Motherhood

“The most important of the Lord’s work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes” 

(Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy Places)

You are not alone

“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, “pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task,” that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity. Claim the promises of the Savior of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you.

You can't possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.”

(‘Because She Is a Mother’, Jeffrey R. Holland)

Single mothers:

"To mothers raising children alone, remember that you and the Lord constitute a majority. As your arms encircle your little ones, his arms are there, too. Feel secure, for his arms are lengthened out toward us all the day long." -Sister Mary E. Foulger 

The highest and noblest work

"During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as mother cared for me."

-Elder Russell M. Nelson

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” 

(Prov. 22:6)

There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo which read:

“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness. 

“She hath kept none for herself,” grumbled the sergeant.

“Because she is not hungry,” said a soldier.

“No,” said the sergeant, because she is a mother.”

(“Because She Is a Mother” - Jeffrey R. Holland)

Every woman a mother

“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” 
― Robert A. Heinlein

Every woman is a mother. Every woman is a nurturer and helps in the great task of raising the future generation. Every woman has the ability to uplift and inspire and a duty to love and teach. Some women have had to find a way to survive after losing a child. Some women have to suffer through the heartache of infertility. Some women haven't had the chance to marry and have a family of her own. They are all mothers.

http://www.jentriesjourney.com/our-mothers-knew-it/

You too, my mother, read my rhymes 

For love of unforgotten times,
And you may chance to hear once more
The little feet along the floor. 
-Robert Louis Stenenson

The 2000 Stripling warriors

Alma 56:47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of theirfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

“Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56:48).

Your angel

A young child, walking hand and hand with Father in Heaven, said, "they tell me you are sending me to earth today... How am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”

Heavenly Father knelt down and embraced His child tenderly. He then said,  reassuringly, “your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you”.

The anxious child continued, “but here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy - how will I be happy on earth?”

Heavenly Father calmly responded, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. You will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.” 

The child further inquired, “but how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?”

“Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak”, Heavenly Father responded, gently.

“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” 

“Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.” 

"Who will protect me?” 

“Your angel will defend you, even if it means risking its life.”

"I will always be sad because I won't see you anymore” , the child said looking down.

Heavenly Father turned the child's chin up tenderly, and said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but flustered voices from Earth could be heard and the child, realising it was time to leave, hurriedly expressed one final request, “Heavenly Father, if I am to leave now, please will you tell me my angel’s name?”

God silenced all fear with his reply, “You will simply call her, “Mommy.”

– Original Author Unknown

“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(Women of the church, Gordon B Hinckley)

Motherhood is a sacrifice that will not be overlooked. 

Just as any form of faithful service, the Lord promises us that the more we give, the more we will receive.

..."he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." -Matthew 10:39

What greater sake can we "lose our lives" for than striving to raising up children unto the Lord?

There is simply no greater purpose on earth or in eternity than the sacred responsibility of parenthood.

Light of a new dawn

"I know that my morning is near"...

If I can endure for this minute  Whatever is happening to me, No matter how heavy my heart is  Or how dark the moment may be ... If I can remain calm and quiet With all the world crashing about me, Secure in the knowledge God loves me When everyone else seems to doubt me ... If I can but keep on believing What I know in my heart to be true, That darkness will fade with the morning And that this will pass away, too... Then nothing in life can defeat me For as long as this knowledge remains I can suffer whatever is happening For I know God will break all the chains That are binding me tight in the darkness And trying to fill me with fear ... For there is no night without dawning And I know that my morning is near.

- Helen Steiner Rice

Fear not, only believe.

"With a soul as bold as lions

And a strength to face the giants

Come and join us in the silence

For the King who saved the world...

Stand strong

Keep holding on

Blessed are the persecuted

Blessed are the weak and wounded

This is your song

Stand, stand strong"

("Stand strong" - Moriah Peters)

“Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.” ~ Voltaire

"We must believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We must believe in the Atonement and the Resurrection of the Savior. We must believe in the words of the prophets, both ancient and modern. We should also believe in ourselves."

