Episode 81: Fortify Your Faith For Future Challenges

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Have you noticed an unprecedented number of people leaving the church? Even your strong and faithful close family members and friends? Do you ever wonder what led up to those decisions or what you need to be doing to fortify your faith from this result too? I think a lot about making sure my faith can withstand the pressures ahead. I think it’s because I hear our prophet pleading so much with us to strengthen our spirituality. In fact he actually said,

“It is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures — perhaps measures we have never taken before — to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures”

The prophet is pleading with us to do something not that we have never done before to withstand what is coming to us in our day. My question for you is what are you doing to fortify that spiritual foundation? As a mental health therapist, I have studied how mental health skills can help strengthen my spiritual foundation. During my study of strategies to fortify my spiritual foundation, I noticed three vital themes that have helped me to deal with today’s challenges. 

​​I have been a therapist for over 15 years and there was this point a few years back when I realized I could use my mental health skills I was teaching to clients to also connect with God and receive God‘s power for my day. At this point I had been helping people as a therapist for about 8 years with the biggest struggles of their lives. I was feeling enormous pressure to provide healing and care for the individuals that were seeing me. I was working full-time, being a mom and a wife, and holding a calling. My kids were struggling with things that as a therapist I should know how to deal with and I didn’t.

I was barely keeping my head above water. I had no idea what to focus on each day to be the most effective. I felt like no matter what I did I was running on a hamster wheel and getting nowhere there was always something else that needed to be done. Then the breaking point came... I lost some patients and a coworker to suicide

I was broken! Who was I to help people? I felt unsure, inadequate, fearful and drained. How could I continue to help people if I didn’t even know what I needed, my family needed or my patients. As I started searching for answers and help I began to see that the one person that knew exactly what every individual person needed from me was the Savior. 

So I learned to build a relationship with God. I learned how to hear Him and have consistent spiritual habits. I connected with the Savior to truly receive the revelation I needed to continue doing the important work He needs me to do. 

I also felt a massive load taken off of my shoulders.  I began to understand that I did not need to know what each individual person needed from me because I had direct access to the Savior. He always knows exactly what that person needs. All I needed to do was stay connected to the Savior daily and Hear Him so I could provide what each person needed.

That is when I realized becoming a receiver of the gospel was the key to building a stronger relationship with God. To have consistent spiritual habits and hear “Him daily” which ultimately created a strong spiritual foundation for my faith.

When I started seeking each day to make a connection with God and receive His power I felt efficient and motivated to tackle the day through my daily spiritual habits. I was able to discern God’s direction at every moment by hearing the still small voice of the Spirit. I had endurance physically and mentally to deal with the challenges of life through God's power. I started seeing progress in my day and satisfaction in my efforts. I knew that whatever I was spending my time on was where the Lord needed me to be. The stress of what I wasn’t doing subsided because I knew I was right where I needed to be 

The truth is, President Nelson has repeatedly pled with us to fortify our spiritual foundation. He has also said, 

“As turmoil rages around us, we need to create places where we are safe, both physically and spiritually. When your home becomes a personal sanctuary of faith—where the Spirit resides—your home becomes the first line of defense.”

What I hear President Nelson telling us is that we need a spiritual foundation of faith so we have a place to go when life is difficult. I also love what Elder Douglas has said about the future and our faith.

 “Each of us has weathered and will weather spiritual hurricanes that threaten our peace and try our faith.”

President Nelson has given us a promise if we work on fortifying our faith.

“The Lord has declared that despite today’s unprecedented challenges, those who build their foundations upon Jesus Christ, and have learned how to draw upon His power, need not succumb to the unique anxieties of this era.”

If you can fortify your faith in Jesus Christ then you will not succumb to the anxieties of our time. What a great promise! I believe so strongly in what they are saying that I decided to create a FREE training called 3 Foundations to Fortify your Faith. Come join us and learn to Strengthen your spiritual foundation to withstand spiritual storms that threaten your faith. Doing so will help you...

Feel efficient and motivated to tackle the day through your daily spiritual habits

Discern God’s direction at every moment by hearing the still small voice of the Spirit

Have endurance physically and mentally to deal with challenges through God's power

I would love for you to join me for this free training that I am doing on December 14. Simply choose which time you would like to attend. Please copy the link and send it to a friend so they too can strengthen their spiritual foundation with you. I hope to see you there.