One of my cousins told me how we don't need to doubt big decisions when we are doing things that invite the Spirit, like studying our scriptures, going to the temple, and doing all we can to keep God's commandments and our covenants with Him. By doing those things we are allowing Heavenly Father to speak to us. Which means we are more able to hear His promptings and our hearts are more receptive to His word. In Mosiah 3:19 it reads, "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to ALL things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." She told me that because she trusts God and His plan for her, she follows every prompting she notices which means submitting to His will in ALL things. She reminded me that God is good, so every good thought comes from God. I decided, as I thought and pondered all this that from now on, whenever I get a thought or feeling that I am questioning, I will pause and ask myself these questions from President Gordon B. Hinckley (which I found in Preach My Gospel Chapter 4), "Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous?" If it does, then it is of God from the Holy Ghost.
With this mindset I felt unstoppable, then remembered I am still human and am going to make mistakes. However, God does not want us to beat ourselves up over mistakes we make, yes we should feel Godly sorrow, but that doesn't mean hating ourselves for our shortcomings. We have Christ and His Atonement for a reason, so we can repent and do better with Christ's help.
A friend of mine responded to my question telling me that he always tries to include a prayer in everything he does, that way he is seeking the Lord's help and is ready for promptings when they come. I found a couple scriptures that went right along with his insight. The first one is 2 Nephi 32:9 which reads, "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." The second scripture is Alma 37:36-37, "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." In order to be directed by the Lord, we need to first ask to be guided, second always have Him in our minds so that when promptings come we can be a blessing to others and be blessed ourselves, and third let Him know what our plans are for the day and what we want to accomplish, so that He will open up ways to serve others as we go about our day.
I hope this helped anybody who is struggling with these same things. Life is hard and sometimes scary, but with the Lord and His perfect plan and timing for our lives we can still find joy by listening to His guidance and striving to do all He asks of us. I am so grateful that He trusts me enough to serve Him by serving His children. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ, I am so blessed to be a part of Christ's true church and am thankful for the continued guidance and understanding They both give me. The Church is true and God loves each of us.
Love,
Kenzie
Pic: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
