moving onward & upward (?)

Well, things are better...or maybe things are the same but I am better. I "taught" my second lesson today in Relief Society. The topic was Elder Richard Scott's talk at the last General Conference "Healing the Shattering Consequences of Abuse" Now there is a fun thing to talk about--not! When I was practicing my lesson, I just could not get very far, no matter how many different approaches I took. Although I have both personal and professional experience with this topic, I really did not want to make this about me. My goal was to present the talk as it had been given by Elder Scott, with no personal "revelations". So I tried over and over to put this talk together, and it just was not working. By last night I was getting very concerned, so, I hit my knees and was really pleading for what I was supposed to present. Finally, felt that I was supposed to share some of my past in order to make this an effective lesson. That time, when I wrote an outline, the words flowed, the ideas came together. I got to bed about midnight. But my lesson was prepared. (Note to self: don't waste time arguing with the Holy Ghost)

Today we had awesome speakers in the first two sessions of church. I had to pray several times for the ability to listen and learn and quit thinking about myself and the lesson I had to teach third hour. I was partially successful. I have mentioned before that I live in a tourist destination, and during the summer we have LOTS of vacationing visitors and today was no exception. Anyway, I got off to a shaky start, but with the help of my sisters in RS, things picked up, and we were able to discuss openly some very important ideas for people to use in their journeys to healing, as well as some thoughts on how to protect our children from abuse. I do think that by sharing some of my past with the women, that it made it easier for them to open up a little more than they might have otherwise. At least that is my hope.

I am suffering from a caffeine headache. Yes, I fell off the wagon, and so I am detoxing yet again. I suppose I could drink caffeine free Diet Pepsi, but what would be the point? Newman's grape juice & sparkling mineral water is much better for me.