PROTECTING OUR FAMILIES--GIVEAWAY.

To be completely honest, I am quite naïve. Call it sensitive or inexperienced, but I have never had much of a desire to do wrong. I’m definitely not perfect, but I don’t seek out things I shouldn’t.  I consider this a great blessing.

When I was a missionary in Ecuador we were allowed to use the internet to e-mail our families each Monday morning at local internet cafes. On one of those mornings I learned a very powerful lesson, that has stuck right with me.

As I was working on my weekly e-mail, I glanced up and my eye caught the screen of another computer, what I saw was graphic and completely inappropriate. It blew me out of the water. Quickly, I put my head down, finished my e-mail and we left the internet café. But, the images stuck, and they have to this day.

Luckily, the effect of the experience for me has been positive. I was disgusted more than anything, but amazed at the power of such an experience. I learned then, how even in avoiding evil, we can become casualty to Satan’s cunning tactics. I learned how readily available pornography is and I learned just how accepted it has become. I am very aware of the powerful influence of pornography.

I love the metaphor that Sister Beck made of women being the “lioness at the gate” in their homes. I gain great strength and power from that visual as I think of myself as the keeper of the gate into our home. What comes into my house, must pass through the mama.

Ever since that experience, and even more so as I’ve become a mama, I am hyper aware of the media consumption in our house. At this point Jimmy and I are really the only ones that use the computers, and we control the TV and movie selections. As nice as that is, I know that soon enough our girls will be savvy enough to navigate the internet and control the remote. As such, I want our home to be protected from anything that might be of harm to anyone of us, and that includes my and husband and myself. 

One of the things we have always had is an internet filter, where we have controlled the settings of what can and cannot be accessed on our computers. It has provided a safe guard and protection for us, providing safety as we use the internet every single day. We know that even when we don’t seek for evil, it can find its way into our homes, and a filter prevents that from happening—in most cases.

We have used a few different companies over the years, most recently using Net Nanny, and have been very pleased at the protection it has provided. I'm happy to share today, that Net Nanny has offered a few copies of their filtering system to Mamas Who Know readers. Their program, a $39.99 value annually, is available for download and will be given to two lucky giveaway winners here on the blog. They have also offered two additional copies to Facebook commenters. Even if you've got a filter, you can use this when your current subscription ends.

So, mamas, here's your chance to win a Net Nanny filtering system for your home computer. Leave a comment here for a chance to win. And, to up your chances, head over to Mamas Who Know on Facebook and leave another comment there. I'll announce the winners on Friday morning.

Quote taken from an article entitled, "The Secret Enemy", in February 2011 Ensign.