"How does your faith strengthen you?"

The other day, we were talking to a woman who asked a question that caught me off guard.  She asked us the question: "How does your faith strengthen you?"  Looking back I realize the question was surprising because after so many hours of talking to people and answering their questions, one of those questions wasn't about doctrine or scriptures.  Instead she wanted to know what our message meant to us.  Not even wondering about the concept of faith, but the grander scheme of my adventures within the framework of my beliefs.

The beliefs I have are those of my parents, but I have tried and found them to be true through my own experiences.  So often we can go off of the testimony of others and it's generally a safe way to go.  Parents always give simple warnings, such as "Don't touch that or you'll get burned!"  They know from their own experience what the consequences are and they try to warn us so we don't have to suffer for ourselves. But when it comes to religion, it becomes necessary for an individual to gain for their self a testimony of their beliefs; to have experiences that will leave them with infallible proof that God does exist and that He does love them.  These experiences are essential because they bring a person closer to God.

A prominent religious leader once said, " True religion deals with spiritual things. We do not come to a knowledge of God and his laws through intellectuality, or by research, or by reason. I have an average mind—one that is neither better nor worse than the general run of mankind....The things that will profit us everlastingly are not the power to reason, but the ability to receive revelation; not the truths learned by study, but the knowledge gained by faith; not what we know about the things of the world, but our knowledge of God and his laws." (Bruce R. McConkie, "The Lord's People receive Revelation", italics added)

My faith strengthens me because through it I have built a real and solid relationship with God.  I talk with God and have learned to communicate with Him through prayer, the scriptures and His servants around me.