So I haven't been feeling that great about all my new stretch marks. Last night I decided to search them on Pinterest in hopes of finding some magical cream or inspirational quotes. I happened to stumble upon this blog--
http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/. There is an amazing post about why this woman loves her stretch marks. In the post she quoted Elder Bruce C.
Hafen of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife Marie K.
Hafen. They said,
Just as a mother's body may be permanently marked with the signs of pregnancy and childbirth, [the Savior] said, 'I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands' (1 Ne. 21:15–16). For both a mother and the Savior, those marks memorialize a wrenching sacrifice--the sacrifice of begetting life--for her, physical birth; for him, spiritual rebirth" ("'Eve Heard All These Things and Was Glad': Grace and Learning by Experience," in Dawn Hall Anderson and Susette Fletcher Green, eds.,Women in the Covenant of Grace: Talks Selected from the 1993 Women's Conference [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994], p. 29)."
The Savior has too has marks on his hands, feet, and side. Those are His marks for giving his life for me. Just as I have marks that represent the life I gave to Carson. As women, our bodies are beautiful. This has been so hard for me to remember lately. But now every time I see my tiger striped tummy, I think of the Savior and His sacrifice for me. This post definitely made me feel a whole lot better about myself.
This amazing woman has many other great posts. But so far my favorite one is "The Importance of Birth." I think everyone should read it! Her outlook on things is amazing! I quoted some of my favorite parts.
"The first veil that all mankind passes through is the veil of birth in which man is born into the world by water, blood and the spirit. Women have a stewardship over this first veil. When Eve partook of the tree of knowledge she became more like God, knowing good from evil and gaining the capacity to bear children. Eve's transgression
"opened the matrix", as it says in
Exodus 34:19, the womb, the gateway through which the souls of all mankind would pass through into the mortal world. The only possible way to enter this mortal world is through the body of a woman and by the shedding of her blood... there is no other way."
"...many of Satan's tactics are directed at women and at the structure which protects and guards the first veil... the family. Satan is doing everything in his power to convince women that their bodies, which are the gateway through the
first veil, are dirty, ugly, imperfect, dysfunctional and of no importance. He is doing everything he can to distract and confuse women so that they abandon their responsibility as the
guardians of life into this world. If he can
destroy women's faith in their bodies and help them lose sight of the
importance of the first veil---and the power and sanctity of conception, pregnancy and birth--- then he is well on his way to thwarting God's plan."
"I believe that how women birth and how children come into this world matters deeply to God. I feel that He expects the processes of conception, pregnancy and birth to be treated with the same type of reverence and faith with which we approach priesthood ordinances. I also believe that He expects women to protect their wombs, honor their ability to give life, and to participate in cultural and medical practices which bear witness to the divinity and power of women's bodies and the birth process."
"...no child comes into this world unaccompanied and that God sends angels to be with them as they enter this world. I also know that God sends angels to laboring women to help them as they birth His children into the light of the world. The veil is thin for a woman in labor and if she is listening she is able to feel the power of God in an incredibly powerful way. For a few hours she becomes a wide open portal into heaven, foreordained from the foundations of the world to bring the children of heaven into this mortal world. What a great blessing it is that God has such faith in His daughters to entrust them with such a great power!"
I get goosebumps every time I go back and read this. The woman's body is so sacred. I understand this more fully after reading this post. Heavenly Father loves His daughters. That first moment when Carson was born was the most miraculous feeling. I can't wait to have another sweet little angel to add to our family.
