Almost three weeks ago, I gave birth for the fifth time.

It didn’t matter that this was the fifth time; the reaction I felt at seeing my baby for the first time was the same as all the others before him. The overwhelming feelings of love took away the pain, and I felt nothing but joy for those moments. I have often wondered if this is the same for most women around the world –do they see the positive amid the negative? After traveling through the “valley of sorrow” and “travail,” do they feel the extreme opposite? Do they realize what they are holding in their arms?

These questions have pierced my mind even more this time around, because of some things we are facing as a family. Our oldest child is 8 years old, and, like many highly religious families, having five children (or six, or seven, or whenever we feel we are finished adding to our family) is not seen as a burden, but a blessing. But for others, having large families is nonsensical. In fact, a nameless family member of ours expressed concern over our decision to have more children. We were told, in no uncertain terms, that if we were to continue adding to our family, this person would be very upset with us. At first, I was taken aback and hurt. But then, after sitting down and pondering their words, I realized this person’s position and reasoning and why they would say such things. See, this person is an atheist and an extreme environmentalist. This background made me realize how they see things: “This life is the only one. We did not live before we were born. We will not live after we die, and so this life is all we have, and we must take care of the earth.” Of course they would be upset in us having several children –it goes against everything they believe.

But for me? My view is very, very, very different.

It’s not that I don’t care about taking care of the earth. But for me, there’s more. As a Mormon (LDS) woman, I have been taught that I am a daughter of God. Not only am I His daughter, but I lived with Him before I was born. All of my brothers and sisters lived with him, too (that’s you!). Simply put, He is the literal Father of my spirit. We all knew each other, and we all knew God. He loved us then, and He loves us now. In fact, that love was so great, He presented a plan to us. Elder L. Tom Perry, a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles said:

What occurred in this first estate is dimly understood, but we do know that we lived there as spirits, children of our Heavenly Father, and we made certain steps of advancement to prepare for the opportunity of housing our eternal spirits in earthly bodies. We also know that our Father held a great council to explain the purpose of earth life. We had the opportunity of accepting or rejecting the plan of salvation. It was not forced upon us. The essence of the plan was that man would have an opportunity of working out his own salvation on earth, with God’s help. A leader was selected to teach us how to follow the plan and to redeem us from sin and death. As the Lord explained to Moses, “Behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2).

President Boyd K. Packer has said:

The doctrine is simply this: life did not begin with mortal birth. We lived in spirit form before we entered mortality. We are spiritually the children of God.

What clarity I feel when I hear these words! I am so grateful to have knowledge of who I am, where I am going, and what my purpose is in this life.  My faith in the plan our Heavenly Father presented to us is the guiding light in my life. Each time I make a choice, regardless of whether or not it is seen by others as “wrong,” I know that the reasoning behind it comes from my belief in life before and after death. This belief, along with my faith in Christ, is my anchor –to know that my existence on Earth did not just spontaneously occur through birth. I existed before birth! What a glorious thing to know.

Still, I don’t blame my family member for their words of concern and anger; in fact, I appreciate them now. They made me pause long enough to think about why I would choose to have more children, what I truly believe, and why I (and my husband) felt it was necessary to add to our family so soon. I sometimes think about those concerns even now, as I gaze into my newborn’s eyes. I see him focus just past my face, and I wonder what he sees. I wonder if he remembers who his is –a child of God –and I wonder if he remembers just a glimpse of where he has recently come from. I’m so grateful that as he grows, I will have the opportunity to teach him, remind him of what he once knew. I will tell him where he has come from, where he is going, and pray that he will realize in his own heart, the beauty of God’s plan for us.

For all of us.

——

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We are so grateful to know that there are prophets and apostles alive on the earth today, here to guide us and help us follow the Savior, Jesus Christ.

If you feel inspired to do so, please consider sharing your thoughts about what you have heard on this video, or about how General Conference messages helped you.

The post <i>Review, Reflect, and Return</i>: General Conference Highlights Video appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Simply put, a temple dedication is where “leaders of the Church offer…a special prayer asking the Lord to accept and bless the temple and all the people who would come into it.”

Temple dedications have always been important to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the first latter-day temple dedication in Kirtland, Ohio,

“[h]undreds of Saints came to Kirtland for the dedicatory services; some traveled long distances to attend. There were nearly a thousand seats inside the temple, but many more people wanted to attend the dedication. The Prophet told the people who could not get seats in the temple to hold a separate meeting in the schoolhouse nearby, and the next Thursday the dedication service was repeated so these people could hear it…. [This illustrates the reason that twelve different dedicatory sessions were held this weekend, thus allowing many people the opportunity to participate in the sacred event.]