*Believing requires action. 

*Action is inhibited by fear.

*"Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." 2 Kings 6:16

"If we believe and are faithful, we are promised all that the Father has. If we receive all that the Father has, there is nothing more for us to receive in this life or the life to come. We should remember that in our challenges and struggles against the powers of evil and darkness, “they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” We belong to the greatest cause on earth. We are the pioneers of the future. Let us go forth like the armies of Helaman and build the kingdom of God. Like the royal army, let us be “united, bold, and strong, … marching forth to conquer on life’s great battlefield.” All of these hopes, blessings, and opportunities will come to us if we will only believe and be not afraid. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

References: James E. Faust, Pioneers of the Future: “Be Not Afraid, Only Believe”

The refiner's fire

Knowing the Lord "in our extremeties"
Some years ago president David O. McKay told from this pulpit of the experience of some of those in the Martin handcart company. Many of these early converts had emigrated from Europe and were too poor to buy oxen or horses and a wagon. They were forced by their poverty to pull handcarts containing all of their belongings across the plains by their own brute strength. President McKay relates an occurrence which took place some years after the heroic exodus: 

“A teacher, conducting a class, said it was unwise ever to attempt, even to permit them [the Martin handcart company] to come across the plains under such conditions.

“[According to a class member,] some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded.

“An old man in the corner … sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“In substance [he] said, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

“‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’” He continues: “‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, p. 8.)

Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.

Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process.

In our extremities, it is possible to become born again, born anew, renewed in heart and spirit. 

…"Trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds wrap around young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread further. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return…"

~Elder Neil L. Anderson (Spiritual Whirlwinds)

The story of Stillman Pond

Stillman Pond was a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy in Nauvoo. He was an early convert to the Church, having come from Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Like others, he and his wife, Maria, and their children were harassed and driven out of Nauvoo. In September 1846, they became part of the great western migration. The early winter that year brought extreme hardships, including malaria, cholera, and consumption. The family was visited by all three of these diseases.

Maria contracted consumption, and all of the children were stricken with malaria. Three of the children died while moving through the early snows. Stillman buried them on the plains. Maria’s condition worsened because of the grief, pain, and the fever of malaria. She could no longer walk. Weakened and sickly, she gave birth to twins. They were named Joseph and Hyrum, and both died within a few days. In short, Stillman Pond lost all his nine children and his wife in crossing the plains, nevertheless he did not lose his faith. He did not quit. He went forward. He paid a price, as have many others before and since, to become acquainted with God.

The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

When we pluck the roses, we find we often cannot avoid the thorns which spring from the same stem.

Out of the refiner’s fire can come a glorious deliverance. It can be a noble and lasting rebirth. The price to become acquainted with God will have been paid. There can come a sacred peace. There will be a reawakening of dormant, inner resources. A comfortable cloak of righteousness will be drawn around us to protect us and to keep us warm spiritually. Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.

His own image reflected

"Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse.”  And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

One lady’s opinion was that it was intended to convey the view of the sanctifying influence of the grace of Christ. So she proposed to visit a silversmith and report back to the others what he said on the subject. She went accordingly and without telling the object of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which the silversmith fully described to her.

“But Sir,” she said, “do you sit while the work of refining is going on?” “Oh, yes madam, ” replied the silversmith, “I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured.”

The lady at once saw the beauty, and comfort too, of the expression, “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Christ sees it needful to put His children into a furnace. His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for them. Their trials do not come at random; “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said that he still had further to mention. He explained that he only knows when the process of purifying was complete, by seeing his own image reflected in the silver.

When Christ shall see His own image reflected in His people, His work of purifying will be accomplished."

Author unknown.

Keep going. Don't give up. Allow the Lord to refine and purify your spirit.

One day we will look back and be eternally grateful.

References: (James E. Faust - Refiner's fire)

Being bold and standing strong

Robert Frost said “Freedom lies in being bold.”

