Faith: The Death of January to the Life of June

I’ve been taught my whole life that faith is the first principle of the gospel.  It sounds simple, right?  It’s the most basic building block so it’s easily understood by nearly everyone, right?  Maybe for some people.  Not for me though.  I’ve often struggled to grasp what faith actually is or how to use it in practical form.

 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

 

“And now as I said concerning faith – faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Alma 32:21)

 

It felt so intangible to me and like I just couldn’t really grasp it and understand it.  And how am I supposed to use something that I don’t really understand?  I’m sure I’ve instinctively used faith my entire life in some form or another, but I didn’t feel like I knew how to use it intentionally or consistently.

But I’m starting to understand.  It’s starting to make more sense to me.  I’m beginning to see how to practically use this tool and vital principle.  Take note of the word beginning.  I am sure that I’m just barely starting to scratch the surface.  I have a lot more to learn but making progress is exciting and encouraging.

I’d like to share what I am personally learning.

Let me illustrate with an example from my current life…

Our garden.

I’ve dreamed my whole life about growing a garden with my own little family.  The warm, homegrown tomatoes have always called out to me.

And now here we are, living in a place with a garden.

 

 

Well, can you even really call it that?  It doesn’t look much like of a garden at all.  Definitely not what I’ve been dreaming of.

 

When I look at our garden area I of course see, with my physical eyes, what the physical “reality” is right now – a lot of dirt, covered in a piles of wood chips that still need to be raked into place, some fencing that needs to be put up, lots of dead-looking, thorn-covered brush and trees that need to be cleared, and a lot of weeds poking up through the dirt, taking advantage of the spring rain.

 

It doesn’t look anything like the dreams that I’ve had my whole life.  There are, in fact, zero tomatoes in this garden… not to mention the many other things I’ve always dreamed of growing.  In fact, instead of being filled with color and life, it appears to be dead.

 

If I stopped there, I would be pretty discouraged, defeated, and downhearted.

 

But when I look at our garden area with my spiritual eyes, I see into the future.  I don’t see what is there at this exact moment in time, I see what is possible and much desired.  I see my own secret garden, my personal Garden of Eden.

I see an incredibly beautiful and fruitful garden – filled to the brim with life, color, intoxicating fragrance, beautiful flowers, and delicious, sun-warmed, morsels and basketfuls of nutritious food.

I see my kids picking berries and eating, right there on the spot, more than end up in the bucket.

I see Jershon and me sitting in the shade of a fruit tree, on a glider bench, holding hands, in the middle of the garden, taking it all in – listening to the song of the birds, the buzzing of the bees, the sound of the flowing fountain of water in the little pond, and feeling the slight breeze on our skin – overcome with joy and gratitude for this place that we get to call ours.  This place that teaches us so much and gives us back in abundance way more than we put in.

 

The vision that I see in with my spiritual eyes looks much more like this…

 

As I was seeing that picture in my mind’s eye and writing up that description, this scripture popped into my mind…

 

“For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.  Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” (2 Nephi 8:3)

 

If all I saw was the current physical reality, all I would see is wilderness.  Wilderness, without the eye of faith, feels discouraging, depressing, and daunting.

 

With the eye of faith though, it feels exciting, inviting, full of potential life that is just waiting to be unlocked and nurtured into physical existence.

 

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (Matthew 13:16)

 

And of course, what is required to unlock and nurture this life and potential?

 

Work.

 

Lots and lots of work…especially at the beginning.

 

Believe it or not, a lot of work has already been put into this garden area over the last 4 months.  Many hours of manual labor.

But there is still much to be done.  There are trees and brush to be cleared, wood chips to be spread, fencing to be completed, seeds to be planted, seedlings to be transplanted, holes to be dug, fruit trees to be planted, plants to be nurtured, soil to be amended, roots to be watered, a pond/water feature to be made, pruning to be done… the list goes on and on.

Some of these things will only need to be done this year, but many will need to be repeated over and over again.  And there will be a lot of waiting – especially when it comes to perennials like fruit trees, berry bushes, and some of the flowers.  My vision won’t be realized in physical form immediately.

 

But I can’t and won’t do the work if I don’t first see the potential and the incredible Eden that it can and will become.

If I didn’t believe that I would reap, why would I sow?  If I didn’t believe that I would gather, why would I plant?

 

First I have to believe.  First I have to see what is possible.

 

Yes, it’s true…faith is a principle of action, of work.  But first, faith is a principle of sight.

 

Of seeing with spiritual eyes what can’t yet be seen with physical eyes.

Hearing with spiritual ears what can’t yet be heard with physical ears.

Touching and feeling with spiritual skin what can’t yet be touched and felt with physical skin.

Smelling with spiritual noses what can’t yet be smelled with physical noses.

Tasting with spiritual mouths what can’t yet be tasted with physical mouths.

 

Developing these spiritual senses takes action and work.

 

But wait, didn’t I just say that faith is first a principle of sight and second a principle of action?

Well, yes…and no.

It’s one of those “what comes first – the chicken or the egg?” things.

 

I think of it a little more like this…

Step one: Pray for the gift and develop the skill of faith.  This requires work (in multiple forms). … but this work doesn’t have to be repeated from the very beginning each time.  Once you have a skill and gift, you only need to continue practicing it so you retain and enhance that skill and gift.  You don’t have to continually start back at the very beginning as a novice beginner.

Step two: Use faith as a principle of sight (along with all the other spiritual senses).  See with the eye of faith.

Step three: Use faith as a principle of action/work.  Put one foot in front of the other and move forward, relying on God.

And of course, don’t get too caught up in making this a linear process.  It doesn’t stop there.  It’s more cyclical than linear.  As you use faith as a principle of action, you strengthen your gift and skill of faith.  This leads you to see/hear/touch/taste/smell with even clearer spiritual senses, which inspires and motivates you to act.  And on and on it goes.

