A Particle of Faith

Faith is a simple principle that can be very difficult to put into practice. It is simple for me to kneel at night and pour my heart out to my Father, but it is difficult for me to believe that everything will work out all right. It is simple for me to ask for the strength to endure, but it is difficult for me to believe that He will provide it for me.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."-Hebrew 11:1

The prophet Alma said that faith is not a perfect knowledge. In teaching the word of God to those around him, he stated that at first, they could not know, for sure, whether his words were true any more than faith is a perfect knowledge. Alma then speaks of an experiment. This is one of my all time favorite scriptures:

"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."-Alma 32:27

I love, in this scripture, where he says: "Even if ye can no more than desire to believe..." Can you imagine that just this one tiny spark of desire to believe can be as a seed; planted in your heart. If you grasp on to that one little tiny spark of desire this seed can start to grow. It will begin to swell within your heart.

"It must need be that this is a good seed... for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."-Alma 32:28

At the time when that seed was being nurtured, faith was in the works. I conducted this experiment in my own heart. I prayed as the missionaries had taught, and I asked, "Is this church true?" I received the answer in my heart just as Alma described.

Now, I know that the church is true. My faith in that matter is no longer in the works. Is my knowledge perfect? No. With that tiny desire to believe, I exercised my faith. The nurtured seed sprouted and grew. My understanding was broadened slightly; the edges of it meeting more questions which led to more exercising of my faith.

There are many sanctities in this world in which we place our faith. To name a few: marriage, religion, government, society, economy, even friendship. So, obviously, faith is an intrinsic value that we, as children of our Heavenly Father, have inherited.

My entire life is a great example of the shepherd searching for that one lost lamb. I am utterly and eternally grateful for the changes wrought in my life because I exercised my faith. As are, I'm sure, my progeny.