Comments on: First Person: “Seek and Ye Shall Find” http://mormonwoman.org/2009/05/28/seeking-god/ A website for and about Mormon women, and about Mormonism in general Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:14:32 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Merica http://mormonwoman.org/2009/05/28/seeking-god/comment-page-1/#comment-6906 Merica Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:13:44 +0000 http://mormonwoman.org/?p=1331#comment-6906 Beautifully said Janelle. I think because of the priesthood, many people perceive women in the church to be concidered less significant, but my experience is almost the opposite. I am made to feel equally significant and important at the very least. And the preisthood supports that. Through the teachings of the gospel, it's easy to see that the Lord cares about his Sisters very deeply and he expects great things of us. I feel like society puts women into two catagories: objects; here for the pleasure of man, weak, helpless, and dependent, or Feminists; proving that we can do anything a man can do, making them the enemy. In the church I feel empowered by faith. I feel my devine nature and know that the things that make me different than a man do not make me less. I know that Heavenly Father created me this way on purpose and wants me to feel significant and powerful and to use that to bless the world around me the way only a woman can. I am also grateful that our husbands and sons are taught that :) Beautifully said Janelle. I think because of the priesthood, many people perceive women in the church to be concidered less significant, but my experience is almost the opposite. I am made to feel equally significant and important at the very least. And the preisthood supports that. Through the teachings of the gospel, it’s easy to see that the Lord cares about his Sisters very deeply and he expects great things of us.

I feel like society puts women into two catagories: objects; here for the pleasure of man, weak, helpless, and dependent, or Feminists; proving that we can do anything a man can do, making them the enemy. In the church I feel empowered by faith. I feel my devine nature and know that the things that make me different than a man do not make me less. I know that Heavenly Father created me this way on purpose and wants me to feel significant and powerful and to use that to bless the world around me the way only a woman can.

I am also grateful that our husbands and sons are taught that :)

]]> By: Janelle http://mormonwoman.org/2009/05/28/seeking-god/comment-page-1/#comment-6841 Janelle Fri, 29 May 2009 03:39:02 +0000 http://mormonwoman.org/?p=1331#comment-6841 When I was 14 or 15, I wondered about the role of women in the church. I decided to search the scriptures. I read every story and verse that included women. I was most impressed by the women of the New Testament. Which Mary do I love the most? I cannot tell. They are all so wonderful. But after doing this exercise I went to the Lord in prayer. I told Him about my concerns and He answered me with a warm feeling of peace. I've relied on that answer several more times in my life. Just last week something I read in a lesson I was preparing for Church made me have these feelings about women in the Church again. We are commanded to pray always or always have a prayer in our hearts. I extended my question to the Lord in an informal prayer of the heart. Immediately two images entered my mind. The first was the circle of women who surrounded Christ at the crucifix. And this reminded me that the Lord knows how faithful the women of the Church are. Second was the Lord appearing to Mary in the Garden prior to His ascension to His Father. This image forced upon me the honor it was that Christ showed himself first to a woman after His resurrection. During this experience, I felt the same peace wash over me as I had when I was 14. In the young women's program for girls ages 12-18 in our church they recite a Young Women's motto each Sunday. It begins, We are Daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. I feel that love, and it gives me the strength to go to Him when I have questions. When I was 14 or 15, I wondered about the role of women in the church. I decided to search the scriptures. I read every story and verse that included women. I was most impressed by the women of the New Testament. Which Mary do I love the most? I cannot tell. They are all so wonderful. But after doing this exercise I went to the Lord in prayer. I told Him about my concerns and He answered me with a warm feeling of peace. I’ve relied on that answer several more times in my life.

Just last week something I read in a lesson I was preparing for Church made me have these feelings about women in the Church again. We are commanded to pray always or always have a prayer in our hearts. I extended my question to the Lord in an informal prayer of the heart. Immediately two images entered my mind. The first was the circle of women who surrounded Christ at the crucifix. And this reminded me that the Lord knows how faithful the women of the Church are. Second was the Lord appearing to Mary in the Garden prior to His ascension to His Father. This image forced upon me the honor it was that Christ showed himself first to a woman after His resurrection. During this experience, I felt the same peace wash over me as I had when I was 14.

