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Gospel Doctrine lesson 40 ; 3 Nephi 16, 20, 21 These chapters and verses on gathering and Zion made me think of so many different things at once. One of these was the opening verses of Ecclesiastes 3 : To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… a time to break down, and a time to build up… A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together… a time to keep, and a time to cast away. While there have previously been scattering times, and times of tearing down, ours is a time of gathering and of building. I also think of the oft-repeated image of Christ as the mother hen, who gathered her chickens under her wings and nourished them, and who would gather her chickens under her wings and nourish them, if they would let her. Just one instance of this is found in 3 Nephi 10:5-6 . My thoughts then go to 3 Nephi 17 , one of the chapters covered in the previous lesson. It seems important to me in part because it happens to fall between this week’s chapters of 16, 20, and 21 (it is tied directly to chapter 16), and because it includes Jesus modeling what gathering and building Zion actually looks like: In chapter 16, Christ spoke of the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel, and other sheep that He needed to minister to and bring into His fold. Then at the start of chapter 17, He says that He has to go to some of those sheep, and that He knows they didn’t understand His words–the very ones about gathering and Zion!–and that it’s ok. He just wants them to go home and ponder them before He comes back the next day, and talks about gathering and Zion again. But, before He leaves, He looks at them, and knows two more things: 1) they are sad and 2) they want Him to stay. He does so for a while longer. As He does, He shows them the words they could not understand by enacting them, which is to say, He gathers and builds. First He gathers everyone who is sick, who are “lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner,” saying “Bring them hither… Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.” Then He gathers more. “As many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.” But He is still not done gathering. He “commanded that their little children should be brought” ( 11 ). When they were, He blessed them. Gathering and Zion then, is saying “Bring them hither” to everyone who needs healing, and then it is healing them. It is overflowing with compassion and mercy for them. It is remembering the children too, and blessing them individually and collectively. This is why I cannot think of gathering and Zion without thinking of one more thing: Joanna Brooks’s beautiful poem, “ Invocation/Benediction ,” first published in the Exponent II, and again in Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings : Father, Mother, help me piece together the contradictions of my life:White cotton, red satin, brown polka dot; torn Sunday dress, Navajo rug, frayed baby blanket.Make me insistent on every lonely shred, willing to sacrifice no one.Where there is no pattern, God, give me courage to organize a fearsome beauty.Where there is unraveling, let me draw broad blanket stitches of sturdy blue yarn.Mother, Father, give me vision.Give me strength to work hours past my daughters’ bedtime.Give me an incandescent all-night garagewith a quorum of thimble-thumbed grandmothers sitting on borrowed folding chairs.We will gather all the lost scraps and stitch them together:A quilt big enough to warm all our generations:all the lost, found, rich, poor, good, bad, in, out, old, new, country, city, dusty, shiny ones;A quilt big enough to cover all the alfalfa fields in the Great Basin.Bigger. We are piecing together a quilt with no edges.God, make me brave enough to love my people.How wonderful it is to have a people to love. Some of the lost scraps and lonely shreds might be the tribes that are lost to us, but not to the Father, that He promises to “gather in, from their long dispersion…and shall establish again among them my Zion” (3 Nephi 21:1), but more might be something else. They might be anyone who is sick, or sad, or feels other (perhaps by living a reality outside of the Family proclaimed ideal). They are anyone who needs refuge or feels like they don’t quite belong. They are sitting on and off the pews, and our only job, as always, is to love them, and fill our hearts (and words and actions) with compassion and mercy for them. This is what gathering and building has always looked like. Good thing we have a blanket big enough and warm enough. Amen. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews A Worldwide Sisterhood , Judy Dushku “I think women carry many burdens—whether they are women of privilege or impoverished. I feel I understand the hidden and the obvious challenges of most women, and I feel drawn to listen and hear what they say, and offer any encouraging feedback that I can. I don’t usually offer solutions or say things like, “I know exactly how you feel.” That is never quite true. But I can say, “Tell me more. I am hearing you and I think I can understand what you are saying and maybe we can think of ways you might do something just a bit differently and resolve the issues before you.” I find that every woman has “a story” that is in some ways unique to her. I honor that in every sister that I meet—be it in Weston, Massachusetts, USA or in Gulu, Northern Uganda. One of our projects in Uganda is helping women write their own stories, and they love the idea. It makes them feel less invisible and forgotten by the world.” Holly on the Hill , Holly Richardson “When I told my husband about the condition of the orphanages, I said, “If there is any way we can continue to adopt children who need families, I want to do it.” It turns out there have been 20 kids we have been able to help in that way. Most of our kids came internationally – there have been a few we’ve adopted domestically – but that was the beginning of our journey with adoption.” Other Related Women’s Voices Sisterhood: Oh How We Need Each Other , Bonnie Oscarson “We have each other—sisters in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been blessed with tender and charitable natures which enable us to render Christlike love and service to those around us. As we look beyond our differences in age, culture, and circumstance to nurture and serve one another, we will be filled with the pure love of Christ and the inspiration which leads us to know when and whom to serve.” Welfare Principles in Relief Society , Shirley W. Thomas “Today’s problems of families reflect the increasing complexity of our time. The welfare services of the Church include multiple systems and long-range plans, but the constant through all its development is the application of gospel principles in loving concern for another’s need.” Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

