by Naomi Swan

Have you ever not seen what was right in front of you? What made you not see it? Back in college, I dated this guy whom I got really close to very quickly. But in the course of things, we decided that we were not right for each other and became close friends instead. We set each other up on dates and talked after some of those dates. After a weekend trip together, we separately realized we were actually truly in love. However, I resisted this notion, fearing he didn’t feel the same way, and was about to leave the friendship altogether. What made me not see that he was in love too? Was it fear that our decision had already been made and couldn’t change? Did I just think I knew something I didn’t, and was closing myself off to further understanding? These fears and assumptions blinded me until I opened myself to the possibility that he was in love, too.

Sometimes we look beyond the mark, thinking we already know the truth of the situation, expecting something different than what is. Those that lived in Christ’s time are described in Jacob 4:14 as looking beyond the mark because they did not see Christ for who he was as the Messiah. Their assumption that they knew how He would present himself blinded them from seeing him in the way that he actually came. They led, taught and reacted as though they knew something they actually didn’t.

Could the church be looking beyond the mark, when it comes to our Heavenly Mother? Prophets have prophesied that women will have revelations and prophecies(1). Yet when those revelations and prophecies are brought forward, how does the church respond? What women’s revelations and prophecies are we seeing at the forefront? It seems that there is blindness to these because the church could be looking beyond the mark, assuming that all revelation comes through the president of the church, when scripture indicates otherwise. “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh… and your daughters shall prophesy”(2). This could only be significant to mention if it refers to prophecy that can bless others on a wider spectrum, since there have always been women who have had the gift of prophecy(3). Moses said, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!”(4)

Many women have attempted to offer their revelations and prophecies to help the church, yet we receive push-back and blame (stonewalling(5) and gaslighting(6)) for thinking that we could possibly be in a position to offer such gifts. I am one of the many who has offered a letter to the church regarding my own revelation of Heavenly Mother. It felt like hitting an iron wall that I never would penetrate. It hurt deeply to be so rejected for having received revelation as a result of applying church doctrine in my life. Gaslighted for believing scripture that says I could have such revelation. Gaslighted for believing in my own revelation which the church taught me to receive. Stonewalled and shut down by a policy that prevents the prophet from receiving letters from mere members.

Paul taught that we are all the body of Christ and each has a gift that can profit the whole(7). Joseph Smith also reiterated this in Doctrine and Covenants(8). For our gifts to come together, leaders also need to be open to receive the gifts of the members. We are all the body of Christ. If leaders are blind to the gifts of the members, thinking they already know how the Lord will accomplish His work, they miss out on the fullness of revelation. Openness to possibilities opens us to revelation, just as Joseph Smith had to open his mind to the possibility that God would speak to him.

After spending much energy praying with an open mind to the possibility that there could be scripture that would teach of our Heavenly Mother and therefore teach more about women, I received a revelatory dream of Christ. I have had much experience with revelatory dreams. They increase my faith and have shown confirmable truth. In connection to this dream, understanding of certain scriptures came to me. They clarify the need for women’s revelation in the last days, the need for Heavenly Mother, and confirm the truth that women’s gifts are crucial to our knowledge and wellbeing. From my impressions, the following prophecy of Isaiah’s could be added to the prophecies that indicate that women have a greater role than patriarchy would assume. Here are my impressions…

Isaiah 32:9-12
Verse 9. “Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.” He calls women to awareness of their stewardship.

Verse 10. “Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.”

• “Many days and years shall ye be troubled” — Speaking of the oppression of women and their gifts for centuries, living under men’s definition of who they are, culturally and religiously.
• “Ye careless women” — He refers to us as careless because it has gone on for too long.
• “For the vintage shall fail” — “Vintage” refers to the past. The old ways regarding women will no longer work, such as how patriarchy has defined roles of women. They will fail.
• “The gathering shall not come” — This brings to mind the prophecy of President Spencer W. Kimball that says that women and their families will come to the church in large numbers from the influence of righteous women who are articulate in their lives and beliefs(9). Saying that it shall not come, tells me that if we do not rise up and change the old ways, other women will not be drawn to the church in great numbers as prophesied, and the gathering will not happen.

Verse 11. “Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.”

