PRESIDENT EZRA TAFT BENSON
“We are not at home here in mortality. We are spirit children of Heavenly Parentage and the righteous long for that homecoming to their Eternal Parents. This is why the revelations teach that holy men confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13; D&C 42:13).”
The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988): 25.
FIRST PRESIDENCY STATEMENT
First Presidency, 1909: Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
“All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.”
“The Origin of Man,” Improvement Era 13 no. 1 (November 1909): 78.
PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY
“Logic and reason would certainly suggest that if we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. That doctrine rests well with me.”
“Daughters of God,” October 1991 general conference
“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”
“Stand Strong Against the Wiles of the World,” October 1995 general conference
PRESIDENT SPENCER W. KIMBALL
“When we sing that doctrinal hymn and anthem of affection, O My Father, we get a sense … of our Heavenly Mother, and knowing how profoundly our mortal mothers have shaped us here, do we suppose Her influence on us as individuals to be less if we live so as to return there?”
“The True Way of Life and Salvation,” April 1978 general conference
“The Primary song says, I am a child of God, born with a noble birthright. God is your father. He loves you. He and your Mother in Heaven value you beyond any measure. They gave your eternal intelligence spirit form, just as your earthly mother and father have given you a mortal body.”
“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” October 1978 general conference
“God is your father, He loves you, He and your Mother in Heaven value you beyond any measure. You are unique, one of a kind, made of the eternal intelligence which gives you claim upon eternal life. Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. The whole intent of the gospel plan is to provide an opportunity for each of you to reach your fullest potential, which is eternal progression and the possibility of godhood.”
“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” October 1978 general conference
PRESIDENT HAROLD B. LEE
“We forget that we have a Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother who are even more concerned, probably, than our earthly father and mother, and that influences from beyond are constantly working to try to help us when we do all we can.”
“The Influence and Responsibility of Women,” Relief Society Magazine 51, no. 2 (February 1964): 85.
“There came a day, then, when Mother and Father said, ‘Now, my son, my daughter, it is now your time to go. This is the greatest time in the history of the world. This is the fulness of times, and now because of your faithfulness you are permitted to go down in this fulness of time upon the earth.’ I suppose as Father and Mother bade us good-bye, there may have been some sadness … We walked, as it were, through an open door. The door was closed behind us.”
The Teachings of Harold B. Lee: Eleventh President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, editor Clyde J. Williams (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996): 20–21.
PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON
“All of us commenced a wonderful and essential journey when we left the spirit world and entered this often-challenging stage called mortality. The primary purposes of our existence upon the earth are to obtain a body of flesh and bones, to gain experience that could come only through separation from our Heavenly Parents, and to see if we would keep the commandments.”
“Ponder the Path of Thy Feet,” October 2014 general conference
PRESIDENT RUSSELL M. NELSON
“This divine entreaty is consistent with the fact that, as begotten children of Heavenly Parents, we are endowed with the potential to become like Them, just as mortal children may become like their mortal parents.”
“Perfection Pending,” October 1995 general conference
“My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ invites us to take the covenant path back home to our Heavenly Parents and be with those we love. He invites us to come, follow me.”
“Come, Follow Me,” April 2019 general conference
“Trees reach up for the light and grow in the process. So do we as sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents. Facing upward provides a loftier perspective than facing right or facing left. Looking up in search of holiness builds strength and dignity as disciples of Deity. “
“Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods,” April 1996 general conference
PRESIDENT JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH
“Latter-day Saints believe that not only have we a Father in heaven, but a Mother there. Why not have a Mother as well as a Father?”
The Restoration of all Things, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1973): chapter 26.
PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW
“You sisters, I suppose, have read that poem which my sister composed years ago, and which is sung quite frequently now in our meetings. It tells us that we not only have a Father in that high and glorious place, but that we have a Mother too; and you will become as great as your Mother, if you are faithful.”
“The Grand Destiny of Man,” Millennnial Star, 15 August 1901, 541-544; 22 Aug. 1901, 545-549.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
“We were created … in the image of our Father and our Mother, in the image of our God.”
Discourses of Brigham Young, editor John A. Widtsoe, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954): 51.
ELDER NEIL L. ANDERSEN
“You have been who you are for a very, very long time. We are sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents who love us and who have sent us on a course to become more like Them. We lived in the premortal existence prior to our coming to earth.”
“Looking Back and Looking Forward,” New Era 39 (August 2009): 2-4.
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
“The Lord in a revelation to the modern prophet Joseph Smith stated that our spirit always existed, that in the eternal worlds through a Divine Father and Mother we were given a spiritual body through the eternal laws of procreation, and that we existed for ages as rational, thinking spiritual beings. … Every indication points to the fact that we are the children of God the Father and God the Mother, and after completing our first existence we are put away on a special course of training in earth life.”
“The Pre-existence of Man,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 24 (June 29, 1926): 6, 8.
