Those who have "had their faith sadly scorched by circumstances" can nourish their spirituality by applying fundamental principles of the gospel, promised Elder Neal A. Maxwell in the final session of conference Sunday afternoon.

"Adversity can increase faith or cause the roots of bitterness to spring up and trouble us," said Elder Maxwell of the Council of the Twelve.He observed various ways that faith can be eroded, and offered advice on specific paths to be followed in regaining it.

Faith, he said, is compromised by unconfessed sin, inability to make choices, or when it is not built upon the Savior.

"Much of any weariness is attributable to carrying the heavy natural man," he commented. "Unlike others we may carry, the natural man is heavy and he is not our brother!"

Working steadily and realistically at doing well, serving others with a "meek and lowly" heart, praying always are ways to help avoid spiritual weariness, he continued.

"How can you and I expect to glide through life as if to say, `Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made thee what thou art! Then let me come and dwell with thee and fully share thy joy!' "

Four fundamentals needed to perfect faith are serving, studying, praying and worshipping. "If we cease nurturing our faith in any of these four specific ways, we are vulnerable."

Building faith requires a desire to believe, and then exercising that desire. When that is done, the seed of faith grows discernibly. "We are invigorated as it enlightens and swells. We become our own internal auditors confirming this increase in our faith."

But, he observed, "we are all at different points in this process, aren't we, of desiring, experimenting, verifying and knowing.

"While faith is not a perfect knowledge, it brings a deep trust in God whose knowledge is perfect! Otherwise, one's small database of personal experience permits so few generalizations! But searching the holy scriptures permits us to access a vast, divine databank, a reservoir of remembrance."

Seekers should not expect a constant string of `yes' answers, nor for Christ to " `come to us' - instead of our going to Him."

"In the trial of our faith, we may sometimes feel God has deserted us. The reality is that our behavior has isolated us from Him.

"When we first feel the consequences of our mistakes and are just turning away from these, but have not yet fully turned to God, we may have feelings of being forsaken."

When faith is fully developed, it includes a belief not only in God and His Son, but acceptance of their redemptive capacities and their divine timing.

These developmental processes are necessary but painful, he said. "As things unfold, sometimes in full view, let us be merciful with each other. We certainly do not criticize hospital patients amid intensive care for looking pale and preoccupied. Why then those recovering from surgery on their souls?

"Extending our mercy to someone need not wait upon our full perceptivity of their challenges."