#18 Trusting in God and His Promises

I used to feel so frustrated when someone would tell me to "just give your burden to the Lord."  It sounded easy enough, but I had no idea how to do it. When I asked anyone to tell me how, I was never given a clear, actionable answer. Then the Holy Spirit answered my question. From that time I have been able to overcome the fear, worry, anxiety, depression that plagued me. In this episode I share what the Spirit taught me and I truly hope it helps others experience the relief of being able to give burdens to the Lord. 

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Scriptures Referenced:
Proverbs 3:5, 23-25
3 Nephi 20:25
2 Nephi 2:20
Hebrews 11:8
Judges 6:13
1 Nephi 5:8
Alma 50:23
Mosiah 23:28
Joshua 23:14
Isaiah 55:3
Alma 32:22
Ether 6:12

Conference Talks Referenced:
Let God Prevail, Pres. Russell M. Nelson
Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains; President Russell M. Nelson
Trust in the Lord; By Elder Paul B. Pieper
The Gathering of Scattered Israel, Pres. Russell M. Nelson
The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom; By Elder M. Russell Ballard

Transcript

President Nelson said, "I encourage you to make a list of all that the Lord has promised he will do for covenant Israel.

I think you will be astounded.

Ponder these promises.

Talk about them with your family and friends.

Then live and watch for these promises to be fulfilled in your own life."

Welcome to the Hope Smiling Brightly podcast, sharing stories and ideas that will empower you to overcome doubt, cultivate the kind of faith that miracles are made of, and experience the transformative grace of Christ.

Whatever it is, Christ is the answer.

I am your host, Amber, also known as Amber Don Pierce on social media.

of most especially known as someone who loves to share the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

You are listening to episode 18, trusting in God and his promises.

All right, raise your hand if an Alaskan cruise has ever been on your bucket list.

It has been on mine for a while.

So, I am excited to be a presenter for an LTS tour group on an Alaskan cruise summer of 2026.

Yes, there are still spots, but if you want to be with our group, you need to book sooner than later.

So, check out the link in the show notes for bountiful.com to learn more and reserve your spot today.

As soon as I ended the last episode, the spirit let me know what I was supposed to talk about next.

I knew the exact quote I wanted to start this episode with.

And as I searched for and found it, I knew it was no coincidence that the quote was from President Nelson's talk, Let God prevail.

I ended the last episode with a quote from this talk.

But after President Nelson explained what it was to let God prevail in our lives, he extended an invitation for us to make a list of all the Lord has promised he would do for covenant Israel.

Why would he have asked that specific thing of us?

I believe it is more significant than we realize.

And I pray that by the end of this episode, we will understand why it is incredibly important to know all God has promised.

Remember that in order for Satan to convince onethird of the host of heaven to follow him, surely he would have had to cause distrust in Heavenly Father and his promises.

He uses the same old tactic on us today.

Bitter that we didn't choose him, but still trying.

He's used that tactic on me over and over again.

Okay, if you sense a story coming on, you would be correct.

I hope you don't mind.

Stories are how I learn and so it's a part of how I feel I am best able to teach.

Just be grateful that I cut out some of the details unlike when I talk to my girl girlfriends and the color of the socks I was wearing or what I had just eaten somehow ends up a relevant part of the story.

This story begins with me sitting on the floor in my room, exhausted, out of my mind, and weary beyond anything I had ever experienced.

I had spent the previous 12 months suffering from debilitating anxiety, insomnia, migraines, and vertigo.

Dizziness and exhaustion made walking difficult, let alone any kind of exercise.

Despite many doctor's visits, I found little relief or answers.

I had slowly cut out anything extra out of my life because I could barely function.

My parents also lived with me.

And a couple months earlier, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

So I was doing everything I could to help care for him along with my three children who still lived at home.

I had already given up working in the temple.

But there was one other thing I truly loved that I didn't want to let go of, and that was being an early morning seminary teacher.

This day though, I had finally hit my breaking point.

I didn't think I could get up after another sleepless night and go teach seminary.

I stared at my scriptures, debating whether to open them to prepare the next day's lesson or just send a text message letting someone know that I could no longer do this.

I was so confused, though.

Just a few years earlier, God had given me the most astounding glimpses of the amazing things he had in store for me.

