The heart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that all human souls are the literal spirit children of God - Heavenly

Father and Heavenly Mother.

The testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ is central to this doctrine, as He is the way, the truth, and the life for all people to return to our Heavenly Parents after our earthly lives. The doctrine of unified Heavenly Parents has been taught since the Latter-day Saints organized as a church in the early 1800s. There is no official statement from Joseph Smith teaching that God is a married male-female couple, but there are many teachings by other Church leaders referring to this concept.

Eliza R. Snow and W. W. Phelps, two prominent writers when the Latter-day Saints immigrated to Utah, further spread this knowledge through their poetry, essays, and speeches. Recent generations, however, have not been directly taught the doctrine of Heavenly Mother working in conjunction with the Father for the benefit of Their children. A myth in the culture of membership arose in the 1960s that, out of respect, people should not discuss the belief that Heavenly Mother exists, let alone teach it in public settings and elaborate upon what that could mean for relationships in marriage and generally between men and women. This "sacred silence" has been erroneously taught as doctrine for decades.

In 2010, a team of researchers at Brigham Young University embarked on a search in historical records to find as many quotes as they could from Latter-day Saint leaders about Mother in Heaven. They did not find an injunction from a prophet or apostle thatpeople must not speak of Her. Instead, they found hundreds of references to "Heavenly Parents" and our Eternal Mother God by prophets, apostles, and other church leaders over the entire history of the Church. Their report served as the base for a Gospel Topics essay - doctrinal statements approved by the First Presidency to summarize historical teachings of the Church that may have become confused over time.

The Gospel Topics essay titled Mother in Heaven was released to the public on October 23, 2015.

Cherish: the Joy of Our Mother in Heaven and Cherish 2: The Love of Our Mother in Heaven have been guided by this Gospel Topics essay. In those few paragraphs, we find many statements of belief and doctrine about the nature of God and the eternal destiny of all people. Many individuals have shared their joy, love, and faith in our Mother in Heaven within these books, and we hope their testimonies will strengthen you as well.