A Mighty Change of Heart

What does it really mean to have “a mighty change of heart”? In this episode, I reflect on Alma 5 and how that phrase first touched my soul as a teenager reading the Book of Mormon in a tent during a family camping trip. Since then, I’ve asked myself again and again—how do we keep that change alive through the ups and downs of real life, especially when it comes to relationships?

This episode is deeply personal. I share how parenting challenges led me to seek divine guidance—and how something as simple as habit tracking helped me shift my heart and truly see my loved ones through God’s eyes.

We talk about daily repentance, small and simple practices, and the power of intentionally recording one good thing about someone we may be struggling with. Whether you’re facing tension in a family relationship or seeking more light in your daily life, I hope this episode invites you to feel the love of Christ and experience your own mighty change of heart.

Let’s keep learning how habits, perspective, and the Spirit can bring healing.

Quote:

“Changing one’s lifestyle is not easy. Often it requires you to change habits and practices and even associations to progress toward your loving Heavenly Father.” Elder Scott D. Whiting

Journal Prompts:

• What could God’s perspective do for you in a challenging relationship?
• What daily practice will help you feel God’s love for you?
• What is one positive thing or behavior you see in someone you are frustrated with?

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Shine Out Podcast with Becky Schettler. Thank you for taking the time to tune in and go with me on this journey to seek the light of Christ in our daily life. I hope you feel God's love for you as I share my insights and personal discoveries about how much God loves each individual. Two years ago, I started this podcast with the purpose to shine the light of Christ, and I am continually learning how experiences through my life have been teaching me how much God loves me and I want to share his love through my stories and gospel principles. Today the topic I want to talk about is this phrase, a mighty change of heart" that comes from the Book of Mormon, in Alma chapter five, verse 13 and 14. This is Alma talking about his father who was converted to God. And he says in verse 13,"...he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore, they were saved. And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have you received His image in your countenance? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" Well, this scripture came alive to me when I was 17. It was the summer before my senior year in high school, and I had committed to myself that I was gonna read the Book of Mormon, in that summer before I started my senior year. My family was going camping and I took the Book of Mormon with me because I was reading every day'cause I wanted to finish it. I read chapter five of Alma on that trip. And as I was laying there in the tent and I read those words, I just felt so close to Heavenly Father. I really wanted that change of heart. I wanted to receive His image in my countenance. And I love that question like, do you feel it now? Like how do we continually keep that change of heart in our life? There's some other phrases in verse seven and nine that I love also. It says"He changed their hearts...He awakened them out of a deep sleep and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word..." I love that word,"the light." Illuminated by the light. And then in verse nine it says"their souls did expand and they did sing redeeming love." In my life, I've strived to keep the light and to receive His image in my countenance and to maintain this change of heart. So throughout my life, I have been checking in with myself with these questions. Have you spiritually been born of God? Have you received His image in your countenance? Have you experienced this mighty change? This has been on my mind for a few weeks now, and I want to share my insights about it. How do we change and maintain this change as life throws, curve balls of health, wealth, and hardships, and even other people who we know that we should love and get along with, but the relationships are really challenging. President Nelson said,"when Jesus asks you and me to repent, He's inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit, even the way we breathe. He's asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies." So this idea of change goes hand in hand with daily repentance. I mentioned repentance in my previous episode, and I feel like talking more about the change of heart really brings it down to our daily life. In the most recent conference, Elder Scott D Whiting said, changing one's lifestyle is not easy. Often it requires you to change habits and practices and even associations to progress toward your loving Heavenly Father." So today I wanna share a parenting experience that has challenged my relationships with my family members and how my system of habit tracking has helped me improve my connection with others. Family relationships can be hard because of the emotional ties to people that we love. It's hard to get along. We have different perspectives or beliefs. Seeing the good in someone when they don't see it in themselves is really hard for a parent. Or being further along in life and we want to tell someone how life could be easier if they just chose the easier path, based on my own experience, but they don't wanna listen. Some of those things are really hard to deal with as a parent. When