“No matter to what heights God has attained or may attain, he does not stand alone; for side by side with him, in all her glory, a glory like unto his, stands a companion, the Mother of his children … a glorified, exalted, ennobled Mother.”
Sermons and Mission Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard, editor Bryant S. Hinckley, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1949), 205.
PRESIDENT M. RUSSELL BALLARD
“Within every human body dwells a living spirit born to our loving, eternal Heavenly Parents. When parents know this, they can better guide their families by focusing upon the eternal relationships and the true purposes of this life.”
“Spiritual Development,” October 1978 general conference
“Our Heavenly Parents’ love and concern for us continues to this very moment. In our wonderful pre-earth home, we had the opportunity to learn many eternal truths.”
Our Search for Happiness, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993): 70.
“The plan teaches that all who have or will live on earth are the spirit children of Heavenly Parents. We lived with them before coming to this earth to receive our bodies of flesh and bone.”
“Answer to Life’s Questions,” April 1995 general conference
“I testify there is no greater goal in mortality than to live eternally with our Heavenly Parents and our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is more than just our goal–it is also Their goal. They have a perfect love for us, more powerful than we can even begin to comprehend. They are totally, completely, eternally aligned with us. We are Their work. Our glory is Their glory. More than anything else, They want us to come home—to return and receive eternal happiness in Their presence.”
“Return and Receive,” April 2017 general conference
“The foundational fact of heavenly parentage is not just my truth or your truth. It is eternal truth. It is written in big, bold, capital letters. Understanding this truth—really understanding it and embracing it—is life changing. It gives you an extraordinary identity that no one can ever take away from you. But more than that, it should give you an enormous feeling of value and a sense of your infinite worth. Finally, it provides you a divine, noble, and worthy purpose in life. … You are a child of Heavenly Parents and will be forever—no matter what.”
“Children of Heavenly Father,” BYU devotional, March 3, 2020
“We declare that we are all the spiritual children of Heavenly Parents; thus we are brothers and sisters in God’s family. We will continue to be a part of God’s family after we die and throughout all eternity. Nothing can change that relationship.”
“Children of Heavenly Father,” BYU devotional, March 3, 2020
“Through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, all people may progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny. As a child can follow and develop the attributes of his or her parents over time, the divine nature that humans inherit can be developed to become like that of their Heavenly Parents.”
“Children of Heavenly Father,” BYU devotional, March 3, 2020
PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON
“We did exist before we came here. … There is no doubt in my mind that we were familiar with the principles of the Gospel; and though they had faded from our memories, yet when we heard them again the recollection was revived. I believe that when we see our Father in heaven we shall know him; and the recollection that we were once with Him, and that He was our Father, will come back to us, and we will kiss each other. We will know our Mother, also. We will know those who have begotten us in the spirit world just as much as we will know each other after we pass from this state of existence into another sphere.”
“Discourse by President George Q. Cannon,” Millennial Star 51 (July 22, 1889): 450.
ELDER RUDGER CLAWSON
“It doesn’t take from our worship of the Eternal Father, to adore our Eternal Mother, any more than it diminishes the love we bear our earthly fathers, to include our earthly mothers in our affections. … We honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal prototype.”
“Our Mother in Heaven,” Millennial Star 72 (September 29, 1910): 619–20.
ELDER ROBERT D. HALES
“Knowing we lived before this life as beloved sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents enables us to take our personal identity from our divine origin.”
“The Plan of Salvation: A Sacred Treasure of Knowledge to Guide Us,” Ensign (October 2015).
ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND
“On a particularly difficult day, or sometimes a series of difficult days, what would this world’s inhabitants pay to know that Heavenly Parents are reaching across those same streams and mountains and deserts, anxious to hold them close?”
“Belonging: A View of Membership,” Ensign (April 1980): 27.
“You are literally a spirit daughter of Heavenly Parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise.”
“To Young Women,” October 2005 general conference
“To Mother Eve, to Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, to Mary of Nazareth, and to a Mother in Heaven, I say, ‘Thank you for your crucial role in fulfilling the purposes of eternity.’”
“Behold Thy Mother,” October 2015 general conference
ELDER NEAL A. MAXWELL
“When we return to our real home, it will be with the ‘mutual approbation’ of those who reign in the ‘royal courts on high.’ There we will find beauty such as mortal ‘eye hath not seen’; we will hear sounds of surpassing music which mortal ‘ear hath not heard’. Could such a regal homecoming be possible without the anticipatory arrangements of a Heavenly Mother?”
“The Women of God,” April 1978 general conference
ELDER BRUCE R. McCONKIE
“Implicit in the Christian verity that all men are the spirit children of an Eternal Father is the usually unspoken truth that they are also the offspring of an Eternal Mother. An exalted and glorified Man of Holiness (Moses 6:57) could not be a Father unless a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness was associated with him as a Mother.”
Mormon Doctrine,2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966): 516-17.
PRESIDENT DALLIN H. OAKS
“Our theology begins with Heavenly Parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like Them.”
