"Women have remarkable influence," President M. Russell Ballard recently posted on Instagram. "You sisters have been divinely endowed with a unique kind of discernment and strength that differs in some ways from the gifts our Heavenly Father gave His sons. These differences are intentional and eternal. They don’t make you better than a man, nor do they make you inferior to him. They just make you different—wonderfully, deliberately, everlastingly so."

In this moving message to the women of the Church, President Ballard noted the essential need for women to seek inspiration for their individual lives:

"Each of you must come to know what the Lord wants for you individually, given the choices before you. Once you know the Lord's will, you can then move forward in faith to fulfill your individual purpose. One sister may be inspired to continue her education and attend medical school. For another sister, inspiration may lead her to forego a scholarship to a prestigious institution and instead begin a family much earlier than has become common in this generation. "Is it possible for two similarly faithful women to receive such different responses to the same basic questions? Absolutely! What’s right for one woman may not be right for another. That’s why it is so important that we should not question each other’s choices or the inspiration behind them. And we should refrain from asking hurtful and unsupportive questions. We can all be kinder and more thoughtful of the situations in which our sisters throughout the world find themselves as they seek to follow the will of our Heavenly Father in their individual lives."

Earlier this year, President Russell M. Nelson promised the women of the Church that as they strove to follow his words and live their faith, the heavens would open for them and that revelation would come. "Sisters, I love you and thank you. As a result of your efforts, I promise that the heavens will open for you," President Nelson said. "The Lord will bless you with increased inspiration and revelation. Together we can do all that our Heavenly Father needs us to do to prepare the world for the Second Coming of His Beloved Son."

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While our paths back to our Heavenly Parents and Savior may look unique for each of us, our Church leaders have promised that the powers of heaven can be on our side as we strive to live faithfully and that God is in the details of our lives.

Lead image from Instagram