Fasting and Praying About Our MBA Decision

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in Fasting. I haven't been able to fast for a long time because you shouldn't when you are pregnant or nursing. But I am starting to get back into it, and it is such a blessing. This is what I learned yesterday about fasting:

"The law of the fast has three great purposes. First, it provides assistance to the needy through the contribution of fast offerings, consisting of the value of meals from which we abstain. Second, a fast is beneficial to us physically. Third, it is to increase humility and spirituality on the part of each individual."
The Law of the Fast - Elder L. Tom Perry

I listened to many talks about fasting to learn how to improve my own fast. This 10 minute talk below is so helpful in understanding how to fast and why we fast.

For the text of this talk, go HERE

"If we want our fasting to be more than just going without eating, we must lift our hearts, our minds, and our voices in communion with our Heavenly Father. Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of temptation.

Fasting and prayer can help develop within us courage and confidence. It can strengthen our character and build self-restraint and discipline. Often when we fast, our righteous prayers and petitions have greater power. Testimonies grow. We mature spiritually and emotionally and sanctify our souls. Each time we fast, we gain a little more control over our worldly appetites and passions."

The Law of the Fast - Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Yesterday we were fasting about our decision for MBA school. This has been the biggest and most difficult decision of our married life; really it was a decision process, I should say. It has taken over 9 months to complete this process with so many decisions along the way. But I know that the Lord has guided us all the way and has been answering our prayers. This is not the first time we have fasted about our decision, and we've been praying all along the way. We have done all we could to study it out in our minds, to do all the research we could do, to weigh the pros and cons, and to talk to many people about it. After all this, we've decided which school we feel is best and then taken the matter to the Lord to ask him if it is the right choice for us. 

God gave us this pattern through modern scripture:  "behold, I say unto you, that you must ^astudy it out in your ^bmind; then you must ^cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your ^dbosom shall ^eburn within you; therefore, you shall ^ffeel that it is right.

 9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a ^astupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong" (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9)

While I fasted, I was better able to hear the word of the Lord, to feel the Holy Ghost. And Seth and I both felt a confirmation of the decision we had made. So, we have decided for sure, and we're signing the papers today and putting down our deposit! So stayed tuned and find out tomorrow where the Wagner's are off to!

To learn more about fasting, go HERE and HERE