original post date: March 15,2017
I have had these thoughts rambling about in my mind since Monday and so, here I am trying to organize them in order that I might share them with you.
Monday night I had the great privilege to have dinner with a wonderful family, they are very dear friends of mine. Along with dinner I was invited to have Family Home Evening with them. This is something that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we do our best to hold each week, typically on a Monday evening. We gather together and go over a planned lesson, the ones I have attended were over General Conference talks. We have dinner and afterwards discuss what we read or learned from the talk that was chosen. On this particular night the lesson was about the lesson given the day before at church found in Teachings of the Presidents of The Church – Gordon B. Hinckley. It was on the 5th chapter titled Daughters of God.
This lesson was so powerful and so very meaningful to me as I listened to it that day before dinner. There were things that were said as I listened that I felt impressed I needed to make and take very personally. The best way to convey any of this to you is to share with you parts of the lesson that really touched me in a way that you might not understand or may even laugh at but I don’t care. It was as though Heavenly Father was saying these things to me, at times as a reminder and other times I was being chastised for the way in which I see myself at times. When you hear words such as these from a prophet of God you truly hear them differently and their meaning becomes more real than just words on paper. I took them to heart and want you to do the same. While this chapter was about daughters of God some of the principles given apply to all of us as His children, sons and daughters alike.
“If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 454]. “What marvelous potential lies within you.5
You are very precious… You occupy a high and sacred place in the eternal plan of God, our Father in Heaven. You are His daughters, precious to Him, loved by Him, and very important to Him. His grand design cannot succeed without you.6
There has come to you as your birthright something beautiful and sacred and divine. Never forget that. Your Eternal Father is the great Master of the universe. He rules over all, but He also will listen to your prayers as His daughter and hear you as you speak with Him. He will answer your prayers. He will not leave you alone.”8
Imagine how I felt as I heard those words. For every you stated what I heard was “I”. I am precious to Him, I have a sacred place in His plan, I am His daughter, I am loved by Him, I am very important to Him and I have a special place in His heart. Though that last part was not stated I can still feel it and I know it is true, that is how those words reached me, touching my very soul. I know with all my heart that He hears my every prayer as I turn to Him, no matter how great or small that prayer may be, I know it means a lot to Him to hear from me in every state of my life, not just when things are hard but also in good times and especially in gratitude for all that He has truly blessed me with. I know He answers my prayers, I have seen for myself the ways in which He answers my prayers and I know for a fact He has never left me alone. I may not have recognized His presence in my life but He was there, always near, watching over me, guiding me along the way. He truly is the reason I am the person I have become.
As I continued to listen I was made perfectly aware how very well my Father in Heaven truly knows me. The words I was hearing were sweet reminders and little nudges in the direction I have wanted to go for the last 4 years of my life.
“A revelation I give unto you concerning my will; and if thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me, I will preserve thy life, and thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion” [D&C 25:2; see also verse 16]. …
In very large measure each of us holds the key to the blessings of the Almighty upon us. If we wish the blessing, we must pay the price. A part of that price lies in being faithful. Faithful to what? Faithful to ourselves, to the very best that is within us. No woman can afford to demean herself, to belittle herself, to downgrade her abilities or her capacities. Let each be faithful to the great, divine attributes that are within her. Be faithful to the gospel. Be faithful to the Church. We have all about us those who are seeking to undermine it, to look for weaknesses in its early leaders, to find fault with its programs, to speak critically of it.
Be faithful to him. He is the one true source of your strength. He is your Father in Heaven. He lives. He hears and answers prayers. Be faithful to God.
I read those beautiful words I took to heart what they mean to me. As I read “If thou … walk in the paths of virtue…” I wondered to myself if I have been doing that, do I really understand what virtue means and so during our lesson that night I asked what it means. The way in which it was explained to me is that “virtue is a willingness to be obedient to the commandments of God.” That answered my question perfectly, I knew in that moment I have been doing my best to “walk in the paths of virtue”. It didn’t happen over night for me to walk in this manner but gradually over time, almost without my having even recognized that it was taking place. I went from being this person who saw no point in attending church, to enjoying church, to loving it so much I don’t like missing a Sunday and I love showing up 20 minutes early just to greet others. I love seeing the faces of those I have come to love and cherish each Sunday, wrapping my arms around them in a loving hug, smiling at them from across the room and chatting with them. Sunday’s spent at church give me the renewal of strength and spirituality I need to make it through another week, it is something I have come to truly enjoy.
I desire the blessings He has in store for me and I am willing to pay the price, whatever He asks of me. I do my best to read the scriptures daily and say my prayers each morning and evening, it makes all the difference in the world to me to do these seemingly little things. These are just a few of the ways I show my faith to my Heavenly Father. What I did not realize was that I must also be faithful to myself and the very best that is within me. I at times wonder if I really know what this means. I continued to hear the words that were being said and realized I was being chastised by my Heavenly Father and with good reason. Too many times I have been demeaned myself, sometimes because it is all I know of myself and sometimes because I am too hard on myself. I belittle myself and downgrade my capabilities and capacities because that is how I grew up sadly. There wasn’t really anyone that saw any good in me let alone pointed it out so I never learned to be anything other than demeaning to myself. It has taken me a very long time to change that line of thinking and a whole lot of reliance on my Savior Jesus Christ to change this horrible pattern and line of thinking about myself.
