Gather {JOY}

Twelve years ago in 1998, I was a summer counselor at Academy for Girls, a program for 12-14 year old girls through the Continuing Education Office at BYU. The theme that year was JOY IN THE JOURNEY. It was a fun (and tiring!) summer. I met so many great women and wonderful girls. I did sessions in Provo, Ithaca, NY, and San Antonio, TX.

Fast forward to 2010. It was decided to have an Academy for Girls Counselor Reunion Retreat. REJOICE! And this time I could attend since I lived in the same state. The drive to Midway was beautiful! I'm so grateful for the gals Katie, Sara, and Leslie who planned such an event. They took such care in all the details and made it very meaningful.

It was such a joy to be uplifted by the goodness of these women.
We shared favorite quotes,
cried, laughed,
designed a fun bird collage craft (go modge-podge!),
did a service activity to decorate boxes that are given to grieving mothers in the hospital after losing a baby,
shared Simple Gospel Truth packets,
ate delicious food,
hardly slept a wink,
enjoyed an early morning walk,
received oodles of fun ideas to teach the gospel daily in our homes,
focused on the simple ways we can gather joy... in moments ... with our children ... in testimony ... at home.

I came away better than I was before. I felt filled to the brim with inspiration to keep plugging along as a mother and woman in zion.

I have oodles of notes from all the workshops, but the main take-a-way for me was that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can fill hearts with love, patience, joy, comfort, truth, forgiveness, knowledge, inspiration, and goodness. Every time we do good, we are given more LIGHT and STRENGTH in Christ. I left inspired to increase my efforts to study the scriptures diligently... to bear testimony to my children DAILY in conversation and example.

I also realized that we all have such different but hard trials. So many go through so much, but they are given strength through Christ to endure. I was impressed by the attitude, faith, and courage of these women to deal with the various challenges in life.

I plugged my notes into wordle and it came up with the most-frequent words:

Overall, there were too many unphotographable moments to mention, but those tender mercies were felt with the heart... and changed me for the better. And then... the test came... to return home... and see if I could keep that same Spirit with me while going through crazy days with my tots. It sure was nice to fill my soul with inspiration, but I think the key to survival (enduring to the end with JOY) is filling our soul daily with the things of Christ.

Thanks to Heidi Tate Lawson for the fabulous photos of the weekend!!