"And now, my beloved brethern, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great things, let us remember Him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off" (2 Nephi 10:20)

As I have been adjusting to a "new normal" with some changes that have taken place, I have often wondered if this is a good thing. It has been very difficult to accept the changes and not get discouraged about what I have to give up, change, deal with, and live with. The thought that keeps me going at times is this: "O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel" (2 Nephi 9:19)! He is a merciful and loving God. I don't know the outcome of these changes, and I have mourned and sometimes continue to mourn what I am no longer able to do. And then I read this passage in the scriptures:

And now, my beloved brethern, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great things, let us remember Him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off: nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon the isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 10:20).

The Lord has not forsaken me in or during my trials. Just as Nephi and his family had to leave all their comforts, money, friends, and life they knew in Jerusalem and were led to a "better land", we too are led to "better lands" when we have a sea of challenges and trials as our path. We are led and will enter safely a "better land". Nephi was able to have his family and the records of the prophets to teach his family of covenants and eternal promises. We too, as we put our trust in our merciful God, will have blessings that draw us closer to our families and to God. It isn't easy to give up patiently what we want for what God knows is something better, especially when we can't see what lies ahead in the middle of an ocean of challenges. 

I don't know what is better sometimes, but "in God I have put my trust" (Psalms 56:4) and therefore I know that things will work out. Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley said: "Things will work out. If you keep trying and praying and working, things will work out. They always do. If you want to die at an early age, dwell on the negative. Accentuate the positive, and you'll be around for a while" (Presidents of the Church Teacher Manual Religion 345). I don't want to "hang down" my head, but rather I want to go forward in faith believing that "things will work out" because, truthfully, they always do. We are truly blessed with a merciful God who will always lead us to a "better land"...sometimes that journey is a bit rough, but God will always get us there, "for we are not cast off" (2 Nephi 10:20).

"Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20; Moses 4:26)

Can I just tell you that one of the worst things you can say to a stay-at-home mom when her children have a day off of school is: "You don't have to go to work today"! First of all, I do love my children, and I do love being a stay-at-home mom. But, I must say right up front, it is the hardest, most taxing and challenging "job" I have ever done in my life! And guess what? I don't ever get to "leave work". It is a part of me, it is my life, I am a mother. To be a mother is something that takes emotion, thought, heart, mind, time, energy, spirit, more patience than I naturally have, and it really helps that I have a very supportive, patient, loving husband. But I am here to share thoughts about mothers and Christ. How do these two relate? Great question. (I love asking these kinds of questions because the Spirit always teaches me things I need to know).

"Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20; Moses 4:26). As women, we are all mothers, not just when we have children, but because we are women, women of God. Notice that Adam called his wife Eve, the mother of all living, before she had children. As women of God we get the sacred responsibility to nurture children. President Gordon B. Hinckley said this, about us as women of God: "You are the guardians of the hearth. You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God" (Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World). To nurture children takes our time, our effort, our hearts and our minds. It takes our talents and our money. And it is worth every sacrifice to be able to strengthen, teach, guide, and lift our children or any children. For all are children of God.

Eve was the mother of all living. As women we are symbolic Eve's. We too, are mother's of all living. Everyone on the earth is a son or daughter of God (see Psalms 82:6), all in need of nurturing. How can we go about nurturing others? First, let's define what it means to nurture and then give a couple of examples. "Nurture is a rich word. It means to train, to teach, to educate, to foster development, to promote growth, and to nourish and feed" (Daughters in My Kingdom). With all those elements involved with nurturing we can all contribute something to our brothers and sisters each day and "help other's on their way" (Primary Children's Songbook, He Sent His Son #34). We can follow the example of our Savior and help Him in His work. The Savior said, "For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men" (D&C 103:9 see also verse 10).

How can we be "saviors of men"? I will only suggest two things, and they are from the same word, but mean different things. Let us be "saviors of men" by being a "light unto the world" (D&C 103:9 italics added). We must let our "light so shine before men" (Matthew 5:16 italics added), we must be good examples of what we really believe. NO compartmentalizing. We have to be what we profess we are in all areas of our life. When we say we follow Jesus Christ, we then follow His example not only at church, but at home, at work, at school, wherever we may be. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22). When we let "truth and light" (D&C 93:28) lead our lives, then our "whole body shall be full of light" (Matthew 6:22-23). When we let what we know to be true permeate our lives His light will shine through us, giving light to others, nurturing them.