I have not been being true to myself and I hope that is something…no, I know that is something that is changing for me. The reason we cannot afford to demean ourselves is because we are surrounded by so many others that can so easily chip away at us. But, if we are faithful to ourselves their attacks upon us have little if any effect on us. As I venture forth discovering the divine attributes that are within me I must remain faithful to Christ, to his gospel and to His church. He truly is my very source of strength and courage, I will always be true to Him. He has given me every reason to be true to Him and He has given me every reason to believe in myself and my abilities, no matter how limited they may seem to be right now. As I continue to act in faith moving forward in the ways in which He would have me do I know I cannot fail. This is virtue.
Lack of virtue is totally inconsistent with obedience to the commandments of God. There is nothing more beautiful than virtue. There is no strength that is greater than the strength of virtue. There is no other nobility equal to the nobility of virtue. There is no quality so becoming, no attire so attractive. …
I don’t ever want to live a life that is inconsistent with obedience to the commandments of God, I just don’t, not ever again. I lived in a manner that was inconsistent to His ways once and I struggled to become a better person as I lived that way. Sure I may not have been real bad but I wasn’t near as good as I felt I could be and I wasn’t sure how to bridge that gap, He was certain of how to though and He was ever so patient with me as I struggled to find my way. It wasn’t until after I was brought to a point in my life where I was able to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ that I was able to look back and see just how many times He was there for me, reaching out to me.
There were many and it began long ago, more than 20 years ago but I wasn’t ready then, not in the way that He needed me to be so that I would see my true potential and embrace the talents and abilities He has blessed me with. I wish I had been ready sooner but I know there are lessons I would have missed and as hard as some of those lessons have been I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. I have come to know that He truly knows who I am and He knows exactly what it is I need in order to be and become my very best self, the person He created, the one He knows me to be and the one I am beginning to see.
Referring back to the lesson, and how it pertains not only to me but to the topic of this post. Emma was called “an elect lady” (D&C 25:3). That is, to use another line of scripture, she was a “chosen vessel of the Lord.” (See Moro. 7:31.)
Each of you is an elect lady. You have come out of the world as partakers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. You have made your election, and if you are living worthy of it, the Lord will honor you in it and magnify you. …
She was to be a teacher. She was to be a teacher of righteousness and truth. For the Lord said concerning this calling to her, “Thou shalt receive the Holy Ghost, and thy time shall be given to writing, and to learning much” [D&C 25:8].
She was to study the gospel. She was to devote her time “to learning much.” She was to write, giving expression to her thoughts.
This is the greatest part for me. We are each instructed to liken the scriptures unto ourselves, for some those words might just be that, words. But for me, well, let me first tell you something you might not know about me. I used to love to write, mostly poems and I did a lot of journaling when I was a teen. Since joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I have felt like I needed to write and have been pushing it back. I almost began this sentence in a demeaning manner and thought better of myself. I don’t know why I have felt the need to share my thoughts or feelings about all the things I have learned in the last 4 years or the things I will continue to learn but I have been denying myself the very joy of expression that Heavenly Father has blessed me with for long enough. I don’t know what if anything will come of it and that is okay. What I do know is that I must be true to myself and the promptings I have felt over the last few years to write.
As I listened to those words, I knew in my heart it was my Heavenly Father speaking directly to me. He sees me as “an elect lady” or if you will as it suggests, a “chosen vessel of the Lord.” As I have made the choice to partake of the gospel of Jesus Christ and continue to live worthily of it I know the Lord will magnify all that I do. After I was baptized I did receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and I truly feel that this is the time I have been given to write and to learn. I have learned a great deal in the last 4 years about Christ, his gospel and His church and also of myself.
Now is the time for me to follow His will for me as far as writing goes and truly become and instrument in His mighty hands. I hope and pray that I may reach and touch the hearts of those who take the time to read my words. As you do so I pray that you will open your hearts and minds to all that Christ has to offer you. For me, it is a whole new life, far better than I ever imagined for myself, a life I would not have without accepting His presence in my daily life.
Mosiah 5:2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
This is how I feel. I know that all things are possible to those who believe in His holy name. It is because of my faith in Him that I have experienced for myself this mighty change of heart. I truly believe in our Savior Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. It is the truth I long searched for and has brought me the greatest and sweetest peace I have ever felt in all my life.
I know He lives, I know He loves me, that He guides me and hears and answers my prayers and when necessary He speaks to me in His own way the very words I need to hear. I leave these things with you n the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