Some may wonder what the dedicatory service is actually like. While the Kirtland temple dedication was more extensive than dedicatory services held today (it lasted over seven hours!), reading about it can give an idea of what happens each time a temple is dedicated:

The Prophet Joseph Smith read the dedicatory prayer, which had been given to him in a revelation. This prayer is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 109. In the prayer the Prophet thanked Heavenly Father for the blessings he had given the members of the Church. Joseph prayed that the temple would be a place of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, and order (see D&C 109:8, 16) and that those who came to the temple would grow in faith and wisdom (see D&C 109:14–15). He asked the Lord to accept the temple and make it a holy place (see D&C 109:4, 12–13). After the prayer the choir sang “The Spirit of God” (Hymns, no. 2), which had been written by William W. Phelps for the dedication of the temple. The congregation then…ended the service by giving the sacred Hosanna Shout: they raised their hands above their heads and shouted three times, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb, amen, amen, and amen.”

Temples are dedicated today following the pattern of the Kirtland Temple dedication. The prophet (or someone he chooses) gives the dedicatory prayer, “The Spirit of God” is sung, and the entire congregation gives the Hosanna Shout.

(All quotes above were taken from this lesson.)

The post <i>Noteworthy News:</i> Draper Temple Dedicated appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., referring to the faithful women of the early Church, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children, stated, “From that time until now woman has comforted and nursed the Church. She has borne more than half the burdens, she has made more than half the sacrifices, she has suffered the most of the heartaches and sorrows” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1940, p. 21). (quoted here by Pres. James E. Faust).

“Without the wonderful work of the women I realize that the Church would have been a failure” (Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941, p. 150).

[The following information has been edited. Historian Ardis Parshall compiled these lessons for electronic review, but did not write them. They were written by Alvin Grant Pack (1907-1994). (When we pulled up the lessons, we missed the introduction, which can be found here.) Thanks to Ardis for her work, and apologies for the mistake!]

The “Centennial Lessons” series was created for use by women in the Relief Societies of the British Mission in 1930 under the leadership of Apostle John A. Widtsoe.

Ardis Parshall explains:

These Centennial Lessons are a straightforward, rather simple telling of the history of the Church. This is neither revisionist nor feminist history; it does not reinterpret history in the light of women’s concerns, nor emphasize the roles of women at the expense of the familiar male history. But women are everywhere visible in these lessons, their roles in the founding and rise of the Church explicitly recognized….

For the next ten weeks for our “Portraits of Mormon Women” feature, we will share posts from this series, with the hope that our readers will enjoy not only the overview of Mormon history, but also will recognize the important role women have always played (and continue to play) in the Lord’s work — and how the gospel has blessed (and continues to bless) the lives of women.

Read lesson 1 here.

(We will include the notes and quotes section originally posted with this post in another entry.)

The post <i>Portraits of Mormon Women</i>: “Church History for Women” series (edited) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

(The full text of the talk can be found here.)

The post <i>Review, Reflect, and Return</i>: “Come What May and Love It” by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Born December 21, 1913, in Winnetka, Illinois, Arnold Friberg is recognized as one of the greatest master painters of modern times. Perhaps his best-known work is the 1975 American masterpiece “The Prayer at Valley Forge” — depicting George Washington praying while the Continental Army winters at Valley Forge.

He also did the pre-visualization paintings for the Cecil B. DeMille film The Ten Commandments , for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

Currently, the exhibit is in Bountiful, Utah. If you are interested in getting the exhibit in your area, you can go here to vote (see the ‘vote’ tab at the top of the page).

For more information about this traveling art exhibit, see here or here.

The post Bring Arnold Frieberg’s Art to a City Near You! appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

A fireside was held to commemorate this significant event. You can watch a rebroadcast of that fireside by clicking here.

The post Blacks and the Priesthood — Commemoration Fireside appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

For some beautiful pieces exploring stories of women in the Old Testament, see this article.

Do you know of other existing art to which we can link? Do you have art of your own you would like to share, or know someone who does? Please email us at ‘mormonwoman’ AT ‘gmail’ DOT ‘com’

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The post Testimonies of Members of First Presidency — Video appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

…or by sharing your thoughts on a gospel topic.

But if magazines are more your speed, the Church’s Ensign magazine is looking for submissions as well. See here for a list of topics in which they are particularly interested.

In the June Ensign, you can also find a couple of requests for submissions. One is “Tuning Out and Tuning On” (you can find that on the list above) and the other on the best marriage advice you have ever received (see the bottom of this page).

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