She’s going to pluck that guy right out of her singles ward

I picked up a girl at some apartments in Northeast Salt Lake City. She was just getting off a date and she was going home. She came out of the house and got in the car and had an unsettled spirit about her. I asked her how it went and she said it went good but I could tell she wasn’t telling the truth.

I said sometimes the guys are just underwhelming aren’t they. She said yes they are. I talked to her about a study I saw with regards to tinder and how easy it is for guys to be players and girls to be superficial. She said that’s exactly right.

I asked her if it would be OK if I spoke like a dad or like a grandpa and she said she would love that. The spirit had let me know early that she had been unsettled by her night and that this guy had tried to push her and she was not having it. I told her what I thought had happened and she said that I was very perceptive.

Then she went into an explanation on how tough it is to find good guys and asked me where do you think I should find them? She said my dad tells me to go to libraries. I laughed. I said you don’t strike me as a library type and then she laughed.

I said the issue is that in the daring process these days many women don’t feel like they need to have the man prove himself or his intentions and earn the right through commitment. Since the women don’t require this the guys aren’t looking to give this. That is why the dating apps are so horrible and just degenerate into a bunch of people trying to have sex.

She said you sound like my dad. She said, I was raised a Mormon but I’ve left the church. My dad has been a bishop and my dad and mom are still very active and you sound just like him. She said I can tell that you’re Mormon too. Then I told her, well then you know where I’m going to tell you you should meet the kind of guy you’re looking for, in a singles ward.

She said, let me tell you my story. She told me about being married at 18 to a young man that was 22 years old. She said that they were divorced now and that she was quite disillusioned and had left the church. None of this shocked me as I could feel her wounds but I could also feel her father in heaven‘s love for her.

I told her that the first thing that was important for her to understand was that God loved her. She had lived with her father in heaven for thousands of years and their spirits knew each other and her spirit craved the presence of her father. When I testified of her Heavenly Father’s love his spirit came in the car.

I could tell she was moved and I could feel that she was gobbling it up. I told her that what happens is people are led away and fill the space intended for the spirit with riotous living and substances that drag them away from happiness not to happiness.

She said that’s right, that’s what had happened. I told her that the spirit was telling me that when she thinks about going to church or drives by a church she has Satan in her ear telling her that she can’t go there because she’s not worthy. He tells her the people will be judging her and that she is not welcome and that she can’t pray because her father in heaven doesn’t want to hear from her because she’s unclean.

I told her that these things come from Satan and they are lies because Satan is a liar. I told her that her father in heaven wants her back.

I told her that he’s given her the atonement. There was a pause when I said atonement and I could tell she was thinking about confessing in the bishop’s office. I said repentance is only part of the atonement, when Jesus atoned he also suffered for our pain, the injustice, the angst, the infirmities and all of the negative things that we would have to go through so that we could lean on him.

I told her that the only way to heal totally and move forward is to take the atonement as if it were medicine and rub it on your heart and soul so that it can heal.

She said, that is beautiful. I said, that’s God‘s way of making things right.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked her what it felt like and she said it was a very strong feeling of peace. I said that’s how you felt in the presence of God for all those years and he is here. I said this is how you feel when you’re hearing truth or when you’re in the presence of the Holy Ghost. You know that the things you’re hearing are true. I told her that one of the problems we have is that she went to girls camp and felt that crying or shivers down your spine were the spirit. I told her that what she was feeling now was the spirit and that emotion could also be involved at times but that this peace she was feeling is how she felt in the presence of God.

I told her that God sent his spirit because he wanted her to have a message. I told her that God had given me these things to say so that she would know that he loved her and that he wanted her to come back to him.

I felt like asking her about the Book of Mormon so I asked her how long it had been since she read it. She said she had read it many times. Then it became clear to me that she had been frustrated by not receiving what she considered to be an answer after she read the book. When I said this she said she was confused by the fact that she had never received what she considered to be a revelation or answer as promised.

I took some time and went over Moroni 10:3-5. We talked about “receiving these things and pondering them in your heart.” We discussed making a decision and taking it before Heavenly Father and asking him to confirm that decision or let you know if it was wrong. I also told her based on verse five this is a pattern for receiving revelation in our life.