And throughout the process, if you are looking, you see miracle after miracle (both big and small) – within yourself, and in the world around you.

 

“[F]or it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is in vain.” (Moroni 7:37)

 

 

It really is an incredibly beautiful and rewarding process and experience -which doesn’t mean that it’s not hard or painful at times as well.  It’s like giving birth.  The incredible, beautiful, hard, and painful are all wrapped up together.  And I’d say that it’s actually the hard and painful that make the whole experience even more incredible, beautiful, and meaningful.  Growth requires stretching.

 

Faith can be just plain faith.  But when one exercises faith in Jesus Christ, faith becomes a principle of power.  Faith in Jesus Christ enables us to use God’s power.  

 

I read this quote by Boyd K. Packer a couple years ago and I have loved it ever since.

 

“Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it. …

“There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen. …

“There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things. … It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect. …

“In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression ‘seeing is believing’ promotes the attitude, ‘You show me, and I will believe.’ We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith.

“When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about—that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge. When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith” (Boyd K. Packer, “What Is Faith?” in Faith [1983], 42–43).

 

I also feel a call to action by this quote by Boyd K Packer and Russell M. Nelson…

 

“President Packer declared: “We need women who are organized and women who can organize. We need women with executive ability who can plan and direct and administer; women who can teach, women who can speak out. …

“We need women with the gift of discernment who can view the trends in the world and detect those that, however popular, are shallow or dangerous.”

Today, let me add that we need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith and who are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world. We need women who are devoted to shepherding God’s children along the covenant path toward exaltation; women who know how to receive personal revelation, who understand the power and peace of the temple endowment; women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen children and families; women who teach fearlessly.” (Russell M. Nelson, A Plea to My Sisters)

 

I want to be a woman who possesses the skill and gift of rare faith.  I want to know how to make important things happen by my faith.  I want to experience faith as a principle of power.  I’ve been working to become this type of person and although I’m still very much a beginner, I have seen so many incredible fruits of this quest so far.  … and I’m not just referring to growing a garden. 

Maybe sometime soon I’ll write a post about another experience that has required a lot of faith (that has preceded many miracles) – this current pregnancy.

 

  

 

 

“Do you exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?  Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” (Alma 5:15)

 

Look forward and see life instead of death.  This life is possible through Jesus Christ.  He is the conquerer of death and the giver of life.

Don’t get caught up in falsely perceived “reality.”  It’s a mirage anyway.

 

“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Corinthians 13:9-13)

 

Don’t focus your sights on the falsely perceived death of January.  Don’t get stuck there.  Instead, look forward to the potential abundant life of June.

January isn’t dead after all.  January is just sleeping, waiting for the right time to wake up.

 

As you look forward, continue to do all things that lie within your power to make that June a true reality, relying on God to do the rest.

 

“Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:17)

 

In time, January will wake up and with the aid and nurture of God and man, January will become June.  The potential that was resting in January will be released and become gloriously alive and abundant.

 

 

God is good.  God is faithful.  God fulfills His promises.  Don’t give up on Him.

In time you will see that though you put in the work to plant and to water, it is God that is the giver of life.  God will give an abundant increase for even our small, faith-filled efforts.

 

“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

 

I can plant the seeds and do all that I know to do for them (plant in an optimal location, water, amend the soil with any needed fertilizers while I wait for the soil fertility to build over the years, etc.), but ultimately, I am not the giver of life. That is God’s realm.  

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)

“And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45)

So what are some practical steps for how to apply faith to my life – as both a principle of sight, and of action, so that it can become a principle of power?

 

The first is to call out to God for help.  This is especially true when I receive a prompting that is challenging for me, and/or I am struggling with being able to see with the eye of faith.  As I call out to God, the light will break through the darkness…even if it’s just a crack at first…and I will begin to see more clearly.  In the case of a challenging prompting, as I call out to God, my heart is opened and softened.

 

“By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God-” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:12)

 

“The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.” (Doctrine & Covenants 110:1)

 

The second step is to become a co-creator with God. I want to make sure that I am creating my vision with God and aligning my will with His.  I can do this through prayer, pondering, meditation, and journaling.  There will be certain situations where He will have more specifics and instruction for me and other situations where He is perfectly happy to allow me to take the reins and use my imagination to practice my creative powers.  

The third step is to do some visualizing.  There are many ways to do this.  My personal favorite method of this is vision journaling.  I mentioned this in my Come Unto Christ Toolkit post.    

The fourth step is to make an action plan and then take the first step (and second, third, etc.)

And sometimes, I don’t have enough details in order to make a specific action plan.  In those cases, I step into the darkness, put one foot in front of the other, trusting that the light will come, even if only to illuminate my next step.

 

“And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth,” (1 Nephi 4:6-7)

 

Throughout this entire process, I need to make sure that I am co-creating with God.  I can continually check in with God to see if there are tweaks to the design that need to be made, steps that need to be rearranged, blurry parts of the vision that could use some fine tuning, etc.

I also want to be keeping my eyes open to see the miracles (both big and small).  I want to be consistently recording the miracles that I notice (which helps me to notice them even more), and expressing gratitude to God for His hand in it all. 

Because, as we know, faith precedes the miracle.  If we are exercising true faith in Jesus Christ, we can expect to see miracles.  I need to be open minded with this.  Miracles don’t always look the way I think they will.  I will be surprised at how many miracles my life is flooded with when I am intentionally trying to notice them.

 

  

Again, this process is cyclical and the steps will need to be repeated over and over again as needed.

But through the process, I will become someone that I want to be – a woman of rare faith.