Hey y’all! It’s been a
good minute since I’ve last seen all y’all, and I’m fixing to tell y’all
various stories like helping baptize a guy I met drunk, someone I taught all of
the lessons in one week and he got baptized, and my first experience knocking
door to door. One of the stories that I am personally most grateful for was
when I was serving in my first area in Atlanta when I was at the church for the
Addiction Recovery Program with one of my recent converts. It was dark and my
investigator asked us if the other set of sisters were going to pick us up from
the church. We remarked no, and she insisted on us asking for a ride. But they
said no, and she was very disappointed and told us to be careful. After ARP
finished, the senior couple- The Newman’s remarked how badly they wish they
could drop us off at home, but they didn’t have any room. We were walking
towards the MARTA train station as Elder Newman stopped us, and decided to
leave a blessing of safety with us, and told us to be aware of our
surroundings. After the blessing occurred my trainer and I began to freak out
instantly, and we started to hurry our way home. It seemed like we were waiting
at every single corner to cross the street, and we couldn’t hurry fast enough
home, As we were approaching our final street to cross, we noticed that a car
had ran a red light to turn left, and had hit the barrier in between the two
lanes. The spirit confirmed to me that if we hadn’t been stopped so many times
during that journey home, our paths would have crossed with that car and we
would have been hit, killed instantly.
But before I get I get
ahead of myself, I have to back up on how I decided to go on a mission to serve
the Lord for a year and a half approximately two years ago.
The funny part was in
the beginning I decided that I wasn’t going to go on one, even though the age
change occurred. I thought it wasn’t for me. In my patriarchal blessing it
mentioned that I would go on a mission and I just told myself that it was going
to happen with my husband once I retired. I didn’t want to follow the crowd and
there were many obstacles put in front of me that was dissuading me from going
such as my Dad losing his job, and other financial problems. I kept
entertaining the thought on whether or not I should go on a mission, but I
wasn’t really doing a whole lot of acting to see whether it was God’s will or
not. I went to my cousin Chelsie’s
farewell talk and that stood out to me more than anyone else’s. She mentioned how she was
reluctant to get an answer on whether she should go on a mission, and that’s
exactly how I was feeling. I was praying and asking whether I should go on a
mission, but I never bothered to wait for an answer because I was too scared of
what that answer may be. But I decided that I was done wondering, and I desired
to obtain an answer so I could stop wondering what Heavenly Father had in store
for me. I started to do things that would help me be worthy to receive the
answer that could very possibly change the entire direction of my life for the
next couple years. One day I prayed in my room for an answer I was ready to
hear. While I was waiting for my answer, my Mom came in and wanted to tell me
something that my Uncle Daniel mentioned to her, “Emily should not worry about
the money if she’s supposed to go on a mission. Finances will not be an issue
because everything will work out in the end.” Right when those words were
spoken, I recognized that the spirit overcame me as strong as I’ve ever felt in
my life. I started to bawl like a baby, and I exaggerate not when I say I
continued to cry for a good twenty minutes. I recognized I received personal
revelation and got my answer- I was going on a mission.
Personal revelation is communication from God to
His children. In the Bible Dictionary, it quotes that divine revelation
is one of the grandest concepts and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
for without it; man could not know of the things of God and could not be saved
with any degree of salvation in the eternities. The principle of gaining
knowledge by revelation is the principle of salvation. It is the making known
of divine truth by communication with the heavens and consists not only of
revelation of the plan of Salvation to the Lord’s prophets but also a
confirmation in the hearts of the believers that the revelation to the prophets
is true.
There are multiple
steps that we must do in order to receive personal revelation from Heavenly
Father The three that I want to focus on are how to obtain revelation, being
worthy to receive it, and to recognize the revelation that Heavenly Father
wants to give each and every one of us.
When I first was
thinking about whether or not I should go on a mission, I did not have a yearning
to obtain it, much less have a desire to seek God’s will because I knew it
would be hard to leave my friends and family for a year and a half. Apostle
Dallin H. Oaks stated, “Going forward with our service and work is an important
way to qualify for revelation. In my study of the scriptures I have noted that
most revelation to the children of God comes when they are on the move, not
when they are sitting back in their habitations waiting for the Lord to tell
them the first step to take.” If one isn’t doing anything to try to receive
revelation, then Heavenly Father isn’t going to feel inclined to give us the
revelation we want. In D&C 42:61, it reads, “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation,
knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable
things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” One of
the people I had the privilege to teach was a man named Ironce Raymond who was
from Haiti. His wife and their grandkids had been baptized earlier that year,
and one of his grandsons Bryan, invited him to come to church for the second
time because he was speaking in sacrament meeting. We had just started teaching
the first lesson the day before, and after church was over Brother Raymond told
us that he wanted to get baptized that very Saturday. He desired to receive the
revelation that Heavenly Father had for him because he did everything in his
power to receive all of the five lessons within that one week. He left work
early so we could teach him every evening, and he made a constant priority to
read the Book of Mormon and to ask God whether it was true. In True to the
Faith, it states “According to your faithfulness, you can receive revelation to
help you with your specific needs, responsibilities, and questions to help you
strengthen your testimony.” Brother Raymond had amazing faith, and he knew that
this was God’s will for him. He was able to ponder the things that we were
teaching him, and studying out in his mind to find out if what we were teaching
him was true to receive his answer.
One of the things that
I learned when I first went out into the mission field was that we cannot force
spiritual things. D&C 88:68 read, “Therefore,
sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will
come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall
be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will”.
When I had my first day of knocking on doors, I really freaked out because I
didn’t want to waste the Lord’s time by knocking on doors that would reject us.
