Time Out For Women

A big blue bear looks in the window of the Convention Center.

On Saturday, I had the great privilege of being able to attend Time Out for Women here in Denver. What an experience it was! I am incredibly grateful to my friend who made it possible for me to go by both paying for my ticket and providing me with a ride to the Colorado Convention Center.

While the event started Friday evening, I wasn't able to attend because we had signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner, and since we have a set of sisters as well as a set of elders in our ward, both Steven and I had to be there. I missed out on the opportunity to hear James Ferrell and Brad Wilcox, as well as Michael McLean. That was a bit disappointing.

Big Blue Bear from outside.

Saturday was wonderful though. The theme for the event was "Higher", taken from Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Most of the talks centered around reaching higher, looking up to God for help and guidance, and seeking a higher perspective.

One analogy someone used in the introduction was the idea of walking up a 'down' escalator. (He didn't recommend trying this... He took a video of himself in the attempt, but he said he and his family were thrown out of the mall immediately following the film.) It is possible to keep climbing at a certain pace and stay in the same spot. If you stop trying to climb (i.e. stand still), you move backwards. If you keep climbing at the same pace, but the escalator speeds up its pace, you still may find yourself moving backwards. It was suggested that the world we are living in is speeding up it's downward pace, and we need to increase our efforts to climb higher.

The view from my seat during a Jericho Road performance.

The music on Saturday was provided by a group called Jericho Road, and they were a lot of fun. I found their music enjoyable, and laughed hard when they did their impression of a bunch of boy bands, complete with dance moves.

There were five speakers on Saturday:

Mariama Kallon, who comes from Sierra Leone, Africa, watched her parents and family die in a war, and nearly escaped having her hands chopped off by soldiers! Her message was one of gratitude, and that while we all suffer trials and tribulation (after all, that's how we grow and are strengthened!), we were never intended to face these difficulties alone. The Lord is always there, and He wants to help us.

Sandra Turley sang the part of Cosette in Les Miserables on Broadway. On Saturday, she sang "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera, but told us to think of it from the perspective of God telling us to think of him, as we left him to come to earth. She told about her difficulty becoming pregnant, finally deciding to adopt a child, and then having the birth mother change her mind and take the beloved child back after a month and a half. She spoke about how God has the power to comfort the greatest heartache.


John Hilton III talked about how he met his wife, and the great lengths he had to go to in order to convince her to become interested in him. He talked about

1. Tapping into the vision of what God already has in store for us.
2. Looking up to God for guidance, not sideways at our peers.
3. The mundane can be miraculous (Small and simple things can result in marvelous consequences)

Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt told us about some of the parables in her life - the stories that had deeper meaning. She talked about rituals, about whether or not our daily routines reflect our professed values, and about how the Lord wants us to come to him, while Satan wants to isolate us from everyone.

Emily Freeman was our concluding speaker, and she talked about reaching, about leaving our comfort zone, about stretching to new heights, launching into the deep. She mentioned Peter walking on the water, (and succeeding!) and then when he faltered, reaching out, and the Savior immediately stretched out his hand. She talked about how the Lord is always within reach. She talked about the refining moments in our lives, the ones that shape us, that purify  and cleanse us, the ones that bring us closer to God.

I came home Saturday evening with my mind rolling with thoughts and ideas. There are a lot of things that I'm still wrapping my head around, things that will provide great topics for future blogs!