Women of the Church

• What are ten attributes of “an elect lady” that you observe in your reading of section 25? Reference and explain them in your own words.

1.  25: 1; We need to receive the gospel in order to become a son and daughter of God.

2.  25:5; We need to make sure that we are a comfort to the leaders and our spouses.

3. 25:5 We need to have meekness. In order for us to have meekness we are to console others.

4. 25:6 We need to be obedient to the commandments of the Lord. We must be willing to do the things that he has commanded us.

5.25: We need to teach the gospel to others and to expound on the scriptures as well as the brethren.

6. 25:8; We must receive the Holy Ghost. In order to do so we must do that by the laying on of Hands.

7. 25:9 We cannot fear the things that will come upon us. Anything can happen and we must face it with courage.

8 25:10 Seek after the things of God and not the things of the world.

9. 25: 13 Rejoice in the things of the Lord and remember the things of the Lord.

10. 25:14 You need to cleave unto thy husband and seek after the things that he says as long as they are said in righteousness.

• What do you know about Emma’s life that matches well with the admonitions given to her in this revelation?

Emma went through a lot of things. She had to deal with the loss of her family and the persecutions from others for what her husband was saying. She had to endure the loss of children and other close relatives just for the sake of following the Lord and His church.

• What in this list would be difficult for women of the world to understand, accept, or even appreciate?

I think that the most difficult thing that women would have to understand is the commandment to follow their husband. At times we are not so easily inclined to listen to our husbands when they have a commandment from the Lord. At this time it can be difficult to follow them in faith and to not doubt that they are doing what they are suppose to e doing.

• In what ways are women of the church different from women of the world?

Women in the world are constantly belittled and they are seen as people who do not lead and just follow. In the church we leave it a responsibility for the women to guide the church and teach others about the church.  

• Read Elder Neal A. Maxwell and Sister Julie Beck’s message on the women of God and share your impressions and a meaningful quote from each talk (see attachments).

In the talk by Sister Julie B. Beck I was most impressed on the views that she gives on what true motherhood really means. A lot of times we think that motherhood is simply just getting married and following their husband. It is more than that. One quote that she says in her talk goes like this: “Some women are not given the responsibility of bearing children in mortality, but just as Hannah of the Old Testament prayed fervently for her child (see 1 Samuel 1:11), the value women place on motherhood in this life and the attributes of motherhood they attain here will rise with them in the Resurrection (see D&C 130:18). Women who desire and work toward that blessing in this life are promised they will receive it for all eternity, and eternity is much, much longer than mortality. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood.” I am impressed by this comment because it tells us that we are grateful for the responsibility that we are ringing the gospel into the world by bearing children.

In the talk by Neal A Maxwell I was most impressed by the way that he gives admiration to the women of the Church. It is most of the time those women in our lives that teach and inspire us the most. He said: We men know the women of God as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, associates, and friends. You seem to tame us and to gentle us, and, yes, to teach us and to inspire us. For you, we have admiration as well as affection, because righteousness is not a matter of role, nor goodness a matter of gender. In the work of the Kingdom, men and women are not without each other, but do not envy each other, lest by reversals and renunciations of role we make a wasteland of both womanhood and manhood.” I am grateful that we have women in the church that help to inspire us and to guide us in the right direction.