Time Out

On Friday and Saturday I joined about 1700 women from all over Northern California to attend Time Out for Women.

I wish I could take a "time out" like that every weekend. It was amazing.

The first Friday night speaker was Wendy Watson Nelson. I first heard her speak about 11 years ago at a BYU Leadership Conference. She was incredible then and even better this weekend.

She shared several excerpts from the talk she recently gave at the World Congress of Families in Amsterdam earlier this year. I would highly recommend reading it.

She reminded us for Elder Eyring's quote:
"As the forces around us increase in intensity, whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient, won't be enough."

I spent the evening analyzing my own life and asking myself, "What am I willing to commit to never do again (or never miss an opportunity to do)- NOT EVEN ONCE!"

There was a whole long list of things... and I sat in that room committed to try. I wish I was still there. It is much harder in the real world :)

After Sister Nelson, we heard from Sheri Dew.

I have admired Sister Dew for a long time. I feel empowered to be a better person every time I listen to her speak. This weekend she asked us a few questions that really made me think (these are from my notes, so they might not be exact).

Are we being influenced or are we doing the influencing?
Are we doing what we were sent here to do?

She reminded us that "we can't underestimate the power of influence" and "what you choose to focus on determines what you see."

-When we focus on the world, we increasingly don't see the adversary. When we focus on the Savior, we increasingly see him and we can see more clearly what the adversary is doing to hurt us... and we can avoid him better.

She reminded us that our Father in Heaven is counting on us to do the things we were sent here to do.

Both ladies said a lot of other things... but the main message I got from the weekend was GET TO WORK and choose to THRIVE, because eternity depends on what we do today.

I wish every woman/young woman that I know could've been next to me all weekend learning from the remarkable men and women who spoke at the conference.