Faith

Okay!  So sorry for my last post.  It did end up being "one of those weeks" though.  But I can tell you, all experiences can become learning experiences.  While visiting with a friend this week, something she said led me on a journey  to study how to increase my faith.  She said, " Strengthen your faith, the kind of faith where you place everything on the Lord... and then you will be at peace."

I have been told that I am a woman of great faith.  But as I studied more on this topic I realized I had what Elder Dallin H. Oakes defines as "...faith in faith, which is something like relying on the power of positive thinking..." rather than pure faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Being a planner, I think a lot about the future.  I worry that what I or my spouse or my children are doing today won't lead us to the goals we have for the future.  I guess I'm still learning the lessons I was supposed to have learned during my illness at the beginning of the summer . . .  Live by faith, not by fear when you come across unknowns.  :-)

I love what Elder Richard G. Scott has said, "It is nobility of character, that fabric of inner strength and conviction woven from countless righteous decisions, that gives life its direction."  President Hinckley has also taught to just "take the next step."   Life really is supposed to be just one step after another.  We can and should have a big picture vision in front of us, but only as a guide, not as its own stumbling block!

Proverbs 3:5:  "Trust in the Lord, and lean not unto thine own understanding."  Our  small-minded vision may be blinded by fear at times, but as we exercise more faith in the Lord, I do believe we can only have peace and fulfillment in this life. "Faith isn't believing that He can, faith is knowing that He will."

So, as I face a new calling and wonder how it's  going to work out with my other church responsibilities, I will exercise faith in the Lord.  As I face a new year of teaching my children in the home, I will exercise faith in the Lord.  As I feel discouraged over the fate of loved ones in my life, I will exercise faith in the Lord.  Elder Scott states, "...by doing those things the Lord counsels us to do, we are given every understanding and every capacity necessary to provide peace and rich fulfillment in this life."