I have felt impressed to work on my food storage more lately. Recently, I have listened to some great presentations and a read a good book that inspired these thoughts.
As I listened and pondered these presentations the impression that kept coming to me was, “work on your food storage.” I remembered stories in the presentation that people would make a list of what they thought they needed and then prayed to ask the angels to help them collect it.
Then they shared some great stories of how they collected these items in record timing; I knew we could do the same.
Why do I know this? Two ways… First, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and I have been taught that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I have had several experiences in my life to show me this is true. Second, what I know about the brain is if you tell the brain what you want it will go to work trying to solve this issue for you (that is what it was designed to do). It will send your request out into the universe (which God created) and bring to you what you have asked for. It takes belief, faith, patience, work and trust.
As I pondered what I had learned, I thought, “Where are we going to put this food storage?” I searched in my mind for a place in my home. Then, an image of a corner in our garage came to my mind. However, this space was full of stuff already. A decluttering mindset lesson came to mind. “If you want to get new stuff, make room for it and the ‘law of the vacuum’ will want to fill that space (especially with the things you request it to be filled with).”
I wondered, “That corner is full of my husband’s stuff, I don’t know if he’ll give it up.” But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask and see what he says. Thankfully he had been interested in the things I was listening too and was feeling the same things, so when I proposed that corner in the garage, he thought it was a great idea and was willing to clean it right up.
A few days later, he cleaned out the garage corner AND build adjustable shelves to hold our food storage from FREE wood he had gotten at work. Proof that the universe delivers what we ask for, AND MORE, and that the Lord loves us when we are obedient and blesses us as we follow His promptings.
Next, I knew we needed to decide what it was we wanted to collect. A couple evenings after getting the shelves up I felt impressed to look at some preparedness sites, just to see what was available and what things cost. I gained some extra understanding of things as I studied preparedness sites that might come in handy. One of those ideas was to make a plan with some of our favorite meals and then try to plan accordingly.
Almost a week went by, but one morning I felt impressed to work on my food storage meals that evening; so I could get that list to the angels. I started listing meals and their ingredients. As I studied these meals I was pleased to realize, “we have a lot of this stuff already.” That was wonderful to see! My case lot sales preparations were actually doing a great job, and fulfilling the commandment to have food storage. I just wasn’t consciously aware of how well it was doing for us. That was a fun thing to find.
This is proof that the Lord wants us to see the good things we are doing and continue to focus on doing more of those good things. From a mindset perspective, when I see the good things I am doing it causes me to want to do more good things. My brain likes to be rewarded and told, “good job,” so it remembers and creates more opportunities to feel rewarded again. This is how we create good habits.
As I continued to asses our situation I could see the things we needed to work on, namely, the longer stored items, such as, wheat, rice, beans, noodles, salt, etc. I made a short list of items and felt at peace.
Feeling like I did the task the spirit asked me to do for the day, I checked Facebook. The first thing I saw was an amazing deal for buckets of wheat (with no GMO’s) for a great price. A friend had just posted it! What? Okay, I guess I wasn’t done for the day. Matt and I discussed how many we felt prompted to purchase and ordered them.
Proof that the Lord answers prayers, and what we intentionally send out into the universe comes back to us. I did not know HOW any of this was going to happen. I just believe it would and was willing to follow inspired action steps.
We also discovered that we had a pretty big box of dried beans we had stored up. I thought we had thrown the box away, but I guess we didn’t. Great, now we have lots of beans (we just need to store them in a safer space). Two things down on this list!
This wasn’t something that had been occupying my mind, night and day. I wasn’t doing these things because I feared what might happen if I didn’t have food storage and there was an emergency. I just simply woke up each morning and ask “What is the most important thing for me to do today?” Heavenly Father knows I’m trying to build a business during the day hours, and that I’m working on building food storage, musical production stuff, raising my children, and serving in other ways during the other hours of my day.
I felt impressed to study certain materials, so I did. Then I followed the inspired actions I felt as they came. The rest of the days I was living a normal life, just like you, not really thinking about it—and look at the miracles!
I am in awe at how the Lord works His miracles, from inspired action steps to “work on food storage,” and “create the space,” to “buckets of wheat available for purchase” without me looking, and the comfort that I was doing better than I thought I was. I am excited to see what else shows up for us as we continue this journey.
I am just a mom, like you, trying to be obedient. I don’t have it all together (if I did I wouldn’t need to work on food storage). Sometimes I am good at hearing and following inspired action steps, sometimes I am not. But one thing is clear… what I think about matters! When I believe, have faith, show gratitude and trust-miracles happen. When I doubt, fear, worry, or resent what is happening, or ignore inspired actions, the miracles are slow in coming or don’t come at all.
These emotions come from what I think about my circumstances.
Learning to listen to your thoughts is a skill. One we are not taught in school and often not in the home either. It takes practice and patience. It is part of the process of BECOMING who we were meant to be. Learning to listen to your thoughts, and examine them, is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your family. It is also how the Lord reveals His will for us in our lives.
“Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind (thoughts) and your heart (feelings), by the Holy Ghost (inspired thoughts), which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation;” (D&C 8:2-3).
This is my testimony that ‘thought work’ is powerful, it has changed my life. I’d be happy to help you discover the tools that will help you recognize this powerful influence in your life as well. Sign up for a 15 minute mini session here.
Have a miraculous day!
PS The day after I wrote this post, I had someone offer me 5 more buckets of wheat for FREE! Amazing!