10 Ways to Build Your Faith

Here are 10 things you can do to increase your faith:

1. Start by wanting to have faith – desire
2. Pray and ask your Father in Heaven to grant you faith
3. Read stories in the scriptures of people who had faith
4. Find stories outside the scriptures of people who had faith
5. Talk to someone you know who has great faith
6. Recognize the hand of God in other people’s lives
7. Look back at your life and see where God had a hand in what happened
8. Increase the power of prayer by also fasting to increase your faith
9. Exercise your faith by trusting God and acknowledging Him
10. “Be still, and know that I am God” Psalms 46:10

Prayer Made My Day A Success!

This morning I set the alarm early because I knew what was ahead.

And I didn’t know how I would handle it.

A 2-day retreat at work, Beloved Hubby coming home Wednesday, and several people I had to get processed, with more adding on every day.  I was so worried my insides were all knotted up and I was almost shaking.

What to do?  What do I do first?

You got it (you’re getting to know me pretty well, huh?)

That’s right.  Prayer.

So, I knelt beside my bed and poured out my thoughts, feelings, worries, and to-do list to Father in Heaven.  I didn’t know how I was going to get through these next few days.  I haven’t worried this much in a long time.

As I was getting ready for the day, a call came.  I had to run an errand before going to work.  I looked at my watch.  Well, there was time, sort of.  Good thing I got up early.

So I quickly finished getting ready and left to take care of the errand.  Once I completed it I suddenly realized I’d forgotten something very important at home.

You guessed it, a quick stop at home on the way to work.  I’m trying no to think about the additional time all this is taking.  I focus on my driving.

Finally I arrive.  I stop briefly to share with a co-worker how concerned I am.  Then it’s off to my desk to round up my materials, check the schedule, and see about getting something done.

Nothing major in my emails or voice messages that has to be done right away.  Good.  I turn to processing my folks.  There are about a dozen of them!  I don’t know how many I’ll be able to squeeze in today, the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.

Well, I’ll do what I can.  Better start calling them.

I do a little of the preliminary work, then dial the first number.  He answers!  Good.  Hurray and get him scheduled and try to not take too much of his time.  He’s very understanding and it works out well.

But, there’s a glitch with the computer and I can’t finish the process right this moment.  OK, make a note and set him aside to finish after the next one.  The next one also answers right away!  Same process, same glitch, set her aside.

I take time to visit the retreat for an important topic that should help me with my work.  Thus goes my day, calling people between sections of the retreat.  Wait!

I just reached the last one who has to be done today!  How did that happen?  And there is time left to finish most of the preliminary work!  And to get past the glitch in the computer (operator error, of course!).

Now we are going to dinner together and I have completed all of the 8 or 9 who had to be handled today!  And I feel great!

Dinner is good, I’m meeting new people, we have a great team.  And Beloved Hubby is doing well.

This day sure turned out differently than I thought it would.  I expected, though I hoped it wouldn’t, my stomach to be tied in knots this whole week!

But by taking a few moments to talk with God, He helped me through this day in unexpected ways and with marvelous results!  He truly guided my path and showed His great love for me.

All because I asked.

Prayer Made My Day A Success!  🙂

Want To Feel Better?

You don’t even have to feel down.  You don’t HAVE to be wondering what’s wrong in your life.  No need to be worried about the state society and the world are in.

Whether you are on top of the world or not.

You will always feel better when you tune in to the LDS semi-annual, worldwide General Conference!  And it starts in about 2 hours.  But…

In the meantime, or anytime, you can go and watch previous conferences and feel the same uplifting and joyful feelings that you do when you watch it happen live.

This is another great blessing we have available to us from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).  It is proof that God, your Heavenly Father, loves you and all His children and does not leave us to wander alone and unsure through life.

In fact, it is quite the opposite.  It is a feast for the soul!  A veritable smorgasbord of hope, joy, peace, comfort, and love that will always leave you a better person that before.  Guaranteed.

God loves His children and has given us so much good in the world.  And today we have more goodness and happiness to surround ourselves with than any other time throughout the history of the world!  Although we live in a tough time in many ways, we also live in the best of times in more ways.

“How?” you may ask.

Come and see.  You can participate at any time.  Try it and see.  🙂

https://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

Friends!

