Covenant Keeping Women

Today was ward conference and we had a combined lesson taught by the Stake Relief Society Presidency. Their theme was "covenant keeping women in the kingdom of God."

We spent some time talking about D&C 109:8

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

 As women we are most often responsible for setting the tone in our homes. A house of order is physically clean and orderly. It might also include an orderly daily schedule of tasks, organized finances, and a consistent routine of family together time and spiritual endeavors such as family home evening, family prayer, family dinner, traditions, etc.

We touched on what it means to have a house of learning. Some of us are still in school and are always learning through homework and other means. Others are not in school (or have finished already) and can work on improving our minds by reading informational books, and by learning new crafts and skills. I feel better about myself when I know I am continually improving my mind, it's good to always be improving in some way.

Every home is different, but we can do our best to do what is right, as individual people and separate family units. I love this scripture that was mentioned in the lesson:

From http://www.theflourishingabode.com/freebies/bible-art-printables

After that, we spent some time talking about the organization of Relief Society, and the various ways being a part of Relief Society has improved our lives. Relief Society is a support group for like-minded women, we always have the most spiritual experiences when we meet for Relief Society on Sundays (versus going to Sunday School, which is still a great meeting but just not the same).

Relief Society is a place where we can learn from the experiences of other women, and a place where we can make friends. No matter where we go in the world, there will always be a Relief Society with women who want to include us in their circles of friendship.

I love the Lord and I'm so grateful to be a member of His church. I'm also grateful to be surrounded by the kind and loving women in our ward. You girls are the best! 

Happy Sunday everyone!

Pray Always

This Sunday's Relief Society lesson was given by Katie (thanks Katie!) and was based on lesson number 2 from the President Benson Manual. We talked about how we should pray always and continually carry a prayer (or prayers) in our hearts. We should also pray out loud with our families. Family prayer is a special experience that draws families closer together.

I had the impression that my husband and I should be more specific in our family prayers. We tend to generalize things, but our prayers could be so much more meaningful if we talked about specific blessings we are grateful for or asked for more specific things four ourselves and on behalf of each other.

Some ways we can improve our communication with Heavenly Father:

1. Pray frequently
2. Find an appropriate place to pray
3. Prepare ourselves before we pray - and if you don't feel like praying, talk to Heavenly Father about what's bugging you until you actually feel like praying.
4. Make each prayer meaningful and pertinent. Don't use the same phrases over and over again.
5. Do something to make the blessings asked for in your prayer happen. You do what you can, God will do the rest.

Anyways, hope you all have a great week and remember to apply the things you learned in the lesson! :)

Achieving Personal Peace

Tayler gave the Relief Society lesson today and it was such a great lesson. We talked about universal peace versus personal peace, and how we can still feel personal peace even when the rest of the world is in turmoil.

Here are some points from our discussion on ways we can have personal peace:

1. Make your home a temple
2. Use the atonement in your life

Personally, I am more likely to have a peaceful day (or a day with manageable positive stress instead of feeling helpless) when I start off the day by saying a prayer and reading my scriptures. It always helps me to have a prayer in my heart when things come up throughout the day. I also try to remind myself that (this is going to sound cheesy) everyone is a child of God and I should love them even if they don't know how to drive or if they have a coupon for every single item on their list in the grocery check out line. It helps me not to make snap judgments about people when I remember that God loves them, and maybe the reason they are driving poorly is because they have tears in their eyes, or maybe that person in the grocery check out line hates coupons and is embarrassed by them, but needs to use them out of necessity.

I feel personal peace when I look for the Lord's hand in my life, and when I remember to thank him for the blessings I receive each day (especially the small ones). Serving others also helps bring more peace in to my life, as does going to the temple to ponder and pray. Bonus if I am doing temple work for my own ancestors, but I haven't been on top of that lately...

Anyways, those were my thoughts during the lesson. There were some other fantastic comments shared too, discussions in Relief Society are the best.

Have a great Sunday everyone!