Personal Progress

I have been the personal progress specialist in our ward for a year now. I enjoy the calling and have a testimony that it is an inspired program. So I have been asking myself this whole time "why don't I work on this along with the young women I am supposed to be mentoring"? Laziness I suppose is the best answer.

I have decided that now is THE TIME to begin and procrastinate no longer. So Monday I started. First I have to say that I am really excited about the new changes. I absolutely love the new book, pink and spiral bound. It is really beautiful.

I have been working on Faith this week. I am going to use this blog as my journal for the following reasons: 1. It makes me feel more committed to following through knowing that others are following this blog. 2. I hope it might encourage others to work on these areas of their lives as well (did you know that all adult women can work on personal progress and achieve the Recognition award and necklace?). 3. I have been seriously neglecting this blog for sometime and this will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Value Experience #1:
I was to read several scriptures and two conference talks on faith.
Establish a habit of praying: beginning with regular morning and evening prayers.
I have had this habit of praying now for about 15 years. Before that I was very inconsistent in praying. It was because of an experience I had when I was serving as the secretary in a young women presidency that I began to change. Up to that time, you could call me a fence sitter Mormon. I had two daughters in young women at that time and the theme that year was "Experiment Upon the Word".

Alma 32:27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

She had a beautiful picture made up by one of the leaders, and everyone in young women's was to sign it committing to this challenge. That was a turning point in my life. I felt that as a leader and mother to these young women I needed to commit. For the first time in my life, I started a regular reading program, and started praying. I wasn't perfect in the beginning, but I worked at it steadily and now 15 years later, I can look back and see the marvelous change that faith and prayer have made in my life. I rarely think about that anymore, but reading that part of Alma again brought it back to me and I am so grateful to that YW president who made such an impact on my life as an adult.

I have a firm testimony of prayer. I look forward each morning to speaking my heart to Heavenly Father and knowing that He is listening and knows what is best in my life. One time I remember was 2-3 years after changing due to that time in Young Women's, I was called to be the Relief Society President. I was also working part time and needed to, to help support our family. About a year after being called, it was wearing on me and I started praying to Heavenly Father for help. The answer I got was that I needed to quit my job. That was such a hard thing for me to do, because it meant that our family would really struggle. I finally realized that I needed to have faith that Heavenly Father would take care of us, but that I needed to take the first step. So I quit....and started praying fervently for His help. All of a sudden, Dennis started getting over time at work, where as before there had been none. Whenever money would get very tight, I would pray, and he would get more overtime. Finally Dennis would jokingly say, "Would you quit praying?" But during that year and a half that I finished serving as Relief Society President I did not work, and we were blessed to have just enough for our needs. That was a huge faith building experience on both FAITH and PRAYER. Since that time I often have my prayers answered in ways that seem miraculous.

I do have one huge regret. I wish I had realized all this much earlier in my life. Because I waited so long I failed to teach my children these important principles. Now I am trying to encourage them, but it is not the same as raising them with these ideals from an early age.

But I can pray for them, and I do every day. Watch our fam...miracles still happen!