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This is something new — over 1,200 people responded to an invitation (via LDS Gems) to share thoughts and feelings about general conference. You can find some of the responses online here and here.

During college I had the privilege of traveling back to New York with a large group of girls to be in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We had been given a list of scriptures to memorize, and told that we would be working directly with the missionaries in the New York mission — talking with people in the audience each night before the performances. Wow! I tried to memorize these scriptures and I was fairly successful, but I remember that I did not fully understand the meaning of these scriptures and how I would use them to help teach and answer questions. We met in study groups and as I heard the scriptures over and over, I began to learn why they were important in teaching the gospel. I began to see and understand the whole picture of the Book of Mormon and how it relates to the Bible and how they interconnected.

I had another experience when my oldest son was just a young boy and I was a Primary leader [leader for the children] in the ward. I went to a stake meeting in which all ward leaders were invited, and the discussion was how we can solve some of our problems. One of the sweet sisters from another ward talked about how she was having some discipline problems with her young daughter, and she had tried everything to solve the problem. But through her prayers and advice from someone, she went to the Book of Mormon, and read, and then she said she had found the answer to her plea in the scriptures. That caught my attention, because I had never really thought about searching for answers to my problems right in the scriptures. That is when the scriptures began to become more personal and helpful to me. Of course, I have gone through times when I read and times when I don’t, but I know now that I could not be happy in this life without the guidance of the scriptures.

I would like to share some of the things that I have learned over time:
• There are answers to my specific needs in the scriptures and they can be a guide for my life.
• Reading the scriptures on a regular basis helps me to handle my problems and have a desire to endure.
• I can feel the Spirit when I continually read the scriptures (even if I may not understand them), AND when I do not steadily read the scriptures, I can definitely see and feel the difference in how I act and react to everyday situations in my life.
• Diligent reading and studying opens my mind to deeper truths and understanding.
• Through diligent reading I can have a greater desire to read—and I have come to understand what it means to thirst for and feast upon the word of God.

These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man; For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them; Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words. – Doctrine and Covenants 18:34-36

By JW from California

Would you like to submit a First Person essay? Send an email to ‘mormonwoman’ AT ‘gmail’ DOT ‘com’ with “First Person” in the subject line.

Find conversion stories and other first-person testimonies at Mormon Testimonies, and at the following links:

From mormonconverts.com:

