Tuesday, January 15, 2013

In Touch With the Spirit

I'd like to share with you an experience I had recently.

It was the week after finals and most of the Students had gone home for Christmas break...that wasn't my case. Work commitments required me to stay at school for the break instead of take the rest of the month off and visit home with family.
It was Sunday afternoon and I had the sudden idea to visit the Visitor's Center at the Temple. I had lived here for nearly four months and I hadn't been yet.
When I walked in, I was greeted by a Sister Missionary with a kind, warm smile  Her name was Sister Barber. She was from Ireland here serving in Utah. We chatted and she gave me a small tour of the center. She mentioned several times throughout the tour of a video that she really wanted to show me. She asked other Sisters if they had remembered the name of the video, for she could not. She led me into a small room with a TV and searched the menu for the video she felt so strongly I should see. I even heard her plead with the Savior for a brief moment, asking for help to find it. I could see she was getting discouraged. She finally said, "Well, I don't know where it is. But how about we just go ahead and watch one, they're all good."
She chose one at random and joined me on the chairs to watch the video.
As we watched, I broke into tears. I knew that this was the video the spirit wanted me to see. We shared experiences and thoughts of the gospel and both of our testimonies were strengthened.
I am so thankful that Sister Barber had the spirit with her and was able to get the prompting to show me that video. She knew and recognized the spirit and acted upon it. Her prayers and pleads for the Savior to guide her to the video were answered, but not in the way that she expected.
So many times in our missions, we will feel prompted by the spirit. We need to remember to follow it in what it tells us to do, because we won't always know the reason or the outcome it will have.
As it says on page 149 of Preach My Gospel, we must pray to teach the right people and teach the true doctrine.

May we all try to be obedient in the gospel and promptings of the holy ghost. Good things will always happen to the obedient and faithful.

1 comment:

  1. What an amazing experience, Emily. You have always been close to the spirit--it shines in your eyes and that is why we all want to be around you!

    I'm so excited for your mission call and I love your new blog!

    Thanks for being such a great friend and neighbor. The Woods family has blessed our lives so abundantly!

    Love you!!

    ReplyDelete