Women's Expo: My Life Is Different Now

by Kim Loose
I am grateful to be a part of the sisterhood of this stake. I wanted to share with you how being a part of this stake Relief Society has been a blessing in my life.

I am new to the stake, so I didn't know about the Daughters in His Kingdom website until the recent expo. I've been on it every day since. It's replaced my aimless scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. I have used it to kill time in the waiting room, to help me focus before scripture study, and as my pick-me-up in the afternoon.

The expo was very inspired. I want you to know that my life has been different since. Sister Packer spoke about priorities, and her message touched my heart. I have tried to make sincere prayer, personal scripture study and keeping my covenants first priority. It's simple, but powerful. The Spirit has been in my home and heart more.

As I have put first things first, things have truly fallen into place. I hurt my back, so all exercising goals have fallen to pieces. Usually that would discourage me, but with first things first, I have felt peace with my situation. My two-year-old son built a temple out of blocks this morning after we looked at The Friend together! Who cares if I can't run a 5k? I'll get better and be able to eventually.

For now, I am happy that my family is blessed by my refocused priorities.  You don't know what an attitude change this is for me. Reading the scriptures daily, real prayer, and focusing on my covenants has really helped me let go of stress. I've even had those magical days where I am somehow able to get more than expected done. Even more importantly, the days where a lot less is done, I still feel at peace and accomplished because the few truly important things were attended to.

In Sister Packer's message, she shared an analogy about a pickle jar. I told my husband about the pickle jar story when I got home from the expo. A few hours later he told me he wanted a pickle jar placed where we could see it. We now have a pickle jar full of golf balls in our living room. (Who knew my husband had almost 50 golf balls in his golf bag!?)

It's a nice reminder for us. Everyone who comes over is going to think we love golf, but that's okay. We will know why that jar is there. We will know that if we put God first in our lives, we won't make the mistake of filling our lives with sand.

I testify that we are Heavenly Father's beloved daughters. He wants to take the stress out of life. He wants to fill us with His peace and His love. I hope that you can use this website and the messages posted about the recent expo to bless your life and come closer to Him.