My Entire Being Was Filled With Light
The summer of 1970, I read the account of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in the Encyclopedia Britannica. As I read my entire being was filled with LIGHT, and I knew that Joseph Smith had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.…read entire story >>
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I Know My Heavenly Father Loves Me
I had just turned 19 and had been married for only a few months. Our first child was born prematurely. He was beautiful, but not fully developed and only weighed 1 lb 6 oz. So tiny. When he passed away 2 hours after his birth we were devastated…..read entire story >>
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I Had Never Heard Something So Amazing!
I grew up in a crazy life style that most non-members would consider ordinary. High school was a great time that I will never forget and it gives me a different perspective on life being on both sides of the fence.…read entire story >>
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I Found My Direction Home
I studied philosophy and theology in a Roman Catholic college-seminary and spent three years in the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order, preparing for priesthood. And that is where the first turn in the road appeared.…read entire story >>
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The Hole In Me Was Filled
There are times in your life, no matter how old you may be, that you feel you are looking for something. Maybe it is keys, that missing sock or for me, it was a search to fill an empty hole inside me. A hole that seemed to be there from the beginning…read entire story >>
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It’s True, So Stop Asking Me!
My mom brought me up Protestant. We went to several different churches, Nazarene, and Baptist. She was against the Mormon Church, and I was told a lot of false beliefs about the Church that she had learned over the years…read entire story >>
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Putting Together The Puzzle
As a child, I was raised in the Catholic Church. I was taught to pray scripted prayers and sent to Catholic School. One of my earliest memories at about age six was wondering why no one prayed “correctly”…read entire story >>
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It Was As Though Scales Fell From My Eyes
When my best friend joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I was upset and angry. I thought she had been brainwashed into a cult and I became obsessed with hatred.…read entire story >>
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They Brought “Something” With Them
We were introduced to the church through our son, (aged 7). We had been friends for years of a Mormon family and our sons played together all the time...read entire story >>
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A Quiet Whisper…”This Is True”
He wanted to know more about Mormons so he invited the Missionaries into our home, which was as I look back now the most powerful life changing experience a 12 year old…read entire story >>
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Sometimes Suffering Will Bring People To God
I spent a lot of years looking for a religion. I was raised without one, my mother is an Atheist, and I always felt incomplete when it came to religion. I believed in God, but that..…read entire story >>
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You Met Him When You Were Supposed To
Have you ever had just one bad day? I have, and it changed my life forever. In November of 2006, I let a lot of people get to me and a lot of bad stuff get to me. But the bottom line, I let myself make a decision that cost me everything.…read entire story >>
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He Guides Us Through The Voices of Others
Being truly converted was the topic in Relief Society on this particular Sunday. I recall I was still angry. I was angry at the ward, angry at the powerlessness of the priesthood, angry at my decision to make that all knowing change from Catholicism to Mormonism, and angry most of all at myself.…read entire story >>
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I’m Going To Tell You Anyway
I joined the church about six months after I married a Mormon girl. The only thing that I knew about Mormons was when our history teacher asked if there were any Mormons in our high school class and a few kids raised their hand.…read entire story >>
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There Has Always Been Something Missing
As a young boy of 5 years old I started down my religious path of Methodist. Going to church 2 and sometimes 3 times a week was very normal for me. My family was part of the church functions and was always available for…read entire story >>
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There Was A Hole In My Heart That I Could Never Fill
When I was 15 years old I got married. But that’s not the story I wish to tell right now. I want to tell you how I was converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ..…read entire story >>
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It Seems To Me You Are Already Mormon
I had always had a feeling that there was more to church, more to what I was learning in the churches I attended, but I always thought it was just because I didn’t go to church enough to learn it all.…read entire story >>
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It Was Worth The Sacrifice
There are people who come in our lives and forever change us, that is what happened to me. It was January 2005. I was a student at the University of Nebraska pursuing and double major in Communication Studies and Art History…read entire story >>
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I Finally Set My House In Order
My first experiences with religion were given to me by my grandmother when I was 4. She was a non-denominational Christian, and the only thing I still remember was singing “Jesus Loves Me,” and thinking that was all I was every going to need.…read entire story >>
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God Does Amazing Work
I didn’t know what I was looking for until I found it looking for my great-grandmothers grave in New Mexico. (and we really found it) She was part of a 100 wagon train that walked across the country in 1877 and unfortunately contacted small pox and..…read entire story >>
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Generations Of Accepting Christ
How can one begin to describe a life? A life time of activities? A life time of memories? Of love, of feelings, of experiences? A life time of different emotions; joy, happiness, pain, sorry, excitement, pride, and hope?.…read entire story >>
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Church Isn’t Good For You
I was born and raised in California. My sister and I were sent to the nearest church by our parents. It was a Presbyterian Church. I was about 10 and I remember coming home one day crying because the topic had been about Hell and Hell Fire, etc.…read entire story >>
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My Journey to the Church
I remember laying down in my bed, exhausted, but excited about the opportunity to read another chapter in the Book of Mormon. Little by little, I learned about the gospel of Jesus..…read entire story >>
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I Knew That I Was Home
It was my Junior year in High School and I was really confused in my Math class. The reason was because I slept a lot and didn’t pay attention..…read entire story >>
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He Knows Our Hearts Desire
I’ve been searching for truth since I was young. I loved to listen to the words of God..…read entire story >>
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God Was Telling Me Something
They began to test me from all the things I was taught. They then told me I met all the requirements of the Church to be baptized. I felt that I was unsure and not ready to be baptized yet. I was Catholic at that time. I always told myself “I would never leave the Catholic Belief.” ..…read entire story >>
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I Found The Truth
They asked me to be baptized. I gave them a qualified, tentative “yes”…with the caveat that I needed to hear more first before I committed to that drastic step.…read entire story >>

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Felt A Connection
I then saw the commercial for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and immediately felt a connection. I knew that they were the “Mormons” , The only thing I knew about Mormonism, was that the Donny Osmond and his family were Mormons..…read entire story >>

