Spiritual Lightening

If you are ready for a personal journey to become spiritually deeper and develop more faith to guide your life this book is a must read.  It is not a quick and easy book, it needs to be studied, pondered  and  embraced. Reading it has been a life changing experience for me.  One amazing thing about the book is that it is not new.  It was written in 1996, but a dear friend, whom I admire so much, recommended it just recently.  How thankful I am that I listened to her and spent the time to learn from it.
The premise of one chapter in the book is that we should not worry about developing self esteem, we need to be much more concerned with developing Faith in the Savior.  I believe studying this concept has helped prepare me for experiences that we have had in our family in the last few weeks.
I quote from Sister Thomas:   "We may think that we or some other mortal opens the necessary doors to our future, but this conclusion is an error.  We ourselves do not open these doors; only the Lord does.  We exercise our agency through our choices, but he retains the power to open or close the doors.  Often doors have closed before us that seemed to lead to the opportunities we thought we had to have.  We may have assumed that the closed door was a reflection of some inadequacy in ourselves; but perhaps the closed door had nothing to do with whether we were good or bad or capable or incompetent.  The opening or the closing of these various doors is dependent on the Lord's perfect perception of our developmental needs.  The most important things that will happen to us in this life will come to us often by no initiative of our own, but rather because he is piloting the plan.  Therefore, we do not need to fear that our future lies in the fact that an authority over us plays favorites, or that a person's employer isn't well disposed toward him.  Even though someone in authority thinks he controls doors, there is really only one Keeper of the Gate.  Now, I ask you, as various doors open and close, as the Lord Jesus Christ orchestrates even the details of our lives, as we are obedient to him, where is the need to pursue self-esteem?  We don't need it.  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will take us so much farther."  
Some interesting thoughts, and she mentions at times as she has taught this that it has become somewhat controversial.  As I studied it I felt like I completely and totally believed it.  It is interesting though that this week I've had to decide over again if it just sounded good and right or did I really truly know it was true.  I've had to put it to the test.  After several days of contemplation and self introspection on this concept, I can say I do know it is true.  It becomes much more difficult to understand when you or your loved ones are involved, but it is still true.  It basically boils down to whether one believes in the scripture from Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  
Life is interesting.  We never know what tomorrow may bring.  I hope I can continue to develop my faith to always know a dear and loving Father is orchestrating my life and I can trust Him to help me develop to become the person He needs me to be.