So the three women we have studied over the past two weeks are Puah and Shiphra and King Lamoni's wife, Queen...Lamoni.
The two midwives remind me a lot of people in the Old Testament whose stories get a lot of attention for the same reasons- following God instead of the King. Daniel in the lions den, Shadrak Meshak and Abednigo, to name a few. But these are women, which unfortunately means no one has really heard their story, at least not as much. Anyways, what impresses me about them is that they had the courage to disobey the kind in order to fulfill the laws of God. That can be one of the scariest things anyone is asked to do, especially because one of our beliefs is that we obey the law of the land. It's kind of like Nephi kililng Laban- he had to break that one commandment - because God told him to - to fulfill another commandment. I doubt I'll ever really be put in a situation like that, we are blessed to live in a relatively religion-friendly nation (though many times it doesn't seem like that), but I guess I could compare it to things we do that go against social norms. Tying in with the story, having more than two children- or even having children at all- is kind of looked down on by our society for so many reasons. It's by no means against the law (which it IS in other countries- I can't imagine...), but people will call you crazy, selfish (uhh cause our kids are taking up their precious space?), sex-crazed, whatever it be, just if you have a large family. And that can be disheartening. So fulfiling God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth is something that takes courage and selflessness.
Moving on to the Queen of Lamoni. The two things that stand out to me are her exceeding faith- Ammon even tells her that she has more faith than any Nephite in the land- and her devotion to her husband. When even his servants (who I feel respected him and were on good terms with him) and others around him kind of gave up on him, The Queen stood by him. She was in tune enough to know that there was something larger going on, something with meaning, and that he was not dead. She knew that something important was happening and that she wanted to be a part of it. I hope that in times where I need to stand by my husband even when no one else does, I will have the faith and spiritual guidance that King Lamoni's wife had.
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