In fact, he had shown me so much that I started writing these impressions down on cards and putting them up on a corkboard so that I could try to comprehend what God was trying to show me.

But here I was, too unwell to do anything.

It was painful to even look at those cards.

So, I took them all down and shoved them in my drawer.

I wanted to say that I trusted God and what he had promised me, but I wasn't really sure if I did.

I feared that I would never recover.

My constant prayer was just for a little sleep, maybe enough relief from vertigo so that I could enjoy hiking again.

In this discouraged state, I decided I would go ahead and see what the seminary lesson was.

It would be a lesson on a single doctrinal mastery scripture.

Proverbs 3:5 sounded like a verse I should know.

But my brain was too tired.

So I opened up my scriptures and read.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.

As if this wasn't an obvious enough message from God, I felt an urging from the spirit to keep on reading.

I didn't see why I was continuing to read until I got all the way to verses 23- 25.

Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid.

Yay, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

Be not afraid of sudden fear.

I had no idea there was even a verse about the very things I felt so desperate for.

But God did, and he led me straight to it.

As I read those words, I felt the promise of them.

But I knew I was going to have to let go of my fears, replace them with faith, and trust in God's promises with all of my heart rather than leaning to my own understanding.

So, what did God need me to understand?

And what does he need all of us to understand in our unique but similar journeys?

His true character, correct knowledge of him.

Just like President Nelson said, the more you learn about the Savior, the easier it will be to trust in his mercy, his infinite love, and his strengthening, healing, and redeeming power.

I already knew this was something I needed to work on.

I've told you repeatedly how the Lord spoke shocking words to my mind, "Ye know me not."

Well, it was when I was going through this horrendous trial that those words came to me.

I honestly wondered if it was my incorrect perception of God and distrust in him that led to the anxiety that snowballed into everything I was experiencing.

and that perhaps trust and a correct knowledge of Jesus Christ was my way out.

Think of someone you trust implicitly in your life.

How have you come to trust that person?

Would you trust someone you just met on the street?

Sometimes we trust someone only because someone that we trust trusts them.

a child trusting God because our parents do.

But at some point, we have to develop our own trust.

Elder Paul B. Piper taught that trust is the foundation of all relationships.

A relationship forms only when people are willing to place trust in each other.

Notwithstanding God's trust in us, our relationship with God will only grow to the degree we are willing to place trust in him.

It is astounding to me that God has made available to all of his children the most holy relationship of all, a covenant relationship.

President Nelson said that once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with him becomes much closer than before the covenant.

When we enter into a covenant with God, we have made a covenant with him who will always keep his word.

Close quote.

A covenant is a two-way promise.

But do we focus on what we have promised but forget what God has promised in return?

Or did we ever know what God promised in the first place?

It is pretty basic that you understand a contract before you enter into it.

So let's talk about some of God's sure promises.

When I think of promises, my mind goes to the most well-known ones.

The promises of the Abrahamic covenant, though given agently, they apply to us as it says in Third Nephi 20:25.

And behold, ye are the children of the prophets, and ye are of the house of Israel, and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."

Maybe you remember the three Ps of the Abrahamic covenant.

priesthood, posterity, promised land.

Today, I want to talk about one that it's a little less obvious how it applies to us, but is truly profound when we understand and look at it from a different angle.

Abraham was promised that certain lands would be inherited by his posterity.

This very promise is what cultivated a relationship of trust between God and his people from the beginning of time.

It is what tested and required his people to leave what they knew.

Adam and Eve led from the Garden of Eden.

Abraham led to the land of Canaan.

Moses leading the Israelites from Egypt.

Joshua leading them into their inheritance in Canaan.

Lehi and the Gerodites led to the Americas.

God's pattern of leading his children from captivity and to a land of promise is repeated over and over again in scripture and is worth giving notice.

This same pattern continues for us, but we face a different kind of captivity and are seeking a different land of promise.

In Nephi 2 20 it says, "Ye shall prosper and shall be led to a land of promise.

Yay, even a land which I have prepared for you, a land which is choice above all other lands."

How is this relevant to every covenant child of God in the world right now?

President Nelson explains that the choice to come into Christ is not a matter of physical location.

It is a matter of individual commitment.

People can be brought to the knowledge of the Lord without leaving their homelands.

Close quote.

God is still leading us to the promised land.

He even gave it a name, Zion.

And what is Zion?