Although, we are cautioned to "use boldness, but not overbearance. . ."(Alma 38:12). 

There is a time to be bold, and a time to be quiet - a time for defending our faith in word and in deed, and a time for suffering afflictions and defending our faith in silence. In our daily scripture study we are reading in Alma. When we read through Alma 14, I noticed that there were 3 documented cases where Alma and Amulek did not say/do anything. The first instance, they were constrained not to do anything when the righteous were being burned, the second and third they didn't speak when they were abused and taunted. Finally, the Lord saw fit in his timing to show forth his power and they walked free of the prison.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

As President Thomas S. Monson has said,  “We will all face fear,  experience ridicule,  and meet opposition. Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus,  the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise,  brings the smile of God’s approval” (“Be Strong and of a Good Courage,” Ensign, May 2014, 69).

I love these messages for women regarding being bold and strong in relief society and as mothers:

In order to do our part as women under the Lord’s plan,  we must stand strong and immovable in faith, strong and immovable in family,  and strong and immovable in relief. We must excel in these three important areas which set us apart as the Lord’s disciples. (Julie B. Beck, “What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best: Stand Strong and Immovable,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 109–12)

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

(Margaret D. Nadauld) 

"The world needs women who will boldly stand for truth and righteousness.  It takes courage to shine our light,  to be noticed,  to stop shrinking in the shadows.  It takes work to study the doctrines,  know what has been taught about our role,  and to then fulfill it. I was thrilled today while reading the words of a hymn to come across these lyrics: "Let each heart be the heart of a lion." I publicly announce (as I have before) that I am a lioness at the gate of my home. I invite each of you to do the same with a renewed resolve to safeguard our families"

(Margaret D. Nadauld) 

I love President Monson and his example of courage

Thomas S. Monson was in the US Navy near the end of World War II. The very first Sunday of bootcamp, the officer read out all of the different religious meetings and dismissed all the young men that were of those faiths. Monson stood strong. He recalls thinking “Monson, you are not a Catholic; you are not a Jew; you are not a Protestant. You are a Mormon, so you just stand here!” He goes on to say "I can assure you that I felt completely alone. Courageous and determined,  yes—but alone."

He remembers this poem:

Dare to be a Mormon;

Dare to stand alone.

Dare to have a purpose firm;

Dare to make it known. 

("Dare to stand alone" -Thomas S. Monson)

Being valiant in the testimony of Jesus - Bruce R. McConkie

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”(Romans 1:16)

"Now what does it mean to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus?, It is to be courageous and bold; to use all our strength,  energy,  and ability in the warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith. “Be strong and of a good courage, ” the Lord commanded Joshua,  and then specified that this strength and courage consisted of meditating upon and observing to do all that is written in the law of the Lord. (See Josh. 1:6–9.) The great cornerstone of valiance in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole law of the whole gospel."

"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” It is to “endure to the end.” (2 Ne. 31:20.) It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of “pure religion” in the lives of men; it is visiting “the fatherless and widows in their affliction” and keeping ourselves “unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27.)"

"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions, control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valiant of all our Father’s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and offerings, to honour the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay our all upon the altar if called upon to do so."

"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father."

("Be Valiant in the Fight of Faith", Bruce R. McConkie)

The courage of faith

President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918): “After we have done all we could do for the cause of truth,  and withstood the evil that men have brought upon us… it is still our duty to stand. We cannot give up; we must not lie down. … To stand firm in the face of overwhelming opposition,  when you have done all you can,  is the courage of faith. The courage of faith is the courage of progress."

Exodus 14:13 …"Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD" -  Sometimes the Lord requires us to stand still, nevertheless, he still requires us to stand, at all times, in all things, in all places (Mosiah 18:9).

Little mottos:

Stand still but STILL STAND

“Be of good cheer,  and do not fear” (D&C 68:6)

I dare to defend,  but I don’t care to contend

Love Serene

xo