“Apostasy and Restoration,” April 1995 general conference
“Our theology begins with the assurance that we lived as spirits before we came to this earth. It affirms that this mortal life has a purpose. And it teaches that our highest aspiration is to become like our Heavenly Parents, which will empower us to perpetuate our family relationships throughout eternity.”
“Fundamental Premises of Our Faith,” Church Newsroom, February 26, 2010. Speech given at Harvard Law School.
ELDER MARK E. PETERSEN
“Think of the type of instruction you received in your pre-existent life as you were taught by your Heavenly Parents. Infinite People, Infinite Personages teaching you likewise to become infinite. And then They sent you here to receive this further instruction. It is a fact, brothers and sisters, that God watches over you and that you are here with a purpose in mind.”
“Be Ye an Exponent of Christ,” BYU devotional, September 28, 1965
ELDER DALE G. RENLUND
“We have Heavenly Parents, a Father and a Mother. The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother comes by revelation and is a distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints.”
“Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny,” April 2022 general conference
ELDER MARION G. ROMNEY
“As the offspring of God, we inherit the capability of reaching, in full maturity, the status of our Heavenly Parents just as we inherit from our mortal parents the capability to attain to their mortal status. … this mortal probation provides us the opportunity to, while walking by faith, prove ourselves worthy to go on to perfection and exaltation in the likeness of our Heavenly Parents.”
“The Way of Life,” April 1976 general conference conference
ELDER ERASTUS SNOW
“Deity consists of man and woman … there can be no God except he is composed of the man and woman united, and there is not in all the eternities that exist, or ever will be a God in any other way.”
Journal of Discourses volume 19, discourse 40, pages 266-279. Address delivered in Beaver County, Utah, March 3, 1878.
“It is left for us to infer this from what we see and know of all living things in the earth including man. The male and female principle is united and both necessary to the accomplishment of the object of their being, and if this be not the case with our Father in heaven after whose image we are created, then it is an anomaly in nature. But to our minds the idea of a Father suggests that of a Mother … Hence when it is said that God created our first parents in His likeness—‘in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them’—it is intimated in language sufficiently plain to my understanding that the male and female principle was present with the Gods as it is with man.”
Journal of Discourses, 26:214, May 31, 1885.
ELDER ULISSES SOARES
“To sow in the Spirit means that all our thoughts, words, and actions must elevate us to the level of the divinity of our Heavenly Parents.”
“Abide in the Lord’s Territory,” April 2012 general conference
“The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we are all begotten spirit sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents who truly love us and that we lived as a family in God’s presence before we were born on this earth.”
“Brothers and Sisters in Christ,” October 2023 general conference
ELDER JAMES E. TALMAGE
“None but the pure in heart can see God. None but those who have overcome can enter His presence. None but those who have learned to resist temptation, let it come to them in whatever guise it may, can ever be introduced, according to the great laws of justice, administered as they are in the mild spirit of mercy, into the presence of our Heavenly Parents. But, realizing this nature of His sons and daughters; knowing that they are surrounded by the many temptations and trials incident to a mortal life; our Father has provided certain ways and means by which we may be forgiven of those sins.”
“Obtaining Divine Forgiveness,” Millennial Star 54 (March 28, 1892): 194.
“The Church is bold enough to go so far as to declare that man has an Eternal Mother in the Heavens as well as an Eternal Father, and in the same sense ‘we look upon woman as a being, essential in every particular to the carrying out of God’s purposes in respect to mankind’.”
“Services at the Tabernacle,” Deseret News, April 29, 1902: 13.
“To become perfect as God is perfect is to attain the state, power, dignity, and authority of godship. Plainly there is a way provided by which the child of God may follow the footsteps of the Father, and in time—sometimes in the distant eternities—be as that Divine Father is. Even as Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, endured the experiences of mortality, passed the portals of death and became a resurrected Being, so the Father before Him had trodden the same path of progression from manhood to Godhood, and today sits enthroned in the heavens by right of achievement. He is the Eternal Father and with Him, crowned with glory and majesty, is the eternal Mother. They twain are the Parents of the spirit-children for whose schooling in the lessons of mortality this earth was framed. When God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, male and female created He them;’ and male and female shall they be, to and beyond the resurrection, forever. Eternal exaltation is the assured attainment of those who obey in its fulness the whole law of the Gospel of Christ; theirs it is to become like unto their Celestial Parents.”
“The Eternity of Sex,” Young Woman’s Journal 25 (October 1914): 603.
“We believe that our spirits are the offspring of Deity, and we hold that when Christ said to His apostles, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,’ He was not talking of a merely idealistic yet impossible achievement; but that it was possible for men to advance until they shall become like unto the Gods in their powers and in their attainments, through righteousness. … The doctrine of the relationship between God and men, as made plain through the word of revelation, is today as it was of old though in the light of later scripture we are enabled to read the meaning more clearly. It is provided that we, the sons and daughters of God, may advance until we become like unto our Eternal Father and our Eternal Mother, in that we may become perfect in our spheres as They are in Theirs.”