The Gospel Doctrine lesson #41 ; scriptures 3 Nephi 22-26   Jesus’s visit to the Americas is a life’s ministry condensed into just a few brief but powerful encounters. The parallels between Christ’s actions and teachings in the Old and New World are significant: he healed the sick, preached a new gospel that replaced the Law of Moses, instituted the sacrament, ordained a priesthood, and prayed with and for the people. In 3 Nephi 22 – 26, as his visit neared its close, Christ taught from written text, or holy scripture. In these passages the gospel of Christ is distilled to a rarified essence: Jesus cites Isaiah, Samuel the Lamanite, and Malachi. There is some irony in this appeal to scripture, as if the Messiah needed to borrow from their authority. Yet, by citing the authority of these prophets, Jesus in turn lends them his own divine authority. Extracting words from the past, He intensifies their spiritual power and reaffirms their relevance to present and future eras. But why Isaiah 54 (quoted in 3 Nephi 22 )? Choosing from centuries of scripture, why does Jesus cite this chapter? What essential message does it give? Like many of Isaiah’s texts, this one is rich with imagery and symbol. These symbols reveal layered meanings, apt expression for the diversity of human experience. Music and Motherhood: Isaiah’s chapter opens with an imperative: “Sing! O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.” This is a psalm of praise, directed to a woman in distress. Abandoned, alone, and childless, the Lord comforts her and promises her an abundant family life, the fulfillment of her desires. Her family, which is also the family of the Lord, can now be established with bonds of love and peace that continue forever. Isaiah’s deepest symbol of joy and abundance is motherhood. But this is a role that comes with pain as well as joy. Again speaking to this woman the Lord says in 3 Nephi 22:7-8 , “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” Cynthia Hallen illuminates these verses with a reference to Jewish childbirth custom. “Among orthodox Jews,a husband is not allowed to watch his wife going through the labor of childbirth. He sits in the corner of the delivery room with his back turned so that she will not feel embarrassed or immodest in her unavoidable hour of agony. He does not abandon her, although she may feel very much alone. The woman recites or sings psalms as she endures contractions. When the pain becomes too great for her to continue singing, the husband takes over, reciting psalms for her.” Applying this childbirth custom to its symbolic significance for the people of God, Hallen continues, “Although Zion cannot see the Lord in the time of her probation, when she weeps, he weeps with her; when she sings, he rejoices with her. The relationship between the Savior and Zion is one of ‘everlasting kindness.’” (Hallen 45 “ Redeeming the Desolate Woman: The Message of Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22 ”) The Tent of Zion: 3 Nephi 22:2 gives us another vivid metaphor: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.” These words are woven throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, and the idea of Zion’s establishment and expansion is one of the foundational ideas of the restored gospel. It has become the metaphor for our church. The impact of this image on the people at Bountiful? We read in 4 Nephi verse 17 , after Christ’s departure, that these people became “one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.” Are we enlarging this tent of Zion? Are we becoming one? A Covenant Stronger than Mountains: Another metaphor or symbol, 3 Nephi 22:10-11 : “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.” Remember to whom Christ is speaking. These listeners had experienced the tangible reality of his words. They had seen mountains crumble and tempests ravage their homes. The foundations of their society had been destroyed by vice and selfish power struggles. But Christ reminds them that these calamities, whether natural or human in origin, don’t nullify God’s plan. Even the law of Moses, itself symbolized by the mountain Sinai, had departed, but this drastic change in lifestyle could never mean a change in God’s love. When Christ finishes expounding Isaiah 54 to the people, he reminds them to “search these things diligently” ( 3 Nephi 23:1 ). Why? Not simply to show our devotion or demonstrate our obedience to commandments. We search the scriptures because they give us words of life. They tell us that that there is a plan, that God keeps his promises of peace, that our human mess can be made right, our pain healed, our sorrows turn to joy. This is the essence of Christ’s gospel. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews To Sit At The Feet of Christ , Christie Kay Hansen Frandsen “I think lowering the age for sister missionaries was huge. Gigantically huge. So many more girls are going to go on missions because at age nineteen they can plan it into their life. At age twenty one, they couldn’t make plans. I’ve seen a real change in the girls in my seminary classes. They are really serious about studying the scriptures and serious about seminary. And then as these girls come back, they are going to be Gospel Doctrine teachers in their student wards, in their young adult wards. They are going to be Relief Society teachers and they are going to be using the scriptures. They are going to be scripture scholars because they have studied them. And that’s going to be wonderful for the women who don’t go on missions. They are going to see their sisters in front of them teaching with great power and authority and knowing and loving those scriptures. That is going to have an impact too. So I think that was maybe the most single most important thing to ever happen to really helping women understand and be serious about studying the scriptures.” Sharing the Burden , Dawn “That was a moment where I really had to reconcile my faith. If you lose your testimony in prayer, what do you have?…I decided—and this was the action on my part—to go to the scriptures. I looked up all these scriptures on prayer. Reading the Lord’s Prayer really changed my heart and my mind. There’s nothing that says, ‘You give me a list of whatever you want and I’ll be sure to fulfill it.’ Instead, it says to come close to the Lord so His will can be made manifest in your life. My prayer changed. I stopped praying for a specific outcome…It’s not like I read one scripture and it changed my life. But my willingness to pray about my question and to read about it and to ask God for clarification activated the Atonement.” Other Related Women’s Voices Defenders of the Proclamation of the Family , Bonnie L. Oscarson “All of us—women, men, youth, and children, single or married—can work at being homemakers. We should “make our homes” places of order, refuge, holiness, and safety. Our homes should be places where the Spirit of the Lord is felt in rich abundance and where the scriptures and the gospel are studied, taught, and lived. What a difference it would make in the world if all people would see themselves as makers of righteous homes. Let us defend the home as a place which is second only to the temple in holiness.”