One heart, one mind.

The promised land of today is in our hearts and minds, and we are brought there through the knowledge of the Lord, which leads us to trust in his promises.

It is a spiritual journey more than a physical one.

Though it could require physically leaving something behind.

my parents' journey.

They had to leave behind the land that my dad started a hippie commune on.

It was purchased with my father's entire inheritance from his grandfather.

But in order to leave their lifestyle of addiction behind and embrace the gospel, they had to leave that land and start all over.

PS.

If you want to hear that fun story, go back and listen to episode 3.

But whatever the journey, it's a guarantee that it is going to push us out of our comfort zones and require us to go into the unknown.

This journey of heart and mind is going to take the same great courage and faith of Abraham.

In Hebrews 11:8, it says, "By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether he went."

Ever felt that way?

Sometimes in this journey, we may even feel as Gideon as he was trying to protect the promised land.

Have you ever felt what Gideon did when he said in Judges 6:13, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?

And where be all his miracles which our fathers have told us of?

Saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?

But now the Lord hath forsaken us."

There are two options in the face of the unknown.

looking forward with an eye of faith or looking forward with an eye of fear.

If faith is hope for things which are not seen, which are true, then fear is despair for things which are not seen, which are false.

If faith is as described in the guide to the scriptures, confidence and trust in Jesus Christ that leads a person to obey him.

Then fear is doubt and distrust in Jesus Christ that leads a person to disobey him.

We have the choice to bring into our minds what hasn't been seen yet.

but has been promised.

And if we do, it will help us obey whatever has been asked.

Or we can start to imagine all the worst case scenarios that haven't been seen, forgetting God's promises, and ending up stuck in fear.

There is a perfect example of these two opposing scenarios right in the scriptures and right in the middle of a physical journey to a promised land.

When Lehi and Sariah's sons left to get the plates and didn't return when expected, what happened?

Sariah was sure that her sons had died and that they were going to perish in the wilderness.

She truly mourned as if it had happened.

Now, don't judge her too harshly.

I don't believe there's a mother in existence that doesn't worry like she did.

In fact, I remember a time my daughter was in college and I knew she was driving through the night from Las Vegas back to Provo.

I was not happy about this scenario and I worried as I was going to bed.

When I woke up at 5 the next morning to teach seminary, I checked my phone and there was a missed call from her at 2:00 a.m. along with a text that said, "Mom, call me."

I immediately called my daughter and she didn't pick up.

I called her again and again and my mind was telling me exactly what happened.

I knew what happened.

They stopped up for gas on their way from Vegas.

My daughter got kidnapped and she was in someone's trunk right now.

I was literally tearing up when my daughter finally answered and immediately said, "Mom, I'm fine.

I was just calling to tell you that a boy said he liked me."

Really?

Really?

At 2:00 a.m.?

Could you have waited?

But you see, you see how we all do this.

I know that you're thinking of a time that you've done this, too.

So, back to Sariah and Lehi.

On one hand, we have this deep mourning and assurance of death.

But how was Lehi reacting in the exact same scenario?

He said, "I have obtained a land of promise in the which things I do rejoice.

Yay, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons."

How is this possible that he was rejoicing in the exact same scenario where his wife was in mourning?

Notice that he used past tense here.

I have obtained a land of promise.

Lehi had already reached the land of promise in his heart and mind years before they would ever reach their physical land of promise.

How did he do this?

Well, it says right there in chapter 5 of First Nephi.

He had personally seen the things of God, known the goodness of God.

He knew God.

Perhaps Sariah had been trusting in Lehi's knowledge of God until now, but needed to develop some trust herself.

This experience did just that because when her sons did return, notice what she said in verse 8.

She testifies, "I know of assurityity of God's deliverance, protection, and power."

Did you notice something about those three words?

Deliverance, protection, and power are all covenant promises.

She was proclaiming the truth of her covenants.

She now trusted that God keeps his promises.

There are others that obtained a spiritual land of promise first.

the people of Captain Roni.

In Elma 50 23 it says, "But behold, there was never a happier time among the people of Nephi since the days of Nephi than in the days of Moroni."

This blows my mind because we know what was happening in the days of Captain Moroni.

It was war.

Never a happier people.

How is this possible?

They were living in God's promises.

Look just a few verses before that.

