Well, the following morning.....I mean the SAME morning - we prepared to go to Time Out For Women. Though extremely sleep deprived and not anxious to show off my new blood shot eyes, I was very excited to go to the conference. This year I got more out of it than I had in the past - and I thought I would share some of my notes about what I learned about being a better wife, mother, daughter, and generally speaking......person.Jane Clayson - who used to be a correspondent for Good Morning America, spoke. She spoke about life and our choices - and the need to trust in God and be still. She quoted Pat Holland, wife of Jefferey R. Holland as saying,
" If I were Satan and wanted to destroy a society, I think I would stage a full-blown blitz on women. I would keep them so distraught and distracted that they would never find the calming strength and serenity for which their gender has always been known.”
Psalms 46:10 Counsels us to "Be Still and know that I am God"
Am I "still" enough? Do I let life get so "full" that I squeeze out my time to be still and feel His calming influence in my life? Do I let fears of the future squeeze out the stillness?
Jane spoke of the importance of turning our life and choices over to God - believing that the path that he has for us is better than the ones we have for ourselves.
Sometimes I feel like my old driver's Ed teacher, named "Biff". He would sit on his side of the car - and make me feel like he had confidence in me - but at times would grab his "teacher's steering wheel" on his side - and take the control back. I do this sometimes. I let Heavenly Father drive the car - but as soon as I begin to doubt, or don't like the direction that He is taking me - I grab the wheel and try to take over. Michael Wilcox pointed out that "Our will is the only thing that is truly 'ours' - that we have to give Him."
Jane taught me that I need to give up the controls and trust Him. The I need to Listen and then follow his instructions with faith. I am blessed to be in a season of life where I haven't faced huge challenges.....but this is so applicable to every day living - letting him guide the way I parent - guide me in my relationship with Tommy T - with weight loss and trusting that he cares about that too. Though I am enjoying my adult life which has been relatively free from major trials, I know that they will come. None of us are exempt - all of us were sent to experience life so we can learn and grow closer to Him through our challenges.
Jane said, "He DOES hear our prayers. He CAN heal our wounds. The question is....will we let Him." Again, the need to trust and completely turn our lives over to Him.
Hillary Weeks performed and spoke. I just love her. I identify so closely with her. She is a woman who loves her life and is trying every day to be a better mother - doing and saying things she is not proud of from time to time. This is what I learned from Hillary....
The most powerful thing I remember her saying was "If my children can feel my love from them - it will be easier for them to feel Heavenly Father's love." I remember years ago taking a parenting class at church - where I learned that children develop their views of Deity by their relationship with their parents. If I am kind and forgiving - they will likely grow to believe God shares those same attributes. If I withhold emotionally or am slow to forgive - they may also believe God to be this way when they make a mistake.....doubting that they could ever truly be forgiven.
She spoke of the times she has fallen short as a mother and the hope she finds in the bible, in Jude, where it says that He will present us faultless". As I have faith in our Savior and repent of my shortcomings .... I can know that one day He will present me faultless - through His name.
Hillary spoke about another phenomenon. She said that the more she studies her scriptures, the better she is able to hear. This reminded me of how crucial it is to take time to feed my spirit every day - to hear the voice of the Lord as I raise these sweet children, try to be the best wife I can be. and make personal decisions.
Michael Wilcox spoke - a great scriptorian. I love to hear him speak! He told the story of Mary and Elizabeth when it was said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord". He said "mothers are the lens in which children first see God". He mentioned some of the things we should be teaching our children.
- Teach them the power of the temple
- Give life - Marriages, families
- Heal
The temple is to serve as a shadow from the heat, or the forces of the adversary in this world we live in. It is a place of spiritual refuge.
2. Teach them of Gods Forgiveness
- Everyone in the scriptures who asked to be forgiven was forgiven - immediately.
- He talked about "pink people" - that the scriptures tell us that "though our sins be a scarlet - he will make them white as snow". Do we believe that he can make us completely white? Or just a good shade of pink? We have to teach our children that they can be completely forgiven.
- He not only forgives - but REJOICES in forgiving us.
3. Teach them who they really are
He told us that Doubting Thomas got a bad rap in the scriptures. That is what we remember him by - but we don't talk about the story where Lazarus was sick and the Lord was going to visit him even though it was dangerous and he stood in harms way. Thomas said "Let us go with him - that we may die with him". That was the REAL Thomas. "The real you - is you at your very best". This is what we need to teach our children.
Christ always lifted people - this is what we need to do with our children. Lift them - tell them who they are and what they can be.
4. Teach them about womanhood
We need to teach our children about the divinity of womanhood in a world where Satan tries to cheapen them. Teach them how God views women -and their power in the home and in the world.
He closed by saying that "love is not a question of worthiness" - both as parents, and as children of God. He said the greatest discovery we will ever make is learning that "The God I love, loves me." Those strong feelings we hold for our Heavenly Father are the same, if not more, than He has for us.
Jason Wright, the author of The Christmas Jars, talked about the importance of letter writing in this day of technology. That we need to hand write letters - so we can lift and bless the lives of others. He challenged us to write one this week....which I have yet to do.....but will! Maybe YOU will be the lucky recipient :)
Pam Hansen, author of "Running With Angels" - a woman who has lost an incredible amount of weight and dealt with tragic loss in her life, spoke about women and their body image. I missed the tail end of her talk because we had to leave early - but she gave some statistics. She said that in a recent poll, they found only 2% of women would say they are beautiful. We live in a world where we are compete with what is shown in the media. The average model is 5' 10" and 100 pounds. The average woman in America is 5'4" and 144 pounds. We are looking through a mirror of distortion.
I would like to include one of my favorite talks by Jeffrey R. Holland, of the twelve apostles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The talk is titled "To Young Women" - but applies to all of us, even if we aren't too young anymore. It is one of the most powerful talks I have heard on the Pam's topic.
If you aren't too tired of reading......click here!
Anyway......I hope you don't mind me sharing what I learned. It was a wonderful experience and I feel so blessed that I was able to attend. I felt the spirit incredibly strong throughout the entire meeting. It was obvious that there were women there that bore heavier burdens than I do and it was neat to see the peace and comfort they found through the words of the presenters. Though I didn't have any major issues that I was searching for answers for - I can't help but remember someone saying that the time to prepare for the challenges of life is in the calms before our storms - and I am thankful that this trip provided me a little more preparation.
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