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 42 ; 3 Nephi 27-4 Nephi 1 In 3 Nephi 27 , the disciples ask Jesus what they should call the church. Jesus instructs them they should call it in his name because it is his gospel. As members of this church, we believe this is Christ’s church. We strive to live the teachings of his gospel. We perform ordinances in his name. We take his name upon us when we are baptized and we renew this covenant every week when we take the sacrament. We even conclude our prayers in his name. This continual tie back to Christ reminds us that what we are practicing is his gospel. Recognizing this is Christ’s gospel is important of course. But it’s also important that each of us finds a way to make this gospel, Christ’s gospel, our gospel. We have to internalize it, make it become part of us, let it take root deep within us and grow and expand there. To live it and believe it, we have to truly make it ours. How do we do that? One way is taking the gospel messages that come our way and shaping them for us individually. Doing this requires us to take a message not as a hard wooden block, but instead as clay that we can mold to fit in our lives, finding ways to make it meaningful for us. While this is important, the need to constantly shape and form can be exhausting. So another way to help this be our gospel is by seeking out the pieces of the gospel that feel especially like ours already. This can be done by studying the scriptures and conference talks and marking those that truly speak to us. It can also be done by engaging in conversations with or listening to teachings of people whom we connect to—people who may have similar life experiences or similar ways of thinking. For women, there can sometimes be a shortage of voices and messages out there that seem to make this our gospel. Of course gender is not the only or necessarily the most important factor for finding messages that connect with us. Still, it can be a meaningful one. One of the things I like best about General Conference is the variety of voices we hear. Not only do the speakers talk on different topics, but they also bring different perspectives to the same messages because of their varied life experiences and approaches. This month at conference, I heard many beautiful messages that touched and inspired me. Yet, I couldn’t help notice—like I always do—how few feminine voices there were. When I hear mostly men speaking and see almost entirely men sitting on the stand, it can start to feel like their gospel. Finding my gospel can take a little more effort. Another way for something to feel like ours is when we are invested in it, when we are part of the process of creating and shaping it. I serve on a number of boards of directors in my community. We are constantly talking about how to make the board more diverse—in gender, age, ethnic background, occupation etc. Why? Because these differences bring an array of perspectives that help us shape programs and policies that broaden the reach and increase the effectiveness of our efforts. We also want these different elements of the community to be stakeholders in our programs, to see it as theirs—or really, as ours as a community. I believe the same is true at church. I believe in inspiration but I also believe we are each ready to hear and receive inspiration differently. When we include a wider variety of voices in decision making, we receive richer inspiration because we ask more and different questions and are able to reach more people. We as decision makers also become more invested stakeholders. When we serve in callings, teach, strive to make decisions and design programs that enable others to make Christ’s gospel theirs, we also make the gospel more completely ours. I love this about church—the collective effort that goes into it. Yet, I also long for more of a feminine perspective in the decision-making and policy-shaping of the church. I love the design of using councils but wish for more women’s voices on those councils (many councils include no women and among those that do, women are always a minority). The passages in 3 Nephi don’t tell us about the women in attendance as Christ taught the people. But I often imagine them there, listening and learning, turning over what they heard in their minds. Then I imagine them later discussing it among themselves, applying it in their families and communities, seeking to truly make his gospel theirs. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews Street Smart and Math Wise , Janet Nelson “The young women need to know who they are, and they learn that in the Young Women program. They need to know that they’re daughters of God and they can’t just recite the theme on Sundays. They really have to internalize that: I know when I’m struggling, Heavenly Father is there for me. Girls are alone a lot in their decisions, even when they’re surrounded by other members of the Church….I also think having relationships with leaders is so valuable. It is important for youth to have mentoring relationships in addition to parents. Each one of my children has had somebody in their life that they have been able to talk to. The Young Women program offers that to our girls today. As a mom I was grateful for those leaders who took time to encourage and listen to my children.” Other Related Women’s Voices Application of Welfare Principles in the Home , Barbara B. Smith “The word of the gospel as it is preached and learned is, for each of us, the beginning. ‘Knowing’ alone is not always sufficient to bring the promised light. We have to live by every word. We speak often in our worldwide Church about translation. Computers are being employed to assist, and hundreds of language specialists are engaged in this important work. But the translation for which we each bear personal responsibility is converting the words of the gospel into actions, attitudes, and habits.” Knowing the Lord’s Will For You , Anne C. Pingree “My life’s journey is different from yours. Each of you could teach me much from your experiences of submitting your will to the Lord’s as you earnestly seek to know His will for you. We can rejoice together in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, gratefully acknowledging the blessing of having a testimony of the Savior and His Atonement for each of us. This I know—our individual efforts to become instruments in the hands of God have not been easy and have stretched us spiritually, enriching our mortal journeys in the most personal, glorious ways.” Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

The Gospel Doctrine lesson #43 ; scriptures Mormon 1-4   I remember in high school in Provo, Utah, one girl in my class was not Mormon. I recall feeling true sorrow for her position, sorrow at the fact that her parents drank wine and she wore sleeveless dresses to the dances. I was not the only one to feel sorry for her as she was so clearly part of the “world.” It didn’t take me long past my high school years to question my own righteous concern for this girl and her family, who I’d never met in person, and not long after that to truly regret it. As I’ve continued to grow older, I’ve felt sincere sorrow, not for her, but for the culture that put me at odds with someone unnecessarily. Since that time, and increasingly so, I’ve been wary of phrases that put me at odds with “the world.” It seems that far too often my Sunday school classes have left me with the sense that the world is indeed wicked. The world is often represented as an unclear group of people that it becomes difficult, or at least it was for me as a young Mormon, to distinguish between the supposed wickedness of drinking wine, and the true evil of violence and hatred.  