PROVO, UTAH
Note: The annual Campus Education Week was held at Brigham Young University Aug. 13-17. Other presentations were covered in the Church News issues of Aug. 18, 26 and Sept. 2.
The powers of heaven are governed by faith, Diane Bills Prince told a BYU Campus Education Week audience Aug. 14, assuring listeners that God loves them just as much as He does those whose stories are recounted in the scriptures.
"He can make mighty miracles happen in your life, and He can replace the fear in your hearts," she said.
Sister Prince, a motivational speaker who has been an Education Week presenter for 25 years, said she was providing two simple things listeners could do to replace fear with faith. "And as you do these things, I promise you that you will have miracles happen in your life."
The first thing, she said, is to strive to live righteously, and the second is to call upon the powers of heaven by exercising faith.
Sister Prince told of a mother whose son became involved in vile deeds. The mother "decided that she was going to be like Alma the elder and that she was going to exercise the greatest faith that she could muster."
To demonstrate her obedience, she determined to couple her faith with increased temple attendance, Sister Prince related.
After three years, she said, a miracle took place. A temple worker who had noticed her in the temple often became acquainted with her and then requested to meet her son.
Shortly thereafter, the temple worker died. He had requested that the son participate in his funeral; the son complied with the request.
"All of those experiences had such a profound effect on this young man that he turned his life around and he recently was married in temple," Sister Prince said.
From the "Lectures on Faith," she quoted these passages:
"As faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal concerns, so it is spiritual."
"Faith is not only a principle of action, but of power also."
"Faith, then, is the first governing principle which has power, dominion and authority over all things."
Diane Bills Prince at BYU Campus Education Week.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
She reasoned that because faith is a gift of the Spirit, "we can pray, we can plead with Heavenly Father to increase our faith. We can ask Him to help us."
Sister Prince noted that the Lord grants blessings on His own timing.
"So if you're working as obediently as you know how, and if you are exercising all of the faith that you can muster up, remember that His timing is crucial and that His timing will make a huge difference."
Sister Prince said she has found that when she fears is the time she needs to have faith to pray.
Diane Bills Prince at BYU Campus Education Week.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
To illustrate she told a recent incident in which she had returned home to find that her house key was locked in the house. Her mother, who was with her, suggested they say a prayer, and a solution clearly came into her mother's mind.
"But I was in such a panic mode that I didn't listen to what she had to say," Sister Prince said. The solution was to call Sister Prince's children. She didn't think they had a key, but as it turned out, they did.
"In my panic I called a locksmith, who came to our house in the middle of the night and got in all the doors — I had to go through multiple doors."
She said the point of the story was if she had been calm, exercised faith and listened for the answer to her prayer, as her mother did, she could have avoided the expense of the locksmith service.