“Relationship of Jesus Christ to the Eternal Father,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 13 (August 24, 1915): 133.
“We … [are] literally the sons and daughters of divine Parents, the spiritual progeny of God our Eternal Father, and of our God Mother.”
“The Philosophical Basis of ‘Mormonism’,” Improvement Era 18 (September 1915): 950.
ELDER DIETER F. UCHTDORF
“When we sing the song ‘I Am a Child of God,’ the lyrics penetrate our hearts. Pondering this truth—that we are children of Heavenly Parents—fills us with a sense of origin, purpose, and destiny.”
“Living the Gospel Joyful,” October 2014 general conference
“Brothers and sisters, we are eternal beings, without beginning and without end. We have always existed. We are the literal spirit children of divine, immortal, and omnipotent Heavenly Parents!”
“O How Great The Plan of Our God,” October 2016 general conference
“I believe that every man, woman, and child has felt the call of heaven at some point in his or her life. Deep within us is a longing to somehow reach past the veil and embrace Heavenly Parents we once knew and cherished.”
“A Yearning for Home,” October 2017 general conference
ELDER ORSON F. WHITNEY
“We are taught that men and women, the sons and daughters of God, who were spirits in his presence, were sent here to take mortal tabernacles and undergo experiences that would in due time exalt them to the plane occupied by their Father and Mother in heaven.”
“The Apocalypse,” Collected Discourses 1886-1898, vol. 5, editor Brian H. Stuy, (Woodland Hills, Utah: BHS Publishing, 1999).
“If we be the children of God; if it be true, as we have sung, and as I doubt not, that in the heavens parents are not single, but that we have a Mother as well as a Father there, then it follows that we, as the sons and daughters of God, bear within us the embryotic germs of Deity, and are capable by advancement, by progression, of becoming like our Father and our Mother in heaven.”
“Bishop O.F. Whitney,” Woman’s Exponent 24 (June 15, 1895): 9. Address given at Salt Lake Tabernacle, May 12, 1895.
“In the opening chapter of Genesis it is written that God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female crated He them. What is this but a virtual recognition of the feminine principle as well as the masculine principle of Deity. If men and women are the children of God, sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, fashioned in Their image, endowed with Their attributes, and destined to become like Them in perfection, why should it startle the world to be told that there is a Mother as well as a Father in heaven? Why should not the children of God attain to the likeness of their heavenly parentage?”
“Our Mother in Heaven His Theme,” Deseret Evening News, July 16, 1906, 5.
“We must be begotten and born again, in the similitude of those other begettings and births, or we cannot regain the presence of our eternal Father and Mother.”
Gospel Themes: A Treatise on Salient Features of “Mormonism” (Salt Lake City, 1914), 65.
“None of our dear departed ones are dead. They have but gone before. This so-called death, when properly understood, is simply a going back home. … We part with parents and children, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters. … But what about the eternal Father and Mother? Have They no claim upon us? Why should we not return to Them, and resume the relations of the previous life? This knowledge, that comes from the possession of the Spirit of God, takes from death its sting, and robs the grave of its victory.”
“We Walk by Faith,” Improvement Era 19 (May 1916): 609.
“Men and woman, such as I see before me, are in the likeness of the Eternal Father and Mother, and by that likeness they bear record of their heavenly Parentage.”
“Latter-day Saint Ideals and Institutions,” Improvement Era 30 (August 1927): 851.
“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in Heaven.”
President Howard W. Hunter, “The Opening and Closing of Doors,” October 1987 general conference. Also quoted by Elder Brian K. Taylor, “Swallowed up in the Joy of Christ, April 2024 general conference.
ELDER JOHN A. WIDTSOE
“There is radiant warmth [in the] thought that … [we have] a Mother who possesses the attributes of Godhood. … Since we have a Father, who is our God, we must also have a Mother, who possesses the attributes of Godhood.”
“Everlasting Motherhood,” Millennial Star 90, May 10, 1928: 298.
The temple is a place of blessing. Promises are made to us, conditioned only upon our faithfulness, that extend from time to eternity. They will help us to understand the nearness of our Heavenly Parents. The power of the priesthood is thus given us in new and large measures.[61]
Original: “Looking toward the Temple,” Improvement Era, (October 1962). Reprinted: Ensign (February 2010): 16.
SISTER REYNA I. ABURTO
Counselor in Relief Society general presidency, 2017-22
“Like the monarch butterflies, we are on a journey back to our heavenly home, where we will reunite with our Heavenly Parents. Like the butterflies, we have been given divine attributes that allow us to navigate through life, in order to ‘[fill] the measure of [our] creation.’ Like them, if we knit our hearts together, the Lord will protect us ‘as a hen [gathers] her chickens under her wings’ and will make us into a beautiful kaleidoscope.”
“With One Accord,” April 2018 general conference
“Like our Heavenly Parents and our Savior, we have a physical body and experience emotions.”
