Day 13

I have determined that having positive thoughts is to have faith, hope, and charity.“
They have been my tools for the past 13 days of my new life.

It is what happened in the experience I tried to describe In my first blog. I did something to act on my faith, I had hope in God’s promises if I changed and I experienced charity as a result ( the fruits of the spirit ) This pattern has repeated itself every time a negative thought has crept into my mind and I have chosen to replace it with a positive one.

Here are some definitions.

The Apostle Paul taught that “faith is the substance [assurance] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Alma made a similar statement: “If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot yet see. (LDS study by topic)

"Hope is the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill his promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting something will occur." PMG pg 117.

1Corinthians 13
4Charity sufferth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things…

From the LDS twelve step Program:
Addiction crippled our ability to reflect honestly about our lives. It limited our ability to understand the damage and havoc—the liabilities—it caused in all our relationships. Before we could confidently rely on the Savior, we needed a framework through which He could help us sort out our past honestly. Step 4 provided that framework; it was the "vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are" ( Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 42). The inventory was also a step in helping us align our lives with the will of God. Through this inventory, we identified negative thoughts, emotions, and actions that ruled our lives. By discovering those destructive elements in our lives, we took the first step toward correcting them. Doing an inventory was difficult, but this step opened the door to the additional faith and hope we needed to continue our recoveries and overcome addiction.

In my blog, Day 10, I described a hard time in my life.

The truth was that I was let down, people were thoughtless and they were not there for me, my habit was to think and ponder about those facts and how different my life would be if someone would see my plight and rescue me. The painful truth was, I played the martyr and blamed every one else for my miserable life. This caused my depression.

How different my life would have been if I had looked at my life from the power of positive thoughts, creative thoughts that could see the opportunities and adventure in my
situation. Faithful, hopeful, charitable thoughts that would have left me prepared and open to inspiration and revelation.