Faith

Faith. We've all heard the word used countless times. "Have a little faith" As sung by many performing artists-originally John Hiatt. Most of us have probably had faith in our daily routines, but have gone unnoticed by this vastly used word because of how often faith crosses our paths.

What does it actually mean though? Im sure everyone has a different definition, but it all comes down to the same thing. LDS.org has 19,197 results about faith. Wikipedia.com says, "Faith is confidence or trust in a person or entity." There is a section in the very back of the Book of Mormon dedicated to the 13 articles of faith alone. A good friend once told me , "Faith is leaping into the darkness and knowing God will either give you something to land on or he will give you wings to fly."

The word faith/faithful are mentioned 7 different times in my patriarchal blessing. Matter of fact, one line states; "You are faithful. God is pleased you are so faithful." Well, I must be good then right?! Having my faith be considered a great blessing, one would surely think, I must KNOW what faith is then. Well, I don't. I can't tell you exactly how faith works. I can't wave a wand around and tell a person they now have faith. However, I can tell them how i use my experiences to help me have faith in times of trials and tribulation.

When I was a young teenager, I was given a project to work on for my personal progress. I was given a seed along with a pot full of soil. For an activity we planted our seed and were told how to properly take care of our plants so they could grow and become strong beautiful flowers. We were then instructed that in a few weeks we would have to talk about how our plants are doing and our experience while growing this flower.

As a few days went by I noticed a tiny little green leaf-like plant starting to show through the soil. Of course, this excited me and made me feel proud. I wanted my flower to be the best. About a week 1/2 after planting my seed, a small sprout had grown about 2" above the soil. It was at this time i decided my plant could grow better if i put it on the patio table. So I did. Then I left to go somewhere with my mother. When i arrived home I ran to go check on my plant. To my devastation, my pot had been blown over and the soil had fallen out and was all over the place. My little sprout was definitely amongst the soil spread about the table. I thought it was hopeless, I was angry at the wind and a little at myself for not stabilizing the area around the plant.

I then decided to say a prayer. I asked Heavenly Father to help my plant make a recovery. Then I quickly and gently put the soil and sprout back into the pot. Then I set it on the ground and put a few rocks around the pot to make sure it had stability around it. After carefully monitoring my plant for a few more weeks, a beautiful white flower emerged. At this time I transported it to the flower bed in my parents yard and enjoyed it for its time.

I don't know if my flower would have been saved had i not said a prayer, but because I trusted in the Lord that through his power my flower would make full recovery, my faith was strengthened. Not only did I witness my patience through waiting for this seed to grow, but i also learned that a stable ground is a safe place to put your faith.

I cannot say my faith is perfect all of the time. Some days are better than others. Sometimes it has to be broken down in order to be built stronger. What I can say is that faith is the seed we plans and know that through time and perseverance, a beautiful soul will emerge. A testimony is made and it is used as the many building blocks on what our Gospel is made of.

Faith. Such a simple word, but so complicated to many who hear it. Only through the Lord and time can it be tested to its full capacity and born into the souls of many who will then develop their own definition of faith.

A conversation with God.

Me: Lord, please help me to be stronger, and to make better choices. Please help me to become the person that you need me to be.

God: Alright. Thy will be done, So long as you are prepared.

This is the part where I ask for something and I don't see the answer to the prayer until after I've had to take my piece of humble pie off the table of humility. I know that what I'm currently going through is a definite struggle, but after some recollection of what I've prayed about in the past, I can now see where I missed the conversation. I'm not saying that I don't keep my heart open because then I wouldn't be learning anything. I just think I have an idea of what I might want to hear, so I miss the actual answer. Or when I receive an answer, I sometimes get a funny look on my face and think
"uh...are you sure about that?"

After I miss the answer, or I just don't figure it out as quickly this is usually how it goes..

Me: Lord, my trials are getting hard. My burdens are heavy. I am not sure how much more I can take. I am feeling weak. Father, help me through this struggle.

God: My child, I am here for you, never forget. You asked me to make you stronger. The burdens may be heavy, but they will build you stronger and help you when you need to be your strongest. Hold onto the rod. Do not forget that this is all to better you. I know who you are, and who you are to become. Keep enduring, the fog will clear so long as you keep your faith in my hands.

I know trials are what builds faith and character. Without them, we wouldn't be able to move forward. We wouldn't learn and become better. If we were handed everything and never had a trial to face, or a leap to take, there would not be a plan of salvation. We would not have a Gospel to live by. We would not be here. God gave us the earth to learn, to progress, and to become the spiritual beings he intended on us becoming. He has a plan, included in his plan are trials because we need them to learn and to find out the truth of the Gospel and most of all, to build our relationship with our Heavenly Father so that it becomes so strong that the adversary trembles at the sight because he knows that bond cannot be broken once eternal salvation is reached.

I am often praying to the Lord to help me become better. I know I have my flaws and I know I can always improve on what I choose to do with my time. I'm no where near perfect and I know my perfection will only start to show through when I get to the other side. Sometimes I get so caught up in the world I tend to forget that I have prayed for help to become better, and then I feel bad because I know that I can pray as much as I want and the Lord hears my prayers and I know he wants to answer them and he wants to help me, but the problem is that I'm not doing anything on my part to make this happen. So I am trying.

Energize me

I have always been a fan of the law of attraction. "What you think is what you are". In my study of the law of attraction, a friend introduced me to chakras, which are the energy our body produces. For a while, I was really into studying and using them to my best knowledge. It did become difficult at times, but for as simple as it was, I kept trying.

When I came back to the church and started applying the gospel into my life, my law of attraction, and chakra studies became small and dusty. Although I would say, for the most part, I do still believe they are true. I do know that from my experiences, using positive thinking, brings positive happenings. As for the energy of chakras, yes I do believe we have an energy source within us. However, I am not 100% on the entirety of it being chakras. Just because I only know the surface of them, I don't know a whole lot about them.

With the Gospel of Jesus Christ, law of attraction, and chakra energy, I know amazing things can come about from using all 3 of them in ones life. Someday I would really like to write a book on how those 3 things can bring a positive influence into ones life.

There have been quite a few fire outbreaks here in Utah. It has been getting scary. There was one from a few days ago that looked like a volcano had exploded! It was close to my uncles house, who just so happens to be in europe right now. So with it being close to his house, that's when it started getting close to home. ( no pun intended) so throughout the past weeks, in church , at family gatherings, and all over Facebook, there have been countless prayers asking the lord for rain to put the fires out. The weather outlook said "mostly cloudy, lightening storms, slight chance of rain. " So as it was getting closer to these storms, I could feel the energy of the world praying positively for rain. Today, I looked out the window and noticed a downpour had started, and is still going!!

I have rejoiced, knowing that this is no coincidence. I may sound crazy, and I'm sure some scientist could come up with a theory as to why the rain percentage has increased so much within 24 hours, but I believe this is the work of many people uniting in positive thinking, and many prayerful thoughts. Most of all, I know the Lord is mindful of his children, he does watch out for us. He knows when we need him desperately. He also works with us when we unite as one in a positive way.