171 years ago (July 24, 1847) pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. An extermination order by the governor of Missouri drove members of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whom Missourians derogatorily called “Mormons”) out of that state.

Their women raped and people tortured and murdered in the wake of this unconstitutional decree, the LDS people fled to build a refuge on the swamp land of Commerce IL. They transformed the malaria-infested marsh into the beautiful city of Nauvoo. By the time they were done, Nauvoo was larger than Chicago of the day.

A few years later, their leader (Joseph Smith Jr) and his brother Hyrum were falsely imprisoned and murderer by a mob in Carthage Jail.

Forced to flee their beautiful Nauvoo as mobs burned their temple, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fled with wagons and handcarts across the nation, traveling 1500 miles to their desert destination. One explorer, having been to Utah, said he’d give them $100 if they could grow even a bushel of corn there.

Through blood, sweat and tears the LDS people transformed the desert into a rose and continue to dot the landscape with gorgeous, glowing temples to their God.

If any people deserved to wallow in victimhood, give up, and abandon hope, these men, women and children did. But they carried on, true to their faith, devoted to their God. Out of their sacrifice, miracles continue to flow.

The LDS pioneers are testaments to the power available to those who understand the Law of Polarity. This universal law states that if something is a little bad, there is a little good in it. If something is catastrophic, there is something phenomenal inside it.

Are you looking for the phenomenal inside your hardships? It is there!

Featured Image: Mary Fielding Smith and Joseph F. Smith Crossing the Plains, by Glen S. Hopkinson (62608); GAK 412; GAB 101; Primary manual 5-49; Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (1998), xiv, 21–22

There is something about losing almost everything and completely releasing a dream that allows you to come back to it with the empowerment of choice rather than neediness. Neediness is never a good energy in which to be.

The biggest lesson I learned from compounding losses was that nothing is ever lost. Matter/energy is neither created nor destroyed. It simply changes forms. What leaves your life re-enters in a different form, perhaps scattered throughout dozens of people, places or things.

When I fully grasped that I had everything I needed in this moment, I knew I’d have everything I’d need in the next, and the next and the next. I finally … FINALLY trusted God. As long as I stay in that place of observant gratitude (seeing everything in this moment), I no longer operate from “neediness” but from contented trust.

With that kind of trust, miracles can happen. And they do.

(This blog post is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-released book, Confidence Rising!)

How the Challenge Works

Step 1: Ask God each day, “What is one thing I can do to light the world and build the kingdom today?”

Step 2: ACT upon whatever He leads you to do. Go through the day EXPECTING for opportunities to arise.

Step 3: Document somewhere — in your private journal or on your favorite social media platform.

Step 4: Share! If you share publicly, please use our hash tags: #BuildTheKingdom and #LightTheWorldNow so I can cheer you on! If you’re going to be documenting privately, I recommend sharing your experience with a close friend or accountability partner. There is power in the sharing.

For ongoing support and a place to share, please join our Facebook group.

Featured Image Copyright: Suphatthra China

The nature of circumstances are all in your perspective. Things are neither good or bad, but what thinking makes them so.  You can be in what you feel is a place of lack (lack of answers, lack of necessities, or lack of the things you want) and a shift in perspective can change everything.

My husband David Kuhns joins me in this video to talk about our experience picking blackberries. We thought we’d found all the ripe wild blackberries there were, but when we came at the bushes from down below and looked up, we found more. And when we looked at them in a different light, we found even more.

It’s kind of funny, because after I watched the video we’d recorded, I noticed we talk about how we found “a bunch” more blackberries. Then, we hold up this little container that’s half full. When we were picking, it felt like we found a lot of blackberries. When you’re foraging… “a lot” is relative. It’s all in your perspective.

When you’re going through a time of lack, you’re more likely to fall to your knees, looking up for answers. When you do, and you find the peace or answers you seek, you tend to be a lot more thankful for those answers. Someone else may look at what you found, or hear about what you found, and say, “That’s not much.” But it sure meant a lot to you in your moment of need!

How the Challenge Works