Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

Proverbs 31:10-31

"Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies." Let's find out why virtue is of great value yesterday and today. What is virtue?

Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior that shows the highest of spiritual standards. For instance, its what you do when you think no is looking. It is your innermost thoughts and your actions from them.

Virtuous women focus on being righteous, doing a lot of good in the world around them. They try to be obedient to the commandments of God and help others to do the same.

I remember once, when my young sister-in-law was visiting my house, that we began talking about what makes a woman truly beautiful.  I told her that true beauty was inside her. She loved the Disney Princess's so I used that as my point of view.

We discussed the inner beauty of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" and Snow White. They were sweet and did good things that helped other people. They had positive attitudes that helped people to like them, etc.

I tried to show her the inner beauty that makes a woman beautiful. Then I asked her if she wanted to be known as the Queen who needed a mirror to tell her she was beautiful only on the outside or did she want to be the  princess who radiated beauty from the inside.

I heard from a woman once that said her mother told her to make herself as attractive as she could before she left home then once she left her house she was not to think of herself any more but to think of others that day and how she could help them. I agree with that thought. We should make ourselves look the best we can before we go out the door but then we need to focus on the Savior and what He would be doing if He was here among us. Then follow those steps throughout the day.

If we do that then the inner beauty will continue to grow. You can be the most beautiful woman in the world to the eye but age happens, and accidents happens, and then you become miserable because you can never gain back that beauty. But if you focus on the beauty where it really counts you will only grow more beautiful every day. This is where virtue begins, think not of yourself but of doing good for others.

How Can We Have Charity?

Mosiah 2:17
"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

The key to charity is serving one another. There are so many ways to serve our brothers and sisters. There are charitable organizations that need volunteers. This is something that is needed all year long.

Forbes - Top 200 Charitable Organizations

There are things we can do for the elderly, or orphans, or the sick. There are things we can do for the lonely, or handicapped, or the poor of heart. There are so many things we can do if we just look around for opportunities and ask God for help.

If you want charity in your life you have to ask God to help you attain this attribute of Christ. When we live righteous lives and focus on God good things happen and we are given that gift.

Last year my youngest son started thinking of ways that he can serve. He wasn't sure what he should do so he took his question to God in prayer, asking Him what God would have him do. The very next day he received an answer in General Conference when the Prophet announced that the age to become a missionary was dropped to 18 years old. He knew this was his answer and has now been preparing for that act of service.

18 Year old missionary announcement

The missionaries call him quite often to go out on visits with them. He is really enjoying and loving what he is doing. He has begun his journey in gaining this attribute of Jesus Christ by understanding charity.

"Christlike attributes are gifts from God. They come as you use your agency righteously. Ask your Heavenly Father to bless you with these attributes; you cannot develop them without His help. With a desire to please God, recognize your weaknesses and be willing and anxious to improve." 
Preach my Gospel Manual

We as righteous women can do the same, all we have to do is ask God what He would have us do and the answer will come. If you don't receive an answer right away, then open your eyes and heart to see what good needs to be done, and act upon it, then you will see the Light of Christ shine through your example a hope and faith for everyone you serve. You will have the gift of charity.

Random Acts of Kindness

My youngest son will be turning 18 in January and then come summer he will probably be starting his mission for our church. My children have asked that we make this years holidays extra special. We talked about these like watching old Christmas movies, driving around looking at lights, and making goodies to snack on.

So I started looking for service ideas for my family to do this year as well and I came across an idea called "Random Acts of Kindness". I like what I saw and want to try this idea out this season. Take a look and see if is something that sounds fun to you.

Random Acts of Kindness

The website says this is for Valentines Day but you can do the same thing for Christmas. This is an easy project. Maybe an idea to enhance the goody bag is to add special messages attached to a few of the kisses. Maybe you can come up with another idea that would be more memorable to your family or to the families you service.

I'm going with this one as one of our projects this year!!!

Christmas Before You Know It

Hey!!! Do you realize that Christmas is just around the corner? Yeah, I was surprised, too. What happened to this year? When I was young it seemed like days lasted forever, but now that I'm...older, it seems time flies. I was surprised when my teenager said the same thing. So when someone young notices time is flying bye then you know you are running out of time.

I was thinking, that since I would be looking for gift ideas for Christmas that I would share some fun things that I find easy to do and inexpensive. I hope these ideas will be helpful to you.

Mod Podge Tile Coasters

I think I'm going to do this one for my co-workers. Last year I made them a glass plate with our company logo on it. It was a lot like this.

Take a glass (see-through) plate (any size you want), lay it on a table and lay some material of your choice on top and cut out the circle a little bigger than the plate. I could find material with our company logo on it so I found a pair of pajama bottoms with the logo and cut the material I needed (then I hemmed the bottom of PJ's and sent it to my favorite Uncle); he loved them and still wears them.

Take a sponge brush and add Mod Podge to the back of the plate. Lay the material on top of the Mod Podge side and smooth it out. Let it dry for about 10 minutes, trim the edges and Mod Podge on top of the material for a matte feel. Let it dry and then display your peace of art on a stand. I gave all mine away and didn't keep one for myself so I can't show you what they look like. Mod Podge can be lots of fun to use.