In verse 19, it says, "We see how merciful and how just are all the dealings of the Lord to the fulfilling of all his words unto the children of men.

Yay, we can behold that his words are verified.

They believed in his word, his promises, and were seeing them being fulfilled even in the middle of war.

How about the people of Elma the Elder?

How were they able to live in God's promises even while in bondage to the Lammonites?

Well, it shows us in Mosiah 23:28, "Therefore, they hushed their fears and began to cry unto the Lord."

Do you hear that?

They stopped listening to fear and turned to faith.

And when they did, the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying, "Lift up your heads.

Be of good comfort, for I know the covenant which ye have made unto me, and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage."

And then we know they were able to submit cheerfully to all of the will of the Lord.

And they were able to do this because they covenanted with the Lord and trusted those promises.

And you can compare that to their brothers that they had just left.

The people of Lihi who were just in bondage to the same people.

They had not covenanted with God yet.

And how did they react?

In verse 9 of Mosiah chapter 21, there was a great mourning and a lamentation among the people of Limhigh.

A powerful difference there.

The people of Elma were delivered from bondage into the land of promise spiritually first, then physically.

There is no point in the land of Zion if we can't get there spiritually first.

It doesn't even exist without us journeying there spiritually first.

This is where we can truly witness that the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

This is how it was possible that the Lord could promise the people of Elma the Elder that I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders that even you cannot fill them on your backs even while you are in bondage.

I used to hear this phrase all the time.

Just give your burdens to the Lord.

And honestly, that made me feel so frustrated.

I was like, "Don't tell me to just give the my burdens to the Lord without explaining me h how.

I just didn't know how to do it."

But I'm telling you, this is how.

I hope you will have more clarity on how to give your burdens to the Lord by the time this episode is over.

So, how do we know if we're living in our land of promise or not?

Synonymous with promise is covenant.

If you are on the covenant path, you have the map to the land of promise right in your hands.

You got to open it and navigate the way there because it's pretty easy to get lost and end up in a different land.

What is that land?

Well, what is the opposite of promise?

I found it very insightful when I looked in the thesaurus.

I saw that the antonyym of promise is deceit.

Who is the author of deceit?

Satan.

If we aren't in the land of promise, we are in the land of deceit.

This is why the Israelites had to stay in the wilderness for 40 years.

They had not obtained a land of promise internally.

They did not believe in God's promises.

Okay.

Do you want to go on a little tour to the land of deceit and the land of promise so we can decide where we'd rather live?

I am a great tour guide to the land of deceit because I used to live there full-time.

And let's be honest, sometimes I go back to visit.

As we enter, you might realize that you've been there, too.

You might even ask, "Hey, have you been to the Fear Cafe?" to which I'd reply, "Yes, I've eaten there many times.

It's terrible.

I don't know why."

Or maybe you'll ask, "Hey, do you know my friend Overwhelm who lives there?"

What a small world.

Yes.

But seriously, as I describe the land of deceit versus the land of promise, this has just been my experience.

Some things may resonate, others not.

And these are just examples, not necessarily all-encompassing.

I also want to add another important disclaimer here for my fellow perfectionist friends.

You can be imperfect and still obtain your land of promise.

In fact, it is there that you learn how to come to a point of compassion, hope, and peace in your imperfections.

Okay, here we go.

Top things to do in the land of deceit as reviewed by Trip Advisor.

Just kidding.

Okay.

In the land of deceit, this is a place of unrest.

This inner chaos that happens when what we visualize aligns with Satan's lies.

It's a place where we seek advice from everyone and every source except God.

Here is where we live inside our weaknesses.

More of a tendency to want to hide our talent because when we're asked to do something, all we can think of are all the weaknesses that might prevent us from doing it.

In this place, we have an incorrect perception of God that often leads us to acting to prove our worth and earn love.

It's a very checklist mentality.

It's a place of distrust.

Often, you don't even know God's promises, or if you do, you certainly don't believe in them.

Here is where there's inaction, procrastination, avoidance, mostly because we're afraid of the outcome, and it puts us in a place of stagnation.

We're very hard on ourselves in the land of deceit, no compassion for imperfections.

And it's actually a very prideful place because we're not willing to accept who God is trying to show us we are.

And it often leads us to envy other people.

It can be a very willful place.

My will be done.

Very selfish.

