from a young age my parents taught me to look for and recognize God's hand in my life Today I'm excited to share three proven and effective ways to see how Heavenly Father is an integral part in each of our lives These strategies aren't new but I hope that after our time together today you'll see them in a fresh light and feel inspired to implement them in your life especially as we approach the end of the semester and finals week These three concepts are daily prayer journal writing and your patriarchal blessing One way to recognize God's hand in our lives is through personal prayer each morning and night By starting each day with prayer and scripture study we set ourselves up for success Remember the first thing we do each day is the thing that always gets done If you make prayer and scripture study your first priority you'll do it every day Then before going to bed take time for another prayer Evening prayers give us the opportunity to reflect on the day and share with Heavenly Father what we've experienced and accomplished My evening prayers aren't always memorable but one that was was when I spent the summer in Switzerland following my freshman year at BYU The year was 1986 It was my first time alone in a foreign country My German wasn't great and our faith wasn't well known at all I struggled to fit in because I didn't drink alcohol and I wanted to go to church on Sunday During this time I wondered if my life might be easier if I didn't follow what I'd been taught One night I decided it was time to ask God if everything I believed about the church in the restored gospel was true I read the Joseph Smith story in the Book of Mormon Then I knelt and prayed I wanted to know right then that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon was true and that everything I believed and stood for was true The moment I began praying a profound sense of the spirit filled my little attic bedroom The spiritual power I felt was so strong that I truly believe that if I opened my eyes the angel Moroni himself might be there The image that came to mind was of the angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith in Joseph's bedroom At that moment I knew everything I prayed about was true and I've never forgotten God's hand in my life that night The second way to see God's hand in your life is by keeping a journal Now before you dismiss this idea hear me out By taking just a few minutes each day to write down one way you've seen God's hand in your life you'll quickly build a powerful record of his influence in your life Take a break from doom scrolling and watching social media videos Put your phone down and write down one way you saw the hand of God in your life every day At first it might be a bit challenging to break free from your phone habits and I know I've tried But as you make this a daily habit you'll begin to write your own story through the lens of God's love for you Over time you'll have countless stories of when you saw and felt God's hand in your life and you'll start to recognize miracles every day The third method of seeing the hand of God in your life is studying your patriarchal blessing Every time you wonder what you should do with your life study your patriarchal blessing Every time you want to feel God's love read your patriarchal blessing My mother taught me an effective way to understand my patriarchal blessing And I'm really excited to share it with you To analyze your patriarchal blessing take three pieces of paper Label the first one blessings the second one commandments and responsibilities and the third warnings Next read your patriarchal blessing line by line As you read each line decide which category it fits into So we'll start with a blessings category and I'd like to share a few of a few blessings from my patriarchal blessing just to give you an idea of how to go about doing this So first of all I was born of goodly parents This is a great blessing It doesn't say I was blessed with goodly parents but we know that that is a really great blessing So a blessing doesn't have to have the word bless in it I'm blessed with the blessings given to Abraham Isaac and Jacob I'm blessed with great faith and I'll be directed to a young man to marry in the temple I like to review my blessings page when I'm having a tough day or need some comfort The next page is commandments and responsibilities Commandments and responsibilities are your strengths Here are four from my blessing Keep yourself clean and unspotted from the sins of the world Help at all times to set standards for others to follow Heed the counsel of your parents and seek learning at all times So this is kind of a it's really good to go to look at these things like on fast Sunday when you're feeling close to the spirit so you can reflect on your personal commandments and responsibilities that Heavenly Father has shared with you in your blessing The third page is for warnings While commandments and responsibilities highlight our strengths warnings point out our weaknesses These warnings offer guidance on areas we should work to strengthen Sometimes they begin with if sometimes they don't Here are some examples from my blessing If you keep yourself clean you will always have the spirit If you are prayerful the door the Lord will direct your thinking and actions by his spirit Be faithful in order to receive these blessings Heed your parents counsel By studying your patriarchal blessing you'll come to recognize how Heavenly Father has blessed you how he's blessing you now and how he will continue to bless you in the future The meaning of your blessing will evolve at different stages of your life So make it a habit to study it regularly This will help you stay aware of your blessings responsibilities and warnings no matter what phase of life you're in Choose today to start recognizing his hand in your life As you do you will come to understand his will for you grow closer to him and our savior and gain a firm assurance that his hand is always with