“Change Is Slow, Patience Is Necessary, and Mistakes Are Part of the Process”
Exponent II, you have given me some of my closest mentors and best friends. You’ve always made me feel less alone. As a teenager, I remember reading those newsprint issues in the 1980s and 1990s on the floral tapestry couch in my mom’s living room. Every quarter, I was reminded of the power of women sharing their stories, and I learned that each daughter of God has a unique spiritual journey.
Reading women’s stories in Exponent II about how they found faith and fulfillment was a blueprint for me. These examples left me no doubt that I could be a faithful Mormon feminist, so I went to divinity school and became a chaplain. I believed our Church always encouraged women to get education and push boundaries, fulfilling our divine natures beyond being wives and mothers. Later, I realized that it was my Exponent community that did this, not the LDS Church. And it was the Exponent community that held me, mourned with me, and cheered me on when I realized that being a faithful Mormon feminist was hurting my mental health, and I needed to leave the Church.
You have taught me that change is slow, patience is necessary, and mistakes are part of the process as is forgiveness toward ourselves and each other.
You continue the work to expand from those early days when your community was almost solely middle-class white women in one part of the country, women who considered themselves faithful Latter-day Saints, to the goal of including all gender minorities around the world, all who claim a Mormon identity. Watching this history unfold has taught me how difficult building the Kingdom of God is. It is messy, and I have made mistakes in my attempts to bring about that goal in this organization. With this experience, I am both more patient with other organizations’ attempts at equity, inclusion, and diversity, and less patient when those attempts are clearly perfunctory.
You have taught me that change is slow, patience is necessary, and mistakes are part of the process as is forgiveness toward ourselves and each other. I don’t “know” many things, but I still feel in my heart that God has a plan for Exponent II.
Emily has served in every arm of Exponent II, including board president from 2000–2002, founding Exponent permablogger from 2006–2022, retreat coordinator in 2001, and managing editor from 2009–2014. These days, she works as a pediatric nurse, specializing in psychiatry.
Phoenix, Arizona
Categories: Shout Outs
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