ctr_tanc

I agree. I think the best thing to start with is daily prayer and scripture study. Here's some things that have helped me in my own prayers. Recently I tried changing the order of my prayers. First I thank the Lord for blessings that have already come to me. This part is pretty easy since everything comes from him :) Second, I think of someone else to pray for and include them. Then I pray for myself and the things I need. I've noticed as I do this that I feel my prayers have more meaning. Another thing about prayers. Our prayers are always heard and always answered. However, the answers often come in unusual ways. A bit of a strange example of this is the other day when I lost my contact. I thought that it had fallen out of my eye when I tried to take it out. I started searching and said a quick prayer that I could find it. I didn't find it. Then, as I knelt to say my evening prayers a few minutes later, I felt something strange in my eye and it turned out that my contact had not fallen out, but had been pushed back behind my eye. So I didn't find it the way that I had thought, but I did find it. So, that's one example. I've had many many times where I thought the best thing for me would be one thing, when really, it wasn't. For instance, I've wanted to go on a mission for my whole life, yet when I went to put in my papers, I felt very strongly that I needed to wait for a year. I thought about it a long while and prayed about it and followed the promptings. I was confused and sad. But now that I've been through that year and I'm a month from my mission I can look back and I see that there has never been a year of my life that has better prepared me for my mission. So, the point of all this being, be willing to follow the will of the Lord even when He sends you down a path that you didn't expect. Nephi at one point was bound by his brethren. He prayed to the Lord to give him strength to burst the bonds, and the Lord loosened the bands instead. So just remember and be willing to watch for how your prayers are answered. I am very excited for you! I love the scriptures and I love being able to pray each day. I'll be praying for you.

This is a great idea Heather!

sjdean, I don't know how I can or we can stress this enough. You won't be 100% sure of any of this UNTIL you test something. You can hypothesize and think about it all as much as you want, but "by their fruits ye shall know them" and you can't have fruit until you plant some seeds and that takes some sort of ACTION. Your action doesn't have to be big. I challenge you again to pick some principle of the LDS faith and live it for a week. If by the end of that week you see good results, you will KNOW 100% without a doubt that THAT principle is true. Then test another principle, then another, then another. Slowly but surely you will build up a reservoir of experiences and principles that you KNOW are true. Then, since all other teachings in the gospel are based off of those, you'll know that the gospel is true. You'll know without a doubt, 100%. sjdean, be willing to let the DESIRE to know grow within you and lead you towards ACTION. Alma 32:21-43

sjdean, it's hard to change your lifestyle and the Lord knows that. You're not expected to do it all at once or to do it all on your own without encouragement, or witnesses along the way. One thing that the Lord promises us is that we will always have the chance to choose. The Lord will never force us to do anything. Faith is not blind, it never is. Faith is always based on some solid, literal evidence that we've been given previously. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 emphasis added). There's an amazing section in the Book of Mormon where the prophet Alma teaches about faith in Alma 32:21-43. I would encourage you to read it once before continuing. In that section he says that "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." (Alma 32:21 emphasis added) So when we have faith, we have it in things that are true. James 2:20 says that "faith without works is dead" which teaches us that we must act on our faith in order for it to survive. So with that we have three basic principles of faith: (1)It is based on solid substance, or evidence, (2) it is not a perfect knowledge and (3)it is a principle of action. So now let us apply that to your situation (or what I understand of it). You state that you are worried about giving up certain things (coffee, tea, alcohol, sunday time, 10% of your income, etc...) well sjdean, you're not required to give them up all at once. You're not required to do it in a week or a month or whatever. The important thing to know is that you are required to do those things. How you do them and how quickly you do them is up to you. You work at your own pace and work with the help of the Lord. I would suggest that you pick one thing, any of those principles, to test out. It could be the one that you are most worried about or one that makes sense to you. Practice living that principle for one week (if you choose Sunday time I would suggest doing it for two Sundays at least). Nobody ever died because they didn't drink alcohol for a week or didn't have their morning cup of coffee each day for a week. You've stated that you're somewhat drawn to this faith. Well, there's your beginning evidence. Obviously something about the LDS faith has caught your attention and something tells you inside that this is worth your time. You may not know it, but that is the Spirit. It is testifying to you of the truth of this gospel and is gently encouraging you to test just a little more. This is your evidence to base your faith on. There's the first principle. You don't know for sure if this is true or not, but it could be. There's the second principle. Now the third principle. I talked about that in my first post to you and I've already challenged you to test one principle. Your actions and your experiment on that principle will produce results. You can then look at the "fruits" of your labors and determine if they are good. If they are good, then you have been given more evidence on which to base your faith and actions. If the "fruit" is not good, then you know that it's not true. "Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away." (Alma 32:32 where Alma compares the word of God to a seed) I encourage you to read Alma 32:21-43 through one more time. It's one of my favorite passages of scripture and outlines the principle of faith wonderfully!