I said, that same feeling that you’re feeling right now in the car is the very feeling that you’ll feel as God confirms to you that the Book of Mormon is true. That is your answer! It’s not an angel, (probably). It’s not a whisper in your ear, (probably). It’s definitely the love and spirit of your father in heaven as manifest to you by peace in your heart as you have indicated here tonight. She asked, why didn’t somebody explain this to me. I told her it is very personal and very difficult to teach but that is why she was in my car tonight.

I asked her how she felt about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon based on the spirit she felt now. She said its true and that she was thinking about all of the times she missed that confirmation looking for something else.

I told her that when people look for who they’re going to marry they ask Heavenly Father to show them who they should marry and then look for dreams of 8 x 10 glossy photos of the person floating by that they are supposed to marry. They do this rather than study it out in their mind, make a decision, ask for confirmation and follow the spirit. I said that’s how we can follow the spirit and make good choices.

I told her that if you go to the singles ward there are still a few guys that are not great guys and you still have to make those good ones prove themselves. You still have to make them earn the right to be with you and prove their intentions. I said, you start ahead of the game by being in a pool of people that are looking in the same direction you’re looking. They are trying to walk in the same way you are even though they’re not perfect. She said that makes sense.

I told her that I felt impressed by the spirit that she hasn’t been praying for years. She looked down and said, how did you know. I told her that the spirit whispered it to my heart. I asked her how God can bless her and give her the man that he has prepared for her if she isn’t willing to turn to him in prayer?

I told her that the young man she’s looking for is in a singles ward and that if she prepares herself she will be able to recognize him. I said he’ll see the light in your eyes and recognize you. I told her to get to that point she needs to pray every day, she needs to read her Book of Mormon every day and that she needs to go to church.

I got the impression that she felt very deeply with her heart and that this gift wasn’t appreciated. Her heart had been wounded and that discussing the atonement was very soothing. I also had the impression that she really wanted to love more but had felt like she needed to restrain herself. I got the distinct impression that her love and her ability to love was a huge part of her patriarchal blessing.

I said these things to her and she agreed but when I talked about her patriarchal blessing she said there’s no way you could’ve known that. I told her that it was God that put these words in my heart so that she could know that this message was for her and that it came from him.

The spirit was in the car and she was feeding off of it. I could tell it was like you feel when you start drinking water after having been a long time without. You just soak it in.

Her spirit was soaking it in. I told her that her father in heaven loved her so much that he would do anything to get her back. I told her that he would even send a driver with a message if that’s what it took. She smiled. I could tell she didn’t want the trip to end even though we had been sitting in front of her house for sometime.

I asked her if she would commit to doing the things we talked about and she said yes. I told her it’s time to come home. I shared my testimony of the truthfulness of the church, of the Book of Mormon, the power of prayer and the love of our father in heaven. I told her that I have no doubt that he reached out to her tonight and sent me to help her remember so she could come back.

We went back to the discussion of who you want to date and marry. I said, one of the questions you need to answer is, when you’re sick or your child is sick, do you want the father of the child and your husband to give a blessing and call down the power of heaven? Or do you want to have to take that child to your father. She said she wanted the child’s father to be able to give the blessing. I said, that’s your answer and that’s what you need to work towards.

My perception on this is that when she left the church she was not ready to listen but after years of very unsatisfying and distressing social dating situations she was ready to listen to the spirit that spoke to her heart. She was ready to hear the word of God preached to her in a way that she had never heard before and it fed her soul. By coincidence I happened to stop by just at the right minute. I pointed out to her this coincidence and said how do you think it happened that out of all of the drivers, I show up tonight just at this time. I told her that I believed her parents were praying for her and the power of their prayers set this up.

I told her that tonight she saw the hand of God move to lift her and that if she will follow it she would find the companion she needs that will protect her, that will help her and that will uplift her and they can be one. I told her that this is what God has to offer to her if she’ll follow through with those commitments.

She sat there for a while, reached up and grabbed my shoulder and thanked me. She said she would do those things. I know that she will and that there is some lucky young man out there who will be the beneficiary of the work that she is now willing to put in so that they can walk together back to God.