“Thru Cloud and Sunshine, Lord, Abide with Me!” October 2019 general conference
PRESIDENT JULIE B. BECK
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 2002-07; Relief Society general president, 2007-12.
“You have light because you are literally spirit daughters of Deity, ‘offspring of exalted parents’ with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. You received your first lessons in the world of spirits from your Heavenly Parents.”
“You Have a Noble Birthright,” April 2006 general conference
ELDER RANDALL K. BENNETT
“Each of you is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Parents. You do have a divine nature and destiny. During your premortal life you learned to love truth. You made correct eternal choices. You knew that here in mortality, there would be afflictions and adversity, sorrow and suffering, tests and trials to help you grow and progress. You also knew that you could continue making correct choices, repent of incorrect choices, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ inherit eternal life.”
“Choose Eternal Life,” October 2011 general conference
PRESIDENT JEAN B. BINGHAM
Relief Society general president, 2017-22
“You have incredible potential for good because you are a covenant daughter of Heavenly Parents. … Do you think our Heavenly Parents want us to succeed? Yes! They want us to succeed gloriously! And do you think They will help us? Absolutely!”
“How Vast is Our Purpose,” BYU Women’s Conference, May 5, 2017
“Although each woman is unique, there are feelings and divine gifts and experiences that we have in common which bind us together. We are daughters of our Heavenly Parents, who love us and want us to become like Them. We are full partners with the priesthood in the work of salvation—the saving of the souls of men and women—which is the focus of all our efforts.”
“How Vast is Our Purpose,” BYU Women’s Conference, May 5, 2017
“I bear my witness that each woman is a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents, and in this latter-day has been given the opportunity to be endowed with priesthood power that will help her achieve all her righteous desires and dreams.”
“Endowed with Priesthood Power,” BYU Women’s Conference, May 2, 2019
“As children were born to them, Adam and Eve taught their family what they had learned from heavenly messengers. They were focused on helping their children also understand and embrace those principles that would make them happy in this life, as well as prepared to return to their Heavenly Parents.”
“United in Accomplishing God’s Work,” April 2020 general conference
PRESIDENT LINDA K. BURTON
Relief Society general president, 2012-17
“Will you join me in seeking the help of the Holy Ghost to teach us how we can better lift each other … as covenant sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Parents?”
“We’ll Ascend Together,” April 2015 general conference
“I testify of loving Heavenly Parents.”
“Certain Women,” April 2017 general conference
ELDER THEODORE M. BURTON
“It is imperative to realize that we are all of divine origin, that God is real, and that He lives. Our Heavenly Parents want us back with them. That is Their goal, Their work, and Their glory.”
“A Marriage to Last through Eternity,” BYU devotional, June 3, 1986
PRESIDENT BONNIE H. CORDON
Young Women general president, 2018-23
“You are unique, each with your own gifts and experiences yet alike in a very important and eternal way. You are literally the spirit daughters of Heavenly Parents, and nothing can separate you from Their love and the love of your Savior. As you draw closer to Him, even taking the smallest baby steps forward, you will discover the lasting peace that settles into your soul as a faithful disciple of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
“Beloved Daughters,” October 2019 general conference
“We are beloved daughters of Heavenly Parents. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. We stand as a witness of God. Together we will be like a symphony—a rich and enveloping melody that reminds us of our divine identity and purpose as covenant women. … Because of our divine and supernal Savior, Jesus Christ, we are glorious.”
“The Beautiful Reality of What it Means to be a Daughter of God,” BYU Women’s Conference, April 29, 2021
SISTER MICHELLE D. CRAIG
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 2018-23
“Perhaps the most important things for us to see clearly are who God is and who we really are—sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.”
“Eyes To See,” October 2020 general conference
“We are beloved daughters of Heavenly Parents. God loves us, and as a disciple of Jesus Christ, [we] strive to become like Him. And in our striving, we are loved.”
“The Beautiful Reality of What it Means to be a Daughter of God,” BYU Women’s Conference, April 29, 2021
SISTER REBECCA L. CRAVEN
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 2018-23
“Dignity and demeanor in our discipleship begin with understanding who we are. Literally and specifically, we are sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents. We look to our Brother Jesus Christ as our perfect example and seek to emulate the divine attributes He demonstrated throughout His life.”
“The Dignity of Demeanor of Discipleship,” BYU devotional, October 19, 2021
“I testify that we are sons and daughters of exalted Heavenly Parents. Knowing our identity fortifies us against our culture of comparing, complaining, and criticizing. As we consistently strive for refinement in our dignity and demeanor as disciples of Jesus Christ, our confidence will wax strong in the presence of God. And we will be blessed with an abundance of the Spirit, with personal revelation, and with an increased love of God and our neighbors.”
“The Dignity of Demeanor of Discipleship,” BYU devotional, October 19, 2021
ELDER PAUL H. DUNN
“Each one of us has a cheering section, both seen and unseen. There are those pulling for us to succeed. We may sometimes doubt it, but it is true nevertheless. There are those we see: parents, children, brothers, sisters, relatives, teachers, friends. But there are also those who are unseen who care and are rooting for us: Heavenly Parents, loved ones who have gone before us, those who are yet to come. They want us to succeed.”