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The Lord Moves In Mysterious Ways
I was living in South Shields in the North East of England then, a very lost character! No real faith, no real any thing! A looser! And guess what my hobby was, brewing beer!..…read entire story >>

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Thirty Four Years To Conversion
It was difficult for me to accept the Joseph Smith story and to believe in the divine origins of the Book of Mormon. Yet, for most of my life I found myself trying to fill the “spiritual hole in my soul”.…read entire story >>

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This Stuff Is Too Brilliant
I grew up Jewish. My family was not observant religiously, in fact, my parents didn’t even believe in God. But I did; until the day after my father suddenly died.…read entire story >>

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I No Longer Depended on Borrowed Light
I have been a member of the Mormon Church all my life. I have found that it is harder for those who have been born in the Church to gain a real testimony of it. However, for what it is worth, here is my story……read entire story >>

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They’ve Come To Bring You Truth And Light
At the sound of knocking on her door, Jeanette McLeod laid her Bible aside and arose from her chair, wondering who could be visiting her at this hour of the evening. She opened the door and found two nicely dressed young men standing there…..…read entire story >>

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Believing in Heavenly Fathers’ Promises
We never know what God’s plans are, or how someone can be touched by the Gospel.…read entire story >>

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Mormons Are Truly Christians
I was rebuilding my life as a recovering alcoholic, in the program of Alcoholic’s Anonymous. I had left everything and everyone I knew behind to build a better life. I was changing, from the inside out. I was seeing miracles of change and healing in my life. But something was still missing…read entire story >>

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He Guided Me To The Right Place
I knew I couldn’t go on any longer I knew I needed to strengthen my relationship with Heavenly Father in order to make it through my trials. So with all the confusion before and I just didn’t know where I belonged I began praying that He would help me find a church home, and guide me to the right place so I could grow closer to Him.…read entire story >>

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My Story In The “Migrants” Bible
was converted in 1963 in the London area; Australia has been my home, on and off, for over forty years.…read entire story >>

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The Symbols Fell Into Place
In order for non-members and active members to fully understand my story, I had to write this out. Every time I read this there are new things that I add and my testimony grows stronger and stronger.…read entire story >>

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My Changed View
I joined the Church 26 years ago, at age 16. I was a Catholic and then interested in the born again Pentecostal movement.…read entire story >>

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My Life Changing Experience
The book related to a lost nation that had once populated central and south America. I was fascinated, its title was The book of Mormon..…read entire story >>

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I Now Know The Truth
He introduced me that he met two missionaries on the street and they preached on the streets and they called themselves, “Mormons”. When I heard “Mormon”, I felt strange and wanted to know more about the name, “Mormon”……read entire story >>

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The Journey Has Been Wonderful
They had no clue that this guy who was on the computer the whole time was actually listening to them. The next week when they came over, I gave them my undivided attention…read entire story >>
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The Lord Strengthened Me
grew up in Northern Ireland, the political and religious history of my country is no secret, there has always been disputes over religion and politics.…read entire story >>

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A Witness of the Spirit

I was so thankful to Father for the physical witness that He knew was the unspoken desire of my heart…read entire story>>>
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It Was No Coincidence
I could barely believe my ears! How could this day possibly have been a coincidence!…read entire story>>>
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Heavenly Father Had Guided Me Home
In Northern Ireland we were ever mindful of the great religious divide that imposed itself on our Country. I have always been drawn to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...read entire story >>
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A Longing For The Spirit
Eventually, in Elementary School, I started to want something to believe in. Isn’t it amazing that a 9 year old girl would suddenly want spiritual guidance by her own desire?…read entire story >>
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There Is No Wound He Cannot Heal
I was rebuilding my life as a recovering alcoholic. I had left everything and everyone I knew behind to build a better life. I was changing, from the inside out. I was seeing miracles of change and healing in my life. But something was still missing…read entire story _________________________________________________________

The Lord Had Lead Me To The Truth
Because of these and other theological flaws with the Catholic Church, I started my personal search for a church that reflected what I have found to be true through study of the Bible…read entire story >>
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All I Am Or Ever Hope To Be
The answer which came to me was both surprising, satisfying, and immediate. Continued personal prayer and reading the Book of Mormon then further opened the way for me to read the Bible with new understanding and appreciation…read entire story >>
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Faithfully Waiting to be Baptized
Almost eight months after my first lesson, I am still not baptized. I have to wait until my 18th birthday…read entire story>>>

