A few weeks ago I received some
inspiration on how to make my life better. I would like to say it was
new and exciting, but the truth is I have been receiving this
inspiration in so many subtle and not so subtle ways for the past few
months. Here it is:
“Nevertheless, spiritual light rarely comes to
those who merely sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a
switch.” (President Uchtdorf).
What?! You mean I have to do something?
That's just crazy. I mean, I usually spend my time reminding my kids
to turn the lights OFF. And if I ever just feel like sitting there, I
can call my kids to come turn the lights on for me. But now I am
suppose to turn the spiritual lights back on myself?... Of course I
am. It is the only way it can be done.
Okay, so I'm pretty sure that I learned
that “knowing is half the battle” (thanks GI Joe) when I was a
kid. So what is blocking my light? What is causing the darkness? I
have determined that I can sum it all up in one word: DOUBT. Yes,
doubt. You're probably pretty amazed that I came up with this all by
myself... okay, not entirely “all by myself”. I have had some
guidence. The main source of this guidence (apart from the spirit, of course) has come from an unusual
source... my Nook. See, I found this book I had downloaded some time
in the last year. I thought it was a diet book so I hadn't really
looked at it, but today I did. It is kind of a diet book though it
has nothing to do with food. It puts you on a diet from your doubts.
The book is written by a faithful
Christian women, Renee Swope. She is an author, public speaker and
co-host to Proverbs 31 Ministries’ international radio program. Her
book A Confident Heart,
led her to write this program to be used as a daily devotional to
help draw closer to God by gaining a confident heart. At first I
wasn't sure this was really what I needed. Then I took the first
advice from the 7-Day Doubt Diet,
I read the first chapter of A Confident Heart.
There was one part that really stuck out to me:
“That’s
when I noticed a huge nine-foot shadow on the wall. I was surprised
by how much bigger my shadow was than my five-foot-two-inch frame.
It
was distorting my image on the wall by making my body look bigger
than it really was. All of a sudden, it dawned on me. My uncertainty
had created a huge shadow of doubt. Just like my shadow on the wall
was distorting my shape, my doubt was distorting my thoughts and
overpowering my emotions with confusion and questions. The shadow of
doubt had become bigger than what I doubted—myself.
I
just stood there looking at the humongous shadow. Then I bent down to
put my makeup bag in my suitcase and sensed God whispering to my
heart: You
can only see the shadow because you have turned away from the light.
Turn back toward the light.”
Whoa!
Have I not just been told to get up and turn on the light! So here is
the plan... I'm going on a doubt diet. For the next seven days, I
will be woking on removing doubt from my heart. How, you ask, am I
going to do this? Well there are only four daily steps to the plan.
- Prayer
- Talk
- Scripture
Huh,
kind of sounds like Primary so far.
- Return and report
Each
day I will read the scripture and advice that is outlined in The 7-Day Doubt Diet.
The one change I will make is to read the scripture from the King
James Version of the Bible instead of the NIV. As a Latter-day Saint,
I also want to utilize all the resources that Heavenly Father
provides me. One of the greatest sources is the living prophets. So
I will also be listening and pondering one of the Conference addresses. I will also make sure to have a heartfelt and specific
prayer with my Father in Heaven each day. Renee Swope offers written
prayers in her devotional book. And while the prayers are beautiful
and inspiring, I think God might want to hear about me in my own
words. So my prayer will be more personal. Finally, I will return and
report here. Why here? I am not sure. Maybe by having it available to
all my journey will inspire others. Maybe I just need to feel
accountable. Maybe my husband likes to be informed about all the
thoughts in my little head and sometimes it is just easier to write
it. I'm not really sure why, just that this blog is meant to be my
tool
Monday will start day one. Wish me
luck.
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