfill the Lord's calling despite those weaknesses and be able to bless others.

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Latter-day Saint Life

What I Hope We'll Teach Our Daughters (and Sons) About the Priesthood (Part 2)

By Wendy Ulrich

October 22, 2016 12:46 PM MDT

The following is a segment of an address originally given by Latter-day Saint Wendy Ulrich, Ph.D., at the FAIR Mormon conference and reposted with permission. To access the first part of the address, click here.

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Latter-day Saint Life

What I Hope We'll Teach Our Daughters (and Sons) About the Priesthood (Part 1)

By Wendy Ulrich

October 17, 2016 06:00 PM MDT

The following is a segment of an address originally given by Latter-day Saint Wendy Ulrich, Ph.D., at the FAIR Mormon conference and reposted with permission:

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Latter-day Saint Life

5 ways women are already given priesthood authority & officiate in priesthood ordinances in the Church

By Wendy Ulrich

October 05, 2016 05:00 PM MDT

Both men and women can be given priesthood authority, exercise priesthood power, perform priesthood ordinances, and more.

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Latter-day Saint Life

How to Trust God Even When Bad Things Happen to You

By Wendy Ulrich

July 27, 2016 09:35 AM MDT

Sometimes we are reluctant to draw closer to God because we fear that by doing so, Satan will work harder against us or that God will test us. But learning to trust in God and endure life's storms is vital to us drawing closer to Him. While there are some hardships in life, Heavenly Father can help us benefit from these trials and turn the straw in our lives into gold as we draw closer to Him.

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