Believe In Yourself.....Doing Hard Things

3 Links to 3 Ensign Articles:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1995/11/trust-in-the-lord?lang=eng&query=%22trust+in+the+lord%22
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/01/living-the-abundant-life?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/08/one-step-at-a-time?lang=eng&query=one+step+time

The Great Success Formula:
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/2012/sharing_stations/pdf/63g.pdf

I CAN DO HARD THINGS!

In order for us to grow and become fit for our Father’s kingdom we must do hard things.  Life’s journey is all about learning, growing, and becoming.   We will all have challenges, hardships, and experience difficult things.   ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’  Doing hard things can mean something completely different for each one of us.

·         Does it mean learning to play a musical instrument?

·         Does it mean cleaning or organizing your home?

·         Does it mean serving someone that has offended you?

·         Does it mean raising a difficult teenager?

·         Does it mean losing a job and finding new one?

·         Does it mean fighting a serious illness or disease?

·         Does it mean grieving the loss of a loved one?

·         Does it mean going through a divorce?

·         Does it mean sending a son or daughter on a mission?

·         Does it mean serving a mission yourself?

·         Does it mean losing your home because of financial difficulties?

·         Does it mean living with a disability?

·         Does it mean overcoming an addiction or weakness?

·         Does it mean being kind to someone who is unkind to you?

·         Does it mean ‘living in the world but not of the world’?

·         Does it mean seeking an education?

·         Does it mean accepting a church calling in which you feel very inadequate?

·         Does it mean sending a family member off to serve our country?

·         Does it mean learning how to sew, quilt, or another new skill?

·         Does it mean forgiving someone who has wronged you?

·         Does it mean keeping the commandments?

·         Does it mean praying, reading, and studying the scriptures daily?

·         Does it mean standing up for what you believe in?

·         Does it mean taking care of a child with a disability, illness, or disease?

·         Does it mean going on a pioneer trek?

·         Does it mean paying a full tithe or a generous fast offering?

·         Does it mean starting a regular exercise routine?

·         Does it mean admitting you did something wrong?

·         Does it mean sharing your testimony with someone?

·         Does it mean asking for help?

·         Does it mean diligently seeking for inspiration?

      What does the phrase “I can do hard things” mean to you?

Adapted from 2012 BYU Women’s Conference Sharing Station by Suzanne Reynolds, Colleen Kirby, & Kris Jolley

Powerful Possibility Thinking

The thoughts you feed your mind are just as important as the food you feed your body!  Thoughts shape our actions, our habits, & our character.  Below you will find enough quotes to get you started on a healthy diet of positive thoughts.  Cut out the quotes then place them in a jar.  Pick out a quote to read every morning for the next 8 weeks, & power up on “possibility thinking”.   Continue to fill your mind a healthy diet by adding more thoughts to the jar as you find additional inspiring quotes or scriptures.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”  

                                                                                                                                     ~ Henry Stanley Haskins

“It ain’t what they call you; it’s what you answer to!”    ~ W.C. Fields

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.”   ~ Henry Ford

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”    ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Success comes in cans not can’ts.”     ~ Unknown

“If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.”  ~ Unknown

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”  ~Thomas Alva Edison     

“Just as much as we see in others we have in ourselves.”   ~ William Hazlitt

                                                                 

“We are like the little branch that quivers during a storm, doubting our strength & forgetting we are the tree – deeply rooted to withstand all of life’s upheavals.”          ~ Dodinsky

“At times many of us let that enemy of achievement, even the culprit “self-defeat”, dwarf our aspirations, smother our dreams, cloud our vision, & impair our lives.  The enemy’s voice whispers in our ears, “You can’t do it”, “You’re too young”, “You’re too old”, “You’re nobody”.  This is when we remember that we are created in the image of God.  Reflection on this truth provides a profound sense of strength & power.”     ~ Thomas S. Monson

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.”                                                                                                                                                  ~ David Brinkley

“It’s not who you are that holds you back.  It’s who you think you’re not.”     ~attributed to Hanoch McCarty

 “Don’t limit yourself & don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do.   Believe in yourself & then live so as to reach your possibilities.  You can achieve what you believe you can.  Trust & believe & have faith.”                        ~Thomas S. Monson

