What is Provident Living?

Dear friends,

Hello! My name is Laura, and if we haven't already met I hope to meet you soon. One of the first things you get to learn about me is this: I am absolutely certain that I have never been as delighted to receive another calling as I was when I was asked to be the ward Provident Living Specialist. Seem strange? I promise that if you accept our invitations to learn more about provident living this year, you will gain a rock-solid testimony that this is part of your Heavenly Father's plan for you and that it is an essential way of life for a Latter-day Saint. And it makes you happy!

I look forward to sharing my testimony of many ways in which provident living blesses our lives, and to providing very practical information about how to live providently. You might find a recipe here, or a Mormon Message, or a story, a do-it-yourself article or a list of links on a particular topic. Just bookmark this page and make it part of your looooong Sabbath afternoon to catch up and set some goals!

Your concept (and mine) of what provident living means will develop over the course of the next few months as we study and learn and experience together, but I want to provide a basic definition of what provident living is. In essence, it is self-reliance. In the Church's Handbook 2: Administering the Church, Chapter 6, paragraph 6.1.1, we read:

"Self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.

"Church members are responsible for their own spiritual and temporal well-being. Blessed with the gift of agency, they have the privilege and duty to set their own course, solve their own problems, and strive to become self-reliant. Members do this under the inspiration of the Lord and with the labor of their own hands.

"When Church members are doing all they can to provide for themselves but cannot meet their basic needs, generally they should first turn to their families for help. When this is not sufficient or feasible, the Church stands ready to help." (To read more about self-reliance and welfare principles, visit Handbook 2 online.)

Handbook 2, as well as http://www.providentliving.org/, teach us that some important areas in which to become self-reliant or to live providently are Health, Education, Employment, Home Storage, Finances, and Spiritual Strength. We will focus on all these areas throughout the year.

I look forward to your comments and contributions! If you have a special skill or a testimony you'd like to share that will help the members of our ward live providently, please let me know. Also, if you feel like you want some one-on-one advice on how you can live more providently, I'm happy to come see you. I always have time for you!

Sincerely,

Laura