Standing Firm for Gender by Sarah McBride

“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.

IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.”

Over the past few years and months, it has become increasingly popular to blur the lines of gender. Not only moving towards redefining what a man is or what a woman is, but posing the question: “Why should we make any distinction at all?”

I am currently studying to become a midwife. An alarming trend in my field is that we are no longer saying “women’s healthcare.” The language now being proposed is that of supposed inclusiveness, which is in fact, insulting the very women we care for. Giving birth to new life is indeed the very essence of womanhood.

Not only is defining gender good science, (think chromosomes xx and xy, the only two combinations) it is God’s divine design.

President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth.” (Oct. 2013 General Conference, “Decisions for Eternity”)

As men and women, we each have sacred responsibilities. How do we honor and uphold these responsibilities? How do we stand for truth and lead during this time of confusion? We begin by denying the power of Satan in our own lives.

Satan is clever. He wants us to believe and even deny our own divine potential. When we lose sight of who we are and who we can become, he acts quickly. We need to stand firm in keeping the commandments of our Heavenly Father. He wants to protect us and keep us on His path for our lives. When we begin and end each day having upheld His commandments, we will be prepared for the greater work we need to do.

The second thing we need to do is to love our roles. We need to be examples of righteous manhood or womanhood. Men need to honor the priesthood they have stewardship of. They need to love their duties of leadership, providing, and fatherhood. They need to show their love of the gospel to those around them. Women need to be caring, nurturing, and examples of service and strength. We need to show that our divine roles matter by loving those roles.

Each and every person on this earth came here with divine potential, which has existed from the beginning of time. Before we came here we were male or female. That knowledge is essential to our eternal beings. It is not fluid, changeable, or of little worth.

We live in a changing world, where it is increasingly popular to accept anything and any lifestyle. It is my prayer that we will rise up and stand firm, while also practicing the Christ-like attributes of loving our neighbor as ourselves. That we will recognize our divine nature, strength, and power that lives within each one of us. We do not always need to be bold, but we do always need to be immovable in holding fast to the principles set forth in the scriptures. We are created in His image, as sons and daughters, and by embracing our eternal nature, we will be able to realize and fulfill our full potential.

If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it on social media using the hashtag #ILovetheFamilyProclamation 

And be sure to check out the other host blogs today for more wonderful posts and testimonies about family.

Here are links to the other blogs:

CranialHiccups

and

A Thing Called Love