"Choosing to increase our faith in the Savior is not easy," said Patricia P. Pinegar, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency. "It takes work, but the feelings inside of peace and joy and love are worth all our efforts."
Speaking during the General Young Women Meeting March 26, Sister Pinegar related: "I remember a time when I was very happy. I was 17 years old. My friends and I went to a fireside where the speaker taught us about our Savior's love. He told us that we could have confidence in the Savior, that He would lead us."But we needed to participate. We needed to do something.
"Sometimes when we try hard to make changes - good changes - we have a lot of distractions and obstacles."
Sister Pinegar referred to the account of Peter walking on the water to meet Jesus. "But when he began to pay more attention to what was happening around him, the wind boisterous,' he began to sink.And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' " (Matt. 14:23-31.)
Sister Pinegar asked: "What are the things that distract us from the Savior? It may be thinking more about pleasing our friends or other people than we do about pleasing God. (John 5:44.) It may be the loud and confusing voices we hear on TV, in videos, in music.
"Sometimes we just don't care. Our hearts are hard. (John 12:37.) There will always be distractions, winds boisterous, but if we choose to turn to the Lord, to believe in Him, to follow Him, we can increase our faith.
"What can we do to turn to the Savior? What can we do to increase our faith in Him? There are many things we can do. I have chosen just three:
We can choose to believe. "Choosing to believe is an important step in increasing our faith in the Savior. It has to be our choice. If I stand in front of a mirror and look myself in the eye and say, `I choose to believe in the Savior,' that helps me, then whenever I look in a mirror it reminds me of my choice."
We can ask for help, then listen. "Another thing we can do is to ask for help, then listen. Our Father and Savior want us to have more faith. Faith is a gift, but it must be sought after. We can seek after faith by asking for more faith in our prayers. Could we say, `Heavenly Father, please help me have more faith.'
"Harder than asking is listening. We can listen in our hearts and hear their voice. We can listen in the scriptures and hear their word. We can listen to our prophet and leaders and hear their testimonies of faith. We can increase our faith by `hearing the word of God.' " (Romans 10:17.)
We can practice turning to Him. "We can remember to practice - practice turning to Him, practice thinking about Him. Increasing our faith takes more than choosing to believe and asking. It takes some kind of physical and mental action. It takes practice, diligence and patience, and it takes obedience.
