Women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a thread)

I believe in the divine role of women. I look to scripture to find my examples of how to be a good woman as well as The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

I admire Hannah, who prioritized motherhood so much, and worshipped God in the temple, even consecrating her son to the Lord. She uttered one of the most beautiful prayers ever.

I admire Mary, the mother of Jesus, who raised up her son, even the Son of God, and played an active role in His development. Jesus' admiration and respect for His mother has always inspired me.

I admire Abish, who after she converted to the Lord, shared the gospel message with so many souls. She is an amazing example of missionary work and an extraordinary example of how faith has priesthood power.

I believe that women have the opportunity to be mothers and prioritize this role, but I also believe that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have the divine responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us.

I do not believe that men and women are the same and nor do I believe that women will be or necessarily should be ordained to the priesthood, but I know women have incredible priesthood power that enables us to be better mothers and disciples of Jesus Christ.

I am following my patriarchal blessing, which instructs me to take a specific career path. I do believe in prioritizing motherhood above all else, but God has also given me specific direction to follow to do His work.

I also believe that whoever I marry will preside in the family, but as prophets and apostles have counseled, I do not think that that means my opinion will be worthless because I know whoever I marry will exercise their priesthood righteously and consider me in all decisions.

Men and women are biologically different, we have different spiritual functions, but I think we have to be careful to not overstate or understate these differences. We are all disciples of Jesus Christ and have a unique role to play.

I have personally struggled to reconcile what I thought were doctrinal beliefs of the role of women with what my patriarchal blessing says to the point where I had a major faith crisis over it. The conclusion I have come to is that there is a divine idea of manhood and womanhood.

And that we do not understand all the differences and similarities, which is why we have personal revelation and priesthood authority. We shouldn't diminish motherhood in the slightest because it's exceedingly important.

But we should also remember that even though men and women are different, He designed us to be in divine partnership with each other, as equals, where we should both feel heard and both cause each other to grow.