I am a woman

The Family, A Proclamation to the World gives me guidance in figuring out my mission and my purpose here on earth. It was purposeful and inspired for me to be a woman. I was a woman in my premortal existence and I will be a woman throughout eternity. What does being a woman mean for me? Some believe that being a woman is cursed by Eve's transgressions. In the book, Successful Marriages and Families, Proclamation Principles and Research Perspectives it states, "A woman's body is no curse, but rather the fullest material expression of her divine potential"(Hudson, Miller, 2011, Ch 4) My gender is divinely appointed and is essential to my mission in mortality.

One of the greatest gifts I have been given as a woman is becoming a mother. My body was designed to create, gestate and nurture another human being. To bring souls out of their premortal existence into mortality, so that they too may gain eternal glory with their Father in Heaven. I cannot and thankfully do not have to go about this alone. Man is needed for the creation and nurturing of children. I am thankful for my husband!

"One gender does not have greater eternal possibilities than the other," (Hudson, Miller, 2011, Ch4). I have never felt suppressed as a woman, my life has always been about the decisions that I make. I know many of those decisions are made because I am a woman; the decision to be a wife, a mother, to forego my education and career to stay home with my children and the decision to support and love my husband in his endeavors. I feel a peace and comfort about my life knowing that God is directing my path because I am his daughter and he needs me to perform my gender specific roles to complete his work on earth. "It is not mans's work or woman's work, it is God's work," (Ballard, Oct 1993). There is also a peace that I feel knowing my husband has gender specific roles that he was divinely designed to accomplish that complement or rather complete mine. 

Being a woman is a magnificent gift! "ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose," (https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng). I know that God has a plan for me and that being a woman is part of that plan. He needs me and my feminine qualities to further his work here on earth.