In keeping with our mission of cultivating and promoting Latter-Day Saint women’s voices and stories, we are excited to present a collection of narrative essays focused on gospel principles and topics. We hope that these essays can enrich our study and understanding of, as well as our devotion to the gospel. The stories of Latter-Day Saint women have been the heart and soul of the Mormon Women Project. And in this spirit, our series offers a mix of narrative, theology, research, and intuition. Each essay will share a unique woman's perspective on striving toward Christian discipleship.
Featured Essay in Discipleship
Wounded Souls Elizabeth Ostler

There are people reading this who have dreams that have not been realized, expectations that haven’t been met. Others have experienced divorce, miscarriages, infertility, infidelity, homelessness, and job loss. Some of us have buried lovers, buried children, buried parents, buried sisters. When we find ourselves in these moments, we often ask, Why? Why does suffering […]

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37 posts displayed

Wounded Souls

Elizabeth Ostler
August 29, 2025
There are people reading this who have dreams that have not been realized, expectations that haven’t been met. Others have experienced divorce, miscarriages, infertility, infidelity, ... (Read More)

Extraordinary

By Trina Caudle
May 3, 2025
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared that the COVID-19 virus was a global pandemic. The next day, President Russell M. Nelson ... (Read More)

Call for Essays: A Women’s History of Discipleship

LDSWP Editorial Board
January 12, 2025
As we study the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history this year, we invite you to share your perspectives as Latter-day Saint women. We hope ... (Read More)

King Benjamin’s Revolutionary Discourse on Poverty

Leslie Albrecht Huber
June 7, 2024
On a January morning in Wisconsin with temperatures in the single digits, I pull up at 8 a.m. to my work at a community nonprofit ... (Read More)

CALMING THE STORM

Trina Caudle
May 3, 2024
I had a dream once. I saw myself standing alone on a rocky cliff above the ocean with wind and rain raging all around me, ... (Read More)

I Sing The Song of Redeeming Love

Ashli Carnicelli
March 22, 2024
I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a convert from being an active member of the Catholic church in 2017 at ... (Read More)

Child Translator: A Refugee Story

Marci McPhee
January 26, 2024
They come from Eritrea, Thailand, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan – mostly Afghanistan. None of the countries in which my faltering ... (Read More)

Seeds of Light

Rachel Galli Fleming
December 17, 2023
As a teenager, I would enjoy my own “silent, holy night” after my parents and sisters had gone to bed in December. After turning off ... (Read More)

A Companion in Christ

Rachel Fleming
August 11, 2023
I remember watching my grandfather bake pie crust for garden rhubarb pie and fluffy white rolls for our monthly family dinner. My memories of those ... (Read More)

In Her We Have Our Being

Rachel Fleming
May 27, 2023
A few years ago, my mother gifted me one of our favorite books for Mother’s Day. She inscribed it, “For Rachel, my traveling companion.” When ... (Read More)

Reconsidering Women’s Roles in the New Testament

Kayla Becknuss
March 26, 2023
Many Christian institutions imply a uniform historical tradition of women in supportive roles; however, recent biblical scholarship reveals that women held many authoritative positions in ... (Read More)

Call for Essays: Perspectives on the Life and Parables of Christ

LDSWP Editorial Board
January 15, 2023
As we study the New Testament this year, we invite your perspectives as LDS women. We hope to share these essays to further enrich our ... (Read More)

Psalms of Joy & Pain

Erin Cowles
August 12, 2022
As anyone that has sung in a ward choir I’ve directed knows, I love a good praise song. I find exuberant harmony, declarations of God’s ... (Read More)

Flecks of Gold

Natalie Barnes
July 31, 2022
As we approached 2022, I felt worried and intimidated. After the last three years studying Come, Follow Me, I felt a close connection with those ... (Read More)

Not Missing the Point: Recognizing Sexism and Finding Meaning in the Old Testament

Leslie Albrecht Huber
July 1, 2022
Although the conversation happened several years ago now, I still think of it often. While serving in a leadership role, I was meeting with another ... (Read More)

Tips for Studying the Old Testament as a Feminist

Rebecca Hale
June 17, 2022
As a young adult, I began to identify as a feminist while remaining an active member of the church. I clung to and cherished the ... (Read More)

But God

Ashli Carnicelli
April 9, 2022
When I was a baby, I was adopted by two wonderful, loving parents. I was given love, safety and security, and every opportunity to grow. ... (Read More)