This is not to say that I don’t believe there is real evil in the world, but I have learned to be very careful and generous in not conflating the entire world outside of Mormonism with evil. The truth is that the world is rife with goodness. I won’t list here the ways in which that is true, but I think it is worth spending some time individually to observe, study and know the ways in which that is true. In this particular lesson, however, I do love Mormon’s intense dedication to writing, recording and preserving. In fact, he is tasked with this responsibility starting as a young child. Rarely do women show up in the Book of Mormon, let alone their words. I had a friend who asked me the question, “Do you think that women can ever fully be equal in the church before we read and know scripture written by women?” I have wondered on that question ever since. The question itself has asked several more questions of me: What do we consider scripture? How would women’s scripture look? Where would we read it? Who would write it? For me, the answers to these questions are surfacing in many ways in my own life. I see Mormon writing both to lead, teach, tell, help and change people he loves, even when they do not listen. I see then the women of now capable of doing the very same. When I think of what scripture means to me, I think of the knowledge I want to pass on to my children and to those who come after me. I think of the writing of my own story as a task that is worthy of being taken seriously. I think that the continuing to break open and spend time with female spiritual narratives is vital to the church and its construction over the next centuries. I don’t have authority to officially say what is and what is not scripture, but that feels beyond the point when both the reading of the stories of other women, and the telling of my own, has changed my heart and brought the spirit into my life in the same way that the Book of Mormon and the other books of scripture have. I believe women’s voices have great power to carry into the world, to carry Mormons, as a people, into the world so that we might not just cloister ourselves from the world, but participate in, and make it better. Check out Ashmae’s newest book, A Hundred Birds Taught Me to Fly . Related Mormon Women Project Interviews A Citizen of the World , Camilla Smith Everyone needs a family and that tribe to give them strength, but then that strength should be focused outside of the tribe and community rather than trying to keep people huddled together. That’s really at the core of my religious faith. I am a very religious person. I am a very religious Mormon. But the purpose of the church is to make people strong in order to reach out to the larger world, and not to keep us isolated from the world. Collect, Preserve and Share , Laura Allred Hurtado “You can’t be what you can’t see.” I think maybe it was Marian Wright Edelman who said this. But I heard it over and over again on Mormon Feminist blogs and in my feminist readings during graduate school. Certainly, there is truth to it. Marginalized populations benefit from being seen. It helps to shape a sense of self, a sense of personhood, a sense of mattering to the world. Women have long been written out of history–it’s certainly not just a Mormon paradigm. I think there’s something really important about finding opportunities to be inclusive and looking for moments, ways and places, where the many achievements and contributions of women can be highlighted. Other Related Women’s Voices Discovering the Divinity Within , Rosemary M. Wixom “Because you are His child, He knows who you can become. He knows your fears and your dreams. He relishes your potential. He waits for you to come to Him in prayer. Because you are His child, you not only need Him, but He also needs you. Those sitting around you right now in this meeting need you. The world needs you, and your divine nature allows you to be His trusted disciple to all His children. Once we begin to see the divinity in ourselves, we can see it in others.” Wanted: Hands and Hearts to Hasten the Work , Linda K. Burton “Mormon was a true disciple who lived in a day when ‘every heart was hardened, … and there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi.’ How would you like to have lived in that day? And yet Mormon boldly declared, ‘Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ Don’t you love Mormon? He knew who he was and what his mission was and was not distracted by the evil that surrounded him. In fact, he considered his calling to be a gift.” Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

Gospel Doctrine lesson 44 , Mormon 7-9 In true prophetic style, Moroni takes us to task (literally  us , in this modern era). He accuses thus: “Ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” ( Mormon 8:37 ). (Notice his emphasis here is on what/whom we  love. I can imagine that sometimes we help the poor and the needy out of duty rather than love.) Moroni goes on in scathing reprimand: “Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?” ( Mormon 8:39 ). I have never been more affected by a General Conference than in April 2016. I wept ribbons of tears as I listened to Linda K. Burton urge us so specifically to help the refugees in our neighborhoods — to welcome them, to clothe them, to offer whatever assistance we can. Ah! This is the Relief Society I have loved and have yearned for! This is my president, calling on me to “cheer and to bless in humanity’s name.” She and her presidency founded the I Was a Stranger campaign, to encourage church members to serve refugees in manifold ways. I just revisited the site and felt so uplifted and motivated by the many stories of church members who have heeded the call. My own family has worked with the IRC in our area, an organization that helps refugees find work and housing. Volunteers can mentor and befriend a new family, provide rides, help with job applications and interviews, donate clothing, household items and food, and tutor in English and other subjects. I have not done — yet — nearly what I could have done. But this week I renewed my commitment to welcome the stranger, to love the needy, to give, to teach, to befriend, to feed and to clothe. Moroni’s description of the annihilation of his people may feel distant to many of us (“and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war” ( Mormon 8:8 )), but it is a terrible reality for women, children, and men in several parts of the world today. We must not forget. Let us heed the call of President Burton, and help those who make it to the safety of our borders to feel, finally, safe. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews A Life in Full Color , Aida Stevenson “I don’t have many memories from that time except that I was very happy, and then all of a sudden I was hurled into this plane without knowing what was happening. The plane landed in Toulouse, and we were eventually brought to a shelter, where all the refugees who arrived from Spain were put. For me, it wasn’t hard at all, because it was still new, but my mother cried all the time, so I would say, “Why are you crying? Why are you crying?” and she’d say, “It’s nothing. It’s nothing.” She’d say, “You’re going to see your papa again,” and all that. So, I was fine there; we were given food, they took good care of us.” An American Education , Raquel Perez Johnston “It became harder and harder for refugees to find work since the local infrastructure couldn’t support so many people. Also, most of the Cubans, including our family, had a language barrier which limited the available jobs even more. My dad was working two jobs, as a janitor at a hospital and as a dishwasher in a restaurant, but that was all he could get. My mom could not find work. It was the same for everyone from Cuba – even doctors and lawyers; no one could find much work. The four of us were living in a little one-bedroom apartment with some of my uncles.” From the Relief Society Presidency, I Was A Stranger In a world of constant change and commotion, we may often feel like strangers. All around us we hear of distress, tragedy, and hardship. We live in a time of uncertainty and unrest. Many around us live in fear of an unknown future. What can our role as women be in the last days to prepare the earth for the coming of Christ? What can we do to reach out, to love, to nurture, and to minister as He has invited us to do? We each have the invitation as women and young women to open our eyes and our hearts to see those among us who may feel alone, afraid, or uncertain so that we are no longer strangers (see Matthew 25:35–36; Ephesians 2:19). We are invited to share our love, our confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our hands to strengthen others and love them as the Savior would have us do. This is not a program; it is who we are. With our divine nature as women, we can be a light in a darkening world. We can give hope, love, and care to those around us. We are not asked to “run faster than [we have] strength” (Mosiah 4:27). Although we can work together, we are not asked to organize large efforts. Instead we are each asked to seek personal revelation about whom the Lord would have us strengthen and love as individuals and as families. The Savior invites us to participate in a personal ministry of love and to remember His words: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . , ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

