A year ago, I asked my sister and mom if they would like to have a girls only weekend and go to Time Out for Women together. Believe it or not, it all worked out. Miriam and I left our kids with our husbands, and we all met up Thursday night after Katy's temple session. It was such a good weekend. I missed my kids and Patrick, but it was exactly what I needed spiritually.
The conference didn't start until Friday evening, so we had all day to hang out on Friday. We went shopping at Jo-Anns. And then we just hung out.
Here we are waiting for it to start.
Brad Wilcox was suppose to be a speaker, but his mother passed away, so we were fortunate to hear from John Bytheway. Great speaker! Here are some highlights: He talked about how we are all part of this test here on earth. Our ultimate goal is eternal life. And we can't expect to get there WITHOUT going through grief, pain, or trials. God works through other people. So when other people are praying for a miracle in their lives...we need to be in tune enough to be that miracle for that person. Any pain or suffering we go through in this life is not wasted. He recited a poem for us by Neal A. Maxwell...it was an analogy of a needlework. And how the underside is so ugly, and sometimes that is all we see of our lives, but Heavenly Father sees the upper side and how beautiful it is. He then stressed that Heavenly Father LOVES his daughters.
Sherri Dew was our next speaker. I didn't realize that she doesn't come to all of the TOFW conferences, so we were fortunate to have her there. Her highlights: We are sisters in Zion and God sent us here at this time. This time is hard because the Adversary is very experienced. Heavenly Father doesn't explain to us in the middle of our trial, but we do realize it afterwards. Because of what we know, we are in a position to deal with our challenges we face. God expects us to learn how to receive revelation. We are endowed with priesthood power and knowledge in endowment.
Jenny Oaks Baker was the performer for this session. She's a violinist and she was amazing. She is the daughter of Elder Oaks.
