With Increased Faith, No One Can Stop Your Progress.

Today was a good, progressive day. The first half of my day wasn't as fulfilling as the second half, but hey, we're all about progress. I spent the earlier part of my day taking a nap and avoiding going to campus to get real work done. Then, I finally made my way up to campus and went to a review session for my Computer Science 235 class, and worked on a tutorial I found online. Once I left the lab after 3 hours, I felt renewed and hopeful... full of faith.

Faith is what I needed in order to get this progress going. I needed to believe that Heavenly Father could and would help me. I needed to forget about everything else, and just trust Him. That is what I plan to do from now on.

I really like the phrase "faith as a grain of mustard seed". This phrase is very significant and close to me. Before, I never really understood, but now I can relate. We always sang in Primary, "Faith is like a little seed", but now I get it. Faith doesn't always start out big. In fact, most times, it starts out very small. Sometimes, even all the faith we can possibly conjure up, only amounts to the size of a mustard seed... and that's okay. That is all that Christ asks of us. Really, that is it. In Ether 12:27 Ether tells us: "for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them". All that Heavenly Father asks of us is all the faith that we have, which may only end up being microscopic, but it is enough for Him.

Once I started displaying what little faith I had by doing the things on the list that I blogged about a while ago, (Read the Ensign each month, Read the Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple pamphlet, Be completely diligent in my Visiting Teaching, Be more aware of curfew, and abide by the rules, Communicate lovingly with my roommates, Kneel and pray before I leave my apartment in the morning, Kneel and pray before I go to sleep, Pray before I eat, Set apart a time where I can read the scriptures everyday, Schedule a time to go to the temple each week) I started to see progress.

In a talk about faith, President Hinckley said, "In the on-working of this great cause, increased faith is what we most need. Without it, the work would stagnate. With it, no one can stop its progress". I would like to relate this to myself by rephrasing what he says, "In the on-working of this great cause [of learning here on earth], increased faith is what we[I] most need. Without it, the work [my knowledge] would stagnate [like it did when the Lord was not my first priority in my life]. With it, no one can stop its progress".

I know that if I continue to put the Lord first in my life and work hard, I will be able to succeed. Sometimes it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel (especially in the dungeons of the Talmadge building), but I know that God is with me, helping get there.