Enough! Are you Spiritually Prepared?

My Dear Sisters,

I have so enjoyed all the spiritual messages we have been given today in General Conference. I always pray ahead of time that I will be in the right spirit in order to hear the messages from our Heavenly Father. I fear some do not prepare for General Conference as they should.

We are counseled to fast and pray for answers to our problems and challenges in life; to receive messages that the Lord would have us know during our conference. But how can you be spiritually prepared if all you are doing is looking for the negative. You are missing out on some good things because you are not spiritually prepared.

For those of you who are not members of my faith, every 6 months we have a General Conference where all the members of the church go to a church building or watch on TV, our church leadership as they speak and uplift us with good messages about how we can become better people by following after the example of Jesus Christ. They suggest ways we can do this and how we can strengthen ours families and others. We do this within 5 meetings in 2 days. I always walk away from the conference uplifted and inspired to change my ways to become more like Jesus.

I would say to all those who are complaining about things they don't like in the church, you need to stand back and be honest with yourself. Ask, "Why am I in this church?" If you do not sustain the leadership then you do not sustain God. If you have a problem with the choices made in this church, by our leadership, then you need to take it up with God! These are men of God and I will testify to this because I have received witness of these men at different times in my life.

This is Christ's church!!! He will have it ran on His terms, and not ours. I fear some sisters believe in the leadership but do not want to say anything for fear of offending someone else. But remember we all have a voice and we should stand up for what we believe in, too. If all those who question the leaders can say what ever they want then why can't we? It is time for us to stand up for truth and righteousness. There is man's ways, and then there is Gods ways, and they often times do not fall in line with each other. The question is who's way do you stand for? Once you figure this out then stand up for those ways.

This is the time that was predicted that men's hearts would fail them and we can see this happening. If you have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ then now is the time to renew that testimony through some of the counsel we received today. Hold to the Iron Rod, get back into reading and studying the scriptures and you will see what God wants you to see, what he wants you to do.

Sisters, I love you and I know God loves you. And, you have every right to voice your concerns about things that bother you but there is a wrong way and a right way. Be sure you know what God's plan is before you take a fight to the leaders of His church.

We are living in a time where there are no more gray areas. We are either on the right side or the wrong, we need to be sure we know which is which. I pray for you every day to make the right choices in the right ways. Turn your hearts to God and know what He would have you do, be spiritually prepared to receive the answers God would have you receive. You will then be able to sustain your choices.

All my love

Sunday Points of Conference

Well, another great spiritual feeding. I love how everything relates to my life, it's like they are talking to just me. But as always I receive messages that really hit home. Here are a few;

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about our life goals being in alignment with God plan of happiness for us. If we don't have that we may end up serving other God's. It's so easy justify our choices in life when they are in correlation with the world but when we need to make those changes to be in alignment with God's we find it a hard thing to do. I like how he said we need to have courage to stand for truth and that we should not be moral cowards.

Elder Richard G. Scott talked about recognizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. He used the example of the stripling warriors. I loved the way he told their story. It touched my heart and made me want to work harder to be sure my children could be more like them.

I think there were 3 times I heard the usage of "voice of warning" which one was from the talk by Quentin L. Cook. He spoke a lot about the bondage's we may be a part of today, things that take away our moral agency like addictions, excessive social media, political beliefs, etc.

Elder Neil L. Andersen really hit home, since I am a single mom. I am grateful to know that I know my place and the power I have as a mother in the home. And by living my covenants I will have the priesthood power to do what I need to within my home for my family. I am grateful for wonderful home teachers and leadership in my ward who help to give my family the priesthood that we need. And I am grateful for 2 sons and a son-in-law who hold both the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods by honoring it and blessing our lives with it.

There are so many more good ones that reached my heart like Elder Russell M. Nelsons talk about our the miracle of our bodies and how we will have to answer for how we use them. He spoke about self mastery which just happens to be something that I have been praying for lately. How do they know?!

I also love the inspiring words of our Prophet Thomas S. Monson, what a wonderful example he is to all of us. How can anyone not love this man? My youngest son made a comment about how he needs to become more like him. He said he wanted to be able to look back at his life periodically and know that he is doing a lot of good.

I'm sad its over but I have a lot to ponder and perfect in my life. These are things that I believe will make me a more righteous daughter of God. I hope you were able to find things to help your spiritual growth. If you think you might have missed something don't forget that the Ensign will be out next month, that will be a good time to review and start making those changes in your life for good.

Man, I can't until next Spring. :)

Lessons I Learned from the Saturday Sessions of General Conference

I REALLY LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE (exclamation point)!!!

Every talk had something for me in it, that is amazing. How do they know what I need to hear?!

I would like to focus on a couple of points that hit home to me;

Elder Robert D Hales spoke about how we need General Conference, this I know, because we can receive inspired messages that will help us over the next 6 months until the next conference. He promised that if we listened to the words spoken at this conference that we would receive answers to our prayers and concerns. I had thought of 3 questions before conference began and I am surprised and pleased to say that I have already received answers to all 3 questions, amazing!

Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke about the scriptures being the place where we find peace and protection from the perils of the world. I found this a great help due to all the evil that is surrounding our families daily. A simply thing like reading as a family can help us to be protected from the worldly influence our poor children have to face daily. One of my thoughts was about being prepared for what is to come, he said the answers were in the scriptures. I know this, but I always need to be reminded to look there.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about women and how awesome we are, :), well something like that. He actually spoke about the beauty of womanhood and how we have to protect it from the influences of confused people who try to make us equal to men on a man's level, when we should be equal to men on a woman's level. I loved that he spoke about these things. Some women don't realize that we have a great influence for good by using the tools the Lord gave us. But it is our relationship with God that really keeps us on track to standing as righteous women daily.

