Satisfying hunger cravings!

Being pregnant means feeling strong pangs of hunger at odd times of the day and night...it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so hard to find that thing which will really satisfy the craving! (satisfy meaning: substantial enough and yummy enough). Nate often laughs when he hears me say "I'm hungry!" because usually it means that the search can result in some weird concoction (green olives and cream cheese, mmm!). And he knows it's only the beginning...when baby comes and I'm nursing again it will only get worse!

But being hungry in body is something I can thankfully easily deal with in a matter of minutes - access to food is usually not a problem.  But what about hunger of spirit? I know how that feels, too. And I know that at times, finding 'that thing' which will satisfy my spiritual cravings can take effort, time, and painful patience. But I feel even more fortunate knowing I have easy access to things that satisfy my spiritual cravings for things that are pure and bring deep, lasting joy and fulfillment.

Lately I have been having those cravings and I'm really looking forward to being truly fed this weekend by General Conference. It really is one of the best highlights of the year. This is when I receive revelation better than a Thanksgiving feast. I feel like it is so powerful that I really have to clear some space in my mind and heart.

 

Today we were talking about it at breakfast - I mentioned how excited I was to hear from the prophets on Saturday and Sunday - and Natalie (who was in one of 'those' moods this morning) said emphatically "I'm not!"   I think I replied something like "well, maybe you'll change your mind. Most people in the world don't even know that we have living prophets today. We are so lucky!" I'm sure that wasn't the best off-the-cuff response, but despite her grumpy attitude, it made realize that we probably haven't really done a good job of teaching why prophets are so important and special.

I just read this talk about "Why Do We Need Prophets" by Elder Deiter F. Uchdorf and I thought it was so well articulated, easy enough for a small child to understand how exciting it is that God continues to speak through prophets today. Here's the article:
http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/03/why-do-we-need-prophets?lang=eng

So, this week I'm going to try to be more purposeful about preparing for conference and preparing my children. I was so grateful to be able to hear the messages for women last week - the one that touched me most was "The Lord Has Not Forgotten You" by Linda Reeves. Very much what I needed to hear. http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/general-relief-society-meeting/2012/09?lang=eng

As a side note - I just saw this article today about how excercise satisfies hunger cravings! That probably also explains why I've been  more hungry latley - lack of exercise :)
http://news.byu.edu/archive12-sep-foodmotivation.aspx