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It Has Made All The Difference
In the end I am LDS because I chose to be, not because it is a family tradition or because I was forced to or because I was hoodwinked by agents of the church…read entire story>>>

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Life Is Full Of Challenges
Life is full of challenges but it is a lot better if we know where are we going…read entire story >>
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The Glue Which Keeps Me To My Faith
The glue that keeps me to my faith was a visit from a deceased non-LDS friend who used my nickname and said “Tangles, The Mormon Church is true…read entire story >>

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Listen To These Messengers
As I walked one day, two missionaries stop me and it felt as if a hand pressed firmly on my chest and a still small voice whispered, “Michael stop and listen…read entire story >>

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Our Trials And Difficulties Have Guided and Blessed Our Life
As a family we have had difficult experiences, but these experiences have strengthened our testimonies. The Lord has blessed us greatly, and He has used our trials and difficulties to guide and bless our lives. Of this there is no question…read entire story >>

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Donny Osmond fans share their conversion stories (links provided below as well)

See here for a beautiful slideshow presentation of a photography exhibit that has been on display at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitor’s Center. The slideshow is put to a unique rendition of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

(Don’t miss behind-the-scenes videos about the making of this exhibit, available here (simple sign-in is required)).

Through sculpture, Angela Johnson shares her testimony and faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Thirteen of her beautiful and moving pieces are currently on display at the Visitor’s Center at the St. George Utah temple. Sister Johnson says, “No aspect of my life is more precious to me than the gospel of Christ. It is the anchor of my life.”

Sister Johnson’s work is also displayed at the Newport Beach temple. She created this beautiful Christus statue in less than five weeks.

You can find other sculptures of Sister Johnson’s here. (Click on small blue ‘next’ tag at the top of that page to move to the next piece.) She has created a foundation “to create a sculpture garden depicting the beautiful lessons given by our savior Jesus Christ. ” The pieces on this site symbolize love, healing, faith, trust, miracles, and reverence.

If you would like to read more about the artist’s life, including her journey from opera to sculpture, you can read more here.

Susan Easton Black, noted researcher and teacher, wrote an article about womanhood in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the many roles women may have (daughter, sister, wife, mother, woman). She also reflects on women from Church history to illustrate her points about these roles. She reminds us of the importance of “adher[ing] to the truths of the scriptures and modern prophetic counsel” that can “lead [us] to the commitment of being a faithful daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Such a commitment will lead [us] to greater happiness in mortality and joy in the eternal realms.”

Read another woman’s thoughts on being a woman in the Church.

For more on this topic, see our library link on womanhood.

Share your thoughts about the joy, power, and importance of womanhood below! (Comments are moderated, so they will not appear immediately.) You can share your thoughts on other topics here.

The Relief Society Declaration states that we as Mormon women “find…joy in womanhood.” Understanding the plan of God brings that joy, and gives us clarity about our sacred place, value, and eternally-important roles as daughters of God and women in the Church.

President Spencer W. Kimball said the following:

The scriptures and the prophets have taught us clearly that God, who is perfect in his attribute of justice, “is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). … We had full equality as his spirit children. We have equality as recipients of God’s perfected love for each of us. The late Elder John A. Widtsoe wrote:

“The place of woman in the Church is to walk beside the man, not in front of him nor behind him. In the Church there is full equality between man and woman. The gospel … was devised by the Lord for men and women alike” (Improvement Era, Mar. 1942, p. 161).

President Kimball goes on to explain how even as we are equal before God, “our roles and assignments differ” as men and women. (More can be found about gender roles here.) There are those who want to declare that unless our roles and responsibilities can and are the same, we will never be equal. This is a falsehood that the doctrines of the gospel help to dispel.

Following are some links that further explore these doctrines.

