Faith

Sunday was a happy day where we were able to attend testimony meeting & Sunday school which both triggered specific thoughts about the topic of faith. In reality, faith never came up in someone's testimony, but that was where my mind was going. Then Oliver and I attend the Gospel Principles class instead of Gospel Doctrine where we were focusing on the first principle of the gospel: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I began thinking about the principle of faith and how much hope is connected to faith. I began to think on some superficial levels that we begin to have hope for things in the future and depending on what you decide to do after you have that hope, it will usually lead to having faith in the results of that unkown outcome. For example, I hope for a lot of things concerning the future and because I have prayed about them or recieved a blessing for that, I have faith that what the Lord wills will come to pass. I have a child that will be born anytime within the next week or so. Does that frighten me? Of course! Do I have faith that the delivery will be safe for both the child and myself? Of course! I have a beautiful son already who I've had to accept isn't perfect, unfortunately. Do I worry about how he will grow up and how I will be able to be a good mother to him? Definitely. But at the same time, I have faith that the Lord knows what he has in store for that bright "heavenly ray" in our life and I know(even if I sometimes forget) that I have excellent support and resources to make sure I can be the best parent to him possible.

While in the Gospel Principles class, there were several things mentioned that made me think a little more deeply about the topic. One, i was reminded of the specific definition of faith: "a hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Which just solidified the one thought I had formed during sacrament meeting. The second point made in the manual reads as follows:
"The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that faith is a principle of power that motivates our day-to-day activities. Would we study and learn if we did not believe we could obtain wisdom and knowledge? Would we work each day if we did not hope that by doing so we could accomplish something? Would a farmer plant if he did not expect to harvest? Each day we act upon things we hope for when we cannot see the end result. This is faith."
There are so many things that we do on faith without knowing that we have faith in it. So while that was interesting to think about, the next point that was reiterated to me was one that I'm still thinking about. The whole concept of faith without works is dead.
"Faith involves doing all we can to bring about the things we hope and pray for. President Kimball said: 'In faith we plant the seed, and soon we see the miracle of the blossoming. Men have often misunderstood and have reversed the process.' He continued by explaining that many of us want to have health and strength without keeping the health laws. We want to have prosperity without paying our tithes. We want to be close to the Lord but don’t want to fast and pray. We want to have rain in due season and to have peace in the land without observing the Sabbath as a holy day and without keeping the other commandments of the Lord. (See Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 4.)"
I know this isn't a new thought for most of you, but I've needed some refreshing of the basics and this was a nice little bucket of water thrown on me again. For example, Evan has some developmental issues that we have learned may be permanent, or they may not be(yay for definitive answers, huh?). But we have also learned that with proper therapy and with our help, Evan can quickly come up to the level and potential that he can make it too. While I can pray all I want for Evan to be healthy and strong, my point is that without actually doing the physical/occupational/speech therapy tips that we as parents are given by the therapists, Evan won't be able to acheive as many of those steps as he could with the work we should be putting in.
Faith...an interesting concept as well as one that we put into action everyday without even thinking about it. How much a part of your life is faith?