In Memory of the Women Who Came Before Me

By Chelsea Craven O’Brien

Before I begin with what I wish to share, I would like to make it clear that I am not sharing this for pity or for attention. Rather, I wish to share my experience to emphasise the great appreciation I have for the calling and position of a woman.

I don’t wish to be boastful either as I share this, as I acknowledge I am a woman myself. This is not about me; I am who I am because of the women who came before me.

When this article is published it will mark a year since my family held the funeral for my mother and three years since my grandmother, my mother’s mum, passed away.

I want to honour my mother and grandmother with all my heart as I reflect on womanhood. The months of March and May are times when we celebrate mother’s days (in the UK and USA, respectively); and International Women’s Day is on March 8.

I believe it is healthy to celebrate women and to express love and thanks for them. Women are necessary in the Lord’s work and to society.

There are many things I could say and many examples I could reference. We all have the examples of our mothers, aunts, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, and friends; women who love us and teach us so much.

My mother was very Christlike, and she was truly a friend to everyone. She taught me to serve and to love. My grandmother was remarkably patient, and virtuous, never failing the Lord; she taught my mother as my mother did me.

I’ve been away from my mother for just over a year and have come to see how much better my life is with women who love and serve God.

I will endeavour to be more like the women who came before me, women like my mother and grandmother, like Ester and Mary in the Bible, and Abish in the Book of Mormon: firm in the knowledge of our salvation and exaltation through Jesus Christ; and with prioritised efforts to be like Him and to serve Him.

I love my mother and grandmother, and I am grateful for them. I have faith that, through Jesus Christ, my mother lives, as He lives, and that one day I will be reunited with her.

I have no doubt my mother and grandmother are together serving in heaven, helping more of God’s children to follow and to be more like the Saviour Jesus Christ.

This is my thanks to all women who follow the Saviour, and this is my testimony that I know God loves them, that women have great purpose and power, and that all of us can do and be anything we like as we align ourselves to Jesus Christ more each day.