I'm back! (General Conference)

Woo-hoo!

For all my LDS friends - General Conference was amazing, no?  I definitely wasn't disappointed.  My two week social media fast made a huge difference as well!  

One of the biggest blessings I saw was that I was able to hear the answers to the questions I had asked and pondered about even though I was dealing with Joey (he was having a hard time sleeping during those two days for some reason and was WAY overtired.  We finally swaddled him - which we haven't done in months - and he crashed in my arms during the second session on Sunday).

I think the biggest thing that I will remember though is that Heavenly Father knows I'm trying really hard to make sure I do the "little things" (like study my scriptures daily, say my prayers, teach Joey about Christ, etc.), and that He will bless my family and me for the effort that I make.  The Spirit really touched my heart as I had that thought and told me it was very, very true.

I'm so grateful for a God who is intricately involved in the details of my life.  I really see tender mercies like that from Him often.

Something else I've decided to do is take Facebook off my phone.  I want to see if it will help me feel closer to my Heavenly Father more often as it has done over the last two weeks.

What was your favorite part of Conference?  What did you learn?  Did you do a social media fast, too?

It's that time of year again

The holidays!!!

Ok, not quite yet.

And not what this post is about.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have a general conference for our entire church every six months.  Every April and October actually.

Literally millions of people gather at the Conference Center in Utah, in church buildings across the world, and as families in their homes to hear the words spoken by living prophets and apostles.

In April we didn't really get a chance to pay attention because we had a baby that was hours old in our arms.  And I missed it dearly.

So I'm excited for October's conference.  We'll be gathering with our family in our home to watch it.  In fact, if anyone needs a place to watch it (or if you're not a member of our church and would like to come listen and learn more about our church) you're more than welcome to come to our home.  Just let us know :)

With that being said, I'm doing something special to prepare for this conference.  I'm doing a "social media fast."  For the two weeks before conference I will be removing Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogger, etc. from my phone, and not checking it on the computer.  Instead, I'm going to take the time to be with my son, ponder what the Lord wants me to learn, and try to really draw closer to the Spirit.  (Last time I did this I had a pretty awesome experience.  Read about it here.)

If you'd like to join me in this effort, I strongly encourage it!

See ya'll in about two weeks!!

Social media fast and General Conference

A couple of weeks before General Conference, I was pondering how I could best prepare to hear the messages in the talks that were directed to me.  I was also wondering how I could be more in tune with the Spirit, so that I could have my questions answered and understand the things that Heavenly Father wanted me to know specifically.  As I was pondering on this subject, I had an experience brought to my mind from about 3 years ago.  A talk was given in our singles ward, and the topic was about doing a media fast to prepare for General Conference.  As I reflected on my memory of this talk, I realized how much time I wasted on social media each day - especially the days I worked when we weren't busy.  I decided that a good way for me to prepare for General Conference was to do a "social media fast" for the week before conference.

At midnight on the Saturday (or Friday night...whichever you prefer) one week before conference, I deleted the social media apps on my phone (including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest) and made the commitment to stay off the websites for the whole week.  It was hard at first.  I wondered to myself, "What in the world am I going to do with this idle time at work??"  There were even a few times when I almost accidentally got on Facebook merely out of habit (I caught myself before logging in thankfully).  I instead filled my time reading, working on things for committees at work, starting the book by Elder Bednar titled Increase in Learning that I've been trying to start since I bought it over 6 months ago, working on baby blankets, and playing games with my co-workers when we were slow.  I actually watched tv shows and actually listened to Neal when we were talking instead of zoning out on my phone.  I was able to spend AT LEAST 30 minutes each day studying the scriptures, and my prayers were more meaningful.  I felt less like I was rushing all the time, and more like I had the time to accomplish all of my goals.

Most importantly (because it was my goal) I was able to ponder questions that I had specifically for conference, and I was able to go into it listening for answers.  I truly listened to the talks and wasn't distracted by my phone buzzing with social media notifications.  I can truly say I felt strengthened, and that I received answers to most of the questions that I had pondered throughout the week.

To take it a step further: I ended my social media fast Sunday after the last session of conference.  Last night I was looking back on the past couple of weeks, and was thinking to myself, "WHY have I felt so rushed?  Why haven't I been able to squeeze in my scripture study, and why are my prayers so...sucky (because, lets face it...they have been because I've either been rushed that it's just been the "normal" things instead of thoughtful or so tired that I've almost fallen asleep while praying).  It suddenly hit me, that it's because I've fallen back into my trap of social media zoning instead of focusing on other things that I can be doing...like these very essential and important things that I was failing at.  Did I learn nothing?!?  Hahaha.

So, my goal is to focus a little less on refreshing my Facebook home page, or my Twitter feed on the off chance that maybe in the last two minutes a notification or tweet has magically appeared...at 2 am...when no one but me and my coworkers are awake... *rolls eyes*...

Tonight has been better.  I've read more of my book.  I've talked to my husband.  I've read my scriptures.  And it feels good!