How to Stop Waiting and How to Start Moving

 

 The Law of Creation states that we are all creators. We are like God and we were born to create. And we are creating every time we think, feel, say, or do something, whether we recognize it or not.

 

 The goal is to use our thinking, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions to create something that we love, a life that we love. The problem, though, is that we get overwhelmed.

 

 Life moves at such a fast pace, and there are so many problems to solve, and there are so many things to do, and there are so many distractions that some days we spend the whole day putting out fires, or some days it feels like no matter how hard we

 

 try, nothing changes. So I'd like to address those problems today and help you to find a way to take action in spite of them.

 

 When we take even small actions, we create more capacity, we create more confidence, and we create more faith, which helps us to take those actions. And also taking action eliminates anxiety. Geoffrey R.

 

 Holland said once, You can't have a million dollar experience with 50 cents worth of effort. So we need to put in the effort, but we want to make sure we're putting in the right places. And so I'd like to start in the scriptures.

 

 The first thing that I would like to talk about is the principle of small and simple things. A lot of times, we think we have to do some giant huge thing, and that's going to make all the difference in what we're trying to do.

 

 But the reality is, it's the tiny little things that make all of the difference. In Alma 37 verse 6, it says, By small and simple things, great things shall come to pass.

 

 Then it's echoed again in D&C 123, 16, and 17, where it teaches us that even a very big ship in the middle of a storm is able to move with a very small steering wheel.

 

 One of my very favorite verses in verse 17, it says, Therefore, dearly beloved, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and let us stand still with the utmost assurance to see the salvation of God and for His arm to be

 

 revealed. As we take the tiny little steps that we can take, and sometimes they're microscopic, then the Lord is going to step in and help us and support us and do the things that we can't do for ourselves. We don't have to do everything.

 

 We just have to do our tiny little part. I'd like to talk about a story from the scriptures that really explains this well. In first Nephi chapter 17, we find Nephi being tasked with the idea of building a boat.

 

 When God asked him to build a boat, he didn't just ask him to build any boat. He asked him to build a boat like no one has ever seen before, and no one has ever built before.

 

 By the way, Nephi doesn't have any gifts or talents in boat building. He wasn't a boat builder when he lived in Jerusalem. And the first challenge he has is he doesn't even have anything to make tools.

 

 So instead of being overwhelmed by the task in front of him, Nephi starts with one simple step. He says to the Lord, Where do I go to find ore to make tools? And then the Lord tells him how to do that.

 

 Then as you read the story and you read the chapter and the story unfolds, we see that Nephi continually goes back to the Lord and asks for the next step and asks for the resources to accomplish that step.

 

 Because we know from 1st Nephi 3.7 that anytime the Lord commands us to do something, he's going to help us to find a way to make it happen. And when we accept that, then we're able to do the impossible.

 

 But again, action is required and we need to take those small simple tiny steps as we move forward. One of the biggest obstacles that Nephi ran into as he was building this boat, which took years, by the way, was his brothers. Surprise!

 

 You know, they wanted him dead. They hated his guts, but they refused to help him build the boat. And they just sat around and made fun of him.

 

 So 1st Nephi 17 has a beautiful discourse as he explains to them about his faith and he explains how the Lord will help them to do the impossible. And I want to show you these two verses because I think this teaches us the second principle.

 

 In verse 50 it said, And I said unto them, If God had commanded me to do all things, I could do them. If he should command me that I should say into this water, be thou earth, it should be earth. And if I should say it, it would be done.

 

 Now if the Lord has such great power and he has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me that I should build a ship?

 

 The second part of taking action isn't trusting yourself that you have all the resources and all the confidence and all the ability. It's having faith in the Lord. It's having faith in Jesus Christ.

 

 It's having faith that the impossible can be possible when we trust our Heavenly Father and our Savior and that they make it possible. And when we have that faith, then we have the courage to take the action, the action necessary to move forward.

 

 A personal story for me, it's kind of a vulnerable one. I have seven children and as they were growing up, we did not have a dishwasher.

 

 Well, when I would make it any meal after having seven children, eight and my husband, there's nine of us, then there would be stacks and stacks of dishes. And that was a completely overwhelming task for me.

 

 From some challenges from before, I hated doing dishes. I was very difficult. And the fact that they had to all be done by hand made it doubly difficult.

 

 Plus I was trying to take care of children. So I'd stand up to do the dishes and somebody would be crying, and someone would need their diaper changed, and someone would be fighting, and there was constant interruptions.

 

  I was exhausted from being up all night with kids. And it just felt like even the simple things were so hard.

 

 I got into the habit of sitting on my couch and looking at the kitchen and all of those dishes, not a clean dish in the house, even though there had only been two meals.

 

 Just saying a prayer, Heavenly Father, please, will you help me have the courage to stand up and do the dishes? Then I would stand up and start doing the dishes. Doing that helped me to stand up and start. I wouldn't stand there and do dishes for an hour.

 

 I would tell myself that I only had to do dishes for 10 minutes. So I would do dishes for 10 minutes, and then I would be to do something else. Then I'd come back and do 10 minutes of dishes, and I would get caught up just in time to do the next

 

 meal. But the reality of the situation is that as I broke it into small steps, and as I asked the Lord for help and trusted that he would help me to do something that for most of you is probably super simple, but for me felt impossible.

 

 I was able to have the ability to keep a house of order and get the dishes done when that felt so overwhelming. So I invite you into that.

 

 I invite you into asking yourself what the simple steps are that you can take moving forward, then asking God for the help, the strength and the faith to take the action necessary so that you can create the life that you want.

 

 You can solve the problem that's in front of you. You can overcome the challenges. We do that because we have the ability as we take those steps and as we manage our thinking.

 

 The card that I chose today. Remember, I have these beautiful scripture cards. There's a whole deck of them, and they are meant to be tools to help you to receive revelation and also to find more answers in the scriptures.

 

 Each card has a verse of scripture, a question, invitation and affirmation. It also has some companion verses, so you can do a deeper dive study. The scripture that I chose today is act, and the verse is 2 Nephi 10.23.

 

 It says, Therefore, cheer up your hearts. And remember, they are free to act for yourselves, to choose the way of everlasting death, death or the way of eternal life.

 

 The question is what choices can I make today that move me closer to God, to my relationships, and to my goals?

 

 The invitation is take some action, one action today, big or small, that creates a deeper connection in your relationships and forward progress in your goals.

 

 The affirmation is I am free to act, and I choose steps that bring me closer to God and my goals. And then of course, there's those companion verses to dive deeper if you so choose.

 

 I invite you today to ask yourself, especially in those moments of overwhelm, what small, meaningful action can I take in the next 10 minutes? Thank you so much for being here. If you have enjoyed this, will you hit subscribe and like?

 

 And also will you share it with somebody else who might find it beneficial? Again, thank you for being here, and have an absolutely wonderful day.