I would refuse to choose what door to knock on because I didn’t know what the
spirit was telling me. It’s amusing now to think that I would pray whether or
not I should knock on a door and I wouldn’t get an answer. So I went for it, but
no one answered. I quickly learned this statement in Preach My Gospel by Elder
Dallin H. Oaks, “Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal growth.
Personal decision making is one of the sources of growth we are meant to
experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the
Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in
which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely
to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or
either choice is acceptable.” I learned that Heavenly Father didn’t care
whether or not I got rejected at the door; He was just pleased with me that I
was serving Him and having a desire to share the gospel with those in Georgia.
As you have a desire to
obtain revelation, one will change and start doing the things necessary to be
worthy to receive revelation. One of the stories that pop into my mind when it
comes to receive personal revelation is in Alma 37. When Lehi and his family
were in the wilderness, they relied on the Liahona to guide them so they would
be able to make it in their journey, just as we need personal revelation in our
own lives. Verses 40-41 say, “And it did
work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to
believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they
should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many
other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day. 41 Nevertheless,
because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them
marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and
diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in
their journey;” Unfortunately if we don’t exercise our faith and diligence,
we won’t be able to receive the progress just as Lehi and his family did for
that period of time. In order to be worthy we must be reverent, obey the
commandments, pray often, continually come to church, fast if needed, and study
our patriarchal blessing.
Christopher was one of
my recent converts when I was serving in my first area in Atlanta. We were on
the MARTA train when I met Christopher when he was drunk, and I was really
surprised that he remembered us when I followed up with him the next day to
confirm the appointment we set at the church for the upcoming Saturday. It was
a joy teaching Christopher because he was truly repenting and changing himself
to be worthy to receive revelation from Heavenly Father. One of the general
authorities serving in Atlanta, Elder Parker asked us in zone conference, “Am I
teachable?” We must be meek and lowly of heart to be open to have personal
revelation revealed to us. When we taught Christopher every day or every other
day, he would always take what we taught him to the Lord. What we didn’t know
until after he was baptized three weeks later was that he was praying for the spirit’s
guidance, and he valiantly followed the promptings he received. He felt like he
came to a plateau in his own life, and he wanted God to show him the path that
he needed to be on. He promised to God that if it would be revealed it him, he
wouldn’t back out with what God wanted him to have. Christopher had the faith
that he would be able to receive personal revelation to guide him. The day after we taught Christopher the first
lesson, he had read 40 pages of the Book of Mormon- the first 35 pages, and
then the last 5 because he wanted to know how the story ended. We all must
study the scriptures every day so we can apply them to our own personal life.
We communicate to God through prayer, and God communicates to us through the
scriptures. Throughout those three weeks before his baptism, he humbled himself
by giving up his drinking and smoking habits so he could be worthy to receive
the many great blessings of baptism. Those who humble themselves are able to
acknowledge and to understand the Lord answers to their prayers.
One
of the most important things about personal revelation is being able to
recognize what Heavenly Father is trying to tell you. I was one of the pros of
overthinking personal revelation, since learning how the Holy Spirit speaks to
you is a constant process. I remember in the very beginning of my mission I
thought that I would be guided simply to each of the doors that I needed to
knock on, and I wouldn’t question what Heavenly Father would have me do. But in
reality if we did that, we wouldn’t be able to act on faith. But the longer I
was out, I understood the concept that all things which are good comes from
God, and the things that are evil comes from Satan. So if we receive a
prompting to do something good, then it’s from Heavenly Father. There are many
fruits of the spirit that we can feel to help determine whether the Holy Spirit
is testifying of truth- love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, and temperance. One of my favorite scriptures that explains the
holy spirit is in Helaman 5:30, “And it
came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of
thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was
a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did
pierce even to the very soul—”
As
I was deciding to figure out what college I should go to, and what transfer I
should go home at, I felt like Joseph Smith in some cases because he was trying
to decide which doctrine was right. Unlike Joseph Smith, I was able to attend
the temple monthly, and I continued to find what was right through fasting and
prayer. I took a question to General Conference in faith that it would be answered.
Just as I had a question, Joseph Smith had a question for Heavenly Father that
he wanted answered. If y’all wouldn’t mind, I would love for all y’all to close
your eyes, but don’t fall asleep! If you’re not sure on how the spirit speaks
to you, I invite you to pay attention to how you feel as I recite what Joseph
Smith went through when he went to the grove of trees.
“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
-pause-
I want y’all to pause for a few moments to
pay attention on how you can recognize the Holy Spirit.
–pause-
Brothers and
sisters, I can just testify to you that I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet
of God. God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that he speaks to us through
chosen prophets to receive revelation on our behalf so we can return to live
with him again through the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have that power to
baptize, perform miracles, and to preach the gospel. I know that Christ did
establish his church through the foundation of apostles and prophets. He gave
them authority to continue building His Church, although it didn't happen that
way. As the patterns of the prophets have repeated itself time and time again,
God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet of God, and promised us that we will
never again have Christ's Church be taken from the Earth. I testify this to be
true with all my heart, and that I know that the Book of Mormon to be the word
of God. Many plain and precious truths were lost during that time where there
wasn't a prophet to guide the people after the apostles' death. But through the
Book of Mormon many plain and precious truths have been restored for us. I
invite everyone to pray and read the Book of Mormon every day, especially as a
family. I remember when Elder Zwick came to my last area and he was telling us that making it to the Celestial Kingdom isn't rocket science. He asks us to do three simple things. Small and simple things bring great things come to pass. Heavenly Father loves us, and all that he wants us to do as a family is to pray and read scriptures as a family, and have Family Home Evening. I have seen the differences between various families that I've served with that do and don't do those three things. They have the spirit in their home. I admonish you that if you aren't doing those three things, start now. I know through Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. Through the Atonement when can be made whole, and that he has felt everything that we have felt. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