I’m not sure anyone even knows I left the Church. I continued to go through the motions of activity long after they had ceased to bring me the joy and peace I had known in the gospel most of my life. This sensation of finding darkness and confusion in the very places and activities that had formerly been a source of light and surety was so overwhelming that I finally had to acknowledge to myself that in my heart, I had been gone for a long time. When I could no longer bear the hypocrisy of it, I made an appointment with my stake president. I took my temple recommend with me and resolved to return it to him, all the while hoping that he would say something that would restore my faith, and my life, to what they had been. It would be an oversimplification to say that he changed everything, but that humble man was a mouthpiece for Heavenly Father that day. He didn’t try to answer the questions I knew there were no satisfactory answers to. He merely testified to me that, just as the children of Israel had to stand on the banks of the Red Sea with Pharoah’s army pressing upon them, each of us that hopes to gain a place in the kingdom of God must, at some point, stand in a lonely, terrifying place and wait to see God’s hand. That night I was given a clear vision of the crossroads I was standing at. I could retreat, or I could wait on the Lord. I read shortly after that meeting that Christ is the vine. It’s mentioned just briefly. More often He is the bread, the living water, the light. The image of Christ as the vine struck me powerfully as I realized that a vine was a perfect metaphor for the change I felt was happening in my own faith. I believe it started out as a stick: thin, rigid, and easily broken when pressed against even the smallest inconsistency. It was slowly being replaced with something much stronger and yet much more malleable. Something that could bend around and embrace difference, paradox, incomplete equations; and yet remain nearly unbreakable. A true vine. I had hoped for a restoration of my faith, but what I was given was much better. It was a new heart, a new hope, a new faith. The journey back to peace in the gospel will most likely be a lifelong one for me. I feel it often, but not always. I have learned that the most important thing to cling to on this journey is my relationship with God, not an organization. I am grateful to the Church for forming my idea of a loving God; a Father, and a Mother, and a Brother. I always wanted to believe in that Family, and my place in it. It’s one of the many paradoxes I constantly have to balance: the realization that my greatest hopes AND my greatest fears are based on the teachings of the restored Church of Jesus Christ. For every unanswered question, there are many reasons to hope. I remind myself often that “we believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” For now, my hope is greater than my fear.

The Gospel Doctrine lesson #45 ; Ether 1-4, 6   Recently in an interview, I was asked what I considered most important as I learned to deal with inequities in the church and in life, and what I thought was most important as I taught students to deal with those inequities themselves. I believe and I want to teach my students that the Spirit is the most important thing. If I have learned how to listen to the Spirit in my own life, the Spirit can help me process difficulties, it can help me know when reproof is necessary, it can help me know when to bite my tongue, and it can direct my path so I am certain the course that I am pursuing is correct no matter what outside perceptions may say. I often tell my students that understanding how God communicates with us individually is one of our major tasks in mortality. I believe that this is about recognizing and acting on the inspiration, but it is also about faith—trusting that God will respond. Though a book without any women, this lesson focused on Ether 1-6 offers perhaps my favorite scriptural example of communication and faith from a loyal, but flawed mortal. (And I particularly love Elder Holland’s take on the brother of Jared here . From the Ether text we know that Jared, the political leader, often encouraged his Brother, “a man highly favored of the Lord,” to “cry unto the Lord” and seek direction for them. ( 1:34 ) The text gives us example after example of the Brother “cry[ing] unto the Lord.” Just as we build any relationship—communicating with confidence and trust does not come automatically, but it takes time and requires commitment. A faithful relationship is always reciprocal. A relationship developed as he cried to the Lord and listened to direction from the Lord. This condensed version of Ether’s record overlooks the complexities of each situation—we don’t know if all responses were in the affirmative, quite possibly there was a resounding no in there, perhaps coupled with a wait and be patient, but when the Brother of Jared asked, he got a response and he followed. Through the process the Brother of Jared built confidence in the Lord, and the Lord likewise developed trust in him. After instructing the Brother to gather his family and friends together, the Lord told him that they would be blessed in the “land choice above all the lands of the earth,” and they would become a great nation of which there would “be none greater”—all because he had cried unto the Lord that long time. ( 1:42-43 ) In the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down in a cloud to speak with the Brother—apparently without any solicitation—and then went before them guiding and teaching them. Their journey appeared to be going well: they traveled to the sea, they built their barges, crossed some waters, they arrived at the great waters and settled themselves again; but this was not where the Lord would have them settle forever. Farther away than they probably imagined, the Lord had a “land of promise” waiting for them ( 2:7 ). For four years they sat. We might think they were waiting for direction, but the Brother of Jared did not call on the Lord. ( 2:14 ) Now we don’t know exactly what that means—did he never pray? Did he merely go through the motions? Whatever the specifics, the Lord came to the Brother of Jared and chastised him for 3 hours. His foundation of faith was not destroyed by one sin—even when it lasted for four years—nor was all the confidence the Lord had in the Brother lost. The Lord immediately entrusted him with another assignment to build more barges. The Brother followed “the instructions of the Lord,” and returned to report ( 2:16 ). The process continued and their faithful relationship grew. We then arrive at the problem of light. The possibility of crossing the great deep for months without light was a miserable prospect. The brother had a problem and instinctively went to the Lord. Yet, this time the Lord didn’t give him an answer, He turned the task back to the Brother. He helped him understand what they would be dealing with and a few ideas that wouldn’t work so that he might be prepared, but He did not give him the answer. Because of the Brother’s foundation, the Lord entrusted him with this task and gave him the power to decide. The trust the Lord had in the Brother of Jared was never a source of arrogance. As he returned to the Lord with his rocks he humbly explained his plan, continually acknowledging the Lord’s power and will, and his own weakness. He then boldly declared, “O Lord thou canst do this” demonstrating faithful and powerful confidence that the Lord would touch the stones and not require them to pass months in darkness ( 3:5 ). His faith was rewarded with an eternally illuminating glimpse. While he was still reeling from that mystery revealed, the Lord asked him if he had seen more. The Brother responded not in the form of a question, but again a directive: “Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me” ( 3:10 ). He knew that his God was a “God of truth” ( 3:12 ), a God worthy of all of his confidence and because of that sacred trust he could not be kept from beyond the veil ( 3:19 ). His faith became complete knowledge. The brother of Jared is not the only one with a light problem or trust issues. The absence of light and understanding is a problem endemic to our mortal probation—darkness can surround all of us at times. Like the brother of Jared we all have the opportunity to seek light and confide in the Lord. Learning to trust in the Lord and listen to his Spirit is one of our major tasks here in mortality. As we humble ourselves and seek to build that faithful relationship the Lord blesses us with deeper levels of trust and understanding.   