S. Michael Wilcox - Daughters of God: Spiritual Portraits

First printing in hardbound 1998
First printing in paperbound 2005

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilcox, S. Michael.
Daughters of God : scriptural portraits / S. Michael Wilcox.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57345-352-8 (hardbound)
ISBN-10 1-59038-405-9 (paperbound)
ISBN-13 978-1-59038-405-3 (paperbound)

1. Women in the Mormon sacred books. I. Title.
BX8622.W55 1998
289.3'2'0922DC21 98-10268
CIP

Printed in the United States of America
R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Harrisonburg, VA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

To my wife and my mother,
from whom every good thing of my life has flowed

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my deepest and warmest gratitude to the many women whose encouragement and valuable help have been so graciously given. Special thanks go to Sheri Dew for her constant support and to Suzanne Brady for her friendship and untiring editorial insight and labor.

FOREWORD

Each year as I have interacted with hundreds of young adult and adult women from different parts of the country, I have repeatedly heard cries for help from sisters who have not understood clearly what the Lord expects of them. Some of them have been angry because they have been hurt or mistreated in some fashion. Many have had questions about the role of the Latter-day Saint woman in todays world. These sisters have been a constant reminder that women today face challenges and opportunities unheard of in their grandmothers day, and their changing circumstances bring a flurry of new and confusing problems. How they need help from a gospel context to meet their problems in a complex world!

Daughters of God: Scriptural Portraits is invaluable in helping to bring a deepened spiritual understanding to the heart of every daughter of God. Within these pages are messages that illustrate the concerned love of a kind Heavenly Father for his daughters. We are constantly reminded, as the lives of our sisters in the scriptures are unfolded, that God desires each of his daughters to be happy and feel worthwhile.

Regrettably, ours is a time when the divine role of motherhood is often regarded as a second-class occupation. Women frequently expect too much of themselves, and they come up wanting when their expectations (usually imposed by others) are not met. In a world that would homogenize men and women their roles, their occupations, their perspectivesI am especially grateful that a book such as this has been written to clarify our vision and illustrate the divine perspective God intended women to have. The women of the scriptures teach us lessons that are timely, applicable, and valuable. From Eve to Emma, the effects of a womans influence and the power she has to inspire those around her make the world a better place in which to live.

These women of old call to the women in modern times, beckoning us to see the sameness in our struggles. We live in a time when women have more opportunity, more time, more conveniences, and more possibilities to extend their influence and use their talents than ever before. It is often difficult to choose the place where we will put our energies. I am grateful that through a sensitive, caring, thought-provoking author, we are brought to recognize the values common to women through the agesand to be shown, in a most stunning way, that the women of the scriptures have relevant answers for many of our most perplexing problems.

Teachers and leaders alike will benefit from the insights of this writing, not only to better understand the needs of women but to see the value of women in Gods eyes.

MAURINE J. TURLEY
Young Women General Presidency, 198487

THE PORTRAIT GALLERY OF THE SCRIPTURES

Women in the Church today find themselves in many different situations. Some are married and rearing families. Some are single parents who struggle to rear children on their own. Some find fulfillment in marriage but for one reason or another have no children. Some are married to men who are not members of the Church or who are less active. Some women are divorced, some have not married, and some are widows. Some are older women nearing the end of their lives, and some are young women just learning what it means to be a daughter of God. Some have all the material comforts. Some live in poverty. But each situation a Latter-day Saint woman faces is reflected in the scriptures.

Elder Boyd K. Packer said, The right things, those with true spiritual nourishment, are centered in the scriptures (Regional Representatives Seminar, 2 April 1982, 12). Great lessons can be learned from the wonderful sisters of the past who faced their challenges with dignity and faith. We can also learn from those who distorted their potential or in other ways failed to reach it. We all can learn much from the women the Lord chose for his gallery. I am confident that if we will study these women of the scriptures, there will be kindled in our hearts a deep respect for all the daughters of our Heavenly Father.

As each woman passes from one stage of life to another, she will find women in the scriptures to give her additional understanding. And in the midst of all the discussions regarding the roles of women, let us avail ourselves of the most trustworthy of guidesthe holy scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

On occasion, while teaching classes of young women, I hold up a mirror and ask them who they see. They often smile hesitatingly before they say their own names. I ask them to look more closely, and we begin talking about the women described in the scriptures. Can you see Rebekah in your own countenances? Do you see Ruth, or Hannah, or Mary?

I want them to see in themselves the courage, compassion, and faith of their ancient sisters both well-known and obscure. The images of these past daughters of God are reflected in the lives and faces of Latter-day Saint women.

At the end of my mission, I stopped in Paris to visit the Louvre. I was overwhelmed by the size of the museum. The gallery was divided into rooms, and I dashed through, seeking out the most famous pieces. As I moved from room to room, I was aware there were many other works of art hanging on the walls. Some were very small, some were finely detailed, and others were only sketches. I recall wondering, as I hurried by, why some of these very small and seemingly unfinished portraits were hanging in the museum at all.

Years later, I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., with my wife. Laura knew art much better than I. We spent the better part of a day in the gallery. We visited each room and studied almost every painting. As in the Louvre, there were well-known works of art as well as others of which I had never heard. There were sketches with little detail, but as we examined them closely, I realized why they were included. The painting that most inspired me was a relatively obscure one hanging in an unobtrusive place in a minor room of the gallery.