My Friend, I want you to know how glad I am that we are both here at the same time and can share this moment together.

I want you to know that you are never alone.  Yes, I know you may sometimes feel as though you are all alone.  I have had those feelings myself too.

Times when a decision has to be made, but the choice is too difficult to be clear, or worse yet, when you know exactly the choice you should make, but it is just too hard to do can leave you feeling very alone and vulnerable!

Perhaps something caught you by surprise and you did not know where to turn for help.  Or the help offered really was not helpful at all.  Others just do not understand.  What is a person to do?

I want you to know that even when there is no one else there with you, you are not alone.  It was never part of the plan to give you nowhere to turn, nothing to choose.

So the next time that you feel alone and have no idea where to turn,

Look up.

Look to heaven and say a prayer, talk to your Heavenly Father as though He were your best friend and was right there next to you.  Explain what is going on, how you feel, what you have done, what you are wrestling with, what you would like to feel, the type of person you would like to become, and anything else you would share with a friend.

Then listen.

The Psalmist wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10).

After you have gotten everything out and you stop to be still, watch for the feeling that comes.  Although your world may seem to be in great chaos and turmoil, and there certainly can be no peace, see what feeling comes into your heart.

“Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.” (Doctrine and Covenants 8:2).  Look for the calm and peace that God bestows upon His children when they turn to Him and ask for His help.

So, although it may not make any logical sense to feel differently because of all that is going on around you at this moment, realize and enjoy the Spirit of God as you ask for His help.  You can feel peace in the midst of all that is going on.  Beautiful, quiet, calming peace.

It is a gift from your loving Father in Heaven.  He is always there, waiting for you to turn to Him.  Take the first step towards Him, and you will be amazed at what He will do for you.

You are never alone!

25 Days of Christ – Day 23

Today I share with you my personal thoughts and feelings about Christmas and Christ.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year.  I love it because of the joy it brings to my heart.  When I see, hear, and feel the many joyous things that this beloved season brings with it, I am reminded of the true meaning, the true spirit of Christmas.

The true spirit of Christmas is Jesus Christ.  Christmas gives us the opportunity to stop and think about Christ, about what He means to us, what He means to the world.  Without Christ there would be no Christmas.  It is His birth into mortality that we celebrate at this time of year.

Christ was the central part, the key piece, of our Father in Heaven’s Plan of Happiness for His children – us.  Before birth we lived with God.  We are His spirit children, He is literally our Father.  When we progressed as far as we could there with Him, He planned for a place where we could learn and grow even more.

He planned a new home where we could receive a physical body (like putting gloves on your hands).  We would experience new things with the senses our bodies have, we would be able to use the agency He gave us to make good decisions and choices, to help others and improve ourselves.

Heavenly Father knew that we would make mistakes and even commit sin.  Therefore He planned a Savior who would be able to atone for our sins when we repent so we would have the opportunity to return to live with Him again.  Our Savior also overcame the bands of death.  Thus, while death is the separation of body and spirit, Christ’s resurrection – or the reuniting of body and spirit – would provide the resurrection as a free gift to all.

Christ gave us commandments, rules to help us live happy and fulfilling lives.  He organized His church to give us the structure to support each other, and to allow us to know and perform the principles and ordinances that we need in order to return to God and live together with Him and with our families for time and all eternity.

Heavenly Father knows you.  He loves you.  He is aware of you and of your situations in life.  He sent His beloved Son, His only begotten in the flesh, to lead and guide us through life, and to show us the way back Home.

Let things things work within your heart.  God is real.  He is not dependent on our belief in Him.  He exists.  And He is close by.  He has given us the opportunity, in fact the commandment, to keep Him uppermost in our thoughts, to talk with Him in prayer as one person talks with another.  Through the Holy Spirit we can feel the Father’s presence.

Through Christ, the 3rd member of the Godhead, God has given us numerous helps and blessings to improve our lives, help us find true happiness, and guide us back into His presence.  Christ organized His church in these latter days through the prophet, Joseph Smith.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by Christ himself.  He gave us His priesthood, the authority to act in the name of God, and all the power, authority, principles, and ordinances we would need to tie, or seal, our families together and return to live forever with Heavenly Father in His kingdom.

This is the glorious message of Christmas, the precious gift of Christ.  He is the gift.