Self Reliance

1.“It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places where God’s Spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love reigns and peace dwells.”

President Thomas S. Monson  

"Becoming Our Best Selves"  Ensign, Nov. 1999

2.“We must not turn aside our hearts or our heads from becoming more self-reliant, caring better for the needy, and rendering compassionate service.”

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Providing in the Lord’s Way” Oct. 2011 General Conference

3.“The Welfare handbook instructs: “[We must] earnestly teach and urge Church members to be self-sustaining to the full extent of their powers. No true Latter-day Saint will … voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Almighty and with his own labors, he will supply himself with the necessities of life.”

 President Boyd K. Packer  “Solving Emotional Problems in the Lord’s Own Way” Apr. 1978 General Conference

4.“The promise is that every son and daughter of God can find, through the Spirit, answers to the challenges in their lives, including how to become more self-reliant. We must, therefore, ever keep in our minds how precious each child of God is and how important our service is to each one of them.”

 Elder M. Russell Ballard

“Becoming Self-Reliant—Spiritually and Physically” Ensign Mar. 2009

5.“Each of us should do all that we can, in the spirit of gospel self-reliance, to provide for ourselves and our families in a temporal and a spiritual way. Then, if it is necessary to reach out for help, we know we have first done all that we can. This includes helping the members of our immediate and extended families to the maximum extent possible so that the bishop is not faced with burdens that should be handled in the first instance by the individual or by the extended family.”

Elder Dallin H. Oakes

“Bishop, Help!” Ensign May 1997

6.“One of the most important lessons you will ever learn is the security and peace that comes from living within your means. … If you are spending more than you take in, heartache and sorrow are sure to follow unless and until you learn how to live more providently,” he said. “Understand that you will not have all of the things in your home when you first start out. My heart aches when I see a young newlywed couple in a larger-than-they-can-afford home with the latest furnishings that borrowed money can buy. …"(Elder L. Tom Perry, BYU Graduation Commencement Speech, 26 April 2013)

7."We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual.  A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value. We are living in the prophesied time “when peace shall be taken from the earth” (D&C 1:35), when “all things shall be in commotion” and “men’s hearts shall fail them” (D&C 88:91). There are many temporal causes of commotion, including wars and natural disasters, but an even greater cause of current “commotion” is spiritual."Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Liahona, May 2004, 7–10

8.“In seeking to overcome debt and addictive behaviors, we should remember that addiction is the craving of the natural man, and it can never be satisfied. It is an insatiable appetite. When we are addicted, we seek those worldly possessions or physical pleasures that seem to entice us. But as children of God, our deepest hunger and what we should be seeking is what the Lord alone can provide—His love, His sense of worth, His security, His confidence, His hope in the future, and assurance of His love, which brings us eternal joy.”

"Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually", Elder Hales, April 2009

 

9."Recent surveys of Church members have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a year’s supply of life’s necessities. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun. . . . It is our sacred duty to care for our families, including our extended families"

(Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Sept. 1986, 4).

 

10."Let us simplify our lives a little. Let us make the changes necessary to refocus our lives on the sublime beauty of the simple, humble path of Christian discipleship—the path that leads always toward a life of meaning, gladness, and peace."  “It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Of Things That Matter Most", General Conference, October 2010

Capstone-Position Statement:

I love being self reliant, it is something my husband and I have been striving for for a few years now.  We are out of debt, raise animals, raise some of our own food, have food storage and work hard on knowing how to  make things and do things on our own.

The prophets and apostles have been telling us for many years now the importance of being self reliant, you just need to look around the world to understand why its so important.  We as a family have had to endure hardships that have forced us to be a self reliant as possible by living on our food storage or skills because of lack of money or resources.

My purpose now is to make sure that we continue preparing ourselves and keeping ourselves as self reliant as possible, and most importantly, to teach our children to be self reliant and skilled as well.
I also try to teach others what they can do to become self reliant, both people of our faith and not.I am always amazed at the interest others have when I tell them what our family is doing and why.

We may not understand now the full picture on why being self reliant is so important, but I believe someday it will become clear and we will be glad that we have prepared ourselves in the ways that we have.