I was raised in the church, graduated from BYU in humanities, and married in the temple. I spend my time hanging out with my four favorite little friends, reading, writing, and running. I have served in the Young Women and Primary presidencies.
I love the gospel of Christ, and I love the Church, which taught me about the gospel and helped me to find God. It was the Church that saved my grandmother from dying of starvation and being ravaged by the Russians at the end of World War II. Because of the Church she was able to come to America and start over again after she lost everything. It was the Church that saved my great grandparents’ lives when they came to Utah two years before the Armenian genocide. My ancestors gave their lives for the Church and in return, it saved their lives. The Church has made me who I am. My ancestors gave me a beautiful priceless gift and I feel the need to strive to make it more perfect and beautiful, just as I strive to perfect my own soul.
I understand the internal struggle to accept female ordination. I always thought it was good solid truth that the priesthood was a male power, aligned with motherhood which is the female counterpart. After many years of struggling through cognitive dissonance, I have come to understand it in a different light. I believe that there is a male and female aspect to everything. The priesthood as we know it is masculine only because we are missing the feminine part of it.
One of the great learning experiences in life is that of balancing the masculine and feminine forces. My husband and I have spent ten years of marriage learning to do this. It only works when the forces are equal. We can’t be equally yoked when I am placed on a pedestal as the mother of the home or when he is placed in a position to preside over me. We are not equally yoked when I am a silent woman who supports, but doesn’t lead. Together, we are equal partners and leaders of our family. I value my husband’s fatherhood just as much as I value my motherhood. These roles are of equal significance. When we achieve balance between the feminine and the masculine, our power to do good is significantly increased.
If we could achieve this balance in our church, working side by side, male and female, our potential would be greater. We could increase the amount of our Heavenly Parent’s power that exists on the earth. As I have felt the Spirit guiding me to a place of accepting this, I am no longer afraid to embrace the feminine aspect of the priesthood and seek for further light and knowledge that will help us to progress in our roles as priests and priestesses. I believe that God has so much more to give us if we will open our hearts and minds to it. I believe women should be ordained.