My thoughts on the General Women's Session

This past General Conference has been very insightful and inspiring. Many wonderful talks with very key points that I felt the church members needed to hear were given. I wish to review most of the talks briefly and my observations about them. I must warn that I will be blunt with my opinion, as some of my thoughts and feelings may not be the most popular in the "village square", but are my honest thoughts concerning the topics and my concerns about the members of the Church today. I am not however claiming to be perfect or to know everything, I am far from that, trust me!

General Women's Session

First and foremost, I decided to do the impossible, the naughty, the illegal. I watched the General Woman's Conference. I say impossible, naughty and illegal because of the misunderstanding that I was forbidden to watch this conference as I am a Priesthood holder. Prior to it's recent name change, it was the Relief Society Broadcast and I am clearly not in that organization. Back a few years ago the only way to watch this or the Priesthood session was to physically go to a church building, where the broadcast it via satellite. It seemed clear to me that it was prohibited for the opposite sex to be present. After all, Priesthood men aren't in Relief Society and the Women aren't in Priesthood on Sundays. So it must be wrong. Of course, this mentality was incorrect, and as the church has started streaming broadcasts live on the website, it became clear that anyone was welcome to watch, but it was to focus on issues and challenges the Women needed to hear.

This past week I decided that I wanted to "rebel" and watch the conference online. I made a small deal about it in church meetings and did get the eye. This was on purpose, I wanted to see how people would react, and they did how I would have before I changed my attitude and eyes about it. But it was interesting to see how no one was opposed to my decision or persuaded me to not watch. Rather, they just found it odd or usual. Anyway, watching this conference has changed how I view the Women in the church and as a general society.


Rosemary M. Wixom spoke first and focused on the divine nature of women.

"If you ever question that spark of divinity within you, kneel in prayer and ask Heavenly Father, “Am I really Thy daughter, and dost Thou love me?” Elder M. Russell Ballard said, “One of the sweetest messages the Spirit will relay is how the Lord feels about you.”"

It shouldn't have been a surprise to me, but women struggle to see themselves with value just as much as I do! I had never considered that to be such a big issue. I have been naive growing up, assuming that because I had the Priesthood that I had more problems and struggles. That my sins and addictions were unique and that women didn't experience as much pain. After all, every time I saw girls, they seemed happy. They seemed to expect greater from me, in fact. This was of course not true, but that's how I felt as I grew up.


Linda S. Reeves spoke next and talked about covenants and the struggles that women faced day to day in the world trying to follow them.

"Sisters, Satan has raised a Korihor-like banner in our day with increasing success. What are some of his tools? Seductive romance novels, TV soap operas, married women and old boyfriends connecting on social media, and pornography. We must be so careful, dear sisters! We cannot play with Satan’s fiery darts and not get burned. I know of nothing that will qualify us for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost as much as virtue."

This, I think was the biggest perspective shocker for me. Sure, I was fully aware of the dangers of morality with pornography and sex before marriage and and modest dating and dancing and so on. But I had always seen it from the perspective of a man. I was the one who "liked" boobs, I was the one who needed to not lust after women, who was degrading the sacred nature of women and of procreation. It was my fault that women were seen and treated as sex objects, as something to enjoy for pleasure. But after hearing a general women's leader bluntly state this list in a conference for women, I suddenly had a change in perspective.

At that moment I realized just how much these wonderful, righteous daughters of God struggled to keep their covenants and recognize their worth in the world. No wonder this was a struggle! They see the Miss Perfect on TV, the sexual advertisements and men who are "happy" because their wives are "beautiful".They see this and want to be like that! But everyone is different physically, some aren't as "aesthetically pleasing" as others, according to Miss Perfect. So these poor girls and women think they are useless or need to try harder. Or if they have a Miss Perfect body, they feel pressure and responsibility to stay that way, because of the attention they get and how happy they feel when guys look at, smile and flirt with them. Oh. My. Goodness.

