I Believe In

I believe in being:

honest,

true,

chaste,

benevolent,

virtuous,

and in doing good to all men;

indeed, I may say that I follow the admonition of Paul—

I believe all things,

I hope all things,

I have endured many things,

and hope to be able to endure all things.

If there is anything:

virtuous,

lovely,

or of good report

or praiseworthy,

I seek after these things.

This past weekend I went to a women's conference and I am SOOOO glad I did! It was so great to get away and take a "Time Out" (that is what the conference was called). All of the speakers were AMAZING! I learned so much from each of them. I wish I could have taken notes as I held Emily, but I'm not quite that talented. The overall theme was "Infinite Hope" based on the 13th article of faith which is stated above (except I replaced the all of the "We"s with "I"s). One of the presenters said it using I in the place of we and it really hit me. I have had the Articles of Faith memorized for at least 15 years and I don't think I have ever done that. It really hit me and it made me think, am I really trying to live up to what I believe. Am I really practicing all that is said in that statement? I sure want to be! But I know I have some major improvements to make.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to go, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing but it really was just what I needed. After leaving the "bubble" real life hit me pretty hard. Life is scary outside of Provo. I have decided I really don't want to watch the news because there is NO good news on TV. Every time I turn on the TV all I hear is violence and murders and it scares me to death to know this is the kind of world I am going to raise my kids in. But one of the other statements that was shared that really stood out to me was about how we do live in a very wicked and dark time but that we were preserved for this day to come down at this time because we could handle it and we were so strong. And they said that diamonds stand out the most with a dark background. So I'm totally butchering the phrase, but do you get what I mean?

Anyway, it was a great weekend and it did fill me with hope because even though it is the worst of times, it is the best of times! And there is much to hope for and to look forward to. So I came back ready for life and hope for the future.

But while I was gone and surrounded by all the wonderful women I had a random thought: Why is it when men take a "time out" they go play or go to a sporting event or something but when women take a "time out" to go to these seminars and learn how they can improve their lives and their families? Just a thought. lol.

p.s. if it hasn't come to your area yet, I would HIGHLY recommend going. I'm already trying to plan how I am going to go next year! Here is their website: Time Out for Women