“The Cheering Section,” Ensign 10 (June 1980): 4.
SISTER SHARON EUBANK
Counselor in Relief Society general presidency, 2017-22
“I want to talk about [being] a daughter. This means who I am in relation to deity. I have Divine Parents and so that means that I belong to their household of God. I have rights and privileges and blessings that are associated with being their child. … They are teaching me and I can seek and They promise that I will find. I can ask and They promise, ‘You will receive.’ I am a daughter and I am hungry for knowledge and wisdom and information and progression.”
“This is A Woman’s Church,” FAIR Conference, Provo UT, August 8, 2014
“When she encounters truths that are unique to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, she learns she is literally the child of Eternal Parents and their goal is to help her to eventually become like Them.”
“Endowed with Priesthood Power,” BYU Women’s Conference, May 2, 2019
ELDER VAUGHN J. FEATHERSTONE
“Women are endowed with special traits and attributes that come trailing down through eternity from a divine Mother. … Theirs is a sacred, God-given role, and the traits they received from Heavenly Mother are equally as important as those given to young men.”
“A Champion of Youth,” October 1987 general conference 2, 2019
PRESIDENT EMILY BELLE FREEMAN
Young Women general president, 2023
“I walk this path as a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents, divinely known and deeply trusted. As a child of the covenant, I am eligible to receive promised blessings. I have chosen to walk with the Lord.”
“Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ,” October 2023 general conference
SISTER SUSA YOUNG GATES
Relief Society general board, 1911-22
“Being as we knew intelligent personalities dwelling in the presence and under the watchful care and careful training of our Heavenly Parents before we tabernacled in the flesh, there can be no doubt but that the seeds of many lofty and holy aspirations were implanted within our souls.”
“In the Realm of Girlhood: Lesson V,” Young Woman’s Journal 17 (January 1906): 41.
“One day when Zina [D. Young] was speaking with the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning the loss of her mother and her intense grief, she asked the question: ‘Will I know my mother as my mother when I get over on the Other Side?’ ‘Certainly you will,’ was the instant reply of the Prophet. ‘More than that, you will meet and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven’.”
History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: from November 1869 to June 1910, (Salt Lake City: Mutual Improvement Associations, 1911): 16.
“The divine Mother, side by side with the divine Father, [has] the equal sharing of equal rights, privileges and responsibilities.”
“The Vision Beautiful,” Improvement Era 23 (April 1920): 542.
BROTHER LARRY M. GIBSON
Counselor in Young Men general presidency, 2009-15
“This plan was presented to us while we lived as spirit children with our Heavenly Parents, who are the consummate examples of a perfect husband and wife, father and mother. Oh, how we must have loved Them and wanted to be just like Them! Their perfect love for each other and for us is eternal, and They want us to have all that They have. We must have rejoiced when we heard of the plan that would open the way for us to become as They are, even though it meant leaving Their presence.”
“Following Heavenly Father’s Plan,” BYU devotional, March 11, 2014
SISTER PATRICIA HOLLAND
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 1984-86
“I have heard it said by some that the reason women in the Church struggle to know themselves is because they don’t have a divine female role model. But we do. We believe we have a Mother in Heaven. … Furthermore, I believe we know much more about our eternal nature than we think we do; and it is our sacred obligation to express our knowledge, to teach it to our young sisters and daughters, and in so doing to strengthen their faith and help them.”
“One Thing Needful: Becoming Women of Greater Faith in Christ,” Ensign (October 1987): 26.
“Every one of us has been designed with a divine role and mission in mind. I believe that if our desires and works are directed toward what our Heavenly Parents have intended us to be, we will come to feel our part in Their plan. We will recognize the full measure of our creation, and nothing will give us more holy peace.”
“Filling the Measure of Your Creation,” BYU devotional, January 17, 1989
“In the ongoing process of creation—our creation and the creation of all that surrounds us—our Heavenly Parents are preparing a lovely tapestry with exquisite colors and patterns and hues. They are doing so lovingly and carefully and masterfully. And each of us is playing a part—our part—in the creation of that magnificent, eternal piece of art.”
“Filling the Measure of Your Creation,” BYU devotional, January 17, 1989
ELDER MILTON R. HUNTER
“The stupendous truth of the existence of a Heavenly Mother, as well as a Heavenly Father, became established facts in Mormon theology.”
The Gospel Through the Ages, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 1957): 98.
PRESIDENT ELAINE L. JACK
Relief Society general president, 1990-97; counselor in Young Women general presidency, 1987-90.
“Have you ever been told you are just like your mother, or you have your father’s smile, or all of your family have the same color of eyes? The physical characteristics that we inherit from our parents are obvious. The spiritual characteristics we inherit from our Heavenly Parents have to be developed.”