Related Mormon Women Project Interviews In Darkness, In Grace , Hillary Stirling “I couldn’t receive the revelation I’d relied on throughout my life because the Spirit speaks to our hearts and minds—but my heart and mind both were broken by the depression…I couldn’t go back to the way things were before the depression, but I found that with God’s daily grace I could move forward.”   Other Related Women’s Voices Discovering the Divinity Within , Rosemary M. Wixom “It is through the whisperings of the Spirit that the divine nature of a doubter, after gasping for breath, finds the peace to breathe again.” Sharing Your Light , Neill F. Marriott “Through the pure spirit of revelation in the temple, I was taught of my utter need for a Redeemer. I turned immediately to the Savior Jesus Christ in my thoughts and felt my anguish melt away and a great hope spring up in my heart. He was my only hope, and I longed to cling only to Him. It was clear to me that a self-absorbed natural woman ‘is an enemy to God’ and to people in her sphere of influence. In the temple that day I learned it was only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that my prideful nature could change and that I would be enabled to do good. I felt His love keenly, and I knew He would teach me by the Spirit and change me if I gave my heart to Him, holding back nothing.” Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

Neylan McBaine, author of Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact (Greg Kofford Books, 2014), joins Meredith Nelson to discuss her book and her additional perspectives and experiences since its publication. In Part 1, Neylan talks about some of the challenges we currently grapple with as church members when it comes to gender relations. In Part 2, she outlines some creative solutions, and her hopes for the future of the Relief Society. Guest Bio:Neylan McBaine, a life-long Mormon, grew up in New York City and attended Yale University. She currently lives with her husband and three young daughters. In addition to founding the Mormon Women Project in 2010, Neylan is the author of Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact. Neylan is also the CEO of Better Days 2020 , an organization dedicated to celebrating Utah’s women’s history by popularizing the past in creative and communal ways.

In this episode, Meredith Nelson interviews Rachel Hunt Steenblik about her recently published book,  Mother’s Milk: Poems in Search of Heavenly Mother , illustrated by Ashley May Hoiland. Rachel talks about the fading taboo of talking about Heavenly Mother, about her own research and personal searching regarding Mother in Heaven, and about the lovely small poems she wrote to illuminate this searching.

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 46 ; Ether 12-13 One day a celebrity actress boarded my subway car as I was commuting from Brooklyn into Manhattan. She was in sunglasses and sandals, alone with her little daughter strapped on in a baby carrier. She sat down across from me, and the woman next to her immediately complimented her baby without showing any awareness that she was talking to a famous person. What followed was a normal conversation about Halloween costumes, sibling rivalry, and pregnant friends suffering through bed rest. Any young mother might have had similar things to say. Now, celebrity sightings are one of the potential perks of living in New York City, but when it comes right down to it, they usually leave me feeling dissatisfied at best. So what if I’ve spotted Adrian Brody on the sidewalk or Salmon Rushdie in the bookstore? It’s not as if these chance encounters constitute any real quality time — it’s not as if I’ve made a new friend. But as I sat across from this actress, trying not to look too interested, I thought about how conversation made everything different, and how the neighborliness of the exchange made me feel a kind of ironic excitement. That is, I realized that if the thrill of meeting a celebrity was seeing her act like a normal person with normally interesting things to say, why shouldn’t I be just as excited to have similar interactions with the people around me in my everyday life? I walked off the train a few minutes later with the thought that conversations themselves are the real thrill. Connecting with another person is the miraculous thing. I think about conversation a lot when I read the writings of Moroni. I love Moroni. He talks right to his readers, telling us that he has seen our day in vision. He’s separated from us by centuries of time; even so, his voice is confiding and close. His conversation is insistent, begging us to listen and then take our turn—- not to reply to himself, but to speak to God, asking for whatever wisdom or blessing we lack. Ether 12 models this kind of divine conversation for us. In this chapter, Moroni gives us a long list of miraculous results of faith, a parallel to the list of Hebrews 11 and a summary of some of the more astonishing events of the Book of Mormon. Faith is declared to be our anchor; it propels God’s work forward. But after listing off these miracles, Moroni comes to the sticking point of his own hoped-for miracle. What is this miracle? It is the record itself, carefully compiled and edited, later to be hidden and preserved for people not yet born, people who wouldn’t even speak Moroni’s language. Could there be anything more requisite of miraculous power? Moroni doesn’t doubt the Lord, but he does doubt his own abilities to fulfill his personal role in this miracle. His response to his own fears is to express himself simply and plainly to the Lord. I remember a missionary contact who, describing her first attempt at prayer, laughed at herself for feeling like she had to introduce herself to God. That’s the paradox, right? On the one hand, God is powerful, unseen, and omniscient. He knows everything, and it seems silly that we would need to explain ourselves to him. But he invites us to do just that: to speak to him in order to express our hopes and fears, to ask for gifts, to reason, even to argue with him. Moroni does this in Ether 12. His prayer gives voice to fear; he argues with the Lord when he’s not sure whether things will turn out as he hopes, when he fears that the people will reject what he has written. And the Lord responds with wise comfort. “Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness” (Ether 12:26-28). With these words, the Lord reminds Moroni that everyone is accountable for their own conversation with God, but that this divine communion is nothing to fear. In a 19th century novel by Dinah Maria Craik, the narrator describes the best kind of friendship: “Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person — having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” Couldn’t this also describe the kind of friendship the Lord offers us? When Moroni asserts the truth of what he has written and the reality of his relationship with Christ, he says, “he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things” (Ether 12:39). When we come to God in conversation, we meet each other as friends. Instead of formal ceremony, the Lord expects plain humility in our imperfect expression of faith. Then, with “the breath of kindness,” or what Moroni calls grace, he turns it into a miracle of strength and connection. Our conversations with the Lord become our salvation. