Last summer in June, I think, I picked someone up by the temple in the Avenues. She was headed to a party on 200 S. over by 700 E. As we approached the party I felt prompted to say some things to her.
I told her that she was unsure about the people she was going to be attending this party with and that she was a little nervous inside. I I told her that nervousness was a sign that she was worried even though she looked very confident and bubbly. She was shocked and taken aback but I could tell that she felt the spirit that accompanied my words. The words I received directly to my heart through the prompting of the spirit.
I told her the one thing I felt was very important for me to do was to warn her not to allow anyone in that party to make her do something she didn’t want to do. I told her that it was her power and not to give it away. I remember feeling like I couldn’t pursue it right then because the timing wasn’t great but I had a prompting that someday we would finish this conversation.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. I needed to make three more dollars to meet my goal for the evening and it was 1:30 in the morning. I knew I was going to make it and I had a ride to go pick up a young lady.
I had no idea that it was the same young lady as before but it was the same apartment complex. This is not news as I go to that apartment complex about every week with a myriad of different people but as I sat there the memory of dropping her off kept coming to my mind while I was waiting.
I waited and waited and waited, her time expired and I kept waiting. I felt like I had to even though the no show fee was enough to help me hit my goal. Finally, a girl came out from the apartment complex. It didn’t look like the same girl so at first I didn’t think it was. Before she had blonde hair and was bubbly, this girl was a brunette and not bubbly. This girl had no smile, she was crying and she was very upset. Her countenance was tortured and sad.
Before she had been very dressed up and looked very nice and now she was very dressed down and looked beaten down. She got in the car and started crying and sobbing. I still didn’t recognize her and we started to talk.
The spirit let me know that her boyfriend just broke up with her and that he had been abusive and used her. I could feel that she felt used and horrible. With this information in my heart I had to figure out a way to bring it up and there just seemed to be no good way. She was crying and it was hard to get a word in edgewise let alone a response.
We had to stop at a 7-Eleven on route to her house but I wanted to get something started before I got there because I felt very compelled by the spirit to do so. After the initial I’m sorry things aren’t going well kind of chitchat I said, there are a lot of reasons why we feel bad and horrible sometimes.
I told her that sometimes bad things just happen but other times the bad things that happen are as a result of our mistakes and poor choices. I told her sometimes we make mistakes and the consequences bring us down. I knew that was the case tonight. I knew that it had been mistakes that she had made that had led her to this problem with her boyfriend.
She repeated over and over and over that she had made a mistake and that she was a mistake, she was worthless, dumb and that everything was a mess and that she was a mess. She said her life was a disaster. She was crying and I could barely get her to stop as we pulled into the 7-Eleven. I knew I had to get her calmed down so that she could go in. We talked about how she shouldn’t let him have power to control her and to make her feel worthless.
I asked her if she was religious and she said she was spiritual, she said that she was a little bit Mormon, a little bit Christian and a whole lot of spiritual. She told me she believed in God but that she didn’t believe in religion. She said that her mom was Mormon but had really done her dirty and that she had a lot of problems with the Mormon church.
I told her that the best thing about religion is it gives us a way to connect to people that believe the way we believe and can lift us and help us. I told her that it’s important for us to surround ourselves with good people that won’t use us and hurt us.
She said, your voice sounds so familiar. Do you remember ever giving me a ride before? I said no. At that time I hadn’t remembered although there was a familiar feel to her presence. She got out and went into the 7-Eleven and was there for a minute or two.
When she came out she had beer. This is not at all what I had wanted but I decided to roll with it. I told her that I didn’t think drinking a beer was exactly what she needed right now and she said that was what was “gonna” happen regardless.
We started to drive. Promptings of what to say came to my mind very clearly.
She needed to know that she was a daughter of our father in heaven and because of that she had worth and value. I told her that she had tremendous worth that she couldn’t even imagine.
As I said this the spirit bore witness. She was touched in that very moment hearing these words that God was her father and loved her. I then told her that she was allowing Satan to put up walls around her so that she couldn’t see out, see the light or see a future. I told her that Satan was trapping her.
