The Influence of Righteous Women

One of the recommendations in the Come, Follow Me manual this week was to study the women in Exodus 1-6 and see how their actions played a part in God's plan that would help prepare and preserve Moses to be able to fulfill his earthly mission of delivering the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. This was a very insightful study for me and I wanted to share what I learned.

• The midwives Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-20): both of theses women were examples of great courage and love for God as they defied Pharaoh's orders and let God prevail in their lives.
• Moses's mother, Jochebed (Exodus 2:2-3) shows us the ultimate sacrifice of a mother, protects her child as much as possible and then puts her trust in Lord's plan that He would deliver her son (this also parallels the story of Abraham and Isaac).
• Moses's sister, Miriam (Exodus 2:4,7) is an example of watching over her brother to make sure he was safe and would be cared for.
• Pharoah's daughter (Exodus 2: 5-6) is an example of rescuing people and showing compassion towards others.
• Moses's wife, Zipporah (Exodus 2:16) is an example of someone that is capable of hard work and who knows how to take care of a flock.

As our family talked about the different attributes these women all had, we also talked about how Moses also exhibited these attributes in his life because of the influence of the women that he associated with. 

This made me think of the important impact that women can have on the people in their lives. Brady shared a talk with me this week that goes right along with this principle. The talk is called Here Am I, Send Me by Elder M. Russell Ballard. He said these impactful words: "I have a deep and abiding feeling about women and about the crucial difference they make in every important setting—particularly in the family and in the Church....We cannot fulfill our mission as a Church without the inspired insight and support of women....sisters have always been vital and integral to the work of the Lord. Faithful women have labored valiantly in the cause of truth and righteousness from before the foundations of this world....Every sister in this Church who has made covenants with the Lord has a divine mandate to help save souls, to lead the women of the world, to strengthen the homes of Zion, and to build the kingdom of God....Every sister who stands for truth and righteousness diminishes the influence of evil. Every sister who strengthens and protects her family is doing the work of God."

Just like the women in Moses's life each used their unique roles and gifts to help further God's plan, each of us has the ability to bring about God's work by using our different attributes and talents within our own sphere of influence to help God in His work of delivering people from bondage. God can then take all of our combined efforts and use them to create a great story of deliverance for the people in our lives just like he did with Moses.