Christ and Mary

Today in Young Women I gave the part of the lesson on Mary. I displayed this photo from my home. It is my favorite. I just love the way the illustrator captures a thousand different feelings on her beautiful face. In giving the lesson I was overcome with a realization of my own divine nature and calling. I know what it is like to be a very young mother. Our circumstances were far from the same, but young and scared none the less. I was also made away of another leader and her trepidation in becoming a mother. I cannot imagine having that concern magnified by the fact that Mary was carrying the Savior of the world. I know that when I was Mary's age I was not prepared to do the will of the Lord like Mary was. I did not possess the qualities and attributes necessary to be worthy of any such calling. I did not have the faith or humility to recognize any such promptings. I am gratefully more qualified to receive such callings and more prepared to carry them out. We will never have the great honor or burden to be the mother of Christ, but there are many other callings we are asked to fulfill. Things we don't understand or that are very painful. I realized during that lesson that my daughter, Sarah was one of those such painful callings I was chosen to fulfill. I was chosen to give her a body and then live without her while here on Earth, but because of Mary's Son and His sacrifice she still lives. I get to raise my daughter. I get to repent and continue to progress in this life towards exaltation to live with that perfect child I will raise. Being prepared with a testimony and faith has helped me to find joy in this calling of mine. We are all asked to do hard things. Are we ready and willing to make the sacrifices needed to carry out such callings? I'm trying to be. Mary is a wonderful example to me in my life.

The next part of our lesson was taught by one of the most wonderful people I know. She talked about being one of the "Stable Few" by having Christ as the center of your life. I relate to this topic so much. Without Christ as my focus and without the gospel my life was chaotic and very unstable. Since I have starting living the gospel and gaining my testimony my life has completely changed. I still have had adversity and trials, but I have never been at more peace in my whole life. I didn't know you could be this happy. The literal stability not only in my life, but that of my children has been remarkable. When Christ is your focus then everything else just falls into place. Christ is everything. He is the reason I get to raise Sarah. He is the reason my children will see their dad again. He is the reason I can mess up my life so miserably and still find peace and hope through the atonement. He is the reason I know how I should live my life in order to find true happiness. His example is one of the greatest gifts in my life. He taught us how to live. If we live this way, I know that is the only place true happiness lies. I feel that. I have such a long way to go, but I am progressing. The talk in sacrament meeting taught us that the greatest gift is Eternal Life. A sweet friend wrote me a letter right after that meeting and asked me to read it later. She reminded me that by giving Sarah her body, I helped her attain the greatest gift and that is Eternal Life. She said that I was blessed to be able to hold her in my arms while she breathed life and that we gave each other joy. She is so right. I lover her for reminding me of those joys. I don't think I have ever been so focused on Christ. I have never really appreciated the celebration of his birth and life in the same way I do now. Christ is the reason for the great love I feel. He is the reason for all that is good. What a wonderful day I had today. I love Christmas and I love it even more than ever now!