Sunday Spirit

Today my lesson was on Finding joy in our Divine Potential. When I first read this lesson I was stumped. What in the world does that mean, I thought. And the lesson was not much help it was so broad, with not much information. It did suggest that maybe you ask a few women in your ward to come and share their thoughts, saved. Who cares if I don't get the lesson, I will just ask others to come and share their thoughts. The problem is when you ask others to come and share their thoughts is, are they going to have alot of thoughts or leave me with a lot of time, also are they going the same direction as me, and how do I wrap it all up. So I got on LDS.org and searched a few talks, and of coarse came upon some good ones. I especially liked a talk by M. Russell Ballard titled, Women of Righteousness.

I asked Acacia Brown, Jo Broadbent and Jennifer Cloward to come and help with my lesson, and they did a great job. Acacia related the joys of being a women to going to college, Jo talked about the joys of being a mom, and Jennifer wrapped it all up with great thoughts on being a grandma. I then talked about when I was a kid ,I wanted to be a boy, I remember telling my mom that it was no t fair that I could not take my shirt off while playing outside. I remember feeling frustrated that the boys got to have the priesthood, and how I wondered at times if God loved the men more than us women. I wondered was their really a need for women besides being a baby machine?? I think this is why I loved this talk from M. Russel Ballard he says....

Now, finally, I turn again to you dear sisters, you who have such a profound, innate spiritual ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. You need never wonder again if you have worth in the sight of the Lord and to the Brethren in the presiding councils of the Church. We love you. We cherish you. We respect you. Never doubt that your influence is absolutely vital to preserving the family and to assisting with the growth and spiritual vitality of the Church. This Church will not reach its foreordained destiny without you. We men simply cannot nurture as you nurture. Most of us don’t have the sensitivity—spiritual and otherwise—that by your eternal nature you inherently have. Your influence on families and with children, with youth, and with men is singular. You are natural-born nurturers. Because of these unusual gifts and talents, you are vital to taking the gospel to all the world, to demonstrating that there is joy in living the way the prophets have counseled us to live.

More than ever before we need women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity, as the Relief Society declaration proclaims. We need women who can hear and who will respond to the voice of the Lord, women who at all costs will defend and protect the family. We don’t need women who want to be like men, sound like men, dress like men, drive like some men drive, or act like men. We do need women who rejoice in their womanhood and have a spiritual confirmation of their identity, their value, and their eternal destiny. Above all, we need women who will stand up for truth and righteousness and decry evil at every turn and simply say, “Lord, here am I, send me.”

I know that the church, the family and society, need women, I know God made women the way they are because of his eternal plan, I know God loves me as much as men, and I also know God needs me and has a plan for me.