Today I put on my young woman medallion while I was getting ready for church, thinking this is my last day of being 17 EVER! Tomorrow is my birthday and I will turn the big 18, becoming an official adult and finally being able to donate blood here at BYU.
What I really want to write about today is my gratitude towards the program my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has for young women called simply Young Women's. By participating in weekly activities during middle school and high school I have grown and changed. Technically I have been out of the program since I have left the house to come to college, but the things I learned within it still play an active part in my life. Young Women's emphases values and morals like integrity, good works, individual worth, and knowledge. A young woman is encouraged to act upon the values she learned by completing experiences using a program called Personal Progress. One experience I had with Personal Progress involved starting a journal. I had never particularly been consistent with it. butI made a goal to write regularly. Since then I have kept a daily journal for a couple years now. Writing in my journal has been a way for me to reflect upon the miracles God has worked in my life that day and remember the blessings he has given me.
During my time in Young Women's I made an effort to learn how to cook, sew, crochet, and paint. Now that I am in college I am so grateful for the wonderful women who taught me these things. It would be much harder now to learn how to learn all those skills as I am busy with school, work, and church.
The most important thing I learned in Young Women's was who I am. By interacting with other girls my age and being in a wholesome environment I came to know I am a daughter of God, who loves me and I love Him. Going through my teenage years with this reassurance provided me with the confidence I needed to do the right thing. Part of gaining this confidence also came form building others up through service and kindness. When you treat the people around you like the son or daughter of God they are your confidence increases. Learning that little truth was one of the biggest impacts Young Women's had on my life.
I am grateful for all the leaders who have shown their compassion and love towards the rising generation and for all the sacrifices they have made to help us know whose we are. Most importantly I want to let everyone know that there in a God in heaven who does love His children, so much that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice. It was not fair that the only perfect person to walk the earth was arrested on superfluous charges and crucified to satisfy a mob.Yet it was done for us, through pure love. I cannot think of a greater gift a loving God could give His children.
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