Coincidence?

So, I'm working on the 1st step of the first YW values which is Faith. I'm also working on the Chapter 6 in the Preach my Gospel manual which is all about incorporating the attributes of Christ. The attribute I chose first is Faith. It coincides nicely with YW... :) Interestingly enough, my institute class is the Gospel and the Productive Life and although we are talking about money management this week, it was all about having faith in the Lord to take care of us. But I'm realizing that faith isn't just trusting Heavenly Father, it's about trusting Him and then going forth and doing. While we wait on the Lord, we get busy doing the things we need to do, and He will come through and take care of things. A young man in my class gave an example. He slept through his alarm one morning and didn't wake up until 10 am. He had a programming class at 8 am and he indicated that if you don't go to class, you can't do the homework because it's a really hard class. He sort of freaked out but didn't want to run out of the house without reading his scriptures and praying. So he said a quick prayer for help and randomly opened the scriptures to the story of Ammon. When the king's flocks were scattered, Ammon trusted the Lord and went about gathering the sheep. We know what an amazing thing happened to the king and his household because of the faith of Ammon. Ammon didn't wait for the Lord to send the sheep back. He went to find them and trusted. Anyway, he went to school, tried to look things up on youtube, searched and did all he could but just couldn't find what he needed to do his homework. As he was sitting in frustration, a guy that he met on a bus some time ago, came up to him, noticed he was upset and asked him what the matter was. After this young man told him, the acquaintance told him that he was familiar with the professor and that he was almost always in his office. So he went to his office and, sure enough, the professor was there and spent the next 1 1/2 hours with him teaching him one on one.  He said he prayed and asked for help, went about doing what he knew how to do and the Lord took care of him. It was a wonderful testimony to me. The Lord can make so much more of our efforts than we ever can on our own. Part of the first step under the Faith value is to start a regular habit of morning and evening prayer. I pray informally at least once while laying in bed and I talk to him throughout the day just comments here and there. But I started formally praying morning and night. I have found that I have been getting better at concentrating when I pray. My thoughts are usually so jumbled and I have so many that I feel like they are just so ineffective. But this week has helped me to see that the Lord is recognizing my efforts and is helping me concentrate better. I have also noticed that my week has been much better too. I have felt better and have been more productive. I find that I am looking forward to my studying each day and am getting better at talking to the Lord. It's been difficult having Sarah gone now. It's only been a few days but it feels like months already. I got an email from her mission president's wife giving me a link to her blog. She said I would be able to see pictures of Sarah on it and she also said that they will take good care of her. That has eased my mind quite a bit. This is also taking a bit of faith on my part. I have to trust that she is in the very best care. I'm very grateful for my Heavenly Father and all the tools He blesses us with. There are so many resources available to us. I love it.

I'm going to continue this week on saying my prayers, and working on the Faith attribute of Christ. BTW, I also read from the Book of Mormon everyday. I'm going to start over again as part of the values but I'm not ready to do that yet so I'm just continuing where I was which is in 3rd Nephi. My favorite book. Especially Chapter 18. More to come...