It's like everyone on here is saying sjdean, a witness doesn't come until after the trial of your faith. In the Book of Mormon there's the story of Korihor, who asked for a sign saying "If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words." (Alma 30:43) He insisted that he wanted to have the sign and the witness or he refused to believe. There a story in the Bible of a man named Gideon in Judges 6. He also asks God for a sign, but there's an important difference between the two accounts. Why did God destroy Korihor and save Gideon? Korihor's intent was to disbelieve all UNTIL he was given the sign. He was determined to KNOW and not have faith. In the case of Gideon, his attitude was one of compliance, not defiance. Gideon was willing to do all that the Lord asked of him, but requested the as he did the Lord's will in leading the armies of Israel, that he would be given a sign to show him that he is already doing the right thing. He did not ask for a sign to remove his need for faith, he asked for a sign to encourage his faith. Later he used the very signs he had been given to encourage himself and strengthen his faith in Judges 7:1-7 when the Lord shrunk his army to 300 people to stand against the entire host of the Midianites. God is a God of signs and miracles, but no sign or miracle comes until after the trial of our faith. Korihor wanted no faith, Gideon wanted encouragement in his faith. I've had instances of both of these in my own life. There have been times where I have asked for signs just as you have. I will confidently say that I have never been given a sign when I asked as you have. The times when I have been given signs are when I went out in faith to ACT, asking for encouragement along the way. I encourage you to contact the missionaries, read your Book of Mormon (or get a new one and read it if your friend's still borrowing it), go to church on Sundays. I encourage you to experiment on God's words. Test them. Ask for encouragement and witnesses or "signs" along the way as you show your willingness to God through your actions. I hope that I could help. I'm happy for you! I'm confident that you'll find joy in this church, the only church that contains the fulness on the Lord's gospel! I have felt that joy in my own life. I know that as you put forth the effort to follow the council of the missionaries and the commandments of God found in the scriptures you will find joy in this gospel and know that it is true!

When you go in for tithing settlement and the Bishop asks "are you a full tithe payer," that is the only time that you will ever be "checked up on" by the church, and that's as far as they go. They don't ever check your bank book to see if your paying in full and the only way that they EVER will know if you are paying in full is if you tell them "yes, I am a full tithe-payer." Yes, the church needs to keep a VERY close eye on every cent that comes to it because money that goes to the church is the Lord's money. The accountants of the church are accountants of the Lord. They want to make sure that every penny is accounted for and sent to the cause that it needs to be sent to. NONE of them know if you are a full tithe payer, and in truth, none of them care beyond hoping that you are. The only people who do know are you and your Bishop. He will give you a list of what the church has received from you so that you can check up on the church and make sure that THEY have it right. Nobody is "checking up" on you to make sure that you do pay your tithing and nobody will force you. If you tell your Bishop that you don't pay a full tithe, he'll talk to you about it and he'll encourage you to, but he'll never force you to. Don't worry, Tithing is personal. It's between you, the Lord and your Bishop. Talk to your Bishop and ask him what you should do about your situation, he's given revelation and guidance to deal with complications like these and he'll help you pay the right amount for tithing. Just because one thing is right for someone else doesn't mean that it's the right solution for you. Your bishop will help you find the right solution for you. The Lord asks no more and no less than %10.