Today's Woman

Last night I went to an incredible fireside here at BYU-I.

There was 2 members from each General board of Relief Society, Young Womans, and Primary.

They talked about knowing our identity, covenants/obedience, and being a woman of influence.

It was seriously amazing.

I'm just going to paraphrase a few points from each topic.

IDENTITY

* If we see ourselves the way our loving Heavenly Father sees us then we can understand our true identity and become who we are meant to be.

*If the Lord were to speak to me in person he would urge me to understand my true identity.

* How can we find out how he sees us? By finding out about Him. Learn of him and seek to know him. Then we can gain a better understand of who we really are.

* Our true identity is that we are children of God

COVENANTS

*covenants require commitment and obedience. They remind us that as we draw closer to the Savior our weaknesses can become our strengths

*Hang on to your covenants. Satan has become more cunning and deceiving as he tries to destroy these covenants.

*Take comfort in the fact that you have been obedient. Whatever else comes your way doesn't matter. You've been faithful in what matters most.

*The purpose of the TASK is to STRENGTHEN the relationship. Whatever the Lord asks us to do our trial that comes our way is intended to strengthen the relationship with those involved and also with our Heavenly Father and Savior.

INFLUENCE

* We have been PREPARED for this TIME. Figure out what your purpose is, why were you saved for this time.

* A covenant woman has the power to influence those around her. Be involved IN the world, but don't be a woman OF the world.

* Who can we invest (influence) in today. Who needs our help to lift them up? As a daughter of God we have a divine quality to help bear the burdens of others and lift them up.

And it was all summed up when the last speaker said. "Care about your identity. Care about your covenants and relationship with your Heavenly Father. Care about who you invest in."

Here are 2 videos everyone should watch.

Significant in Every Way.

Our True Identity.

I know this is already significantly long but I just wanted to add a little something from

M. Russel Ballard's talk in the 2010 April conference titled "Mother and Daughters"

"Speaking to the women of the Church nearly a century ago, President Joseph F. Smith said: “It is not for you to be led by the women of the world; it is for you to lead the … women of the world, in everything that is praise-worthy, everything that is God-like, everything that is uplifting and … purifying to the children of men”" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 184).

"It is, unfortunately, all too easy to illustrate the confusion and distortion of womanhood in contemporary society. Immodest, immoral, intemperate women jam the airwaves, monopolize magazines, and slink across movie screens—all while being celebrated by the world. The Apostle Paul spoke prophetically of “perilous times” that will come in the last days and specifically referenced something that may have seemed particularly perilous to him: “silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts” (2 Timothy 3:1, 6).

He goes on to say that we should model ourselves after our mothers. Not after the woman we see in magazines and movies. They don't share the standards of the Lord. We need to learn from our mothers strength, her courage, and her faithfulness.

I think about how many less problems we might have in the world if girls chose to look up to their mothers then to look up to the woman in the media. Just like was said in the fireside we need to be woman involved in the world, but not woman of the world. We need to dress modestly, respect our bodies and ourselves. We need to nurture and love those around us. We need to be woman of God.

I don't know about anyone else but the world today scares me a little. But I do take comfort in the fact that I can be a woman of influence and that I can change the lives of those around me. I can raise my kids to know who they are and to model themselves after the Lord's example and not the example of the world. How I conduct myself will affect the lives of others. It's kind of a big responsibility that I don't think about to often. But I'm so glad I was reminded of it and can start today to be a woman of influence.