I recently returned from hosting my very first Prosper Stronger Retreat and I'm excited to share some of my key takeaways from this incredible 3 day gathering with an amazing group of Latter-day Saint women. Planning and executing this retreat was an enormous undertaking, but the spiritual nourishment that resulted made every ounce of effort so worthwhile.
For several years I had contemplated trying to organize some kind of Latter-day Saint women's retreat that would provide a sacred space for strengthening faith and forming connections. The vision for this retreat grew little by little over time as I interacted with incredible women hungry to better understand their divine identity as daughters of God. My purpose in hosting this event aligned perfectly with the mission of the Prosper Stronger community – to cultivate covenant connections and strive to become devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.
About 4 weeks before the retreat, I felt a distinct spiritual prompting that the time had come to finally make this long hoped-for gathering a reality. As soon as the venue was booked, I had just a few weeks to finalize teachings, plan activities, coordinate volunteers, prepare food, gather supplies - essentially pull off planning an entire multi-day conference in less time than it takes to organize the average 1 day ward activity.
To say that the weeks leading up to the retreat were stressful would be an understatement. I was pushing myself harder than I ever had in my entire life. Late nights studying the scriptures seeking direction turned into early mornings scrambling to finalize menus and shopping lists. My body was physically begging for rest, but my spirit felt fully energized by my deep sense of purpose.
And despite my total exhaustion, I was able to pull it off and the retreat finally came. And as it turns out, this retreat was the exact thing I needed to refill my soul. It was so amazing to be surrounded by such powerful women and to make new friends. While there were so many incredible experiences that I could share with you, I wanted to highlight a few important takeaways I had from the retreat.
Covenant Keeping Women are Amazing
On the opening evening of the retreat I looked out at the faces of so many amazing daughters of God who had gathered and was instantly overwhelmed with the incredible light emanating from these women. About half of the attendees were dear friends I’ve known for years, but the other half were complete strangers I was meeting for the very first time.
Yet despite not knowing every name or personal background, I felt an immediate connection with everyone in attendance. We were bound together by our shared devotion to Jesus Christ and commitment to progress along the covenant path.
All these women brought such an impressive array of spiritual gifts and unique perspectives to contribute. Over our few short days together, the faith, wisdom and sensitivity openly displayed in our discussions and activities was truly remarkable.
I was blown away by the kindness, selflessness, and genuine love for the Savior I witnessed these sisters demonstrate not just for me, but to each other. There were moments of quiet compassion as women comforted and encouraged sisters who were struggling under heavy burdens. Other instances showcased joyful celebration as dear friends rejoiced together.
Throughout all of these interactions these daughters of God strengthened my conviction that covenant keeping women are perfectly designed to lift, bless, and support one another on the path back home to our Heavenly Father.
Accessing God’s Power Starts with Feeling His Love
The main theme of the retreat was to discover our divine identities as beloved daughters of God. Our focus was directed by a quote from the Come Follow Me manual stating, “We know that if we can be worthy of the presence of the Holy Ghost, we can also be worthy to live in the presence of Heavenly Father and His Son.”
Understanding who God designed us to become is an essential element to effectively make and keep sacred covenants. But fully bridging the gap between head knowledge of our identity and heart knowledge of God’s love is only possible through the power of the Holy Ghost.
This led to an interesting discussion on why we, as covenant keeping women, want to return to live with our Heavenly Father. One of the women there answered It’s all about love. We strive and work to follow Christ because it brings us closer to perfect love. We keep our covenants because they connect us to God, and connection to God means connection to pure love.
And even though we didn't talk about it at the retreat, I was reminded of the idea that charity – the pure love of Christ – never fails. We should strive to develop charity for others and charity is the reason why we should want to return to our Heavenly Father's presence.
In that beautiful moment, I felt the spirit witness to me the power of covenants and how they allows us access to so much more than just God’s authority or power - it allows us access to His infinite love. It became so clear that keeping my covenants connects me directly to that endless flow of perfect love that Christ freely offers.
Covenants truly enable us to prosper stronger!
There is Power in Studying General Conference
another thing that we talked about was how we gather more power, how we access more power in our lives. the power of the Holy Ghost, of course, the power of the priesthood. The power of God's love, the power of knowing who we are. We also talked about how there is power in studying the Word of God. We talked about the scriptures, and I don't want to discount those at all, but we happened to focus a little more this time on the Word of God that is found in General Conference talks.
And as we studied and pulled quotes from and had discussions about specific General Conference talks, the messages that were being given to us by our prophet, by our apostles, by other church leaders, the spirit was so strong. It was amazing as we shared what we each had learned from General Conference talks.
And I loved it because I know what I take away from General Conference. I know that Heavenly Father directs me through the Holy Ghost, because our leaders are talking to a general audience. They are talking to the entire church. And so their messages are constructed to address that audience, but it's up to us to make them our own.
