MANUAL 1: LESSON 5: Finding Joy in Our Divine Potential

Lesson 5: Finding Joy in Our Divine Potential

Young Women Manual 1, Lesson 35

Objective

Each young woman will understand her divine potential and learn how to find joy in it.

We Can Find Joy in Recognizing Who We Are and Who We Can Become

There should be great joy in our lives because we are daughters of God!!

You Young Women, have such great potential and today we want to help you catch a vision of that.

Guest speakers and discussion

• 5-10 minute presentation by an "exemplary sister" about how the Young Women's program brought her joy and has bless her to have joy in her life and to understand her Divine Nature.

FAIRY  TALES vs REALITY:

Who loves a “fairy tale”, a “Cinderella type” story or a good “chick flick?”

·         Each girl name their favorite fairy tale/love story

Part of the “fairy tale” is true – you are a daughter of God, you are of royal birth, you have great potential!!  You have “Divine Nature”!!

What does Divine Nature mean????

I love each of your girls!  I can see your talents inside and out!

·         Express a specific appreciation for each girl

Another part of the fairy tale is also true ----

 
Life isn’t all palaces and diamonds for your whole life.

There are some grungy, rough times to go through.

You may never live in a palace, wear a diamond tiara, or ride in a pumpkin carriage your entire life!!!

HERE IS THE QUESTION:

How can your knowledge of your Divine Nature help you to have joy now, today, and everyday regardless of what life brings?????

True joy and peace are available at any time of life to all those who live as their Heavenly Father wants them to live.

The gospel and your personal testimony will guide and bless your life by helping you understand your divine roles and potential as women.

True "deep beauty", as Sister Elain Dalton calls it, comes from truly knowing who you are!  Knowing that you are a daughter of God.

SCRIPTURAL PRINCESSES WHO UNDERSTOOD THEIR DIVINE NATURE:

Eve

Esther

Ruth

Mary

Elizabeth

Miriam

Sariah

YOU ARE OF ROYAL BIRTH AND POSESS THE POWER TO RISE ABOVE:

I have always loved the story of the son of King Louis XVI of France because he had an unshakable knowledge of his identity. As a young man, he was kidnapped by evil men who had dethroned his father, the king. These men knew that if they could destroy him morally, he would not be heir to the throne. For six months they subjected him to every vile thing life had to offer, and yet he never yielded under pressure. This puzzled his captors, and after doing everything they could think of, they asked him why he had such great moral strength. His reply was simple. He said, “I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king.” ¹²

Like the king’s son, each of you has inherited a royal birthright. Each of you has a divine heritage. “You are literally the royal daughters of our Father in Heaven.” ¹³ Each of you was born to be a queen.

ELAINE DALTON, YW GENERAL PRESIDENT

DAVID O. MCKAY AND HIS QUEEN:

When I was attending Brigham Young University, I learned what it truly means to be a queen. I was given a unique opportunity, along with a small group of other students, to meet the prophet, President David O. McKay.

After we had finished, he leaned back in his chair and reached for his wife’s hand and said, “Now, young women, I would like you to meet my queen.” There seated next to him was his wife, Emma Ray McKay. Although she did not wear a crown of sparkling diamonds, nor was she seated on a throne, I knew she was a true queen. Her white hair was her crown, and her pure eyes sparkled like jewels. As President and Sister McKay spoke of their family and their life together, their intertwined hands spoke volumes about their love. Joy radiated from their faces. Hers was a beauty that cannot be purchased. It came from years of seeking the best gifts, becoming well educated, seeking knowledge by study and also by faith. It came from years of hard work, of faithfully enduring trials with optimism, trust, strength, and courage. It came from her unwavering devotion and fidelity to her husband, her family, and the Lord.

ELAINE DALTON, YW GENERAL PRESIDENT

Young women, look into the mirror of eternity. Remember who you are! See yourself as our Heavenly Father sees you. You are elect. You are of noble birth. Don’t compromise your divine inheritance. You were born to be a queen. Live so you are worthy to enter the temple and there receive “all that [the] Father hath.”   Develop deep beauty. There is no more beautiful sight than a young woman who glows with the light of the Spirit, who is confident and courageous because she is virtuous.

The biggest thing that changed in "mia" is that she learned who she was and believed in who she was.

“If you live close to God and His infinite grace—you won’t have to tell, it will show in your face.” 

(quoted from Elain Dalton)

Truly knowing who you are, changes who you are and how you approach everything in life.

We Can Experience Joy at Every Stage of Life

Express your joy at being a woman and your belief that Latter-day Saint women can experience great happiness at every stage of life.

If time permits and the mood seems right, invite class members to describe some joys they experience as Latter-day Saint young women.

Conclusion -- Handout

Reading and optional handout

Read a special challenge to each young woman from the Young Women general presidency. If you made copies of this message, hand them out now.

Our Dear Young Friends:

You are blessed and favored of our Heavenly Father to be alive today. The world is full of beauty and opportunities—greater than any other period in the history of mankind. These special years of preparation will be filled with discovery, seeking, finding, growing, stretching, reaching, and learning of God’s plan and what he expects from you, his daughter.

The same world is full of ugliness and evil influences. You will be challenged, tempted, thwarted, and attacked in every way by the plans and persuasions of the adversary.

Our Heavenly Father knows all this and knows you. He has confidence and faith that you will use these years of preparation in being an obedient child of God who can be molded and shaped for the special mission and destiny he would have you fill. Pray always, know your Savior Jesus Christ, study the scriptures, and think of specific ways you can apply the teachings in your life. Live to be worthy of the blessings of the priesthood, be happy, and walk tall with joy and thanksgiving in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You are surrounded by many who love you and want to protect and guide you—friends, your class officers, adult leaders, your bishopric, your parents and family, and above all Jesus Christ and your Father in Heaven.

May we be included among those who care and love you very much. We pray always that you will be blessed and strengthened in your preparation to live with your Father in Heaven again, for he has invited “all to come unto Christ” (D&C 20:59) “and be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:32).

Affectionately,

Young Women General Presidency