Saturday, September 10, 2011

Divine Destiny of God's Children by Alana Lee

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My husband and I have been blessed with three lively daughters (which I admit doesn't feel like a blessing on some days). 


Eight years ago, I held my first baby girl and could feel that she was fresh from the presence of her Father in Heaven. I could feel her innocence and purity. And I knew that as much as I might love her, I knew that her Heavenly Father loved her even more and with a perfect love.


I knew that He sent her to earth to receive a physical body of her own, to be baptized, to get married for eternity, and to have an eternal family. 


A few days ago my family had the privilege of witnessing this sweet daughter of ours follow the example of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, by entering the waters of baptism.  


With priesthood authority, her father baptized her by immersion. When she arose out of the water, her face was beaming.  Afterward, I helped her change into her new white dress and hugged her tight. 


At that moment, I felt so much love for her, feeling her purity and goodness all over again. I also felt strongly that her Heavenly Father loved her dearly and was pleased with her choice.


On that very special day, she chose to live up to her divine nature and destiny. And with each good choice, she comes closer to God, and closer to fulfilling the reasons why she came to earth in the first place. 


The same is true for each of us, as Heavenly Father's spirit children. He has a plan for our happiness and salvation which centers on making and keeping covenants with Jesus Christ and on creating eternal families. 


The Family Proclamation tells us that "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." 


If I could teach my daughters one thing to help them navigate this sometimes difficult life, I would have them understand that their female spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Father. This makes them royal daughters of the Heavenly King. The same could be said about boys--they are royal sons of the Heavenly King.  


Integral to this knowledge is that, in order to fulfill their divine destiny, they must keep their spirits and bodies morally clean.


When my oldest daughter was two, I wrote this song to the tune of "I Love to See the Temple" to help teach her the importance of her body. We often sing it as a family during Family Home Evening.

"My Body Is A Temple" (by Alana Lee)

My body is a temple,
I treat it with respect.
I live the word of wisdom.
I'm modest in my dress.
For my body is a gift from God,
He wants me to protect it.
My mouth speaks clean words,
My thoughts are pure.
This keeps my temple holy



Any child who knows who they truly are will be better able to live up to his or her divine destiny, walk the path that He has shown, help make this world a better place for all of God's spirit children, and return to live with Him someday.





Alana Lee grew up in Ohio (when I knew her we were both Young Women there!)  Since then, Alana Lee has served a full-time mission in the Netherlands and Belgium.  She and her husband Heath were married in the Manti temple.  Alana has a BS in Sociology from BYU and a Master's degree in Organizational Behavior.   (But don't let her brainy resume and angel face fool you...she's got a wicked sense of humor!)  Now, she is a stay-at-home mom who does graphic design work on the side.  (You can see the custom birthday invites she creates at her blog.)  Alana lives with her husband and three daughters on a mesa near Kirtland, NM surrounded by several family members, and more recently...by chickens.  Alana plans to write the ending to her first novel in the near future.



Thanks, Alana! 

Looking for more ways to teach your children about their divine destiny?

Try playing this one-of-a-kind
 Family Proclamation Treasure Hunt Game,
created by Alana Lee, especially for Celebrate Family!

You can download the game, which prints on regular 8.5x11 paper by clicking on the images or links below.  One document contains the game board, the next document contains questions and game pieces.  Simply download, print, cut, and play!

Thank you, Alana for today's guest post, for sharing your original song lyrics and this fun way to talk about the truths found in The Family Proclamation with our children!

Family Proclamation Treasure Hunt Game by Alana Lee

Family Proclamation Treasure Hunt Game Questions by Alana Lee


Now, here are the details about today's giveaway...

Remember, to be entered you must comment on all four blog posts today:







From minimoments comes this sweet custom diversity family peg dolls. These make great open ended toys and are montessori and waldorf inspired. You will win one of the families already painted or get a custom painted straight-legged family (up to six members). Your choice!




Minimoments also sells diversity friend peg dolls and these cute customizable missionary dolls that can be made into Christmas ornaments.



33 comments:

  1. Love the song, I will probably have to borrow it! The game looks like a lot of fun, too. :)

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  2. That game is great! Thanks for sharing it.

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  3. I really love the song! And I'm going to try the game too... my boys are up for anything with a treasure map!

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  4. A good reminder that the children we have welcomed into our family belong to the Lords family and he has a plan for them that we must teach them.

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  5. As stated by previous commenters, I too loved the song. Thank you for sharing it with us.

    Your post was beautiful. Isn't it amazing how Heavenly Father trusts these little children to us?! Truly a blessing to learn from them and to teach them.

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  6. This is so true! Thanks for your words.

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  7. My goodness, what talent -- songs and games and novels and adorable kids to boot :) Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Fun game! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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  9. love it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, I can't wait for my first child to get baptized, I know its going to be a very special moment for all of us =0)

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  10. Thank you for sharing your insights and the fun family game

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  11. LOVE the song! I will be incorporating that into our nightly song routine. Super cute game too! Thanks so much for sharing!!

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  12. What lovely dark hair that baby has! It is striking.

    What a grand gift to give your daughters so they will know who they are!

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  13. My youngest son came home from sunday school a few weeks so excited to tell me what he learned in class that day he said "Mom did you know our bodies are a temple" I said yep (it's funny how you can tell a child yourself the same thing but it doesn't really sink in until someone else tell them) but his comment after that was "I don't want to get my temple dirty, I'm going to keep mine white" he has since that lesson referred to that lesson many times. I am grateful for those that help to teach my children good and righteous ways. Thank you for sharing your thoughts I enjoyed reading them and you did a great job on the game, and I loved your song.

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  14. I love what you said about teaching your daughters "that their female spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Father." I want to do this for my daughters too. thanks for the insights.

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  15. What a great game! One of our family's favorite things is to play board games, I think this one is going to get lots of use!

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  16. Laura McMullin wrote "Still not working so here is my comment on todays: I loved this post and am loving the game. Thanks for sharing and the song is really nice too."

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  17. full of good ideas. I like the song lyrics...a very creative and in tune mom!

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  18. Thank you for the treasure hunt!

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  19. I love the treasure hunt! My boys are going to tag-team their lesson/activity and use it for FHE.

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  20. Thank you for that song. We will be doing the game here in the short future too.

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  21. So have you submitted this to the Friend yet? I really think you should! :)

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  22. Thank you for the unclouded words about divine nature. It gave me a lot to think about. Also, I am definitely playing that cute little game!

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  23. Thank you for sharing all this great stuff!
    What a great guest blogger!

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  24. Love the song. Such a great message.

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  25. Love the song. Can't wait to use the game. Thank you fo your words

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  26. I just printed the game & I can't wait to teach the song at our FHE on Monday! Thanks so much!

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  27. Beautiful post.
    Beautiful family.

    =)

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  28. I will use that song! Sometimes I forget that my kids are NOT too little to be learning these truths.

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  29. Love it! Thank you so much!! The song is amazing, so is your blog! :)

    [sorry if this is a repeat comment, I'm having issues w/leaving one]

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  30. Thank you so much for your kind words! And thanks, Jocelyn, for including me in "Celebrate Family." (BTW I did submit the lyrics to The Friend magazine, but as far as I'm aware, it was never published.)

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  31. OH, boo! They should get on that then! :)

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