“Identity of a Young Woman,” October 1989 general conference
PRESIDENT ARDETH G. KAPP
Young Women general president, 1984-1992
“Would you imagine with me that you’re sitting with me in the swing on my back porch, and together let us listen to the messages in some actual letters that I have received from young women recently. … ‘I just wish of all things I could go up and give Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother a big hug and tell them that I made it back’.”
“A Time for Hope,” October 1986 general conference
SISTER SARAH GRANGER KIMBALL
Nauvoo Relief Society founder
“They that seek, by faith and earnest prayer, find the light that leads to the golden gate. They that knock with study and faith’s assurance have the narrow way opened to them and are received into communion with the Infinite Father and Mother.”
“Our Sixth Sense, or the Sense of Spiritual Understanding,” At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women, editors Jennifer Reed and Kate Holbrook (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017): chapter 22. Speech presented National Council of Women, Washington DC, February 21, 1895.
SISTER SARAH M. KIMBALL
Relief Society 17th Ward, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1879
“You have your probation in the dispensation of the fulness of times, when God will gather His obedient children into one grand harmonious family, where each, understanding correct principles, will be self-governing, and peace will reign in all the borders. The members of this family may enter the divine presence of the Father and Mother God with the scales of their mortal eyes unclasped and their perceptions revivified.”
“Demonstration in Honor of Bishop Hunter,” Woman’s Exponent 8, no. 3 (1879): 22.
ELDER JOHN LONGDEN
“We wonder if our Heavenly Mother and Father must not be worried and concerned over some of our antics. It must be quite an occasion in heaven when our Heavenly Mother bid us a loving farewell for the time being! Perhaps, like earthly mothers, she thinks, ‘They are so young, and they might forget for a moment.’ Yet, our wonderful, all-wise Eternal Father has repeatedly given us rules and commandments by which we are privileged to live, for our souls are precious in his sight! … We are wondering if, when we left the presence of our Heavenly Father and Mother to come to this earthly existence, we did not say something like the little child who went for the first time to school, ‘Yes, I’ll remember the rules and regulations. I’ll watch all the signs on the road. I’ll be good’.”
“The Worth of Souls,” Relief Society Magazine 44 (August 1957): 492, 494.
SISTER NEILL F. MARRIOTT
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 2013-18
“Our high responsibility is to become women who follow the Savior, nurture with inspiration, and live truth fearlessly … ultimately becoming like our Heavenly Parents.”
“What Shall We Do?” April 2016 general conference
SISTER CAROL F. McCONKIE
Counselor in Young Women general presidency, 2013-18
“And fundamentally, there is belief in a God who is over all the earth, and we are his children. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we understand that concept as well as anyone—that we are spiritual sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, and that we have a divine nature. As such, we are brothers and sisters and have a responsibility and accountability to care for one another, to look out for one another, and to enable one another.”
“Sister Carol F. McConkie on building bridges through service, advocacy and education,” Church News podcast, host Sarah Jane Weaver, May 31, 2022. Episode 86, 40:28.
SISTER CHIEKO OKAZAKI
Counselor in Relief Society general presidency, 1990-97
“Faith tells us that our bodies were created through an inspired process, that they were made in the image of our Heavenly Parents, that we have a stewardship over them to keep them sacred and healthy during our mortal probation, and that we will reclaim them as perfect after the resurrection.”
“Rowing Your Boat,” October 1994 general conference
“When our rising love and joyful gratitude meet the shower of mercy and love from the Savior and from our Heavenly Parents, in that contact is the pure radiance and the brilliant light of glory.”
“Grace and Glory: Strength from Our Savior,” Women in the Covenant of Grace: Talks Selected from the 1993 Women’s Conference Sponsored by Brigham Young University and the Relief Society, editors Dawn Hall Anderson and Susette Fletcher Green (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994): 244.
“You are a beloved son or daughter of our Heavenly Parents. Their hearts yearn over you in joy and love. They want to give you all the treasures of eternity, and they hope steadfastly that you will be the kind of person who will want the riches of eternity—in other words, that you will follow the pathway marked out for you by the Savior and live a life that is guided by the principle of love.”
Sanctuary, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997): 97-8.
“The gospel teaches us that each individual is a precious and cherished child of Heavenly Parents.”
“A Living Network,” October 1995 general conference
“We too can anticipate that when the time comes for us to step through the veil of mortality, leaving our failing and pain-filled bodies behind, we will see the loving smile and feel the welcoming embrace, not only of our Heavenly Parents and of the Savior, but also of our loved ones who will greet us in full vigor, full remembrance, and full love.”
Sanctuary,129-30.
“At the end of this process [of life], our Heavenly Parents will have sons and daughters who are their peers, their friends, and their colleagues. We also will be gods. We will be able to love perfectly, like Them. We will be able to choose right freely, like Them. We will prize and cherish and never infringe on the agency of others, like Them. In other words, we will be able to be trusted with the powers of a god because we have acquired the perfect love and self-control and attributes of a god.”
Sanctuary, 81.
