A Life of Faith

​“I have faith in God. I have faith in myself. I have faith in other people.” This has become my all-time favorite affirmation. It goes at the top of my daily planner. It finds its way into my prayers. And more and more often, I find myself actually living it.
 
I grew up as a very fearful person. I’m not sure how much of it can be ascribed to “nature” or “nurture”, but fear seemed to be my lot. For decades there was a low buzz of anxiety that plagued my every moment. I never thought I’d see the days that I now live in…where anxiety, if not rare, is absent enough that its appearance is noticeable. And when I notice it, I am able to recognize that some limiting belief has appeared, challenge that belief, and dissolve the anxiety into nothingness. For most of my life, I didn’t think this day would ever come.
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Fear is the opposite of faith. In the Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith once said, “Where doubt and uncertainty are there faith is not, nor can it be. For doubt and faith do not exist in the same person at the same time; that persons whose minds are under doubts and fears cannot have unshaken confidence; and where unshaken confidence is not the faith is weak.” Said another way, fear is simply prayer to the wrong god.
 
I love my affirmation. You see, when I have faith in God there is no need to worry about all that is happening in my world. When I believe that God is in control I can depend on Him for my peace, my distraction, my problem-solving ideas. I don’t have to run to food, or any other negative emotion or behavior. When I trust myself, I stop the old thought that I am somehow incapable of receiving God’s help. I recognize that He has given me the gifts and talents that I need to succeed in life. It reminds me that I am His little girl. When I have faith in others, I am able to let go of my desires to control their thoughts, words or actions. I let them own their own mistakes and victories. I stop treating them like children who must be told what to do and how to do it. I am more empathetic and far less anxious. I am able to focus on the one and only person I can control…namely, myself.
 
What started as a hope and a prayer has turned into a belief. I do trust God. I do trust myself. I do trust others.  OK…usually. But I’m learning to do so more and more every day. And that is what I help my clients do. And through that beautiful process we find ourselves living a life we never thought possible…a life of peace…a life of joy…a life of faith. 

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