7 Simple Actions to Increase the Love of God in your Life

Challenges and trials can knock us off our feet. We can feel numb to the world, to our spouse, our children, our church, and our jobs. Sometimes we feel like we are living our life in slow motion or everything seems like a blur.

I definitely have felt this way many times in my life– especially after losing a baby. Almost every time I lost a baby, I would withdraw. I would feel like my ability to feel even one more thing was impossible. The feeling of sorrow would completely overwhelm me and all my senses. Numbing myself became my coping mechanism for most of my miscarriages. Feeling became too overwhelming because I didn’t know how to allow those feelings to sit, pass through me, and then provide the understanding and strength that trials are intended to bring.

Over the years, I have found these seven actions tremendously helpful in my ability to feel the Love of God more fully in my life again. His Love never leaves- we are the ones who distance ourselves from feeling it.

1. Finding new places for quick conversations with God, our Heavenly Father. You can ask my kids, they know my favorite place to pray is my bathroom. You can turn on the fan, and in my case a wonderful heat light, and kneel down and pray. It is my quiet place. Another favorite is my car. When my kids were all younger, even if they were in the car, they were in the back. So I could silently pray, cry, and ponder as we drove. Then wipe my tears, and be ready again to be a mom that could be present for them.
2. Studying Conference Talks on the topics of The Love of God, Hope, and Peace. In the church I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is a biannual conference where our church leaders give the most beautiful talks that inspire and uplift and give direction to us in our lives. These talks speak to my heart just as the scriptures do. These talks made such a big difference to me. And listening to them again, and not just reading them, allows the emotion of the speaker to touch our hearts even more. Searching by topic helps us to receive inspiration on what we are seeking to heal our hearts in that moment.
3. Increase attendance of the temple. If you are a member of the same church as me, and have a temple close to you, I encourage you to attend more frequently. As a young mom with babies, I definitely didn’t make it to the temple very often. But now it is much easier. The Love of God is tangible in these beautiful buildings. Sometimes I would have the thoughts that the reason I lost a baby was because I wasn’t worthy of having any more kids. Being in the temple chased those thoughts away. I would come out edified and ready to face my sorrows and trials because I had gathered strength as I served. {If you aren’t familiar with the purpose of temples, it is to unite families together forever, and help us make covenants with God that will enable us to live with Him again eternally- both for the living and those who have passed on to the next life already.}
4. Serve others. When we focus on the needs of others, it helps our worries be put into a different perspective. Not just seeing those around us as a man, woman, or child walking this earth, but seeing them as a spiritual brother or sister who might be hurting, lonely, depressed, scared, insecure, or feeling numb to the Love of God. We are God’s hands. When we set out in our day to be his hands, I know that our days will be 100% better. When I don’t set out to look for ways to serve, my day is not necessarily “hard” but it is less fulfilling for sure. Lately, my focus has been more on my family. Little ways to make them feel not only that I love them, but in turn that their Heavenly Father loves them. My favorite local charity is Hearts Knit Together. Volunteering there makes me feel like Santa Claus.
5. Watching our thoughts. For much of my infertility journey, my thoughts were left unchecked to take me to dark, lonely, self-defeating paths. It took a long time for me to start paying attention to my brain, and stand up to those thoughts. One way to stand up to those thoughts, is to fill your mind with scripture. Delving deep into the verses of scripture that remind us that God loves us so much. And for me, I would at times journal these verses. Writing them down in a notebook can solidify those words deep into our hearts. Then when the voice of the devil tries to tell us we are worthless, we have something to fight his words with.
6. Surround yourself with people who are positive. Seeking out friends who are sharing goodness and light has strengthened my faith in humanity, built me up on those hard days, and increased my knowledge that God is aware of me. I can’t count how many times a thought was shared on social media that was an answer to my prayer. When we fill our social media feeds with joy and hope, we are lifted up and strengthened. Choose who you follow carefully. This can be hard at times, but for me it has made a huge difference. Social media can be a beautiful thing, or it can be a damaging thing. The great news is we have the ability to choose what we feed our minds. I know that when I open Instagram on my phone I will see a plethora of scripture, thoughts by prophets and apostles, and insights from men and women who love God.
7. Surround yourself with inspirational art that depicts the Love of God. The photo at the top of this post is by artist Kate Lee. You can find her print here. I absolutely love her art. I have a sweet neighbor who has basically an art gallery of photos of Christ in her home. She struggles with some health issues, but being able to see Christ all around in her home gives her strength. I have been trying to add more pictures to my home too, and I can feel the difference it is making.

These are not new ideas or rocket-science. But these worked for me in the past, and continue to work today. Over the years, I got better at catching those negative thoughts early on. Then I could put more of my time and effort into those first four actions. Sometimes we just have to numbly do those actions for awhile before we will see how they are actually helping lift our spirits, helping us to feel known and loved of God.

I hope that today you will see the Love of God more fully present in your life. Then take it and share it.

Today there is a reason to hope.