The Watchwoman on the Tower

Jocelyn Pedersen
March 26, 2022
There is a Bible story you won’t be learning about this year as part of Come Follow Me and Sunday School. It’s the story of ... (Read More)

Still, Small Voices

Monica Pavan
December 3, 2021
“Pilate . . . said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was ... (Read More)

Loving the Other

McArthur Krishna
October 1, 2021
The first person to whom Jesus announced his ministry (at least recorded for us) was the woman at the well. When Bethany Brady Spalding and ... (Read More)

Recognizing Our Mother by Name

Jennifer Torrey Hurst
May 29, 2021
One hand guiding the soft wooden casket, the other hanging awkwardly by my side, I shuffled next to my cousins and siblings, guiding my grandmother ... (Read More)

Strength: Spiritual Fitness and the Atonement

Leslie Albrecht Huber
March 21, 2021
Several years ago, a friend and I signed up for a triathlon. Neither of us had ever completed one before. In fact, neither of us ... (Read More)

The Awesome Gift of Personal Revelation

Mormon Women
February 20, 2021
This very morning, my five-year-old daughter wailed in obvious distress, “I know I am supposed to ask God but how do you get an answer ... (Read More)

Man of Sorrows: Becoming Trauma-Informed in the Body of Christ

Elizabeth Pinborough
January 23, 2021
Content warning: This article contains discussions of trauma, including injury and PTSD. It does not constitute professional mental health advice. President Henry B. Eyring’s district ... (Read More)

Hope: Remembrance, Contentment, and Looking Forward

Rosemary Demos
December 14, 2020
In April of 1937, my grandmother was sitting in a restaurant with her husband when he suddenly collapsed. Ralph was 25 years old when he ... (Read More)

Creation: The Practice of Becoming a God

McArthur Krishna
November 28, 2020
Creation has turned into being one of the most important aspects of my life. Which, frankly, is interesting as it took quite a detour. I ... (Read More)

Joy: A Song of Redeeming Love

Rachel Fleming
November 13, 2020
I had been pondering about joy for a couple of weeks when it greeted me unexpectedly in a crowded hallway one morning. It quickened me ... (Read More)

TEMPLES: On Temples and Texts

Jenny Webb
October 8, 2020
When I was twenty-one, the day before I entered the MTC, I drove out to Manti, Utah with my parents. I had wanted to attend ... (Read More)

Oceans of Joy

Jocelyn Pedersen
September 25, 2020
The film crew finished arranging the cameras on my husband who was sitting on a barstool in the middle of our front room. I watched ... (Read More)

Misusing Forgiveness: A Letter to My Younger Self

Celeste LaFollette
September 12, 2020
There are times when I consider moving along this journey in private, working it out quietly in my own head and keeping it all to ... (Read More)

AGENCY: You Have a Say

Claire S. Bagley
August 28, 2020
Take Ezekiel, for example. He had the high and holy calling of prophesying Jerusalem’s destruction. He didn’t get to make the standard cry of repentance, ... (Read More)

FAMILY: The Most Demanding Joy

McArthur Krishna
August 7, 2020
When I signed up to contribute to “Essays in Discipleship,” I thought family would be an easy topic. I love my family. I have written ... (Read More)

Faith: Strong Roots and Flexible Branches

Leslie Albrecht Huber
July 26, 2020
On February 11, 2020, my family drove Rachel, my oldest daughter, to the airport here in Madison, Wisconsin. People streamed past us in the busy ... (Read More)

Grace: Greet the World with Grace

Rosemary Demos
July 11, 2020
“Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ . . . ”[1] So Paul begins almost all his letters ... (Read More)

Facing Adversity: Workways with the Wind and Waves

Jocelyn Pedersen
June 25, 2020
There’s a scripture you’ve probably heard referenced before. It’s in D&C 123:16 and it goes like this, “You know, brethren, that a very large ship ... (Read More)

Revelation: Shared, Diverse, and Proactive

Erin Cowles
June 7, 2020
Aurelia Spencer Rogers was not impressed with the boys in her recently established community of Farmington, Utah. Words like “hoodlum” and “carelessness in the extreme, ... (Read More)

Faith: Why Turning to God Is Always the Answer

McArthur Krishna
May 18, 2020
For my entire life, I would say that one of my core identities has been “I am a believer.” As a result, I have been ... (Read More)
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