“Each of us is on a quest in this life to purify ourselves of mists and veils so that we may see truly and clearly into each other’s hearts and there perceive that each one is a sister or a brother, equally a beloved child of our loving Heavenly Parents.”
Sanctuary, 57.
ELDER GLENN L. PACE
“Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your Heavenly Parents in those royal courts on high and you look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny.”
“The Divine Nature and Destiny of Women,” BYU devotional, March 9, 2010
W.W. PHELPS
Latter-day Saint scribe, printer, and composer, 1830-72
“Come to me; here’s the mystery that man hath not seen: Here’s our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen, Here are worlds that have been, and the worlds yet to be: Here’s eternity,–endless; amen.”
“Come to Me,” in “Poetry, for the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons 6 (January 15, 1845): 783.
RELIEF SOCIETY MINUTES
“Miss [Eliza R.] Snow … spoke on union, for us to simpathize one with the other spoke of the pre exhistence of man, for us to live so that when whe leave this exhistence, we should return back to our Heavenly Parents.”
Original spelling. “Relief Society minutes, May 5, 1878.” Samaria Ward, Malad Idaho Stake, Mary D. Davis, Secretary. Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 1 (1875–1889); (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press): 34-35.
SISTER LOUISA L GREENE RICHARDS
Editor of Woman’s Exponent, 1872-77; Primary general board, 25 years
“When the Morning Stars together Sang out their joyous praise, … We were there, with God, our Father, And voted, ‘Thy will be done.’ And our Mother, Queen in Heaven, Smiled on us every one.”
“A Thread of Thought,” Woman’s Exponent 29 (August 15 and September 1, 1900): 27. Written for the 50th anniversary Relief Society Jubilee, March 17, 1892.
PRESIDENT BARBARA B. SMITH
Relief Society general president, 1974-84
“In the beloved Latter-day Saint hymn ‘O My Father,’ Eliza R. Snow celebrates in words the continuity of family relationships beyond death and reminds us of a glorious reunion with our Heavenly Parents. Written as solace to a dear friend, Zina Huntington, who had lost her mother and father in tragic deaths, the well-known lines of this hymn give poetic statement to a great truth revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
“A Season for Strength,” October 1983 general conference
ELDER HYRUM G. SMITH
Presiding Patriarch, 1912-1932
“I praise the Lord for his kindness and his mercy in bestowing upon his children this plain truth, so that we are not in doubt. We do not wander in our minds, but we know, like little children, that we have a Father, and a Mother in heaven, and that we have our loved ones there. We know that if we are true to the teachings, counsels and instructions that are given unto us; that if we are honest and virtuous and faithful, and patient, and diligent, and practice all these other qualities that belong to Latter-day Saints, we shall receive the blessings of the Lord, we shall find that happy day in the hereafter when we shall be associated with our loved ones, and with the men and women whom God has honored, who have gone before us.”
Ninety-fifth Semi-annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1924), 16.
SISTER CAROLE M. STEPHENS
Counselor in Relief Society general presidency, 2012-17
“We are beloved spirit sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, with a divine nature and destiny. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, loved us enough to give His life for us. His Atonement provides the way for us to progress on the path to our heavenly home, through sacred priesthood ordinances and covenants.”
“Do We Know What We Have?” October 2013 general conference
PRESIDENT MARTHA “MATTIE” H. TINGEY
Young Women general president, 1905-1929
“To woman has been given the power, the honor to open the door through which all must pass ere they can enter that advanced stage of action and go forward in the work of progression which has been designed and marked out by our Heavenly Parents. I say parents, because while we hear a great deal about our Heavenly Father, and very little, if anything, about our Heavenly Mother, reason and revelation both teach us that we must also have a Mother there.”
“The School of Experience,” At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women, editors Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2017): chapter 21. Speech presented at World’s Congress of Representative Women, Chicago, Illinois, May 19, 1893.
SISTER MATILDA E. TEASDALE
“You are here on a mission and in a few years you will ‘be released’ to go home to Father and Mother to give an account of your labors, to tell your experiences and what you have accomplished on the earth. How proud our parents are of a son who has filled an honorable mission! with what joy they welcome him home! Do you not think that our Heavenly Parents have greater joy in welcoming home their children who have been faithful and true while on their earthly missions? I think so.”
“To the Young Ladies of Zion,” Young Woman’s Journal 3 (July 1892): 472.
SISTER SUSAN L. WARNER
Counselor in Primary general presidency, 1994-99
“Remembering our spiritual feelings … gives us a sense of our true identity. It reminds us of what the prophets have recently proclaimed to the entire world, that ‘each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.’ Recalling spiritual feelings reminds us of who we really are.”
“Remember How Thou Hast Received and Heard,” April 1996 general conference
PRESIDENT BARBARA W. WINDER
Relief Society general president, 1984-90
“Sisters, the anxiety and disquieting influence of this earth life could have been avoided had we stayed nestled in the household of our Heavenly Parents, but then how could we have progressed?”
“Hope in Christ,” October 1986 general conference