Hear and Hearken

 It has never been more imperative to know how the Spirit speaks to you than right now. -- Elder Russell M. Nelson, April General Conference

Over many years I have worked to learn how God speaks to me. While living in Salt Lake City, we lived by Nancy. She was an older lady who had fallen, broke her leg, and eventually had it amputated below the knee. I was asked to help her and we became good friends. In our conversations she often told me how she had powerful burnings in her bosom that came from God. I had never felt such things and frankly did not know what she was talking about. But those conversations led me to seek how my Heavenly Father communicated with me on a very personal level.

I learned that God speaks to his children today just as he did millennia ago.

I learned that God speaks to his children individually.

I learned that revelation is a constant stream much like a rain shower, but we have to come out from under the umbrella to access it.

I learned that revelation is very personal and tailored to our individual needs and circumstances.

I learned that thoughts that tell me to do something good, especially if it involves other people, is from God. AND really, does it matter if it is my thought or God's thought is it's leading me to do good and be good?

A week ago I was in Vernal, attending a temple, in a session that was anything but ordinary.

With COVID-19 temples have been temporarily closed. Only recently have they begun opening up for limited ordinance work. I was praying and hoping that Nate would be able to go before his mission. It just seemed a little weird to send an unendowed missionary out although I know it's been done before. One Friday in August I received an email from Nate's mission president in Denver saying that when temples opened up there, they would schedule times for the missionaries to go and parents could come and go through with their missionary at their own expense. I cried a little when reading that email because I knew that my Father in Heaven was so aware of the turmoil my heart was in over this. I just didn't want Nate to have that temple experience by himself.

A week later Utah had several temples open up for own endowments for missionaries so I emailed Bountiful, our temporary temple. Several weeks later I received a generated reply that they were all full through October and had no available openings. I was a little saddened but held on to possibly going to Denver. A few days after that I got another email from Bountiful from a real person who said the same thing that there were no openings but that I might try Vernal. Vernal? I didn't even know Vernal was open yet.

I was hastily walking out the door for a half-marathon but decided to make a quick phone call to Vernal KNOWING I would get a voice mail with an email address to send my request (just like with Bountiful). I was taken back when a real person answered the phone and we had a real conversation and they had several days and times available!

So that is how we ended up in Vernal, three hours from our house, on a Wednesday night.

Although, in reality the Lord put us there.

After making that appointment the THOUGHT kept coming to me that I needed to contact my cousin Craig who lived in Vernal to see if he'd like to come. We were told we could have up to 16 and we weren't even close to that number. I kept brushing that thought aside. Life was incredibly busy.

Two days before our scheduled trip, I was sitting at the light headed to school. I had turned off the radio because that's when I get revelation which comes to me most often in THOUGHTS. I wasn't seeking any real revelation but that thought came back that I need to contact Craig.

As I sat and contemplated not doing it and trying to talk myself out of it, I realized I would hugely regret it if I didn't follow through.

I got to school and the first thing I did was pull up Facebook Messenger and messaged Craig's wife Andrea. She immediately responded that they would love to come.

Whew! Glad I took care of that.

*photo courtesy of Brian Leary since I forgot to get one

But that's not the end of the story.

We were sitting and waiting and chatting in the temple when Andrea told me her story. She is the Relief Society president and had been asked to get two new counselors. She has been in angst over it and was up the night before I messaged her in turmoil and thinking to herself, "I can't even go to the temple over this." Then she said, "I was in complete shock when I saw your message the next morning."

You can't tell me the Lord is not the great orchestrator in the small details of our lives. He knew Andrea would love to go to the temple with her questions. He knew we needed to go to the temple for Nate. He also knew that Kiersten would come if the temple were close enough for her to do so. Had we gone to a temple in the Salt Lake Valley, she most likely would have stayed in Denver.

The entire day was magical. And the entire temple experience was so intimate and surreal. I know I'll never have that same experience where we had our own private endowment session with just family. The Lord truly orchestrated a beautiful moment when he allowed me to be in the temple with three of my children. It was this momma's dream come true.

Hear and then hearken. That is what the Lord needs us to do right now.