The other kind of "light" is, to be "willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light" (Mosiah 18:8 italics added). When we help make another's burden light, we are nurturing them. The Savior was the greatest example of this. He carried all our burdens, physically and spiritually, "that He may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12). Sometimes we are given challenges or infirmities so that we may know how to "succor His people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12), that we may help make another's burden light. (Have you ever thought that making burdens light, is a form of "light", meaning the Saviors light? Just something to ponder).

The Savior knows all that He must do to nurture His children and we as "daughters of God" (Guide to the Scriptures), "Eve's", "mother's of all living" (Genesis 3:20), get to help Him with this divine calling, by nurturing all His children. This I testify.

I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering..." (Alma 38:3)

I have been blessed to have one daughter. She is an amazing young woman. It is such a blessing as a parent when we finally meet parents of her friends and they tell us that they know if their child is with our daughter they trust, implicitly, that they have nothing to worry about when our children are together. I want to say..."unto you, my [daughter], that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering..." (Alma 38:3).

I believe all parents want to have "great joy" in their children. Each child is different and blesses us as parents to help us learn and develop, "that by these [we] might be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). The "divine nature" is the Savior's character. "That is our charge" to become like our Savior (Pres. Ezra Taft Benson), and our children help us to become as He is as we parent these "precious little ones" (Pres. Thomas S. Monson), this includes teenagers. It is wonderful being a parent of teenagers!

As we parent our children, and if we don't have children, we can practice these virtues and develop the character of Christ every day as we associate with others. The first virtue, and the one I want to focus on, is "faith" (2 Peter 1:5) "[Faith] is a prerequisite for all other virtues" (Pres. Ezra Taft Benson). Faith is a virtue that leads us in times of darkness, when we have no idea how to help our children or our family, but we know that God knows, and therefore, we go forth with faith. When we have faith in Christ, our efforts and our lives show it because faith produces good works (see James 2:14, 17-26). The good works of attending church even when the Sunday School teacher is boring but we go anyway. Or the good works of paying our tithing when we know we need to pay bills but we choose to put God first in our lives and have the faith the the Lord will "open you the windows of heaven" (Malachi 3:10). Christ had the faith to finish His work, the atonement for us. We, too, must develop the godly characteristic of faith, even as we parent our children.

Faith isn't developed by fear or controlling our children. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The power from God and the power of love and the power of faith enable us to lead our children and inspire our children to know for themselves how to "choose good or evil" (Alma 13:3). We don't need to manipulate them into choosing good. It is vital that they learn to judge for themselves "to discern good from evil" (The Guide to the Scriptures). It takes faith to teach our children and then even more faith to let them make choices on their own, that they will make good choices that will lead them back to our Father in Heaven when we aren't around.This is when we have "great joy" (Alma 38:3).

Some children may not choose to follow what we have taught them as parents. It takes faith to trust that our Father in Heaven will help us know how to love them and continue to teach them and guide them. President Hinckley said, "You parents, love your children. Cherish them. They are so precious. They are so very, very important. They are the future. You need more than your own wisdom in rearing them. You need the help of the Lord. Pray for that help and follow the inspiration which you receive" (The Fabric of Faith and Testimony). As parents, we will receive divine guidance and help to know what to do and how to help our children, not in fear, but in love. The blessings come when we act in faith on those promptings and inspiration that does come.

We show and strengthen our faith in Christ as we gather our children around us this Christmas and all year long as "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ...that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26). We do this in love and faith. We are developing the "divine nature" that is a part of who we are and want to and should teach our children. We will say, "I have had great joy in thee already because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence" (Alma 38:3) when our children think of Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ and they "look to God and live" (Alma 37:47) every day of their lives because of the "unfeigned faith that is in [them]" (2 Timothy 1:5) no matter what their age. This I testify.