I recently asked in prayer, “What lack I yet?” And here was the answer I got:
Listen to your first thought or prompting, and act on it right away.
I have been working on that as much as I can these past few weeks, and some days are better than others, but I’ve had some pretty cool experiences.
Using my time wisely has become a little more natural. I’ve found more opportunities to fit good things into my life. I’ve had some cool teaching experiences with my kids.
It was exactly the advice that I needed to gain a little more clarity in my life, and invite even more spiritual promptings to come.
“What lack I yet” is a question I ask pretty often in prayer, and it’s a principle I even use to guide my scripture study and look for personal applications.
(Elder Lawrence’s talk in Oct 2015 on this subject is FANTASTIC by the way, if you want some reading/listening!)
The reason I love asking this question so much is because it keeps me focused on improvement.
It’s so easy to think that I’m doing just fine, I’m doing all that I can handle, or that I can’t even keep up with the things I have right now.
But I’ve found that the Spirit is always eager to bring my attention to one area I can focus on in particular.
Instead of being overwhelmed by everything that I lack, I can be shown what one thing would get me started in the right direction.
When I was reading about the Lord’s comments about Sidney Rigdon this week, I was really intrigued by this connection:
“I, the Lord, am not pleased with my servant Sidney Rigdon; he exalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel”. D&C 63:55
Sidney was exalting himself in his heart, which is definitely a problem.
But what an interesting side effect, right?!
Because of this pride, he didn’t receive counsel!
He wasn’t asking “what lack I yet?”— he was thinking, “I’ve got it all figured out. I’m good enough.”
Pride is so sneaky.
The adversary wants us to stay as we are, and reject any advice that’s given to us, whether through prayer or through other kind loved ones.
And yet our Savior invites us to change. His atoning sacrifice is the reason we CAN change.
But we don’t have to tackle this impossible task of “becoming Christlike” all on our own.
The Spirit can whisper to us exactly what the next step is. Being so gentle and kind in giving us just what we can handle next.
All we need to do is ask.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
8 Responses
Thank you for reminding us to ask, ‘What lack I yet?
You’re welcome! <3
You have a lot of wonderful thoughts from Come Follow Me studies that I have found very helpful, but this one really hit me as I read it. Great stuff!
Thank you! This one is a favorite of mine as well.
I read: “Listen to your first thought or prompting, and act on it right away.”
I tried it. I’m finalizing my Relief Society lesson for tomorrow, 6/13.
I had earlier an impression to try to tie some D&C scriptures into the lesson, to help the Come Follow Me lessons be relevant to our RS lesson.
I did nothing about the impression………
Until I read your email and “Listen to your first thought or prompting, and act on it right away.”
I stopped sorting through my huge pile of emails, and took a moment to look for scriptures that applied to the lesson.
Thanks. Great idea you were given, and shared with us.
Hooray! I’m so glad it was helpful. I hope your lesson was fantastic!
I love this so much! I have been very overwhelmed of everything that I lack. Living in a whirlwind. Thank you for your wonderful words, encouragement and testimony!
One step at a time! <3