And, the last one I want to talk about is from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He spoke about the reality of mental illness. He spoke about things that I have always thought about depression. I think most depression is something we have control over, it may not be easy but we can fight against it; I understand some can not. He did say that it was a real thing. He spoke about a time he felt it, and it reminded me of a time I felt it. I was in my late 30's and just started to feel low over my life and the darkness just started to drag me down, I didn't want to do anything but curl up on the couch and sleep. I'm a thinker and all I could do was dwell on the problems I was experiencing at the time. I was a single mom with 3 kids still at home ranging from 3-13. I knew they needed me because we had no family near us. So I prayed for strength to get out of that depression and made myself get back into life. It took a good 2 weeks before I was myself again but it was real. I knew I never wanted to feel it again, any time I recognized that feeling creeping in I would focus on the Savior and my family; it worked.

There were so many more wonderful talks, I wish I had time to talk about all of them but these are the ones that really hit home. I hope you have enjoyed conference so far and will continue to gain spiritual instruction  through the rest of the weekend. Don't forget to ponder the things you have learned, that's how we keep them in our hearts.

What to do Between Sessions

OK, if you are like my family after a session of General Conference is over it becomes nap time. Or we all go our separate way doing what ever we want for a couple of hours. Is this beneficial? I guess it matters according to who you ask. We should be pondering the things we learned and marveling over them.

SO, here are a few ideas of things you can do with family or in groups, like during the Priesthood Session.

1) take short walks/hikes while talking about some of the talks given in conference
2) you can add a picnic to that, in your back yard, or on the family room floor
3) play games about things learned in conference (see ideas below)
4) watch a short scripture video
5) make a family conference video, ask questions to each person about what they learned and video tape
6) have children draw pictures of something they learned, or write in journals
7) create a fun craft time (see ideas below), or as a family prepare a snack for next session, or next day
8) go to graveyards to take pictures of family graves, or clean it up, put new flowers on, teach about family history, have a picnic there

These are just a few ideas to help make conference more memorable. The crafts may not be on as spiritual but if you add conversation about conference addresses in the activity it might benefit that way.

Games

1) Family Basketball - create a list of questions from the conference session just watched. If the person can answer the question they get to try to make a basket. You can do it as teams or individuals. Person with the most points wins the game.
2) Article of Faith Charades - have a person act out a word or phrase from an article of faith and have others guess which one then recite the Article of Faith.
3) Guessing Hymns - have a person clap out the tune of a hymn and ask who can guess it. Try to use most familiar ones.
4) Holy Ghost Game - make some kind of obstacle course, let everyone go through it once, then blindfold each person but a member of the team needs to tell the person which way to go and what to do to get through the course. Teach the concept of listening to the Holy Ghost or even the Prophets.

Crafts

1) Find a family service project - like creating holiday cards to soldiers, making gift bags for homeless, etc

2) Make Mosiac plates

3) Make Family Magnet Boards

4) Create your own coloring books using ideas from conference. You can even make coloring books to give to sick children in the hospital.

5) During the Priesthood Session, women can get together and make a quilt for a gift to someone in the ward or a local charity. You could make several simple lap quilts to give to the elderly in a nursing home. Be sure to take time to talk about things learned in conference. This can also be done with older children.

So that is a few ideas, I'm sure you will be able to come up with tons more. Happy Conference Weekend, use your time wisely.

General Conference Food Ideas

Tradition!!!!

For my family, we always have great breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday of General Conference weekend. I thought it could be helpful to include some of those breakfast ideas plus other foods for the weekend. I hope you enjoy!!!

Breakfast

Mini Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Cinnamon Rolls

egg and cheese pinwheel

Sausage ring

Dinner

Pizza bread

crock pot roast

Crock Pot Chicken Pasta

Chicken Tortilla Bake

Snacks

Apple Pie Fries

Poke Cake

Pizza Rolls

Halloween Puppy Chow

These are just a few ideas that we have tried or looked like something we wanted to try. However, the idea is to not over feed, then everyone will have a hard time staying awake!!!

It's Time for General Conference!!!

 I love General Conference!!!

Twice a year, we Mormons, get together and listen to our beloved leaders teach us about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how we can live our lives in a closer alignment with His. Well it's time for our second one in the year 2013.

Fall is a beautiful time for me and as General Conference approaches next weekend, I grow even more excited to hear the Word. It's time for a spiritual feast like no other. We, as adults, love this time but our families may not be as excited about sitting through several two hour sessions all weekend. Now is the time to prepare your family to enjoy and learn from these wonderful words of wisdom.

Here are some wonderful ideas to help with young children and teens have better experiences with General Conference.

Conference Squares

General Conference Bingo

General Conference Journal

General Conference Games

General Conference Activity Bags

General Authority Ties

General Conference crosswords

These are only a few ideas that can provide some good fun while your children learn. Maybe for family home evening you could discuss some fun things your family might like to do. You can plan breakfast menus and snack ideas, too, that might help your family find more joy in this time of spiritual training. There are so many different things that can be done so you can walk away with uplifting lessons from General Conference to change your heart for good.

For Adults;

I remember once, when my kids were young, that we went to visit some friends and we watched conference with them. It was so awesome to sit after a session was over and discuss the lessons we learned as adults. I was spiritually lifted through these conversations with other adults. This might be helpful to young single adults to help them gain more out of conference, too.

I hope what ever you decide to do that it will be uplifting and fulfilling in your life, and the lives of your families. I love General Conference and I hope you do, too!!!

Feel free to add other ideas to the list to share with other families that might be struggling with this time. Happy General Conference Weekend to all!!!