"Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees" (D&C 81:5)

These are just a few random thoughts I have been thinking and pondering about motherhood/womanhood, fatherhood/priesthood, ministering angels and the creation of children. The powers given to men and women work together to lift, strengthen, and administer to all of God's children. One is not greater than another, both are needed and are magnified though righteous choices and faithful hearts.

-As women, daughters of God, and as Eve's, we were  foreordained to be mothers before we were born. In The Family: A Proclamation to the World it states: "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" (read here). It is a responsibility, divine power, and duty to create life that we may aide in God's purpose of bringing about his eternal plan. It is not to be taken lightly, only to be used within the bounds the Lord has set. "Sexual intimacy is not only a symbolic union between a man and a woman-the uniting of their very souls-but it is also symbolic of a union between mortals and deity, ...uniting for a rare and special moment with God himself and all the powers by which he gives life in this wide universe of ours. ...Surely God's trust in us to respect this future-forming gift is awesomely staggering. ...We carry this procreative power that makes us very much like God in at least one grand and majestic way" (Strengthening the Family: The Sacred Powers of Procreation).

-After Eve partook of the fruit, God blessed Eve with an increase of understanding. He said: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception" (Moses 4:22). Conception means not only the process of creating a child, but also "the capacity, function, or process of forming or understanding ideas or abstractions or their symbols" (Merriam-Webster/Conception). This insight as to how women think and multitask is a blessing from God. As we come to understand the power of motherhood, which is given to all women, there is no doubt that the power of God is within us and is our responsibility to use wisely, protect, strengthen, and nurture its growth within us and everyone else we come in contact. Developing the conception power within women is not just about conceiving children, rather I believe it's about the whole human family and eternal growth and progression of all of God's children as we help develop the spiritual growth needed in all of us to return to our Heavenly Father. God's purpose is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Women have a great responsibility that comes with this power of conception-physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

-To men who are ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood the "ministering of angels" is given (D&C 84:26; D&C 107:20). To women, the "the errand of angels" is given (As Sister's in Zion). Elder Quinton L. Cook said this about the power given to women: "The errand of angels is given to women. This has been described as nothing less than to do the direct and immediate bidding of our Father in Heaven, and this is a gift that...sisters...claim" (LDS Women are Incredible!). Women and men, who honor their priesthood, both have this power to be ministering angels and to "speak with the tongue of angels" (2 Nephi 32:2). The responsibility of ministering to all of God's children is given to both men and women. "Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees" (D&C 81:5).

-As women, we have power to give life to our children, and though great sacrifice, they are born into this world; "...ye are born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit" (Moses 6:59). Men, through the authority of the priesthood, are given the power to give all of God's children birth as they bury them in the waters of baptism and bring them forth into a new birth, a new life. "Even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten" (Moses 6:59). Father's and mother's work together in God's great work to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39) both literally and symbolically.

These are not complete in their entire message. I hope they may be a jump start into your own understanding of sacred and powerful responsibilities given to both women and men and how together we celebrate who we really are- Children of God. This I testify.