What are divine qualities of a daughter of God?
According to the LDS Proclamation on the Family:
I am a child of God, created in the image of God – my physical body is similar to His! He has form, a body with fingers and toes! He has a smile, and can hug me! He has a heart, a voice, a back that has hurt sometimes.
Family is an eternal institution! Marriage is ordained of God, and should be between a man and a woman. It should work! We need to keep working on it, and trust that our Heavenly Father knows it isn't always easy! He knows. We don't have to worry, He will help it work if we will trust Him! We are sons and daughters of God, and therefore heirs to the kingdom of God.
According to Alma 7, we should be humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of patience and long suffering; temperate in all things, diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times. Asking for whatsoever things we stand in need of BOTH spiritual and temporal. Always returning thanks until God for whatsoever we receive.
Have faith, hope and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.
D&C 121:45 tells us that divine qualities include:
Charity, faith, virtue, garnish your thoughts unceasingly… then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God. And the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy shoulder as the dews from heaven.
This is an interesting thought – priesthood power blesses our life "like dews from heaven." Dew doesn't happen in St. George, Ut very often. I certainly want the dew from heaven in my life more than the dew settles on the ground in my home town. I want the blessings of the priesthood in my life daily. I want His direction and protection to be a frequent occurrence!
Dew isn't like rain that is so obvious that you have to turn on the windshield wipers to see. Rain is something we pray for, cheer for on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I have never cheered for Dew. It is something so quiet, so unobvious that I don't notice that it has even surfaced. Does it come from the earth or from heaven, we can't tell. Priesthood blessings like the dews from heaven are the miracles that just happen that we so often take for granted. President Eyring says we should watch and notice the "Hand of God" at work in our life, and that when we notice some instances of His hand, that we will then notice more and more instances of His hand at work in our life. That by showing gratitude and appreciation for those miracles as Dew from Heaven, they will increase – because we will ask for them as it said we should for things both spiritual and temporal, showing gratitude as it says is a divine quality!
He says I should have confidence… even strong confidence when I am doing what is right. This relates to the YM/YW theme this year of "Being an Example of the Believers." I can't be a very good example if I don't have the confidence to stand for truth and righteousness. My Heavenly Father wants me to "Stand for Truth and Righteousness in all things and at all times, and in all places!" The world condemns confidence. Women especially don't have "confidence!" Women beat themselves up, always belittling themselves as not good enough, not enough, not worthy. It is a divine quality to have confidence. That is the opposite of fear, or lack of self-esteem. He wants us to have confidence in Him! That means that because I am His daughter, I can be confident, not in my own power or goodness… No that would be unrighteous. But I can and in fact SHOULD have confidence in HIM! He has all power. I should have confidence in His ability to help me and my family accomplish good on this earth! If we become instruments in His hands then the projects, the endeavors we put our heart and soul into, asking for His help, we can be confident they will be magnificent! My Dad used that word 'magnificent' in his family prayer last night speaking of the mountains that we live beneath. It struck me as a word I had not heard or thought of in a while. Magnificent begins like magic. Like beyond belief. I wish I had my 1820 dictionary here. I need to bring it back with me next week. How does it define dew, magnificent, and confidence?
Divine qualities, these are attributes that I should and want to develop, they are godly characteristics that I have been given, to become more like my Heavenly Father so I can return to His presence! There were many qualities in the middle of this post I just skimmed over quickly, humility, patience, faith, virtue, etc. I need to work on all of those. I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect on divine qualities!