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews A Boundless Conversation , Stephanie Soper “I’m not really sure that I had a relationship with God growing up as a Catholic. I believed in Him, but he was this faraway, mysterious person who had no connection to me at all. In Catholicism, I was accustomed to the very rote prayers, and I didn’t realize we could actually talk to God until—in my late twenties—I overhead a boyfriend praying to God as if he were having a conversation. “About a year later, I was having a crisis; all of the elements of my life seemed okay, but there was a profound emptiness in me and I had no idea how to fill it. One night, I was getting ready to go to a work party, and I began talking to God as I had seen my former boyfriend do. I poured out my feelings. I didn’t realize it then, but I went about it much the same way that Mormons are taught to do: I thanked Him for my blessings and asked Him for what I needed. As I drove to the party, I continued the prayer in my mind. When I was arriving at the location of the party, I knew I needed to wrap up the prayer, but I only had the habits of Catholic prayer, and didn’t know the appropriate words to end a non-standard prayer. I simply said, ‘Thy will be done.’ When I said those words, I realized that I really meant them. It was so clear to me that my own decisions about my life weren’t making me happy, and I was really willing to do whatever God told me to do. In that moment of realization, I thought, ‘If I am going to do God’s will, I need to know what it is.’ And so I asked, ‘What should I do?’ I heard a very clear voice say in my mind, ‘Join the Mormon Church.'” A Savior to Her Family , Susan Anneveldt “Stress can sometimes make it hard to make that divine connection through prayer, so you have to work extra hard on it. The best way I can describe it is, if you had a very, very good friend who was very helpful who told you, ‘Anytime you are in need, please call me,’ and then someone cut the telephone wires between you and him but said, ‘Go ahead and call anyway.’ It becomes hard to feel that someone’s listening to you or even to get the feeling, ‘It has been heard.'” Other Related Women’s Voices Yielding Our Hearts to God , Neill F. Marriot “True worship begins when our hearts are right before the Father and the Son. What is our heart condition today? Paradoxically, in order to have a healed and faithful heart, we must first allow it to break before the Lord. ‘Ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit,’ the Lord declares. The result of sacrificing our heart, or our will, to the Lord is that we receive the spiritual guidance we need.” A Woman of Faith , Margaret D. Nadauld “A woman of faith trusts God and faces adversity with hope…In prayer she seeks the kind, unfaltering guidance and help of a listening Heavenly Father. As she prays, she listens—allowing the communication to be two-way. She trusts that in His still and quiet way, He will lead her by the hand and give her answer to her prayers.” Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

The Gospel Doctrine lesson #47 ; scriptures Moroni 1-6   Moroni. He stands atop most of our temples in gold blowing a trumpet proclaiming the restoration to all. He mentored the young Joseph Smith through visitations – directed him and refined his character. He witnessed the genocide of the Nephites, protected the golden plates and spent his last days in hiding writing the things of most import for the benefit of the Lamanites. I find the first chapter of his own book gut wrenching and inspiring. With honesty and vulnerability, Moroni begins his contribution to the golden plates, “Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me” ( Moroni 1:1 ). He has finished the work his father, Mormon, started. The journals of diverse people are abridged into one collection – the golden plates. He anticipated that he would’ve already met the same fate as his fellow believers, death. “For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” ( Moroni 1:2-3 ) Moroni is on the run, not staying in any place long enough to be found. He as lost his family, his friends, his people, his home. He is hunted because he is a believer. I wonder what it was like for the young Joseph Smith when he translated these passages, to learn the story of the personage who prepared him to receive the golden plates. What did he learn about God’s relationships with His prophets? Did he feel a kinship to Moroni when he was suffering in Liberty Jail as the early saints were being hunted? Similarly, I wonder if our pioneer forefathers and foremothers were edified by these verses as they buried their loved ones, abandoned their homes and crossed the plains. Likewise, can you, in some way, empathize with Moroni? Do you know what it is to feel alone? To grieve? To live in fear? To live with uncertainty? From a place of aloneness and grief, Moroni writes a few things, “Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord” ( Moroni 1:4 ). This is a different tone and perspective than the one found in Mormon 8 , where Moroni was seeking godly vengeance. Witnessing horrific events have changed him. Now, he chooses to write sacred things not that his enemies will be condemned, but that, in the future, they will be sanctified. Furthermore, he does not call them enemies, that’s my wording, he calls them his brethren . Ah! I have yet to obtain this level of grace, mercy – this level of Christ-like living. I’m struggling to find my way to Christ-like relational living. I’m like Moroni of Mormon 8. Just yesterday, I woke up on the war path wanting to verbally accost my Lamanites. I didn’t. Nonetheless, I have a ways to go before I’m calling them brethren. This is reason 1,845,124 why I am not the latter-day emblem. But Moroni is. As I study him, it seems deeply appropriate that he would become the emblem to our Mormon community and to the world. Moroni exemplified the best of humanity in the face of the worst of it. He teaches me that though I may lose everything, all is not lost when I believe in Christ. In the following four chapters, Moroni focuses on ordinances: first, how to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost; then, how to ordain priests and teachers; and finally, how to administer the sacrament. Moroni is leaving behind the essential ordinances needed to cultivate and sustain a covenant relationship with God. He then gives instruction on church membership, baptism, repentance and worship using as an example the Nephities’ meetings after Christ’s visit. “And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done” ( Moroni 6:9 ). Though Moroni is speaking specifically about church meetings, I want to apply this to our everyday living. I have felt prompted/inspirited to preach, exhort, pray, supplicate, sing – and to advocate. This call to be an activist has enriched my life by giving it meaning and purpose. It has, also, led me at times to feel isolated and alone. Sometimes, I’m the only one in a family and/or social circle with a specific political, religious, social justice belief. In these moments I feel separate from those I want to be the closest to. Can you relate? It was this desire for community in activism that brought me to the Mormon Women Project. MWP’s purpose is to show the breadth of what it means to be a Mormon woman. We are as diverse as the people of the golden plates, and in that diversity is belonging and our salvation. We do this best in our interviews . No matter how different or isolated you may feel, you can find an interview with a woman whose story will resonate with you. You are not as Moroni, you are not all alone. Sometimes though, it is necessary to take action that will have you standing alone. You may have to be the lone voice that stands for human dignity, the voice that articulates concern for the direction a family, organization, nation is going, the voice that exemplifies Christ when no one else is. When you were baptized, you covenanted to take upon yourself the name of Christ and to bare one another’s burdens. Last year, Elder Nelson called on you , his sister, to actively participate in the building of the Kingdom of God. In these moments you can look to Moroni for courage. From now on, when I look at the figure of Moroni on the cover of a Book of Mormon or atop a temple, I will see more than a great prophet of old glorified as an angel. I will see you next to me – both of us (all of us) with our voices and actions like trumpets building Zion in our sphere of influences. Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .

Gospel Doctrine Lesson 48 ; Moroni 7-10 The binary of good and evil seems easy to grasp, easy to follow, and in theory, it is easy to spot much of the good in the world, and much of the evil. I find, however, that this pairing of words, which in the pairing leaves little space in between, and little space to work introspectively, is most difficult to grapple with when we are asked to delineate within ourselves the “good and the evil.” Much of the discussion circling around good and evil, at least in the well-known chapter of Moroni 7 seems to focus on what outward or actionable choices we make in our lives. This is all fair and good, and as a teenager, it asked me to be accountable for my choice in entertainment, the things I did with my friends, the music I listened to. It was easy to quantify the goodness or the evilness of whatever the choice was because the spirit felt so quickly matched or offended by the thing I was engaging with. It felt discernible and empowering to make good choices and not evil ones. Most of the choices, even things like choosing not to gossip or to read my scriptures felt external and immediately satisfying, both to myself and to others to do the right. I didn’t fully confront the two, good and evil, within myself until I was a stay-at-home parent in a small apartment with two young children whom I adore and also feel the loss of a part of my selfhood as I tend to their needs. I am never, even for a moment, evil toward them, but as a mother, my ability to cope with the demands sometimes vacillated as quickly as the manic moods of my children. During this time period when I read things like Moroni 7:6 which says, “For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.” I am quick to wonder if my impatience, my sometimes boredom, my sometimes parenting out of pure duty and necessity negates my opportunity to at the same time, do it out of goodness. I do truly love the deep, and often lonely forest of parenting small children. I find light cast in quiet places I would have never thought to look. I feel crevices in my heart start to expand and unplanned creativity feels natural and necessary. Yet, and there is always a yet, of course there are times of downtrodden-ness, of hopelessness, of drudgery. No beautiful thing is born without the complexities of hardness and ease. There are times, when I felt as Moroni says in verse 8 of chapter 7, “For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.” For me, in the particular state of motherhood, though I think the concept ranges far past the situation of motherhood, has on occasion been me “giving a gift [of the entirety of my self and patience] but maybe grudgingly? Not even grudgingly, just with exhaustion and out of pure necessity. In those moments, at the end of the day, lying in my bed, I feel the waves of guilt wash over me. Am I not doing motherhood right? Am I not being generous and kind and patient? Overall I think that I must be, but is there some part of me that is evil? With my patience at the precipice at times, I’ve felt that maybe this verse is true of me, “a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift.” Of course, in reading this, and in writing this, it seems absurd that I would even consider my work both as a mother, a woman and a human conflating with evil. Although I am rife with imperfection, I am good. I believe that most of us are inherently good. That the gifts that we give are good. I believe that by our actions we more often than not invite to do good. There is a vast field between good and evil. In my own life I have found that it is far more productive for me to believe that while evil is a real thing, even a real thing that I could be capable of, it is but a small, dark paint stroke off in the distance of a painting that is vibrant with color and variety. Of course it is important to keep that dark mark in check, to keep it far and to be aware of the ways it might taint us, but for me, to believe that I am evil, or that the world around me is inherently and binarily evil seems unfitting for the beauty both of this earth and after. Related Mormon Women Project Interviews An Unfinished Story , Kimberly White “I’m not a person who could have been a good person and then blew it. A person who can be a great person can be a great person at any point. You never blow it! I feel like I had never quite understood the Lord before. Not just to know that for me the possibilities were still endless, which is a wonderful thing, but to know that the kind of God I’m dealing with is one who doesn’t keep score! He doesn’t say, “She’s pretty good, but remember when she was 18? She knew better.” He’s not doing that. He’s saying, “Repent, and we’ll get you right back like it never happened.” He’s not holding on, so we don’t need to, for ourselves or for other people.” The Shining Light of Oakland , Betty Stevenson “At first, I really didn’t have any friends in the Church either because I was very vocal. I loved fast and testimony meeting. They would walk up and down the aisle with the microphone, and as soon as they got to me, I grabbed it. I let people know I was aware of a spirit from the members—not the Holy Spirit—that didn’t want me there. It was right there on their faces. I said, “If I was the devil, where would I be? Right up here with the Saints. This is where sinners come. This is where I’m supposed to be.” I was not going to take any criticism.” Other Related Women’s Voices Rejoice in Every Good Thing , Chieko Okazaki “Wherever you are, whatever you are wearing, whatever language you are hearing, you are part of a powerful force of joy, peace, and goodness. We are here to rejoice together ‘in every good thing.’ (Deut. 26:11)” Seek and Ye Shall Find , Elaine Jack “Of course there are, all around us, many who seek to do good deeds, for we in the Church do not have a corner on goodness. But we have the Spirit that allows us to recognize and discern the truth wherever we find it.”   Looking for additional perspectives on this lesson? We recommend Mormon Sunday School , Meridian Magazine  and LDSLiving .