In the young women’s program for girls ages 12-18 in our church they recite a Young Women’s motto each Sunday. It begins, We are Daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. I feel that love, and it gives me the strength to go to Him when I have questions.

]]> By: Michelle http://mormonwoman.org/2009/05/28/seeking-god/comment-page-1/#comment-6815 Michelle Thu, 28 May 2009 08:49:14 +0000 http://mormonwoman.org/?p=1331#comment-6815 As a postscript to this piece, I share a link to an <a href="http://www.meridianmagazine.com/lineuponline/090216honesty.html" rel="nofollow">article</a> that intrigued me. The article was on honesty, and how often we may be *too* honest at inappropriate times. But the author of the article, Darla Isackson, says the following: <blockquote>The Holy Ghost is the keeper of truth, the conduit of truth, the sure witness of truth. Jacob 4:13 reads, “For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore it speaketh of things as they really are.” Therefore, tuning into that channel is what I need to do. I can often re-establish my connection to the Spirit that teaches all truth by opening my heart to God and sharing even the most negative of my feelings with Him. God is the One Who Can Handle All Our Feelings. Great benefits can be derived from confessing all feelings to God and asking Him to help sort them out. We can tell Him anything and He is not going to be hurt or angered or surprised or upset or disgusted with us. Even when it is God we are angry with, He invites us to pour out our hearts to Him so He can help heal us. </blockquote> She goes on to quote a man by the name of Michael Card, who talks about the lament as an important spiritual process, even something that is evident in the Bible (Darla Isackson adds a few examples of her own from other scriptural works as well). Darla summarizes his words by saying that "the process of voicing our laments to the Lord is not only desirable, but necessary in order for the Lord to be able to cleanse our hearts of bad feelings, and replace them with better ones." As we "open our hearts to the Lord and tell Him our most painful feelings, we open ourselves too to His comfort, to His guidance, to having our thoughts and feelings changed—to having the Spirit turn us away from false perceptions to light and truth." This is the pattern that I am learning from Sue, and I appreciated seeing it described in another place in such a solid way. I hope we can all consider being more honest with the Lord, allowing Him to help us peel away layers of doubt, fear, false perceptions, and misunderstandings. I believe that process is an important element toward mental, emotional, and spiritual progress in our journey, and a key part of developing a strong and faithful relationship with God. As a postscript to this piece, I share a link to an article that intrigued me. The article was on honesty, and how often we may be *too* honest at inappropriate times. But the author of the article, Darla Isackson, says the following:

The Holy Ghost is the keeper of truth, the conduit of truth, the sure witness of truth. Jacob 4:13 reads, “For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore it speaketh of things as they really are.” Therefore, tuning into that channel is what I need to do.

I can often re-establish my connection to the Spirit that teaches all truth by opening my heart to God and sharing even the most negative of my feelings with Him.
God is the One Who Can Handle All Our Feelings.

Great benefits can be derived from confessing all feelings to God and asking Him to help sort them out. We can tell Him anything and He is not going to be hurt or angered or surprised or upset or disgusted with us. Even when it is God we are angry with, He invites us to pour out our hearts to Him so He can help heal us.

She goes on to quote a man by the name of Michael Card, who talks about the lament as an important spiritual process, even something that is evident in the Bible (Darla Isackson adds a few examples of her own from other scriptural works as well).

Darla summarizes his words by saying that “the process of voicing our laments to the Lord is not only desirable, but necessary in order for the Lord to be able to cleanse our hearts of bad feelings, and replace them with better ones.” As we “open our hearts to the Lord and tell Him our most painful feelings, we open ourselves too to His comfort, to His guidance, to having our thoughts and feelings changed—to having the Spirit turn us away from false perceptions to light and truth.”

This is the pattern that I am learning from Sue, and I appreciated seeing it described in another place in such a solid way. I hope we can all consider being more honest with the Lord, allowing Him to help us peel away layers of doubt, fear, false perceptions, and misunderstandings. I believe that process is an important element toward mental, emotional, and spiritual progress in our journey, and a key part of developing a strong and faithful relationship with God.

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