warming my heart, general conference april 2013

this last weekend was General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. this means that instead of going to a church house on sunday for worship, all members are encouraged to listen to 8-10 hours (yes, 10 hours including the priesthood session for men- which women are welcome to study and view as well) between saturday and sunday, this is often looked forward to as an opportunity to hear new and personalized-for-our-current-needs revelation from God through the mouthpiece of his servants, the living prophets, seers, and revelators on earth today. and it's a plus that we can do this in our pajamas while eating breakfast the whole time. i believe with all my heart in this principle. i believe that just as in jesus' day, written of in the new testament, there is a living prophet on earth. his name is Thomas S. Monson. he receives direct revelation from God to direct God's church. it just makes sense to me that God loves us, his children just the same as the people of old, enough to guide and direct us with a prophet still today. it makes sense to me that as the world evolves and changes, so does the revelation for us. i don't believe God is a changing God, or that he changes his church, just that he sees the need to guide and reveal more knowledge for us in this day, according to our faith. more than this making logical sense in my brain, i have prayed about it fervently, and i have felt the burning within my bosom, the warming of my heart, the spiritual confirmation and comfort and peace that it is true and right. this conference especially made me love the prophet because he is such a wonderful story-teller and example. he is so good and honest and pure and giving. he is just awesome. even if you're not of my faith, i urge you to watch just his talk and i bet my hat you'll laugh once or twice at his stories. i almost even bet that hat that you'll feel like going out in the world and doing something good for someone else. anyone of any religion can agree that that's a good feeling. 

watch his talk here.

i love conference because we hear beautiful messages from the leaders in the church. wise men and women share their experiences, advice, encouragement, and faith. i literally feel myself uplifted and edified after watching the sessions. and i'm grateful for the peace and joy i feel daily in my life. i'm also grateful for the "provo bubble" as the provo-salt lake area is affectionally termed. here, it is just easy to watch all 8-10 hours of conference because it is the norm. it is easy to plan for the entire weekend to be at home in front of the tv or radio, and it is easy to have this righteous desire. i know that this is the first conference i've watched all sessions of since before drake got home from his mission, and the same goes for him. i know that life gets busy and often people miss parts of conference, and even though it's all available to go back and watch later, it's just nice that in the provo bubble, it's easy to not miss out on the opportunity in the moment. 

i spent the entire weekend at my dearest friend, kendall, and her husband, thomas's, house. we ate breakfast, lounged in our pajamas, and feasted on the words of our beloved leaders together. we ate lunches together and spent the evenings together, and it was almost as if we were roommates again (only with husbands, even better) and it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend. the summers usually draw us away in different directions for multiple weeks or months, and with this baby on the way, i won't be back to provo until january, but the full weekend together was a nice treat. 

there are so many thought's i'd like to share about individual talks, but i know i'll feel even more after getting the printed versions and studying them further. it's enough for me to simply record how much i love conference, how much i love the prophet, how grateful and proud i am to be a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and how my heart was warmed with love and confirmed testimony of the truthfulness of this restored gospel.