Monthly Archives: May 2007

LDS Keys to Prosperity

I’ve learned a lot about prosperity in the last few years. As
Latter-Day Saints, we have a number of tools at our disposal, which we
can use to achieve a more prosperous state. Here are some of the
things I’ve learned to do that help:

1. Pay Tithing. This really is number one. You cannot expect the Lord
to bless you if you are not willing to give back the minimum that you
owe Him for His generosity. Tithing is the key to “enough”. It gets us
through those times when we think we’ll never be able to survive
financially.
2. Pay a generous fast offering. Fast offerings have special blessings
regarding our spirituality attached, but also prosperity. We are
promised that we can gain material wealth, if we desire it to do good.
Pay a generous fast offering, and you are demonstrating to the Lord
your good faith effort to use what He blesses you with in good ways. A
generous fast offering helps us have an abundance.
3. Attend the Temple. In a talk given to us by the Temple President of
the Denver Temple, we were told that prosperity is one of the
blessings that comes from Temple Attendance. We tested it. I noticed
that I have more willpower to resist temptations when I attend the
temple regularly – think there might be a connection? It sure reduces
impulse spending! It also increases inspiration to help us earn and
spend more wisely.
4. Read the Book of Mormon. Nowhere does it promise us prosperity from
reading it, BUT… The power of discernment is a blessing that is
attached to study of the Book of Mormon. Believe me, this is a REAL
blessing. I have felt it. And discernment helps you spot
contradictions in business dealings, marketing training, and business
opportunity ads – in other words, it helps you to not gamble, and to
avoid scams. That goes a LONG way in increasing our prosperity!
5. Prayer is an obvious one. I cannot count the number of times that
prayer has helped us through a difficult business decision, or when
prayer has provided the answer to solving a client problem that I
simply could not solve on my own. The Lord understands technical
issues, He knows the answers when we do not. Amazing what prayer can
give us!
6. Service. Again, we can gain prosperity when we want to use it for
good. We have to demonstrate that desire in action BEFORE we get the
blessing.
7. Serve the Lord in your business. Make sure that what you are doing is something that helps people to have a better life, by encouraging strong families, kindness, service, hard work, integrity, or other good principles. What you do should make a difference in the world, for the better. I have found that when this goal is realized, I get WAY more help in succeeding.

These are just a few principles that I have noticed and have tracked
that are tied directly to prosperity. We should be starving. We are
not. We have no predictable income, yet our kids are fed, our bills
are paid, and we are actually less troubled by financial issues than
we were a year ago.

There are tests. Hard ones. Sometimes it feels like there simply is no
way to compensate for the disaster that just occurred. But miracles
follow faith – sometimes the faith that gets us the miracle is the
faith to pay our tithing anyway, or to go to the temple even though we
think we cannot afford to, or to be generous to others when we think
we do not have the time.

Laura
Mom to Eight
Firelight Business Enterprises, Inc
http://www.firelightwebstudio.com
http://www.westernhillsinstitute.com

The American Dream

Imagine this:

You get up in the morning, shower, and have a leisurely breakfast with your family. Your kids settle down to school work (or head off to school), and you and your spouse go to work – in your home office. You each have your own tasks to accomplish, and frequently share information across the room. Sometimes your spouse pauses to flirt with you.

Lunch means stopping long enough to fix whatever you want to eat, and enjoying it with your spouse or your entire family (if you are fortunate enough to homeschool). Then it is back to work until just before dinnertime. The kids help with the family business with age appropriate tasks in the afternoon, and are given payment for their help.
Everyone pitches in to fix dinner, and then to cleanup afterward. The kids settle down to read or watch a movie, and you and your spouse go for an evening walk around town. You stop occasionally to greet neighbors who are outside in the dimming light. It gets dark when you are still several blocks from home, but you don’t worry about your safety. It is just nice being with the love of your life.

Ever had a day like that? Small town America, self-employment, working in harmony with your spouse, working in a family business where the whole family works together, being able to walk around town and know who your neighbors are, and feeling safe walking after dark.

This is my life. Every day is not idyllic.. far from it. We have to drive an hour to get anywhere, the kids squabble and have to be taught not to, just like any kids. But I live a life that most people think they dream of. They do not see the other side of it – the sacrifices we make to keep this life. The house we live in that isn’t all that great, the older cars we drive so we can afford to live where the distances eat cars and spit out the pieces, or the times we bite our tongues to keep the peace in our home.

There is no pool, there is no expensive car. There are no vacations to exotic places – the Platte River or the Guernsey Wagon Ruts are as exotic as it gets. But we don’t need those things to be happy. The real happiness comes from our relationships in our family.

Life is good. And getting better.

Grow a Garden!

Gardening doesn't have to be that hard! No matter where you live, no matter how difficult your circumstances, you CAN grow a successful garden.

Life from the Garden: Grow Your Own Food Anywhere Practical and low cost options for container gardening, sprouting, small yards, edible landscaping, winter gardening, shady yards, and help for people who are getting started too late. Plenty of tips to simplify, save on work and expense.