Margaret D. Nadauld: The Joy of Womanhood

Words of the Prophet: Daughters of the Almighty

Susan Easton Black: Happiness in Womanhood

You Are All Heaven Sent

Sheri Dew: It is Not Good for Man or Woman to be Alone (discusses how women and men must work in partnership in order for God’s plan to work and for us to reach our full potential)

M. Russell Ballard: Women of Righteousness

Women of Faith

Arta M. Hale: Lessons in Womanhood: Insights for Latter-day Saint Women from the Lives of Vashti, Miriam, Ruth, Hannah, Jezebel, and Esther

Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball on Women in the Church

Elaine Cannon: The Case for Mary (addresses ideas found in radical feminism, and what used to be called the women’s liberation movement)

Ambitious to Do Good

Barbara Thompson: The Errand of Angels is Given to Women

Richard G. Scott: The Sanctity of Womanhood

Russell M. Nelson: Daughters of Zion

Spencer W. Kimball: The Blessings and Responsibility of Womanhood

Dallin H. Oaks: The Relief Society and the Church (discusses much about historical facets of the role of women in the Lord’s work; even addresses the issue of women anointing and giving blessings, which they did for a time in the earlier stages of Church history)

Sheri Dew: Are We Not All Mothers?

Gordon B. Hinckley: The Women in Our Lives

Jeffrey R. Holland: To Young Women
Boyd K. Packer: Children of God

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You can also search our site or lds.org on topics such as the following:

Gender roles

Motherhood

Eternal Identity

Eternal Perspective

Self-Worth

The Proclamation to the World on the Family declares the following:

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….

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

More on this topic can be found by reading the material in the links below.
2008 Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting

Sheri Dew: It is Not Good for Man or Woman to be Alone

M. Russell Ballard: Women of Righteousness

Boyd K. Packer: For Time and for All Eternity

A Parent’s Guide, Chapter 4

M. Russell Ballard: The Sacred Responsibility of Parenthood

The Sacred Role of Mothers

The Sacred Role of Fathers

Spencer W. Kimball: The Lord’s Plan for Men and Women

David A. Bednar: Marriage is Essential to His Eternal Plan

My father passed away peacefully a few months ago, just eighteen days short of his hundredth birthday. Even as his physical capacities gradually diminished during the last few years, he continued to live by himself, fixing his own meals and using his own recipe to bake his super-nutritious bread. Both he and my mother, who died seven years previously, impressed all who knew them with their positive, cheerful outlook on life, even in the midst of their challenges.

I have sometimes wondered if my own basically cheerful nature was inherited, or a more a result of seeing and following my parents’ example. Both genetics and observation no doubt come into play, but I recently found evidence that they were actively trying to teach me the value of being cheerful when I was very young.

In going through boxes of my parents’ papers, I came across a note my father had written to me when I was not yet four years old. He wrote it on a small piece of note-paper, folded it in half, addressed it to me personally, and enclosed it with a letter mailed to my mother when we were both away from home visiting her side of the family in another state. It reads in part:

“I hope you enjoyed your very long ride and that you were a very happy and obedient girl all of the time. It is so very easy to be cheerful some of the time that a little bit of cheerfulness is hardly worth a thimbleful of sand, but it is so very, very difficult to be cheerful all of the time that if you can accomplish it the value to you will be greater than a hundred tea sets or forty-seven [dolls] or thirty-nine doll houses with real wooden chairs and tables and pianos that make music. So try very hard, won’t you?”

As I read that note, I thought of the Savior’s admonitions to “be of good cheer,” which are usually accompanied by very good reasons why such cheer is possible even when we may think we have good reason to be sorrowful.

When bowed down with remorse for our sins, we can remember that Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee” (Matt. 9:2).

When we feel forsaken, we can be heartened by the Savior’s words in D&C 68:6: “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you. . . .”

When we are discouraged by our weaknesses and failures, we can ponder D&C 78:18: “And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along.”

No matter what disappointments, frustrations, or even tragedies we face during our mortal probation, because of Christ’s Atonement, we know that if we continue to have faith in Him, and do our best to live righteously, we can eventually join Him, and our Heavenly Parents, in realms of glory. “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17).

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

What comfort these principles give me!

-Rosalie, in the US

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Do you have thoughts you want to share on the topic of joy, adversity, faith (or other gospel themes)? Would you like to write a First Person article for this site? Please see our Sharing Our Voices feature for more information on how you can!