By Kristi Steidley

I think back to a time when I was out shopping. I had multiple stops to make and both of my kids were with me—which, to be honest, is one of my least favorite things to do. I was already burned out from being around people all day and completely drained from saying “no” to my kids about a bazillion times. I just wanted to get home. I was in a terrible mood.

My kids were bickering in the backseat, and I was silently complaining in my head. Their noise grated on my nerves. I felt guilty and sick about how much money I’d just spent. I was overwhelmed by the long list of things still left to do. Frustration and anger were bubbling up so strongly I could practically feel steam coming out of my ears.

It got to the point where I had to say to myself, “Kristi, you have got to stop!” I could feel myself vibrating at such a low frequency—it felt awful.

I knew something had to shift. I was stuck in a pattern of complaining, and I knew the only way out was to do the opposite. So I made the conscious choice to focus on gratitude. I started thinking about how grateful I am to be a mom. I thought about how blessed I was to be able to buy groceries. I started listing the good things right in front of me.

That’s when an image came into my mind: a funnel. I realized that when I’m stuck in negativity and complaining, my funnel is flipped upside down. No wonder I wasn’t receiving any inspiration from God—everything He was trying to give me was spilling out and missing me completely. But the moment I shifted into gratitude, it was like I flipped the funnel right side up—and immediately, inspiration started pouring in.

Specifically, I began receiving clear answers about what to do for girls camp. I’d been praying and asking for guidance for weeks, and in that moment, I realized Heavenly Father had been trying to communicate with me the whole time. The problem wasn’t that He wasn’t speaking—it was that I wasn’t in a place to receive it. I was getting drops instead of the flood He intended, simply because my funnel was upside down.

At girls camp, I gave a demonstration. I showed the girls how little water makes it into a bottle when the funnel is flipped upside down—and how much spills onto the ground. Then I flipped it the right way and showed how easily the water flows straight into the bottle. The bottle represented us; the water, Heavenly Father’s communication. And the key to flipping that funnel? Gratitude.

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