• “Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones” — It is crucial that we be aware and not be at ease with the way things are and have been. This would be careless to believe that this is what God intends.
• “Strip you, and make you bare” — Our feelings, our sufferings, our yearnings, our impressions, and especially our revelations regarding the change that is needed from the old ways must be made known, and for that to happen, they MUST be valued. According to Isaiah, our insights and inspiration are crucial to the change that is needed.
• “Gird sackcloth upon your loins” — “Sackcloth” signifies mourning. “Loins” signifies our gender. Put with previous verses would mean to mourn for those women who have suffered the troubles of oppression to any degree. With sackcloth, say good-bye to the old ways. Putting sackcloth over our loins speaks to me of reproductive organs, which can refer to the misuse and distorted view of women throughout time being used and subordinated largely for sex, reproduction, and service, rather than fully respecting them as whole beings bearing spiritual gifts to contribute with equal weight to our brothers.

Verse 12 is where I felt that Isaiah further clarifies our stewardship, why women have been oppressed and what will heal that oppression and restore balance. He seemed to be very poignant in its importance so far.

Verse 12. “They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.”

• “Teats” expresses woman or Mother, and the perfectly-tailored nourishment we need from Her(10).
• To “lament for the teats” of our Mother in Heaven is to regret that she was lost from our remembrance and to have great yearning to bring Her back.
• “Pleasant fields” indicates that comfort and peace are available in the bosom of our Mother in Heaven. She can subdue the inner suffering and replace it with pleasantness. This is much like how an infant feels in the bosom of its mother. We should not fear this, but rather seek it.
• “Fruitful vine” indicates there are great blessings available in coming to our Mother. I believe that one of the greatest fruits will be to know our Mother and therefore know Her daughters better. I observe and experience that we women need desperately to know ourselves through our Mother God. Gaining this knowledge will bring back the balance that was lost, overcoming oppressive ways held over from the past (“vintage shall fail”) and put us in pleasant fields. The femininity and masculinity in us all has been damaged by imbalance in our view of God. Mother God is key to knowing and healing who we all are.

So Isaiah has clarified the problem and the stewardship to heal it. Jacob 5, the allegory of the Olive Tree, is the second scripture passage I was led to. I have felt particular impressions of how the Lord is doing this work. It works together with Isaiah 32. Here is a summary of my impressions…

Jacob 5:48
“Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard– have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves.” The branches are the members. Many are not feeling fully fed and leave because we are not receiving of our full root system, which is our Mother and Father God. Mother is left out. They, together make up our roots, but we must receive from them both to be fully nourished. Therefore, we are suffering. Christ is the trunk through which we can receive that connection and nourishment.

The whole tree represents the church. In order to save the tree, or the church, the Lord of the vineyard takes branches of the tree, or members, and puts them where He can nourish them individually. This is a step in His overall plan to save the tree. Jacob 5:13 “And these will I place in the nethermost part of my vineyard… and I do it that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree; and also, that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season…” Isaiah 32 connects to these verses. These branches that the Lord is nourishing separately are (primarily) women of whom Isaiah speaks. They “lament for the teats” and are reaching more deeply through Christ, the trunk, and are receiving their Mother roots. They are being drawn to Her and Christ is nourishing them with revelations, visions, dreams, impressions and vital experiences regarding our Mother. These are the fruits that Christ is ”laying up for a season” to bring into the Mother tree. These fruits bring with them the rest of the root system, which is our Mother in Heaven.

Just as I needed to put down my assumptions to recognize the true love in front of me, and his love for me, the church may benefit from doing the same. If they choose to let go of their assumptions, I have no doubt that they will discover that women have a far greater role in life, in the church, and in heaven than they currently teach and practice.

Footnotes:
1. Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17-18
2. Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17-18
3. Micah 6:4, Ex 15:20, Acts 21:9, Judges 4:4, 2 Chron 34:22, Isaiah 8:3
4. Numbers 11:29
5. Stonewalling – to stop a discussion from developing by refusing to answer questions or by talking in such a way that you prevent other people from giving their opinions, Cambridge Dictionary
6. Gaslighting – make the victim think their emotional credibility or memory is flawed — thereby making the victim distrust themselves and rely more on the person who’s gaslighting them, Vanessa Kennedy, director of psych. at Driftwood Recovery, Texas; (CNN Health).
Research suggests that gaslighting behaviors can be rooted in gender and social inequalities. …relationships where there’s a power imbalance. …(They) may be purposely trying to make you feel like everything is your fault., Psych Central.
7. 1Cor 12
8. D&C 46:12
9. Pres Spencer W Kimball, “The Roles of Righteous Women.” Ensign, Nov.1979, 103-4
10. Health Children Project CLC intensive training, 2019 – breastmilk is tailored to gender, prematurity, season, & time of day

Naomi Swan is a gentle heart who loves God and people. A heart-to-heart, family, friends, the arts, nature, and something new to explore fill her soul. She has a great desire to help women know themselves.