Here is another one using Mod Podge, I can't wait to try this one.

Stained Glass Candle Holder

I just have to include this blog spot because there are tons of Mod Podge ideas that can be helpful in completing your Christmas shopping list.

Wall Art with Mod Podge

Easy Art Work

This one was pretty cool and easy to do using a 2 liter soda bottle, no Mod Podge needed. I might have one of my kids do this for a teacher gift.

Lessons I Learned from the Saturday Sessions of General Conference

I REALLY LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE (exclamation point)!!!

Every talk had something for me in it, that is amazing. How do they know what I need to hear?!

I would like to focus on a couple of points that hit home to me;

Elder Robert D Hales spoke about how we need General Conference, this I know, because we can receive inspired messages that will help us over the next 6 months until the next conference. He promised that if we listened to the words spoken at this conference that we would receive answers to our prayers and concerns. I had thought of 3 questions before conference began and I am surprised and pleased to say that I have already received answers to all 3 questions, amazing!

Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke about the scriptures being the place where we find peace and protection from the perils of the world. I found this a great help due to all the evil that is surrounding our families daily. A simply thing like reading as a family can help us to be protected from the worldly influence our poor children have to face daily. One of my thoughts was about being prepared for what is to come, he said the answers were in the scriptures. I know this, but I always need to be reminded to look there.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about women and how awesome we are, :), well something like that. He actually spoke about the beauty of womanhood and how we have to protect it from the influences of confused people who try to make us equal to men on a man's level, when we should be equal to men on a woman's level. I loved that he spoke about these things. Some women don't realize that we have a great influence for good by using the tools the Lord gave us. But it is our relationship with God that really keeps us on track to standing as righteous women daily.

And, the last one I want to talk about is from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He spoke about the reality of mental illness. He spoke about things that I have always thought about depression. I think most depression is something we have control over, it may not be easy but we can fight against it; I understand some can not. He did say that it was a real thing. He spoke about a time he felt it, and it reminded me of a time I felt it. I was in my late 30's and just started to feel low over my life and the darkness just started to drag me down, I didn't want to do anything but curl up on the couch and sleep. I'm a thinker and all I could do was dwell on the problems I was experiencing at the time. I was a single mom with 3 kids still at home ranging from 3-13. I knew they needed me because we had no family near us. So I prayed for strength to get out of that depression and made myself get back into life. It took a good 2 weeks before I was myself again but it was real. I knew I never wanted to feel it again, any time I recognized that feeling creeping in I would focus on the Savior and my family; it worked.

There were so many more wonderful talks, I wish I had time to talk about all of them but these are the ones that really hit home. I hope you have enjoyed conference so far and will continue to gain spiritual instruction  through the rest of the weekend. Don't forget to ponder the things you have learned, that's how we keep them in our hearts.

The Beauty of Womanhood

 photo source

Hello Beautiful Women!

Thank you for viewing my blog. This is my first real attempt to blog ( I hear it's the "in" thing now) so I thought I should give it a try. I mean, I don't want to be labeled as "not cool" (is that the correct lingo today?). So many others are connecting through blogging, to me, it was the only logical thing to do to get connected to wonderful women like you. Wow, that was almost poetic.

I thought a lot about what I could say that would be meaningful to my viewers. Many ideas popped into my head but the one that meant the most to me was what this blog is all about; the beauty of womanhood and standing up as righteous women in a troubled world that needs us.

Women are wonderful creatures. We have been given many talents that come natural to us; things like compassion and nurturing. We develop skills to strengthen who we are. We give of our selves daily to our families, work, church, and community. Sometimes we give so much of ourselves that we don't make time to do anything for ourselves. In fact, I feel guilty if I do take time for me. That is why I hope this blog will help me become a better me.

 It totally frustrates me to see how women are portrayed today. It seems that Hollywood has created a view of women that forces us to try to live up to standards of what has been labeled as beautiful. Really? Women who are near anorexic, or, are airbrushed to look flawless;.is that really beauty? I always hate when a magazine lists the 100 most beautiful people and they are always famous people. I know many beautiful women who I would rather spend time with than those in the magazine. What do you think creates a beautiful woman?

Though the years the picture of women has changed dramatically. There is so much crime against women today. Programs on TV and movies portray women as sleazy and easy. I have to wonder why women try to conform to this. Men have it easy today approaching women because young women think the things they view in the media are how they are supposed to act.Young Women!!! Listen up! This is not correct behavior. You will find so much more happiness if you hold to your virtue. Don't be ashamed of waiting until you are married to have sex. You will feel more beautiful and special if you wait.

But I am here to tell you that we don't have to allow this negative picture of women to be who we are. We, as righteous women, need to stand for who we really want to be viewed as. But I think we need to take a moment to think about that; who are you? How do you want others to view you? We can discover and change this view by interacting and discussing issues that affect women on this blog, as well as things we can do to strengthen one another. Women have been blessed with many wonderful traits and if we can share those with one another we can give each other hope for a future of beautiful women doing wonderful things.

Well, that's it for this week. I can't wait to hear from you and see how you feel about women today. Tell us how you think we can create a better future for women.