one of my children was in first grade, it became a problem because they wanted to stay home from school a lot. It was on random days, things that I had planned or organized or scheduled and my child didn't wanna go to school and I would be so frustrated. It would just be so upsetting that it was messing up my plan. It just got to the point that it was kind of outta control and I wasn't happy, they weren't happy. In this situation, I wanted to step outside the picture frame and see things from a bigger perspective. I had to change my approach and seek divine guidance. I prayed to Heavenly Father and asked what I could do in this situation. My answer came so simple that I thought it was silly, but it worked. I got a calendar for this child and I marked the days that they needed to go to school. And if they did so many days of going to school, they got to pick one day that they could stay home. This helped schedule it. It helped me plan for a day with this child, and it turned into a fun day and a beautiful experience that we could spend together. And then the next day they went back to school and they were fine. I think they just needed a reset and they were really overstimulated at school and this was a time for them to reboot with mom and then they were fine. So that was such a learning experience for me of how scheduling and putting it on the calendar would help. When I was struggling to understand one of my teenagers, I could see they weren't happy. They were having a hard time emotionally and spiritually, and I felt helpless because they weren't listening to me. I realized I had a choice. I could look at the good side and the good qualities of that child, or I could look at all the negative things, the things that were bugging me or going wrong. I really wanted to see the good and nurture the good things inside this child and bring out their full potential. Again, I had to change my approach from the way the world or others handled it, and I sought divine guidance. My answer was simple again. By this time, I was in a regular practice of writing down three wins of the day. Finding three things to celebrate about the day. I began intentionally looking for one positive thing in that child. And I wrote it down every day. I continued doing that for three years, whether it was for that child, or for another family member. I trained myself to see the good in a person that I was struggling with. I also became more aware of their positive strengths and the qualities that God had blessed them with and that he sees in them. I discovered other ways to support the child, give them opportunities that could help develop their skills and hobbies and do more of the things that they like to do. And it increased their happiness and joy. I learned so much from intentionally focusing on an individual and looking for one positive thing every day. This practice of recording one positive trait or behavior that I had seen or an act of kindness that they had performed, became part of my daily tracking and my planner at the time. I know that when I am struggling with someone and I really want to get along with them, but the differences make it hard or they may not want to get along with me, there is potential to change our focus, to see them the way God does. We can't change them, but we can change our view of them because God loves them. Like Elder Whiting said, changing our habits and practices can help us progress along the path toward God. And I add that as we change our behavior, it will help others also because they will see and feel the light of Christ that we radiate. So I'd like to add journal prompts to my podcast. So here are the prompts for today: What could God's perspective do for you in a challenging relationship? What daily practice will help you feel God's love for you? What is one positive thing or behavior you see in someone that you are frustrated with? When we are in the thick of hard relationships, I know it's difficult to see any good in the moment. In my life experience, taking a minute at the end of the day to write down one positive thing about a person's character allows me to open up to see them the way God sees them. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and I want that to be my view too. When I change what I am looking for, I see something I didn't see before. This is why I have included a space in my Shine On bullet journal to daily write down three wins, including a positive trait about someone important to you. I am growing my reputation as a Happy Habit Tracker coach. I help people establish habits that create a happy life. I am launching my first program to support more people using my Shine On bullet journal and guiding them through an eight week challenge starting July 1st. If you feel guilty from not sticking to your goals, or you know there is something you really want to achieve, but don't know how to get started, I would love to tell you more about my bullet journal personally. Come find me on Instagram BeckySchettlerCoaching. If today's episode reminded you of a time when you were trying to work through a difficult relationship, or if you're longing to feel more connection with loved ones, I'd love to connect with you. I'm scheduling free mindset breakthrough calls to offer new insights so that you can feel more peace and purpose. You can find me on Instagram@BeckySchettlerCoaching. I would love to hear what today's message stirred in your heart. You will find links for a free habit tracker and my website in the show notes. Thanks for being here, and have a happy day.