How blessed I am to have come from a loving mother and a loving father!  I learned to be strong from my mother.  She also taught me loyalty, self-preservation, and to hold my head high.  Dad taught me how to feel the Spirit.  He taught me honesty, integrity, and how to set and reach goals.  There are many other things my parents taught me.  I was extremely blessed to have two parents who loved each other and loved me.  If I had been raised by one or the other of them, it still would have been a good life, and I would still be a good person; but oh how blessed I am to have had them both.  My parents loved each other and were loyal to each other.

It is difficult for me to see myself being raised in a non-traditional family.  There is so much I would have missed.  I would have struggled to learn the lessons that my parents taught me.  Each parent brought something unique to the table.  My father could not have shown me how to be a strong woman; that takes a strong woman.  My mother could not have taught me about goal setting like my salesman father.  From one of them, I learned to be tough; from the other to be compassionate.  The World War II veteran showed me who God is; the woman who waited for him to return showed me that when life gets tough, the tough get going.  Dad showed me how a man should treat a woman; Mom showed me how a woman should expect to be treated by a man.

These qualities came from a Heavenly Father who created us in His own image.  He created us male and female with unique qualities for a heavenly purpose.  Children need a balance of the qualities inherent in the male and the female.  He created us different, but equal.  It is His divine purpose that we carry these traits with us as a family unit after we leave this earth.  We are beloved spirit children of heavenly parents who want us to return as families.  We are entitled by birthright to a father and a mother for our eternal family.  How happy we will be if we allow His divine plan to work in our lives!

This is the first time in over a year that I have written anything under my real signature instead of my pen name.  It is important for me to stand and bear testimony in my own name that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and that it is gender specific.  He created the male and the female for different purposes—both equally beautiful.  We should cherish our individual roles in the eternal plan.  It gives me joy to know my purpose as a woman.  It makes me happy to know that if I live righteously, I will stand beside my husband as his partner forever—not four steps behind, nor four steps ahead; but next to him.

I testify that The Family: A Proclamation to the World is an inspired document.  It is scripture from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  The last couple of years it has saddened me that some have criticized the our leader's stand on some things.  They have believed what the world is teaching; not what the prophet is teaching.  

A few days ago, my youngest daughter came home from a fireside with a quote from a man by the name of Jason Nartker.  Brother Nartker said, “If you disagree with what the prophet says, change your opinion.”  I’m sure there was a brother or sister somewhere in Noah’s time saying the same thing.  We know how the people of Noah used their agency.  How will we use ours?




Thank you, Laurie.

I adore Laurie, and have enjoyed getting to know her over these last few years, online. I was finally able to meet her, last year, when I was in Salt Lake City, covering General Conference - a highlight! I love her passion for the gospel, her family, and her willingness to honestly share how her life has been blessed through her active membership in the LDS Church.

Head on over to Chocolate on My Cranium or Mormon Mommy Blogs to find out what they're sharing during our Family Proclamation Celebration!

tDMg

Kathryn Skaggs


Laurie White is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. She currently blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com, and can also be found at LaurieBee’s Family Hive at http://lauriebeesfamilyhive.blogspot.com/. She has written articles for Meridian Magazine and Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents#.UYPhA6K. Laurie White also has an essay in Notes on the Kitchen Table, Bob Greene and D. G. Fulford, Doubleday 1998, http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385490615.

Personal Photos: Laurie White

Meme Photo Credit: LDS.org


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