And it's a place of bondage of that burden because we are trying to fix someone or something that only God can remedy.

It is in the land of deceit where we tend to find solace in addiction.

In this desperate search for peace from an external source in the land of deceit, we have doubt before God.

It's really hard to see miracles and we generally are unwilling to do anything that might require a miracle.

Okay, so that's the land of deceit.

Now, what about the land of promise?

You're going to love this land.

It's a place of peace, this deep inner calm, this homeostasis that we all seek for.

It's when what we visualize align with God's promises.

Elder Ballard said, "Peace, real peace, whole sold to the very core of your being, comes only in and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some seek it from the outside in, like the Jews did when they were expecting a Messiah that would conquer and bring them out of physical bondage rather than the spiritual bondage they were in.

It's the reason the Savior had to explain, "Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you."

In the land of promise, our primary sources of knowledge are revelation, scripture, and words of the prophets.

The land of promise is a place of power because we live inside of our gifts.

When we are asked to do something, we see the ways that we can accomplish it and the gifts that will allow us to do so.

It is where we multiply our gifts, as in the parable of the talents.

If you want to dig a little deeper into this idea, go listen to episode two of this podcast.

In the land of promise, we know God, especially through our covenant relationship, and so we act out of that love of God.

It's a place of trust, knowing and believing in God's promises.

And in this place, we feel motivated to act.

We're proactive, having faith in God's outcome, whatever it may be.

And because of that, we grow and progress.

In this place, we have compassion for our imperfections, humility and belief in who we are, joy in the success of others rather than envy.

It's a place of meekness, seeking God's will, and acting in charity.

It's a place of freedom and deliverance, able to give your burdens to the Lord, letting him fix only what he can.

And here is where we turn to Christ for solace instead of other things.

In the land of promise, we have confidence before God, able to see and ask for miracles, willing to do what requires a miracle.

Courage to ask for help to do things beyond our abilities.

Remembrance of past miracles and fulfilled promises.

I remember one instance where I was deep in the land of deceit.

I went to church that day desperate for peace.

But as we started to sing the opening hymn, I became frustrated because it was some random song from the hymn book that no one had heard of.

Probably one of those songs that will be removed with the new hymn books.

And as we mumble sang the song, I tried to overcome my grumpiness.

Like surely there was something I could get out of this song.

I looked at the scripture reference at the bottom of the page.

It was Isaiah 55:3.

Incline your ear and come unto me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

Even the sure mercies of David.

Those words hit me with power I didn't fully comprehend at the moment, but I was filled with such peace as God reassured me of his promises.

over and over again, similar scenarios would happen every time I was in a place of fear.

I remember opening to Elma 32:22 where it says, "I would that ye should remember that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name.

Therefore, he desireth in the first place, that ye should believe, yay, even on his word."

When I read that verse, the spirit helped me see that phrase differently.

Ye should believe.

Yay, even on his word, as in, I give you my word.

God wanted me.

He wants you to believe in his promises.

It's interesting.

As I was preparing for this episode, I went back to my digital journal and searched my past entries for the word promise.

And I realized that just a couple months before my health completely fell apart, I wrote this.

There has been a desperate prayer I've spoken many times these last months.

And I wish I could say it was a faithfilled one.

It sounded something like this.

Lord, help me believe because I just don't.

Belief in myself has been at an all-time low.

I am sure I'm failing as a mom, as a daughter of God.

The more I question myself, the more I question every promise made to me or about me in a blessing or through personal revelation.

I just can't see myself in the person the Lord has promised me I could become.

And then I pasted this scripture into my journal entry.

Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed, all of the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you.

All are coming to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."

And that's in Joshua 23:14.

After that scripture, I wrote.

As I read that scripture in Joshua, the thought came to my mind loud and clear.

It's always better to believe.

I picked up my notebook and started to write those words just as I tuned into the lyrics coming from a song that was playing in the background.

Why will men not hearken?

God can make you free.

Why not believe?

And then I continued in my journal.

God's promises to and about us are not conditional.

But is our belief in them?

Do we believe in ourselves as long as all is well and circumstances ideal?

We prove ourselves when we continue to believe in his promises even when things get hard.

And that was the end of my journal entry.

Oh wow.

I had no idea truly how hard things were going to get.

I had no idea that God was about to take me on a journey that would test my belief and eventually strengthen my belief in his promises like never before.

