Now, here's a little disclaimer - keep reading if you want to, but the rest of this post is for me so I can actually articulate & remember what I learned this weekend...
All of the speakers were great, the music uplifting. It was great to reconnect with old friends and feel the sisterhood in a room of 1800 women who all share the same beliefs - that is power! There were a few things I took away from the whole experience:
First - a greater understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is obviously a constant process of learning & understanding over a lifetime, but what stood out to me this weekend is that there is power in the Atonement for all of us because Christ not only suffered for our sins, but for every pain, affliction, temptation, sickness, death & infirmity we will ever experience.
Second - We are so much harder on ourselves than our Heavenly Father will ever be on us. He and His Son are more tender, more merciful and more loving that we can imagine. He will give us as many chances as it takes to get things right. He rushes to our aid to comfort us & dust us off when we fall.
Third - This goes along with the above, but I learned more about the parental love Heavenly Father has for us. As I love my children, that is how he loves me. And this parental love turns into the tenderness & the mercy & love we feel from Him.
The event started Friday night where the speakers were top notch - Wendy Watson Nelson & Sheri Dew (my FAVORITE) and music by Jenny Oaks Baker, a professional violinist. Here are some of my favorite things from Friday night:
- Three words to strengthen us spiritually - NOT EVEN ONCE.
- If I really believed there was power in the Atonement for me - what would be different in my life?
- The world's greatest champion of women & womanhood is Jesus Christ.
- Our dispensation is the only one that will not end in apostasy.
- Nothing happening in the world right now is catching the Lord off guard.
When Jenny Oaks Baker played, I could feel the Spirit so strongly, even though there were no words - she's amazing to listen to!
That night, Nicole & I stayed the night at my parents' house - but I did take donuts to the Dad the next day for his birthday!
Saturday, the speakers were great as well. Here are some of my favorite one-liners:
- If you saw a mother treat her daughter the way you treat yourself, what kind of mother would you think she is?
- Obedience is not perfection. Obedience is trying.
- One of the greatest discoveries we can make is that the God I love loves me.
- Busy kids do not make us good moms. Being a busy woman does not make me a righteous woman.
- Christ is the tender behind the mercy, the unconditional in the love.
1 comment:
I read your notes to yourself - I hope you don't mind :)
Thanks for sharing the messages that were shared with you during TOFW. I went to one of those in OK a few years ago. I wish Jenny Oaks Baker had been at that one! I love being a woman and the gospel helps me understand even more how important my purpose is as a daughter of God - ESPECIALLY as a wife mother. :)
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