The responsibilities that accompany being a mother are daunting and, at times, overwhelming. Before I even held my sweet baby in my arms, thinking of the task ahead of me was overwhelming. Now, as I watch this little person growing and learning so quickly, I realize more all the time the magnitude of the responsibility that my Father in Heaven has entrusted to me. I am raising one of His children! He has entrusted His little one to me, to teach her what she needs to know so that she can live a life worthy of returning to Him again one day.

When I think of the task that lies ahead, I have found that I need to be careful in the way that I allow myself think. If I'm not careful, I find myself feeling fearful and inadequate. The adversary is a sneaky opportunist. Only he can take something wonderful and tempt us to twist it and find the negative in it. Certainly the Lord would not have us be fearful or feel inadequate. In fact, I am sure that He would have us view the magnitude of our responsibility and feel empowered by the faith that He has in us! One miracle in this is that He has not left us to our own devices.

The daunting task of being a mother has humbled me and helped me stay close to the Lord. I am constantly reminded of the fact that I need my Heavenly Father's help as I raise His little one. As I have sought His help, I've seen yet another miracle in my life: He truly has been by my side, helping me. At first, most of the help I received was physical. I needed support to make it through the sleepless nights and the lonely days, and I felt His hands lifting me on multiple occasions.

My daughter's physical needs aren't nearly as great now as they were during the first year of her life. As I've watched her grow and learn at a rapid rate, I've been turning to my Heavenly Father in prayer and asked Him to help me teach her. The answers I've received have been tender mercies to me, and they have helped me become a better mother.

These answers usually come as quiet promptings that help me recognize things that I should be teaching her now. For instance, when she was 10 months old, I had a thought that I should start making a special effort to teach my daughter how to pray. At first, I shrugged the thought off thinking she was too little for such things. The thought persisted, however, and I realized that this was a prompting from the Lord in answer to my prayers. And so, I began teaching my 10 month old baby to fold her arms and close her eyes when we pray. To my surprise and utter delight, my little sweetheart started folding her arms whenever we prayed after just two weeks.

Now granted, she is still a baby. Sometimes she babbles while we are praying. She doesn't always keep her arms folded the whole time that we pray. Sometimes she pries her way out of my arms and runs around the room. But I know that I have planted a tiny seed inside of her; I have started to teach her about the importance of the way that we communicate with our Father in Heaven through prayer.

About six months ago, my thoughts were turned to a pertinent question: How do I teach my children to build their foundations in Jesus Christ? I took this question to the Lord, and through promptings and answers that came during my scripture study, I received an answer. The answer the Lord gave me was this: You teach them to cling to their covenants. A few weeks after I received this answer, I listened to the Relief Society broadcast. To my surprise, almost every talk spoke of the importance of covenants and how teaching our children to keep their covenants will help them build a strong foundation in Jesus Christ! What a blessing and miracle this was for me! It was like the Lord was smiling down on me and reminding me that I was on the right track because I had sought His help.

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who gives us grand responsibilities and then stands behind us and teaches us everything that we need to know so that we can succeed! Isn't it beautiful that as parents, we also have a parent to go to and seek help from? And He isn't just any father, but the Father of everyone who has lived, does live, and ever will live upon this earth! We have access to help from the ultimate parenting expert! The beauty and mercy of this concept warms my heart.

The miracle in all of this is that He is teaching us to become like Him. This earthly experience as a parent is an opportunity for Him to tutor us and teach us about what He does! He certainly will not leave us helpless, but He will remain by our side and teach us if we will just ask Him for help.

Interestingly enough, this post is actually completely different from what I thought I was going to write about today. I just sat down and the words came, and when I was halfway done writing I realized that I was writing about something completely different than I had set out to address. That must mean that someone needed it, and maybe that someone was me.