on being a woman

I read this interesting article and really enjoyed it! I love the way this girl writes, she is actually a girl who was in our first ward right after we were married. She gave a talk in church once and both Chance and I said, "Man, that was a good talk!" She has a way with words and I love and appreciate her thoughts here.

After reading this article, I also saw in the comments that she had posted this quote, from the new Relief Society handbook, Daughters in my Kingdom. I LOVE this quote. I feel the Spirit strongly when I read it. I know that the Savior lives and that He loves each person, men and women.

"Throughout His mortal ministry, the Savior showed special love and concern for women. Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “The world’s greatest champion of woman and womanhood is Jesus the Christ.” The Savior taught women in multitudes and as individuals, on the street and by the seashore, at the well and in their homes. He showed loving-kindness toward them and healed them and their family members. In many parables, He told stories of women engaged in ordinary activities. He demonstrated deep familiarity with women’s lives and drew timeless gospel lessons from their everyday experiences. He forgave them. He wept with them. He had compassion on them in their specific circumstances as daughters, wives, homemakers, mothers, and widows. He appreciated them and ennobled them. Even in excruciating pain on the cross, the Savior expressed concern for His mother, who by then was very likely a widow in need of watchcare. And the first person to whom He appeared after His Resurrection was a woman."

She also posted two more quotes, said by people I have never heard of, but I enjoyed these words as well.

"Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them . . . who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend" (Dorothy Sayers)

"Where in the world can be found a group of men dedicated to a single standard of chastity and marital fidelity? Where can we find a group of men dedicated to marriage—getting married and staying married? Where can we find a group of men dedicated to upholding the safety, flourishing, and equality of women? Men who want to have children, and take part in raising them? Men who value their daughters as much as they value their sons? Men who abhor abuse, pornography, and neglect? Men who embrace burden-sharing with their wives, including the burden of housework? Where we can find a group of men who covenant these things as part of their duty to God? They are right here in this room. You are a special covenant brotherhood unlike any other on this planet. Thank God for the restoration of the priesthood, that restores a vision of how God wanted his daughters treated by his sons!" (Dr. Valerie Hudson, http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2010_The_Two_Trees.html).

I am grateful to be a woman and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that my Savior lives.