Lessons Learned~A Voice of Protection

 When I was about eight years old, I went on an errand with my mom to the store.  I was in the backseat of our four door sedan and we didn't have seatbelts or child door locks in the car which was typical for those days. As an eager child that I was, whenever we would go somewhere in the car, I would jump out as soon as it stopped at our destination. This would upset my mom. It was very unsafe and my mother use to always tell me to wait for her to turn off the engine of the car and listen for her instructions on what to do next but I hardly ever waited. It was way too tempting to just get out quickly. 

This errand of my mom's on this particular day was at a store on a highway. So my mother had to park on the open road which was where the traffic would drive by the vehicles that were parked on the side of the road.  As my mom maneuvered the car to parallel park, it seemed like I was having to wait forever before I could get out of the car. As she finally stopped the car (engine still running) I grabbed the door handle and turned it to get out. Then for a split second, before my mom could say anything, I had a distinct impression to stop what I was doing. Almost as if it was a "still small voice" telling me not to open the door. As soon as I felt that impression and stopped moving the door handle, a tractor trailer truck came speeding close besides us. I could feel the rushing air of the truck as it went by. It was scary. I was so relieved I hadn't opened the car door. It was obvious that I escaped a terrible accident. 

After the truck had cleared by us,  my mother was aware that I had suddenly stopped opening the car door and she asked me what made me decide not to get out of the car. I told her about my impressions and feelings.   In some peculiar way, something had warned me. She knew what it was instantly. She explained to me about the Holy Ghost. She said that the Holy Ghost is always with us and that it is a gift from Heavenly Father that will warn us when danger is near.  She told me to alway listen and be aware of the Holy Ghost and it would protect me from harm.  I know what she said was true. I knew that those impressions were real and divine in nature. I knew from that experience that God was real and that he knows me and is near me.

Through a still small voice, The Spirit speaks to me

To guide me, to save me, from the evil I may see.

If I try to do what's right, He will lead me thru the night,

Direct me, protect me, and give my soul His light.

Listen, listen, the Holy Ghost will whisper.

Listen, listen to the still small voice. ~Merrill Bradshaw

Lessons Learned ~ A Voice of Truth

 

I grew up with goodly parents, brothers and a sister. We were  active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I always loved the church, especially when I was young and I attended Primary. The music from the primary songs really spoke to me and I think I always knew the church was true and good because of those beautiful feelings of the Spirit in Primary. 

I knew that being a member of my church was different than churches of my classmates at school. I grew up knowing that the way we worshipped Jesus Christ was different than most Christians. So, I was always a little shy about sharing my beliefs  with others because I didn’t want anyone making fun of something that was so pure and sweet to me. I was able to stay in the shadows spiritually most of my life, enjoying church on Sunday and basically living the gospel in secret and not sharing too much with my peers about my way of life and beliefs.  

That all changed when I attended my first year in junior college. Originally, I wanted to go to Brigham Young University after high school but my GPA was low and my tests scores weren’t very high. So I went to our local junior college so that I could eventually transfer to BYU. My goal was to take classes that I thought I’d do well in and have a good GPA. One class I enrolled in was Bible Literature. I thought that this class would be somewhat easy for myself having grown up in the Church, reading scriptures and I had taken LDS early morning seminary classes in high school for the last four years. I soon found out that this class wasn’t a bible literature class at all but more of what I would call a “bible bashing” class. The first day of class everyone was telling which religion they were associated and already taking sides on what was their interpretation of the scriptures. I felt very uncomfortable the whole time I was there. At the end of class, the teacher asked “Where are my mormons?” I instantly felt a target on my back. The teacher’s first assignment was for the Mormons in the class to explain their “plan of salvation.” I couldn’t believe it. Here I’d been avoiding such situations for years and now I was confronted with something that I felt totally unprepared for. I’m embarrassed to say that I immediately dropped the class. I couldn’t face the scrutiny… the possible humiliation. Anyway, after dropping the class, I agonized over the way I was acting. I was so weak and I knew it. What was causing so much anxiety? I needed something to happen in my life to get me over this terrible fear that I had built up in myself which prevented me to converse about the Church to anyone.  Truly, the Church was the one thing that I held so sacred in my life… why was I acting so childish?  As I pondered this experience in prayer,  I had kept thinking about how I had never truly read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. I had read parts of it throughout my life and always felt good about it but I wasn’t a very good reader. I struggled with comprehension issues and so I would get bored if I had to read anything for a long time but when this whole experience happened I convinced myself that if I read the Book of Mormon and received an honest witness of its truthfulness that I would get over my insecurities of sharing my views about the Church. So, I did it, I made a promise to myself that I would read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover, and ask Heavenly Father in prayer for a spiritual witness. So every night from that day, I read the book and I prayed every night before reading that I would get a spiritual witness. Night after night I prayed and read, night after night, no witness but I had so much more determination than I ever had and even though I wasn’t receiving the spiritual experience I was hoping to get, I was actually enjoying the reading. I was feeling a sense of great satisfaction in following through with this commitment. 

