23 Powerful Truths about Goals, Repentance, & Resolutions
Jesus Christ sees divine potential no matter where we start.
Happy New Year!
In the spirit of new beginnings, today’s post is full of 23 powerful teachings from the Savior, His prophets, and other inspired women and men to help you start your new year filled with excitement and anticipation for a wonderful, joy-filled 2023. I would also ❤️ to read some of YOUR favorite quotes on this subject, so please share in the comments!
ONE
Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
Alma 37:36-37
TWO
The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Stephen R. Covey
THREE
Resolve really to pray and not just say prayers. There is a big difference. Learn to pour out the real in-depth feelings of your heart to your Heavenly Father, rather than merely going through the form of saying about exactly the same trite words and phrases that you have become accustomed to use. Remember that if we don’t feel like praying, as President Brigham Young counseled, that is the time to pray until we do feel like it.
FOUR
We all have different intercepts in life—we start in different places with different life endowments. Some are born with high intercepts, full of opportunity. Others face beginning circumstances that are challenging and seem unfair. We then progress along a slope of personal progress.
Our future will be determined far less by our starting point and much more by our slope. Jesus Christ sees divine potential no matter where we start. He saw it in the beggar, the sinner, and the infirm. He saw it in the fisherman, the tax collector, and even the zealot. No matter where we start, Christ considers what we do with what we are given. While the world focuses on our intercept, God focuses on our slope. In the Lord’s calculus, He will do everything He can to help us turn our slopes toward heaven.
FIVE
Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us.
SIX
There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible.
Mother Teresa
SEVEN
If you are to be successful . . . I will give you one piece of advice: Go to bed early and get up early. If you do, your body and mind will become rested and then, in the quiet of those early morning hours, you will receive more flashes of inspiration and insight than at any other time of the day.
EIGHT
Let [us] seek for wisdom instead of power and [we] will have all the power [we] have wisdom to exercise.
Eliza R. Snow
NINE
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
TEN
Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals.
ELEVEN
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
Marie Curie
TWELVE
Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.
THIRTEEN
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 whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
Mormon 9:20-21
FOURTEEN
Let the Spirit be your guide from hour to hour, do what it tells you to do and do not concern yourself with other things. This is my advice to everyone else.
There are vitally important issues which concern us all but to which I pay no attention unless directed by the Spirit. This is because: 1) There is altogether too much for anyone to handle. 2) The time is too short to undertake certain things unless one is emphatically directed to. 3) God moves in a mysterious way - you can count on surprises. The important thing is to know that what you are doing today is what God wants you as an individual to be doing.
Hugh Nibley
FIFTEEN
First, resolve to strengthen your spiritual foundation. This may involve setting a specific time and place to study the scriptures, praying more often, making temple worship a bigger priority, and letting God prevail in all aspects of your life.
Second, resolve to be kind to others. When the Savior Jesus Christ visited the Americas, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, one of the first things He taught was the need to eliminate contention in our lives. So, please be compassionate, be understanding, be slow to judge, and be quick to forgive.
Third, resolve to be resolute. The Lord loves effort. The Lord loves consistency. The Lord loves steadfastness. While we surely will come up short from time to time, our persistent efforts to hear Him and follow the inspiration He gives us will help us to “wax strong in the Spirit” (Mosiah 18:26).
SIXTEEN
God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.
Neal A. Maxwell
SEVENTEEN
I would encourage you to set really high goals. Set goals that, when you set them, you think they're impossible. But then every day you can work towards them, and anything is possible, so keep working hard and follow your dreams.
Katie Ledecky
EIGHTEEN
For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
2 Nephi 28:30
NINETEEN
The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. It requires a conscious effort to diminish distractions, but having the Spirit of revelation makes it possible to prevail over opposition and persist in faith through difficult days and essential routine tasks. We can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when we feel the Spirit working through us. With [personal revelation] we cannot fail; without it we cannot succeed.
TWENTY
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
W.H. Murray
TWENTY-ONE
Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.
1 Nephi 7:12
TWENTY-TWO
We are most blessed when we see ourselves as we are seen by [the Savior] and know ourselves as we are known by Him. In this world, we do not really grasp who we are until we know whose we are. The Lord says, 'I will not forget you. I have graven you on the palms of my hands' (see Isaiah 49:15-16). He will never forget us nor our real identity. [And, neither should we ever] forget whose we are. We are His.
Truman G. Madsen
TWENTY-THREE
Dismiss the destructive, and keep dismissing it until the beauty of the Atonement of Christ has revealed to you your bright future and the bright future of your family, your friends, and your neighbors. God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go.
Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever. That is a New Year’s resolution I ask you to keep.
Next week on The Bright & Morning Star
“Break me to Christ.” I first read those four words while taking a Mormon literature class at BYU, many years ago. They are the last four words of a poem about the sometimes painful process of coming to know Him, a process I am still very much in the middle of. I hope sharing will help me and you as well in this mostly private and sometimes fiercely intimate wrestle.
My first day on Substack. This is the kind of content I wanted. Thanks.
I’m over a year late ⏰ but these instructions are so powerful to me here in 2024! Thank you for sharing them. Wonderful guidance for this year, too!