It's up to us to study them, to be prayerful, to put forth the effort, to receive the personal revelation so that we know what heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to do with what they are giving us. And we had a fantastic discussion around this. I loved it. And I did share some of that. I shared in a previous podcast about how to study General Conference talks.
So we dove a little deeper into that and then had some time. To do that as well and it was so great. I just find that as I study the General Conference talks, it isn't about what I'm going to tell you to do. It's about what the Heavenly Father tells me to do. And I know He speaks to us through General Conference.
The Power of Personal Revelation
We also discussed the power of personal revelation. And as I've mentioned sometimes on the podcast and typically at the end, you can go to ProsperStronger.com and you can download a free It's a journal page and kind of an exercise for increasing your capacity to receive personal revelation. And we actually used this resource at the retreat. It was something that I wish we'd had more time to focus on but ultimately, it was a powerful experience.
We had about 15 minutes to go through, walk through the exercise and how to do it. And then 20 minutes to actually go do it. And I just loved it as the women came back to the main area after separating for a while, hearing the comments that they shared. One of them came down with a big smile on her face and she just said, "I got my answer in minutes, just minutes!"
And another said, "it was different than I expected. I had faith it would work and I did get an answer, but it wasn't the big answer I was expecting. Heavenly Father just gave me the next step. But because He gave me the next step, I know that He will keep giving me the steps and I know ultimately the big answer will come."
And then there was another one. And she said that she struggles with believing in the process to having the faith and trusting in the actual process. And so self-doubt or just doubt in the process comes in. And so her experience was different. But what I love about her experience is that she didn't give up. She kept going.
And she said at first she was led to read one particular passage and then another, and she didn't feel like she was getting the answer, but as she continued to put forth the effort, she was led to the answer that she sought. She found what she needed and the Holy Ghost taught her.
And I loved that she never gave up. She continued in the effort and increased her faith each time that she read something else. She increased her faith and didn't close the book, didn't stop seeking, but continued forward until the answer came. And I hope now that the next time she tries it and does this exercise, that she will have more faith in the process and the answer will come even faster.
Because that's for all of us what we're doing. We are learning, we're growing, we're experimenting on the word. We're trying out the processes, we're seeking to increase our capacity. And it's a journey for each of us. So I hope that we can follow the example of this sister and not give up. not give up hope and continue to increase our faith and our effort. It was so beautiful to have that experience with personal revelation.
As I mentioned, we focused on knowing our identity and drawing upon more power. And you can't do those without recognizing that although sometimes we feel like we are up to our eyeballs or over our head with so many things to do, that Heavenly Father will sustain us and He will help us.
And sometimes we are just merely in survival mode and that's okay. But, at some point, He's going to stretch us. At some point, He needs us to reach up and to be lifted up because He doesn't ever want to leave us where we are. He always wants to help us progress. I believe that to prosper also includes progression.
With God, Nothing is Impossible
Hosting this first ever Prosper Stronger Retreat demanded more mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual energy of me than I would have ever expected. As the start of the event grew closer and responsibilities compounded, there were definitely moments I buckled under the immense pressure.
Yet despite completely depleted human capacity, I felt Heavenly Father sustaining me day after day. The Lord poured vigor and inspiration into my weary soul, enabling me to accomplish tasks I absolutely could not have pulled off relying solely on my own limited mortal strength.
As demanding moments came up, I turned wholeheartedly to Christ through heartfelt prayer and He responded every single time by lifting the overwhelming weight I felt crushing down upon me. Over and over I witnessed Alma’s promise fulfilled:
I learned profoundly that when we desire righteousness with all our hearts and commit to aligning our will with God’s will with all our might, mind and strength, then nothing becomes impossible. Heavenly Father will absolutely uphold and strengthen His faithful daughters to not just endure trials, but emerge victorious.
My imperfect efforts offered up to the Lord were miraculously made perfect.
Looking Ahead...
In the end, this remarkable Prosper Stronger Retreat exceeded even my highest hopes and expectations. The outpouring of love and spiritual strength experienced has forged soul connections and motivated continued spiritual growth. Many sisters are already eagerly anticipating a reunion retreat together next year!
I feel overwhelmingly blessed by the great privilege I had to organize an event that helped these daughters of God deepen their devotion to Jesus Christ and reinforce commitment to keeping covenants. My testimony burns brightly that covenant keeping women have unmatched capacity to lift and bless each other.
The Lord poured His light and power into me throughout this entire process, allowing me to accomplish infinitely more than I ever could have alone. He guided me to resources and taught powerful lessons about accessing His grace. Remember It’s all about love. Heavenly Father wants each of His precious daughters to feel His infinite love daily.
My daily prayer is that the spiritual takeaways from this special weekend will continue motivating these incredible women forward along the covenant path. I know our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ stand ready to strengthen us through any challenges ahead.
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