Faith Is A Principle of Action and Power, and in that order!

Last Saturday, I was blessed to be able to hear Elder David A. Bednar, an apostle of Jesus Christ, speak at a special fireside in San Antonio. One of the many awesome principles he taught about was FAITH. He said faith is a principle of action and of power, and in that order. (Hmmmm, could he also be a believer in "Taking Action"?, I do believe so!) Sometimes we pray for power to act, and think we have to wait for that power before we can exercise faith and act. However, acting in an important first step that we must take before the power of God can be revealed. Power won't lead to action, action leads to power.

I tried to experiment upon the word this week. I had a lab practical today that was really scaring me. I had a minor meltdown while practicing last week for it and I spend the whole weekend praying to keep it together. Monday started off well. Tuesday, you can see by my previous post, left me fighting for a good attitude all day long. I know Tuesday was important to this process. Wednesday I just got right back up again and decided that Tuesday was a fluke, and the day went well again. There were some specific things I did to "act" and exercise faith, such as serve somebody each day this week, pray morning and night, and read scriptures in the morning before school. I know I am right where I need to be in school. I know that through my future career I'll be able to serve people. So, it is easy to conclude that by doing the specific things I laid out to do, the power to accomplish what I needed to would come.

Sure enough, it worked. Not without much effort, but it worked. I don't know yet the results grade-wise of my lab practical today, but I do consider it successful. I did not cry, I did not freak out. I marched right in and started "treating my patient". I made a few mistakes, but as my wise father told me, my expectations of how well I should perform are probably higher than my instructors. I'm exhausted! Now this isn't to say that I have this faith thing down and checked off the list. HA! Nope, it is a lifelong principle that I now have in my toolbox to pull out and use when the next thing comes along.