Friday, March 25, 2011

What does it mean to be a Powerful Woman?

I have been pondering lately what I really WANT!  I have always wanted to be a STRONG woman! (like my mother)  But what does that really mean to me?   I have become FASCINATED with the lives of women from church history....Lucky Mack Smith, Emma Smith, Eliza R Snow (did you know her middle name was Roxcy!!?) and Mary Fielding Smith.  What AWE inspiring woman who fearlessly trusted in the Lord, served others, raised families, and supported their husbands.  THAT is what I want to be.
   In recent talks Julie B Beck has referred to women as "the Lioness" of their families.  What a POWERFUL symbol.  ( I wrote a previous post about that) Beauty and strength mingled into one! I have never thought of myself as a feisty person.....or even very brave.  I have never done anything very heroic by the worlds standards BUT...I am learning more and more that when you love God the worlds standards just don't matter.  AT ALL.  The world would tell you that its DEGRADING to stay home and raise your children....the world will tell you that dressing MODESTLY and being CHASTE is old fashioned.  The world will tell you that Marriages are expendable and that you should worry about YOUR needs always being met to your hearts desire!  But the spirit will tell you differently.   There is more POWER in a faithful woman who is kind, chaste, and courageous than the world can imagine.  If the Lord created this earth by His power...JUST IMAGINE what we could do if we enabled ourselves with it.   The Lord said in Matthew that if you have as much faith as a mustard seed you could move mountains.  LITERALLY!  Moses parted the red sea not with his staff (that was a symbol) but with his FAITH!  
  Have you ever held a MUSTARD SEED in your hand??!??  Its so TINY!


What does that tell me about how powerful I could be???  How much good I could do??  How much I should TRUST the Lord? It makes me think about how little faith I must have now....and how I want it to grow like a mustard seed.  Into what the Savior called the "greatest of all herbs".  Why??  Because it becomes a HUGE tree! HUGE!


  THAT is what being humble, meek, kind, chaste, patient will make you.   A HUGE TREE OF FAITH!  A shelter from the storm for all those "little birds" who are lost.  A firmly rooted example of POWER!  YES.....POWER!
      The world has accused Mormon women of being weak, even blind.....but I am pretty sure those people have NEVER worked a miracle by their faith and prayers.  When you have that kind of Faith and are flawlessly obedient..... we will be able to call upon heaven for miracles.  And they will come to pass according to His will.  I will  never let the worlds judement make me feel powerless again.  For although a spiritual woman might appear to the world as lowly..........The Lords power is INFINTE and it is ours through our faith.   DO you feel AWESOME YET!???  Seriously.  It changes the way you think about washing the dishes and changing diapers!!  Literally when we give our hearts and lives to Him I believe He  will make us more powerful and beautiful than we could possibly imagine.   Bless me with the faith to become such a woman!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sigh of Contentment.........

Well...I had a a realization the other day. I am content!!!  CONTENT!  I know that seems like a weird comment but I am a girl who never stops....I require myself to live up to an impossible standard of trying to be perfect and you now what....I'm just not!!!  And I'm alright with it.  I ate a Dove Chocolate the other day(yes I eat too much chocolate)  and it said "its alright to be FLAWED and FABULOUS!!"  I've been thinking about how profound that is.  ONE that it came from a CHOCOLATE wrapper and TWO that is just what God must think of us...FABULOUSLY FLAWED and HE still loves me!  I honestly felt like shouting HALLELUJAH right then and there! 
   Sometimes I just need PERMISSION to not try and be so overwhelmingly perfect because I ALWAYS end up feeling like a failure! Because the truth is I am a failure at being perfect and I always will be!  BUT.....I look around me and I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I have a husband who I adore...who I find ridiculosly handsome and charming and who...after almost 9 years of marriage I still want to spend the rest of etermity with....to grow old together!! Now THAT is exciting!  I have 3 kids..who are beautiful, smart, incredibly demanding and difficult to parent some days..but they are mine and I adore them.  I have wonderful parents, inlaws, siblings and friends. 
    Sigh!  I love my life.  Somedays I forget that!  But God has been good to me!    There have been some not so fun times....I'm tired...I get frustrated and I sure have more bad hair days than good.  But....all said and done.  I'm CONTENT!  The Lord has done a great job thus far driving my life....to unexpected places no less....learning things I did not want to learn voluntarily...but.....nonetheless....I think I will just let Him keep driving.  And I am just going to go along for the ride and try not to Whine too much and try to see the beauty in all I have. 


See....I'm wacky....I cant take a normal picture....and I'm getting wrinkles....But I'm ok with it!  I'm Me and thats Just GREAT!