Genesis 18–23 bring us into some of the most personal and emotionally demanding moments of Abraham’s life. These chapters move between promise and loss, hospitality and judgment, laughter and grief. Abraham receives heavenly visitors, pleads with the Lord for the city of Sodom, and hears a promise that seems impossible: that Sarah, long past childbearing years, will bear a son. When Sarah laughs, the Lord responds with a question that echoes through scripture and into our own lives: “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?”

In 1987, President Russell M. Nelson taught, “Eve came as a partner, to build and to organize the bodies of mortal men. She was designed by Deity to co-create and nurture life, that the great plan of the Father might achieve fruition. Eve ‘was the mother of all living’ (Moses 4:26). She was the first of all women.”

In our day, the idea of personal identity is a constant part of how we communicate with others. We describe ourselves in many ways. These include our everyday interests as well as the deepest parts of who we are. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe we are spiritually related to our Heavenly Father in a literal way. We sing, “I am a child of God,” and we mean it. This belief shapes how we see ourselves and how we understand the world around us.