If you would like to take this spiritual journey to the land of promise, there's a lot we can learn from other physical journeys we find in the scriptures.

First to note is that all journeys were led by a prophet.

Therefore, we can trust that if we will follow the prophet that God has called to lead us today, we will be led to a spiritual promised land.

The talk think celestial is a perfect example of how to get to a spiritual land of promise.

And what about when President Nelson told us that the safest place we could live is inside our temple covenants?

And even in President Nelson's final talk, urging us to let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly and to have confidence before God.

Following our prophet to the land of promise is going to take effort, though.

We need to take the time to study his words.

All right.

Next, in Deuteronomy and Numbers, what can we learn in finding courage to take this journey from Moses and the leaders of the 12 tribes when they were sent into the promised land to bring back a report of what it was like?

Perhaps God is saying to you and me what he said to Moses and the Israelites.

You have dwelt long enough in this mount.

Turn you and take your journey.

I have set the land before you.

Go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers.

The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are and bless you as he hath promised you.

But remember, everyone came back with a negative report except Joshua and Caleb.

And the Israelites decided to believe the negative reports.

Caleb tried to calm and strengthen them, saying words like, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it.

God hath set the land before thee.

Go up and possess it.

Fear not, neither be discouraged.

Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

The Lord your God, which goeth before you, he shall fight for you according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.

The Lord is with us.

Fear them not.

These are words for us right now.

We can do this.

Let us not be like the Israelites when they simply would not believe there was hope to dwell in such a place.

They rebelled and murmured and had discouraged hearts.

Yet in this thing you did not believe the Lord your God.

I spake unto you and ye would not hear.

How long will it be?

air they believe me for all the signs which I have shued among them.

Is it possible to live in this place of peace, faith and joy no matter what is going on in the world?

Have the confidence to take the land of promise that God has prepared for you, ready and more fruitful than you can imagine.

What can we learn from Lehi's example?

From Lehi, we learn that our journey will include small and simple daily instruction that will eventually lead to our destination.

just like how they were guided with the Leona.

The problem was that it was so small and simple that for a time they stopped believing and did not progress in their journey.

As President Nelson explained, the scriptures are our personal Aona.

We cannot lose faith in the power of reading them every single day.

I also love what we can learn from the Geredites.

We learn that sometimes there are parts of our journey where we have no option but to submit to God and trust he will get us there.

They simply had to set forth into the sea commending themselves unto the Lord their God.

I felt this way when it came to overcoming some incorrect beliefs that were very deep in me.

That's one of the problems with the land of deceit.

You don't often even know that you are there because the lies are so good that you don't even know they are lies.

I just had to plead with God to help me with the things that felt impossible.

And I don't know how he did it, but he did.

Though just like the brother of Jared, there will be furious winds tossed upon the waves buried in the depths of the sea.

Mountain waves breaking upon you, great and terrible tempests.

But at the same time, there was no water that can hurt you, no monster of the sea that can break you.

You will have light continually as long as we cry unto the Lord and he will bring us forth on top of the waters and we do not cease to praise the Lord.

And remember how the Geredites delayed their journey camping on the beach for 4 years.

We might also think that where we are is pretty good and delay because in this journey there are going to be things that are hard to leave behind.

But if you do, perhaps you will feel as the Deredites when they finally landed in Ether 6:12.

They did land upon the shore of the promised land.

And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land, they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land and did humble themselves before the Lord and did shed tears of joy before the Lord because of the multitude of tender mercies over them.

So let's go back to the floor of my bedroom.

just being promised that if I could trust God, my sleep would finally be sweet.

Once again, I found myself in a bit of disbelief.

Was God really offering this miracle to me?

Now, I had been praying for this for over a year.

I shut my scriptures and opened them up again, reading whatever words I opened up to.

Mormon 9 verse 19.

And if there were miracles wrought, then why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable being?

And behold, I say unto you, he changeth not.

If so, he would cease to be God, and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.

Behold, I say unto you, that who so believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ, it shall be granted unto him.

And this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

I read those words and still asking could I really trust.

Don't laugh at me, but I shut my scriptures and open them up again.

This time I opened to Judges 6 when Gideon was promised by God that he would deliver Israel from the hands of the Midianites.

He was still afraid.

