This past weekend I had the incredible opportunity to attend Time Out for Women, which if you don't know what that is, you should. It is a two day long conference for women focused on uplifting and edifying and feeding your heart and soul. For two days you are immersed in good feelings, surrounded by friends you have never met, and lifted up by positive messages. The whole experience is almost overwhelming.
It was in these last two days as I listened intently to the speakers and pondered on the words of their messages that I became painfully aware of something that I may not have fully known up to this point. This moment of clarity was not something I was searching for, or at least I didn't know I was searching for it, but when it found me I knew I had found an answer to prayers I didn't know I had uttered.
It is a good thing that God knows the intentions of your heart, even when you don't.
So what was this moment of clarity? This big awe inspiring moment? I realized that I have been trying to fit myself into a predefined bubble. I have been working towards a seemingly designed perfection that is set up for women of my general age, of my general religion, and of my average demographic. I have been trying to reinvent myself to fit into some mold that has been placed for me by society in general, and had convinced myself that anything less than that standard of perfection was a failure.
The theme of Time Out this year was 'Become.' Become the best you that you can be, and become the daughter that our Heavenly Father knows you are. The challenge was to find your Become, and well...become it.
I will Become. I will find my purpose outside of the bubble of perfection that I have been trying to fit myself into. I will stop living my life to be what others expect me to be, and start living for my Become. I am who I am supposed to be. I am a wife to my husband, a mother to my children, and I am me. I have purpose and reason and meaning, and although I am not sure which box those fit in, or even if they fit in a box at all, it is my Become, nobody else's, and right now that is enough.
Please bear with me on this journey, and if you should feel so inclined leave encouraging thoughts and messages below. Let me know your Become. Share with me your experiences. I can't possibly be the only one living outside the bubble. Quite frankly, I know it isn't going to be lonely out here with you all here with me.
For more information on Time Out for Women, you can view their website at www.tofw.com.