It’s Fast Sunday, so it’s gonna be about food analogies today.

General Conference is only a month away. If you have any knowledge of this blog’s history, you probably know how much I love General Conference.  Becca has faithfully been nursing my General Conference Book Club over at her blog, and I’m so thankful to her for doing that. I recently saw that Mormon Soprano is hosting a 37/37 challenge at her blog. The idea is to (start like 3 days ago and) read one conference talk a day from the last General Conference as a way to get read for this upcoming conference.  I think it’s a great idea, and I’m going to try to do that.

Also, Michelle, who blogs at Mormon Women, recently suggested that it would be a great idea to read Daughters in My Kingdom as a way to prepare for our upcoming General Relief Society broadcast. We have a new general RS president, and, frankly, she’s got big shoes to fill. I feel for her, but know she has been called to meet a specific need that surely the Lord has prepared her for. Maybe studying Daughters in My Kingdom can help us to approach that meeting with a focus on our divine role as women and the Lord’s vision for the Relief Society.

What does this have to do with food? I think the more we prepare ourselves for the feast that General Conference really is, the more we will be fed spiritually. We will prepare our minds and hearts for God’s voice through His servants. So whether you want to try one of the ideas I mentioned above, or whether you want to start thinking through some of your own questions and concerns and start praying about them with a mind to receive answers at conference, or whether you have your own great ideas, the point is: people, get ready.

I looked up scriptures about preparing our minds, and this is what I found:

• Alma 39:16

  16 And now, my son, this was the ministry unto which ye were called, to declare these glad tidings unto this people, to prepare their minds; or rather that salvation might come unto them, that they may prepare the minds of their children to hear the word at the time of his coming.

• Alma 16:16

  16 And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming—

• 3 Nephi 17:3

  3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.

• Alma 34:3

  3 And as ye have desired of my beloved brother that he should make known unto you what ye should do, because of your afflictions; and he hath spoken somewhat unto you to prepare your minds; yea, and he hath exhorted you unto faith and to patience—

Many of these scriptures refer to preparing for Christ’s coming, which is referred to in the Bible as the wedding feast, and those who are prepared are able to celebrate with Him. It seems that while General Conference is not the same as His coming, it is a chance to hear His voice and feast on His words.

I was surprised today, even though I shouldn’t have been, how quickly the Lord will answer our prayers when we seek Him. I had something on my mind that has been bothering me. I knew it was a matter of my own attitude, and I needed some help to change my perspective and focus on things “as they really are.” It became the purpose of my fasting. As I sat in Relief Society today, as soon as I heard the title of the lesson, I knew I was being fed the answer I was hungry for. And so it is.

“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?” Luke 11:11

Heavenly Father is so quick to feed us when we prepare ourselves to be fed. And I love Him for it.