“We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.”            ~Roderick Thorp

“Subconscious mind does exactly what the conscious mind tells it to.” ~Anderson (3 Magic Words)

“You act out who you think you are.”         ~Ruth Fishel

“Spend time thinking of what you want rather than what you don’t want.”      ~ S. Roman

“Give me a task too big, too hard for human hands, then I shall come at length to lean on Thee & in leaning I will find my strength.”          ~ Anonymous

“Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns & that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns…Our faith gives us knowledge of something better -- that we can become oak trees.”         ~ E.F. Schumacher

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light not out darkness that frightens us.  We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine…We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”                                                                                                                                                     ~ Marianne Williamson

“Believe in yourself, my brothers & sisters.  You are a child of God.  You do have something of divinity within you.  Believe in your capacity to do great & good things.”   ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

“Believe in yourself and all that you are.  Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”                                  ~ Christian D. Larson

“Whatever you do, you need courage.  Whatever course you decide on, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.  There are always difficulties arising to tempt you to believe that your critics are right.  To map out a course of action & follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.  Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men & women to win them.”                        ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Believe in yourselves.  Believe that you are never alone.  Believe that you will be guided.”     ~Elaine S. Dalton

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed.  The fact that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration; most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.  Life is like an old time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke,  dust cinders, and jolts—interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.  The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”         ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

“Faith in God includes Faith in His timing.”    ~ Neal A. Maxwell

“We can’t expect to be ‘fit companions of the Gods,’ like Eliza R. Snow said, if we haven’t had to do the work to become that.  A lot of that is lonely work between us and the Lord and calling upon His Atonement to help us through our experience.  The journey is what makes us.”          ~ Julie B. Beck        

                                                                     

“When life is hard, remember – we are not the first to ask, ‘Is there no other way?’”   ~ Jeffrey R. Holland

“The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.”                                                                                                                                                         ~Joseph B. Wirthlin

“Remember that we do not run alone in this great race of life; we are entitled to the help of the Lord.”

                                                                                                                                    ~ Thomas S. Monson

“Make your mind tell your body what to do.  Be not weary in well doing.”  ~unknown

“If you dream it, you can do it.”     ~Walt Disney

“We have one life to live, and we have to do the best we can with this life.”  ~ David O. McKay

“Yes, there are trials, and yes we have many challenges, but we have the gospel of Jesus Christ so we can make it through.”  

                                                                                                                        ~Elaine S. Dalton

“Becoming like our Savior Jesus Christ happens when our faith in Him allows us to ‘do hard things’.

                                                                                                                                    ~Julie B. Beck

“As we put our faith in the Lord and keep our focus on the eternities, we will be blessed to be able to accept whatever trial we are given, for life on earth, as we know it, is only temporary, and, if we endure it well, the Lord has promised us: ‘And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.”    ~ Robert D. Hales

“In the strength of the Lord we can do and endure and overcome all things.”   ~ David A. Bednar

“Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, & the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.”       ~ Thomas S. Monson

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”     ~Willa Cather

“All the water in the world,

However hard it tried,

Could never sink the smallest ship unless it [gets] inside.

All the evil in the world,

The blackest kind of sin,

Could never hurt you the least bit unless you let it in.”

                                                            ~ Boyd K. Packer

“When you’ve taken your last step and done all that you can do, He will lift your heavy load and carry you.”

                                                                                                ~ Hillary Weeks (He’ll Carry You)

“At times you may feel like David trying to fight Goliath.  But remember – David did win!”  ~ Thomas S. Monson

“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.”  ~Epictetus

“Life is not about what you have, it’s about what you become.”   ~ Unknown

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me   (Philippians 4:13)

And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

                                                                                                                                    (Abraham 3:25)

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father:  Ye shall have eternal life.  (2 Nephi 31:20)

And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.  Amen.   (Ether 13:41)

…peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee in high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.  (D&C 121: 8-9)

And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.   (Alma 36:3)

And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for they good.   (D&C 122:7)

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.  (Ether 12:27)

Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.  For after much tribulation come the blessings.  Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand. 

                                                                                                                                                (D&C 58: 3-4)

   And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.  And again it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.   (Mosiah 4:27)

…faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.    (Ether 12:6)