I thought I would share something this month of a very personal nature and hope you forgive me for it. I have often stuggled with self worth and depression. Sometimes it has seemed no matter what I did, it was not that great, anybody could do what I do, I�m just a struggling mom trying to hold on. But over the past few years the Lord has made it clear to me that this is not his will for me (or you) to think of myself (or yourself) in this way.

As I have prayed to my Heavenly Father for assistance in my life, I have slowly been able to understand answers that he has been trying to help me with for years. As I let Christ assist in carrying my burdens I have come to understand that how I think and feel about myself makes a great difference to him and to my attitude about myself and what happens in my daily life. If I truly believe in him, and his atonement for me, then I have to believe I am a daughter of God, and he cares about me and I have infinite potential.

I know-I learned this in Primary-I am a Child of God, but did I, do I live it? When I tell myself I am fat and ugly? When I feel awful about my unending tasks at home? When I look in the mirror and the face only gets more lined and the hair more gray? You get the idea, it is my attitude about the Lord�s gifts to me, my ingratitude, my inablility to find my worth, that was holding me hostage.

I love the Young Women Theme, and I was delighted when I read the Relief Society Creed. It is a positive statement of who we are, what we are here for and what the Relief Society does. It goes like this:

We are beloved spirit daughters of God, and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, and charity who:

Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study. Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.
Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womenhood.
Delight in service and good works.
Love life and learning.
Stand for truth and righteousness.
Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.
Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation.

Years ago when I was attending BYU one of the talks I went to told us to write our own blessing-the idea being, if we wanted to obtain blessings from our Heavenly Father we needed to identify and pray and progress towards these things. I can�t remember what I said in mine now, it is long forgotten, but the idea stayed with me. A few years ago, in answer to a prayer I had, I decided to write my own creed if you will. It is as yet unfinished but has already encouraged my to set my sails for sights yet unseen. It addresses my weakness, my strengths and what I hope is Heavenly Father�s will for me. I wrote it many years ago, but am still working on it as my needs change.

My challenge to you is to write your own creed. One that is full of positive self direction, affirmations of your personal essence, one that make you feel glorious about who you are and what you are doing in your life now. It may include things that are in the RS creed, or maybe not. Maybe it will have a favorite scripture, your testimony will pour onto the page through every word. Mine is numbered, yours may not be. I hope you can find a few minutes a day to ponder on the things Heavenly Father might want you to include in your creed.

I will not publish my entire creed,(4-6 are only the topics, forgive me) but it has Six Sections so far. It goes like this:

1. I can do whatever God has placed me on the earth to do. I can fulfill my life�s mission God and I planned together.

2. I am a child of God, I will find joy in developing all the talents and gifts God had given me and God will return them twicefold. If I live worthy of these talents and gifts I can receive all God�s gifts-all He has for me. I can fill my lamp with this oil of prepardness (service, hard work, kindness, talents, gifts) so my lamp of testimony may burn brightly and I will be prepared for the Lord�s Coming. I will be at his right hand.

3. I will use the Agency God has given me to willingly choose my life�s path. I can repent and learn from my mistakes rather that repeat them. I am a daughter of God and seek his will for me to stand uprightly before him and not be ashamed of the choices I make or the work I perform.

4. Learn to conquer fear and discouragement through faith-Matthew 25

5. My thoughts and actions help me understand my testimony and all that Christ means to me.

6. Pride and Charity (win-win attitude)

I am sure my creed has a long way to go. The idea is that as I read it I can do so aloud and it banishes the I�m too fat, too old, too tired, too anything excuses I give myself. It helps banish my self doubt, boosts my self worth. It is my scripture, my personal revelation. We are all entitled to revelation concerning our lives and the decisions we make. I have found that fear and discouragement banish the Spirit. By reading my creed to myself occasionally, I keep it with my scriptures, it helps me keep the Spirit closer. I know that I love my Heavenly Father and he loves me so much that one day after my prayers, I wrote down what I felt about it. I hope you can too.

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