God loves Hayden

I got permission from Hayden to use his name in the story. He is a UVU student and he was going home for his birthday weekend. He’s a good kid, you could tell in his countenance. He’s a computer science student so you know he’s a lot smarter than I am and he’s extremely friendly and an all-around good kid. He looks like a kid that wouldn’t be on the radar for this blog but the spirit started prompted me to find a way to discuss the church.

First we talked about school and finances. We talked about my kids and how they paid for school and worked their way through school. He was very impressed but I still got no clue as to whether or not he was a member of the church. I was trying to figure out if he went on a mission but there were no clues.

Finally I just brought it up. I said, are you ia member the church? He said no. He said that he didn’t believe in any religion and had decided to live his life without religion. He said that in the end if he had made a wrong decision he would deal with the consequences. He was raised a member of the church and his family were members but he hadn’t been able to get an answer that it was true.

He had always had the expectation of serving a mission but when it came time he just couldn’t recognize that he had ever felt the spirit. He didn’t know it was true. He had worked with his bishop to no avail. He wasn’t able to feel the spirit so he decided that the mission wasn’t for him and that the church wasn’t either.

I talked to him about the nature of the spirit and our relationship with our father in heaven. I talked to him about how it is a real relationship built on time spent and love. I told him this relationship we have with God is the most central relationship to our being. It is intensely personal and no one can tell us what it feels like.

I told him that as a father I have three children and different relationships with each one. I told him that each one of those relationships carries a different feeling between me and the child. It is personal and unique and only me and that child understand it. I told him our relationship with God is the same and no one can tell him what it feels like except God.

I mentioned how many people believe that crying or prickles on your neck means you’re feeling the spirit and for some, that may be true but it’s not nearly universal. I told him that some people look for a burning in their bosom but that this was a revelation for Oliver Cowdery and not he and I.

I also discussed President Hunter’s talk about tears versus the spirit and how some people manipulate emotions in unworthy means thus confusing people on exactly what the spirit feels like. I told him that I had never felt a burning in my bosom, ever. I told him that the way you feel when you are feeling the spirit is personal, private and very individual.

I told him that with all of these things going on he could rest assured that he isn’t the only person having a hard time understanding when they feel the spirit or if they felt the spirit.

I told him that the feelings we feel when we feel the spirit are a unique manifestation of our continued personal relationship with God and that our spirit craves it.

I told him that God sent me there with a message to let him know how much he was loved and how important he was to God. I talked to him about my blog and also teaching people about the spirit. I talked to him about serving in the MTC and how many missionaries struggled with the same issue. I testified to him that God loved him and that he would do anything to have him back. When I said that he was visibly moved The spirit was very strong. I knew it was the spirit and that it moved him. I told him that when he was feeling this it was the spirit of God. It was unique to him and it was his answer.

I told him about the lady from Bountiful from a few weeks back who had been praying for a lift, that God would send her a lift, then he sent me. He was visibly moved by that and said this can’t be a coincidence. We identified the spirit again and I assured him that there was no such thing as a coincidence. He recognized that he had felt the spirit and I told him this is why God had sent me there today. I also testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the fact that Joseph Smith was a true prophet.

I talked to him about how I was working in Orem that day and had no plans or desire to go to Bountiful. When I was driving down to pick him up I fought with myself all the way but the spirit won out. I told him that I was supposed to be on my Thursday night Covid date with my wife with take out Cafe Rio but I did this because the spirit told me to go get Hayden.

I told him that it was important that he start to come back. He said that this was giving him a lot to think about. His eyes glowed and he kept mentioning the coincidences. I told him there was no such thing as coincidence just the hand of God and that it’s upon us here and now.

He said that his bishop tried to explain the spirit to him but this was the first time it ever made sense. I told him to think back in his life about the other times when he felt this feeling and he would see the hand of God. I told him by the spirit that he was having a bunch of those flashbacks right now. He said WOW. He was having a flood of them right then. He said it blew his mind.

At first his countenance was a little fidgety and later after the spirit touched him he was serious, pensive and focused. He got it. As he got out of the car he said that this had been a totally unexpected mind blowing experience. He said that now he had to re-think everything.

He said that he had an amazing relationship with his parents and that he was going to talk with them right then.

Here is a link to President Hunters quote https://emp.byui.edu/ANDERSONR/itc/Book%20_of_Mormon/02_1nephi/1nephi01/1nephi01_08tearsvsspirit_hwh.htm