Sisters, I want it clear that no matter what your are physically, even if you are "fat", "ugly", "not perfect", "plain", etc that as far as I'm concerned, who cares? When I consider girls to date as a young adult, of course I will naturally be more attractive to certain features and looks than others. That's how my body is built. We are made to be attractive to others. Someone I think is drop dead gorgeous, my friend will think is just pretty. And who they think is sexy I might not find appealing. That is how we are built. It is tough to like someone but for them to not like you as much. I've gone through some emotions and experiences like that already. But just know that no matter what people tell you, ask Heavenly Father what he thinks of you, as these women encourage.


Carole F. McConkie was the last women's leader to speak and focused on serving a righteous cause. I think it was a very good talk and quite honestly have no specific feedback about it. Nothing bothered me, nothing stood out to me. It was just a good talk that I'm sure stood out and impressed many Sisters in the church. And that's good! These talks were not meant for me specifically, so this talk not specifically impacting me in any way shouldn't be a concern to you as you read my thoughts. That's the joy of the Gospel and of individual progression, learning how each of us receive different inspiration from the same message because we each have different struggles and weaknesses and the Lord teaches us each different things based on our needs.

One quick quote I did want to point out though, was this.

"Before we were born, we accepted our Heavenly Father’s plan “by which [we] could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize [our] divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.”13 Of this premortal covenant, Elder John A. Widtsoe explained: “We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but … saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.”"

We learn in the later talks during the Saturday and Sunday sessions of conference about the divine roles of mothers, women and sisters, but for now I wanted to point out the truth of this statement.


Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke last and focused on how life can bring disappointments, trials, suffering and pains. But if we focus on that and only think about the negative aspects, we will forever be sad, depressed and just unhappy. He told a story of a girl who went to live at her Great-Aunt's house for a period of time. This older woman was always happy and never seemed to be negative no matter the situation. The girl was so confused and as the story is told, we learn about the different struggles and questions the girl goes through and has.

“There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. …

I think we all find ourselves in a puddle every now and then. It's those who get up from the fall, who try again and don't give up, who are the happiest. Don't you quit, as a wise apostle once said.

“… God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do? …

I love his honest point at the end. How many times do wonderful happen instantly? They were married happily ever after? Maybe after years, decades of hard work, dedication and love sure!

“… Now is part of eternity. It doesn’t only begin after we die! Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you now. …

NOW is part of eternity!!! This reminds me of a talk he gave in Priesthood Session a year or two ago about the Restoration of the Gospel. In that talk, he states,

"Sometimes we think of the Restoration of the gospel as something that is complete, already behind us—Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, he received priesthood keys, the Church was organized. In reality, the Restoration is an ongoing process; we are living in it right now. It includes “all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal,” and the “many great and important things” that “He will yet reveal.”...

This is one of the most remarkable periods of the world’s history! Ancient prophets yearned to see our day...

When our time in mortality is complete, what experiences will we be able to share about our own contribution to this significant period of our lives and to the furthering of the Lord’s work? Will we be able to say that we rolled up our sleeves and labored with all our heart, might, mind, and strength? Or will we have to admit that our role was mostly that of an observer?"

We are living in eternity. We shouldn't wait until we die with resurrected bodies to be happy. In fact, if we do that then we will never be happy, because  "God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy!"

“… Everything … in the gospel—all the shoulds and the musts and the thou shalts—lead to love."

Yes, exactly! This is an awesome analogy that I wish people understood more. The commandments aren't here to restrict us or make us have to follow rules, they are in fact the way for us to experience eternal joy and happiness, if we let it.

Um, President Uchtdorf, can you read this talk in the Priesthood session too? I think this applies to everyone. I am not saying that he made a mistake or I think the Lord picked the wrong audience to focus on. My point is that I believe every talk in all sessions can be applied to everyone if we let it. I learned from this talk. There's so much truth to learn.


That's my take on the General Women's Conference. I will separate each conference session in a different post since I will likely have a lot of comments as I have proven with just an hour and a half session here.

And I'm not begging or expecting any comments, but please, if you do have any questions, comments, agreements or disagreements, to feel free and post. Be open, be bold. Be honest. I am open to other perspectives, it makes discussions more interesting and enjoyable.