How Can I Feel Connected to God Today?

I want to feel connected to God today.

Yesterday wasn’t a bad day, but I didn’t feel a lot of connection or direction. So, last night I made a detailed calendar of what I plan to do today. This is what it looks like:

To me, this feels like what Nephi or the brother of Jared did when they weren’t sure what to do next: the created a plan and then took it to the Lord, a parent, or both.

One thing that sticks out in Nephi’s story is this:

…thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. (1 Nephi 2:19)

I know that lowliness of heart means humility. But how did Nephi seek Him diligently?

The “scripted” answers that come to mind:

• prayer
• scripture study
• fasting
• searching
• studying
• writing
• reflecting
• meditating
• listening

The brother of Jared did similar things:

…the brother of Jared, …went forth unto the ^amount, which they called the mount ^bShelem, because of its exceeding height, and did ^cmolten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent ^dglass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying:

2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be ^aangry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are ^bunworthy before thee; because of the ^cfall our ^dnatures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been ^amerciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these ^bthings which I have molten out of the rock.

4 And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all ^apower, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy ^bfinger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have ^clight while we shall cross the sea.

6 And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the ^aLord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his ^bfinger. And the ^cveil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared ^dfell down before the Lord, for he was struck with ^efear.

Here I see a correlation with what Nephi did and what the brother of Jared did: they both prayed, they both exercised faith, they both came to the Lord with a plan, and they both presented it before the Lord with confidence that He would answer their prayer.

What am I doing to feel connected to God?

This makes me think about what I can do for the U to feel honest is what I’m working on for them.

• Reach out to more dropshippers
• Have another audit done of SEO work
• After the audit is complete, create a plan of attack on what to do next
• Reach out to Aaron W. to talk about content revisions to the current site
  • Answer the three basic questions on the site
• Read some articles about what’s happening in SEO right now
• Implement these strategies by suggesting the team do things
• Create an editorial calendar for the blog
  • Interviews
    • Coach
    • Players
    • Licensing
    • Fans
  • Fan Pictures
    • Email campaign to ask for them
  • Testimonials
    • Email campaign to ask for them
    • Reward with coupon
  • Infographics (1 per month)
    • Map out an infographic campaign
• Affiliate marketing plan
  • What service should we use?
  • How should it be set up?
  • See other affiliate approaches and duplicate what seems to be working
  • Research affiliate marketing strategies

These are some thoughts that come to mind.

What I can’t be afraid to do is spend money on the project. It’s really not my money anyway; it’s just borrowed to me.

As I read more from the story of the brother of Jared, this scripture stuck out:

Isaiah 64:8  But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

It reminds me of the story of the potter that taught his students how centered they must have the clay in order to make the spinner work. That was related to how centered I must be on Christ if I want to receive guidance and answers.

…despite the evils and temptations that surround us each day, we can and will find true joy today in living a Christ-centered life.

Centering our lives in Jesus Christ and His gospel will bring stability and happiness to our lives…

I really feel this is a direct answer:

The world in which we live is similar to the potter’s spinning wheel, and the speed of that wheel is increasing. Like the clay on the potter’s wheel, we must be centered as well. Our core, the center of our lives, must be Jesus Christ and His gospel. Living a Christ-centered life means we learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel and then we follow His example and keep His commandments with exactness.

The speed of the world is spinning faster and faster. If I want to have success and stay in recovery, I have to center my life on Christ and His teachings. I do this by learning about Him and His gospel and then following those teachings and example with exactness.

This is an answer too:

If our lives are centered in Jesus Christ, He can successfully mold us into who we need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly Father’s presence in the celestial kingdom. The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Molding me into what I need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly Father’s presence: I feel like this is what is happening as I’m trying to live in recovery. I’m by no means perfect, and my character weaknesses are manifest more and more as I’m aware and present. But I feel good about where I am today – I feel content, I feel happy and willing to do whatever He wants me to do.

I look forward to today.

And this is where I’ll end my study since my time is past and I need to stay on schedule.

Hasta luego!

Nate