So to be sure this promise was true, he asked God, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor overnight and in the morning the dew will be on the fleece only, but the ground will be dry all around it.

And if that happened, then he would know that God would save Israel as he'd promised.

Well, he woke up the next morning and exactly what he asked happened.

But that still wasn't good enough.

And Gideon said unto God, "Let not thine anger be hot against me.

And I will speak this just one more time."

Then he asked this time that the fleece would be completely dry in the morning, but the dew would wet the ground all around it.

and he went to sleep, woke up, and what he asked happened.

Now, I know it might not be a great idea to prove God, but it seemed to work out for Gideon, and I felt this patient little urging from the spirit like, "Go ahead, Amber.

If you need to know if this promise is real, what do you need from me in order to believe?"

So I asked God, okay, if the very next scripture I turn to says something about deliverance, I will trust that you are making a promise to me.

Okay, you're going to laugh at me again.

Uh because just to make it a little harder for God, as if you can even make something hard for God.

Um and to make sure that it could not be coincidence, I put down my paper scriptures and I opened my Gospel Library app.

I can't believe I'm even telling you this.

Okay.

So, I closed my eyes and I just randomly started tapping and scrolling for several long seconds.

And then I stopped and sat there with my eyes closed, taking a few deep breaths.

And when I opened them, I read the very scripture my finger was touching.

Mosiah 27:16.

Now I say unto thee, go and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helm and in the land of Nephi, and remember how great things he has done for them.

For they were in bondage, and he has delivered them.

Whether your faith is weak or strong, wherever you are in your journey, God is with you.

And he's so patient, loving, miraculous, and merciful.

Did I experience an immediate and complete physical healing after this?

Honestly, not exactly.

It was and has been a process, but the process was the miracle for me.

I am grateful to say that from that day I started to heal and I never have returned to that debilitating state I was in.

The things I have learned along the way to complete healing have been priceless to me and the spiritual healing has been even more valuable to me than the physical.

All right.

Are you ready to put your condo up for sale in the land of deceit and make a move to the promised land?

My number one advice from making this move myself is don't over complicate it.

In Romans 10:17, it says, "Faith cometh by hearing the word of God."

Hear God's words just a little more.

And hearing God's word doesn't necessarily mean reading your scriptures even more.

It means hear find a promise you are willing to hear.

As you seek, you can write all the promises Heavenly Father has revealed to you in a patriarchal blessing or other blessing.

And don't forget the instructions or commands God has given you personally.

Because a command or an instruction is a promise.

If God asks something of you, he is also promising to help you do it.

You could open to DNC 109, which lists the promises of temple covenants.

Highlight the promises in general conference talks and in scriptures.

And again, as President Nelson instructed, ponder them.

Talk about them.

Watch to see them fulfilled.

I want to do better at taking time each day to write down one day I saw a promise fulfilled that day.

This will help us live in the land of promise.

Indulge me for a moment here as we end.

Bring a problem you are facing into your mind.

Something that perhaps you've visualized a negative outcome for and worried about.

Now listen to these promises.

I will not forget thee.

I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.

With great mercies I will gather thee.

I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

I have chosen you.

My spirit remains with you.

Do not fear.

You will feel my power.

No weapon formed against you will prosper.

My angels will have charge over you.

I will manifest myself to you.

I will fight your battles.

I will consecrate all for your gain.

I will set my eye upon you for good.

I will build you.

I will give you a heart to know me.

I will deliver you out of bondage.

I will seek that which was lost.

I will cause a shower of blessings.

I will give peace.

I will walk among you.

I will strengthen you.

I will restore health unto you.

And I will heal you of your wounds.

I will multiply you.

I will give you strength such as is not known among men.

My word will not return to me void.

I will give you rest.

My presence will go with you.

I will show mercy.

I will make goodness pass before you.

I will preserve you.

For thou hast sought me diligently with loneliness of heart.

And in as much as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper.

We can choose to be frozen in fear or progress in promise.

We have been promised an everlasting inheritance of land.

Covenant keepers will inherit the earth in its glorified state.

I cannot wait for that day.

But why wait?

Right now we can rejoice and proclaim.

I have obtained a land of promise.

So here are some questions you might ask God.

What promise do I need to trust in right now?

Or what is an incorrect belief I have about you?

Christ is the promise.

Christ is hope smiling brightly.