Mathew 1-2, Luke 1-2. The Birth of Jesus Christ

When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant with a child that was not his, he decided he would break the engagement in a private manner.  He decided not to bring Mary into a trial to be punished and make a public example out of her.  Joseph was handling the situation very well and his behavior showed kindness and humility.

 As he thought about how to break the news to Mary, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream.  The angel explained that Mary had conceived from the Holy Ghost a child that would save the people from their sins and that they would name him Jesus.  Once again, Joseph showed kindness and humility by taking Mary as his wife.  Joseph could’ve let anger and bitterness take over after finding out his future wife was pregnant.  Mary could’ve been punished with the death penalty; however, Joseph loved her so much that those negative feelings didn’t take over him. 

Joseph received a lot of revelation through dreams.  Just in Luke chapter 1 and 2 he received revelation through dreams four times.  This tells us that Joseph was living a righteous life to be worthy of receiving revelation through dreams.  In Doctrine and Covenants 88:10 we learn that the Lord is bound to us when we do what he says.  I know that Joseph was living the commandments and therefore Heavenly Father was helping him to stay out of danger to protect Jesus. 

Joseph was not Jesus literal father; however, Joseph took the father role and raised Jesus as his own.  Joseph had many wonderful qualities.  One of his qualities was his humility.  With humility we invite the Holy Ghost which can help us as parents raise and guide our children.  Another quality was his ability to protect and provide for his family during difficult circumstances.  Through personal revelation and obedience to the promptings of his dreams he was able to protect his family from danger.  Those qualities are very important when raising a son or daughter of God.  My husband and I are parents to a beautiful baby boy and we are trying our best to live our lives in harmony with the Gospel to raise him with good standards.

Joseph and Mary were chosen to raise the only begotten.  My husband and I were blessed to raise a son of God in the Gospel.  Having the priesthood in our little family will have an eternal impact in our son, because one day he will posses it and raise his own family under the priesthood and gospel. 

  

First General Conference April 2012