Time Out For Women, 2016

For three years now, I've been fortunate enough to attend Time Out For Women, an event produced by Deseret Book. There are speakers and performers on Friday evening and most of the day Saturday. I always look forward to this weekend, because I know that I will come away learning things that will give me strength to go forward as a mother, wife, and individual. So we ventured to Long Beach, which took much longer than planned thanks to a freak thunderstorm during the drive, but made it there safely, ready to soak in all the spiritual inspiration we could get.

Friday night there were two speakers: Elaine S. Dalton, former General Young Women President; Whitney Johnson, an entrepreneur/author/businesswoman; and a female vocal group called Mercy River. Some thoughts that I wrote down from these great women:

Elaine Dalton:

-We need to strengthen our faith--in ourselves and in the Gospel--and go to the scriptures
-keep our focus on the Savior, not on the tumult around us, EVERY SINGLE DAY
-Doctrine and Covenants 121:45--let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God and the Holy Ghost will be a constant companion
-we need to be virtuous and pure to have confidence
-we can be more than we allow ourselves--don't live below your privileges
-we need to ask the Lord to walk with us through our trials--we can't do it alone
-covenants give comfort, especially when a loved one dies or you have a child with challenges

Mercy River:
-favorite song: "Long for Home;" they also said, one thing we can always do is love our children the way God loves them

Whitney Johnson:
-described her love of sugar and how she's been off sugar for a few months
-talk to God out loud--creates a moment with Him and makes our prayers come alive
-hear His voice--use our ears--singing together can make our hearts beat in unison
-bow down before God--experience time with God with your whole being
-taking the sacrament is an experience with God--use full engagement of your senses
-reach out and touch Him--hugging someone can give a connection and help share the burden of someone else
-because she's not trying to find God in sugar, she's finding him in a lot more places
-Will you give up your "sugar" so God can show up to you?

Saturday we heard from more great speakers and performers. Here are some of the highlights:

Lisa Valentine Clark (author, youtube channel producer)
-read the words to the hymn "Ere the Sun Goes Down" and how it relates to motherhood
-becoming something is more important than the doing
-when we feel like we can't do it anymore, we ask for help--we pray

April Perry and her daughter (local attendee asked to speak; she's also a friend of mine)
-spoke about her experience helping her mother with Alzheimers and how it has taught her children
-ask the Lord how he wants to heal you--heartbreak can heal and bind you closer to the Lord

Laurel C. Day (author/speaker)
-spoke about the atonement
-find safety in his wounds, find comfort in his scars, find peace in his pain
-two kinds of scars--fallen world scars and expectation scars
-don't focus on what you don't have--think of what you do have and find comfort
-when you don't get your miracle, let the miracle be seen through your healed heart

Emily Freeman (author/speaker)
-what if my only motive was LOVE?
-look for what is common between you and others
-Luke 1:53--He filled our wanting with good things


Things I realized after attending that I need to change in my life:
-I need to make scripture reading a priority again so I know that I'm doing what my Heavenly Father wants me to do, every day
-I need to make sure I am living a fully virtuous life so that I can have CONFIDENCE that what I'm doing is right, and also have the Holy Ghost to guide me in every decision I make
-I need to remember that my life still has plenty of miracles even though it might not be what I expected it to be