Quote: "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." D&C 25:12
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Women in the Scriptures Women_in_the_Scriptures_Primary_by_Kelli_Dougal
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My mother sat me down at the piano and sang songs from the Children's Songbook when I was just two or three years old, so I learned to them from a young age. As I became more familiar with the scriptures, I particularly loved songs like "Follow the Prophet" and "Book of Mormon Stories." I remember thinking one day that I wished they had a song about Esther, or at least one of the women mentioned in the scriptures! There are so many incredible women and I think it's unfortunate that we do not spend more time sharing their stories with children.
When the new hymnbook/children's songbook was announced, I was chatting about it with a colleague and she said, "If I had any musical talent, I would write a song about women in the scriptures. Kelli--you should do it!" I took the idea to heart and started thinking on it, but didn't end up making much progress. I just couldn't get the lyrics to come together the way I wanted.
During the final submission week, I had the opportunity to be a guest teacher at an Activity Days camp for our stake. My topic was "Knowing I am a daughter of God." As part of the lesson, I asked the girls to share stories of their favorite women in the scriptures and what they admired about them. As I listened to their answers, I was amazed at how much these young girls (some were only seven years old!) knew about these women's stories, even some of the more obscure ones, and how much they had learned from them. I was hit with the realization that I needed to finish writing this song and submit it ASAP!