My first Time Out for Women

Yesterday my friend Elissa texted me and asked if I wanted to go to Time Out for Women with her in Denver.  She had an extra ticket, and boy am I glad she asked me!  It was SO nice to take a day (that otherwise would have been spent at home by myself since Neal had to work) and literally go have a time out.  A time out from social media, my work email, the house not being clean, and worrying about daily life.  It was so nice to get to know my new friend Elissa better, too!  So many wonderful presentations were given, and Mercy River (my new favorite thing to listen to) did all of the music.

TOFW started at 9 am.  We walked into the room (which was 4 ballrooms put together) and I could just FEEL the strength, power, and faith of the women sitting in that room already.  I'll admit, I even began to cry when I looked out over the crowd at all of the women sitting there with one goal in mind: to somehow come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We sat down in the fourth row from the front (I know, right?!?) and the day began with a wonderful song from Mercy River.  As I would come to find out throughout the day's events, these women are REAL women, which is part of why I loved them so much.  They are wives and mothers who truly write their songs based on their daily lives and testimonies of the Savior.  I loved hearing their stories, and especially loved hearing the songs that they "re-did" (like "Bye, Bye, Bye" about bed time...HILARIOUS!).

Then the presentations started.  They were as follows: Chris Williams, Sarah Wells and Kate Jones, Anthony Sweat, Julie De Azevedo Hanks, and Laurel Christensen.  Each presenter was so wonderful, and each had something that the Spirit spoke to me about.  In fact, they were all so wonderful that it would probably take over an hour for me to post everything I loved about each of them.  I really have been asking Heavenly Father what things I could be better at lately, and each of these presentations helped me realize an area of my life that needed to be worked on.  The even better part?  I feel empowered and hopeful rather than down and depressed about these things!  I really truly feel like I can and will do them!

One things I do want to post about is something that Julie De Azevedo Hanks, an LDS therapist, challenged us to do.  She talked about how we, as women, need to develop our most authentic selves.  Her equation for this was as follows: Heavenly Father's will + my unique gifts and experiences = my most authentic self.  She also pointed out that it is really hard for us to give ourselves and our will to Heavenly Father if WE don't even have ourselves.  One of the things she said we could do to help with this process is to celebrate the good in ourselves.  She said that many people believe the myth that acknowledging our own strengths is prideful.  The truth is that owning our strengths is humility because we are acknowledging the talents and blessings that God has given us.  Then she challenged us to make a list of 10 strengths AND 10 weaknesses.  She challenged us to go public with them, and truly own them.  So, here it goes.

10 Strengths
1. I have a strong desire to do the things my Heavenly Father has asked me to do through my priesthood leaders.
2. I forgive others easily.
3. I have a beautiful voice that I love using to bring the Spirit into peoples lives.
4. I do really well with small children.  I am able to calm them and help them learn more easily than a lot of people.
5. I find loving other people very easy.  I often find myself thinking about why they make the decisions that they do, and trying to act as Christ would (except for Weakness #1 below).
6. I don't struggle with the temptation to listen to music that offends the Spirit.  I love listening to my "church" playlist any day of the week.
7. I love public speaking, and I think I'm pretty good at it.
8. I can kill, dress, butcher, and grill my own meat.
9. I can get dressed up and act like a lady (as Neal puts it, I can actually look like a girl) but when it's time to get down and dirty to work on cars or go hunting, I am strong and able.
10. I do really well at my job, and always put my best effort into it!

10 Weaknesses
1. I get offended VERY easily when someone seemingly attacks my religion or my family.
2. I am not the best cook.  If we aren't eating grilled meat, we are probably eating 1 of about 5 things.
3. I have a tendency to put my feelings before Neal's when we are arguing.
4. I don't do well inviting people to learn about the Gospel.  I don't mind answering peoples questions, but I won't bring up the subject (probably as a result of #1).
5. I procrastinate.  A lot.  I tend to sit and do things like watch mindless TV rather than things that really should get done.
6. I always say I'm going to do something, and then I either don't do it, or I start the project but don't finish it.
7. I'm really over cautious.
8. I am impatient.  I am ALWAYS trying to hurry my life forward instead of just enjoying the present.
9. I tend to talk a lot about myself and not ask many questions about others (I'm already working on this one...I almost had a friendship ruined because of it).
10. I am not good at doing my visiting teaching...I always think about it and then put it off (see #5).

There.  TA DA!  That was actually harder than I thought it would be.  Now I challenge you to do the same.  It actually feels kind of good!