Because She is a Mother

Happy Mother's Day! This is one of my favorite talks. It was given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland at the April 1997 conference. I was about 2 weeks shy of giving birth to my first child and I was scared and excited and eager for the next chapter of my life. I remember sitting on the couch crying knowing that Heavenly Father knew that I was going to need this message soon. I have read, studied, and reread the encouraging words of Elder Holland throughout the last 11 years and they still lift me up and give me hope. I love my role as a wife and mother and I hope that we can all know of the important work we are each doing in building up the kingdom of God.

Here is an excerpt but I would encourage you to read the entire text by clicking on the title:

You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The
Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.

Remember, remember all the days of your motherhood: “Ye have
not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.”

Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And
“press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.” You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even—no, especially—when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” And it
will make your children whole as well.

Thank you, my dear sisters and friends, for being such

good examples to me and showing me what it is to be a mother who knows.