Faith vs Miracles

Fact: Halloween is in 3 days......THREE DAYS! That means people STILL have time to mail me Halloween stuff! :D 

Fact: My address is: Rebekah Bradley 1500 S Beretania St. Ste 416 Honolulu, HI 96826......just in case you need it 

As for the title of my letter, this week has been all about Faith (btw, if I repeat what I say from past e-mails I'm super sorry, but missionary work can be slightly repetitive...) and how we increase our own to produce miracles.

So I want to quote a part of the bible dictionary where is says, "Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one's faith."

Something I've come to realize is that sometimes, you just have to HAVE faith. Like you just believe it. You just do it. You just....have faith. You don't wait for something to magically appear in your mind and you say, "oh! I believe now." Sometimes you just decide to believe. You have to force all doubt out of your head and you just have to say, "Ok, I'm going to have faith in this, and I'm going to DO everything as if I have faith in this and I'm going to just think, act, talk and be whatever I need to be, in order to continue having faith in this." 

Then, once you establish that. You start to look for the Lord's hand in your life. You start to notice miracles, because you faith allows you to credit the good things to the right source. And once you start recognizing these miracles and little tender mercies you start to increase your faith even more. And that produces MORE miracles and it just starts a snowball effect of creating this ideal relationship with God and Christ by recognizing the Spirit's promptings. 

SOOOO, moral of the story, if you're having problems believing certain teachings of Christ or accepting certain doctrine, or taking certain steps to start your eternal progression. Just do it. Just believe, just have faith. Just force your body and mind to come together as one and exercise your faith by acting on those beliefs. Go to church. Read your scriptures. Pray. Go to the temple. Read talks from the prophets. Be baptized. Receive your patriarchal blessing. Ask for a father's blessing. Do whatever you need to do get a good positive boost and then just do it. Just have faith. Just believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe in the power of the Priesthood. Believe in God and in prayer. Believe in the Atonement of Christ. Repent. And then see the amazing miracles and tender mercies that God has given/will give you. See His hand in your life. See how much He loves you. See that you put your trust and your faith in the right thing/right person/right teachings/right power. 

God will never lead you astray. He will always bring you to the right path and He will let you know that you're ON the right path. Just have faith. Just keep the commandments! And you'll do great! :) I have, and I know that it's true. 

I love you all! Have a Happy Halloween! Be safe! Work hard! Pray always! Love ya!

Sister Bradley

P.S. I still have 9 weeks left on my mission. Don't worry, there's still PLENTY of time to send me mail and packages :D