As I was nearing the end of finishing the book, I can remember being in the middle of reading the seventh chapter of Moroni. I had just said a quick prayer and jumped into bed because it was a rather cold night, as I started reading more verses, an unexplainable warmth came over me. I then felt a distinct burning in my bosom that I had never felt before in my life. I knew instantly that this was my witness. I then proceeded to crawl out of my bed and thank Heavenly Father for such a wonderful, spiritual feeling. I knew for a surety that the Book of Mormon was true. I knew it and I knew God knew I knew it. First thing I remember after thanking God for such a wonderful feeling was that I needed to share this book with others and my experience with others.  

Those sacred feeling that I received on that night in my bedroom will always mean so much to me. It was one of those few miraculous moments of my life that I can always turn to when I’m confronted with negative thoughts, confusion, or dealing with trials and tribulations.   I can turn my thoughts directly to that divine moment and  all those wonderful feelings come back vividly to my mind and I say  to myself “Yah, maybe life isn’t perfect right now but that thing that happened in my bedroom was real” God is real and miraculous. He loves me and  He answered my prayer and I’ll never forget it. 

"And when ye shall receive these things, 

I would exhort you that ye would ask God,

 the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, 

if these things are not true; 

and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, 

with real intent, having faith in Christ, 

he will manifest the truth of it unto you, 

by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 And by the power of the Holy Ghost 

ye may know the truth of all things" ~Moroni 10:4-5

Lessons Learned ~ Repentence

 Happy Birthday Mom, love you...

When I was about 5 years old, I went to the grocery store with my mother. At that time, in this store there was penny candy on display in baskets at the end of one of the aisles for customers to gather and buy to take home... For a little girl of my size it was very tempting to see all these sweets directly in my face.  I asked my mother if I could have some and she politely told me "no." I wanted some really bad so when she wasn’t looking I took a piece and hid it in my pocket. While in the check out line and while my mom was paying for our groceries, I asked her if I could go out to the car and wait for her there. She agreed (it wasn’t unusual for us to wait in the car in those days in a small town like ours) As I was in the car waiting, I took out the piece of candy from my pocket that I had stolen from the store and started to eat it As I put the candy in my mouth and started chewing it, I immediately had a sick feeling inside, so much so that the candy didn’t even taste good I knew that it was wrong to take something that wasn’t mine. Those feelings of guilt were so strong that I knew I had to own up to what I had done. So when my mom came to the car, I tried to tell her that I had taken a piece of candy from the store but instead of telling her I just started crying.  She knew by the way I was crying that I had to have done something that I was feeling guilty about so she persisted in asking me what I had done and to tell me that I would feel better if I just told her. So, when I told her, she didn’t get mad, she just told me that we needed to pay back the store. So she gave me a penny and we went back and I told the store clerk what I had done and that I was sorry. The clerk took the money I can’t remember what was said after that. I do remember how relieved I felt and how I knew I never wanted to have that feeling again. I’m grateful to my mother for giving me the opportunity to pay back the store clerk. What I learned was that wrong is wrong and repenting of wrong doings feels a lot better than knowing and feeling the guilt. I also feel that if you learn not to push away those feelings of guilt, and own your misdoings early, that it’s easier to respond positively and recognize sin before it happens. I’ve done other things in my life that I’ve felt bad about. I know that it’s better to deal with the consequences and own the wrong than to pretend it was okay or to blame others for things. It just feels better to own the guilt. “The truth shall set you free.” 

"We can help our children 

feel the joy of repentence... 

by helping them understand 

that it is a beautiful, 

ongoing process 

of change and growth." 

~Joy D Jones