I told her the pain she was feeling was not just from the boyfriend but from other issues in her life due to bad decisions and by harmful things that other people had done in many cases. I told her that the atonement of Jesus Christ was given to us so that he can share our pain and lift our burdens.
I told her that God loves all of his children and he sent his son so that we don’t have to suffer needlessly. I told her that the atonement was an amazing gift where we could become clean from our sins and the suffering they caused could be alleviated. I also told her that any pains, infirmities and injustices could all be swallowed up in the atonement so that we don’t need to bear those burdens all by ourselves. I told her that this is how we can become happy even in the midst of pain and chaos.
I knew by the spirit that right then she was thinking that she was dirty and couldn’t be forgiven and so I called that out. I said, right now you’re thinking that you’re dirty and can’t be forgiven. That’s a lie. I told her that it was Satan that was whispering that lie to her and that she shouldn’t listen to him. I told her that Satan tells her she shouldn’t pray, that God doesn’t want to hear from her because she’s dirty. She said how did you know? I said the spirit has whispered that to me and I want you to know that Satan is lying to you.
I told her that Satan is a liar and that is what he does. He tells us we can’t repent and he tells us we can’t come back to God and he tells us that we shouldn’t pray and that we shouldn’t go to church.
She said, I am angry about the church. I don’t go to church. I felt anger and intensity behind those words. It was unsettling and I knew it was the spirit of Satan. I knew he was with her and around her. I cast Satan out of the car and out of her. She shutterd and she said, oh my goodness it’s gone! There was a very distinct noticeable change in the car. She said, it’s like it was resting on my shoulders pushing me down and when you said those words it was gone. She said that feeling had consumed her life and turned it dark and now it was gone. She cried but it was a happy cry this time.
I told her that she had been surrounding herself with people that don’t have light. I told her that she loved the light. As I look back, I realize that before when I had seen her I saw the light but I hadn’t seen it this time until just then.
She continued crying, she said she knew that she missed the light. I told her that she also knew that the people around her didn’t have light and she had seen that and it bothered her. She said yes. I said you need to surround yourself with people who have light and that’s why we go to church.
I asked her if it would be OK if I looked up her church time and location and she said yes and I got it for her. She said she wasn’t sure if she would go but we kept talking. I told her that she needed to change her job. She’s a bartender at one of the hot pick up spots in town.
I told her that her downward spiral began when she got that job and that the people at that job didn’t have any light. I told her, “bit by bit Satan was throwing up these walls around you so you can’t see the light and look at what it’s doing to you.”
I told her that Satan was after her, that he was coming around her from every direction and she had to separate herself from that. I told her that Satan would try as hard as he could but God was trying to rescue her. I told her that God put her in my car tonight and he’s giving me these things to tell her, things that I should not know. I told her that he’s giving me these things to say so that she would know the things that I was saying were true.
She said I wondered how you knew those things. I said it is the spirit of the Lord who whispers it to my heart and he’s doing it because he loves you so much that he wants to protect you and bring you home. I told her that if she does the right things Satan could not have strength or power over her. She said, I remember you. She said, you gave me a ride last summer.
She said, it was right at the first of summer and I was bright and happy and I had light. She said, I’ve made many bad choices since then. She said, you don’t know this but I recorded you that night last summer. She said those words were very impactful to me and that voice pierced me and touched my heart.
She said, I listen to that all of the time. I told her that it wasn’t my voice but the spirit that accompanied my voice that touched her heart and the same spirit was touching her heart tonight.
I explained to her that her relationship with her father in heaven is a very special one developed over thousands of years and what she was feeling tonight and what she felt that night were manifestations of that relationship.
I told her that when she feels this feeling she knows that her father in heaven is there. I told her that he wanted to help her and that his spirit was there to embrace her.
She said, “I never want to leave your car. My house is full of the darkness because of what I have done there.” I asked her if she would like to have a prayer and she said yes. I prayed for her and I felt the love of God for her. I looked back and she kept moving her shoulders. She said that she was doing it because they felt free of the burden she had been carrying. She was smiling ear to ear. There was the girl from last summer!!!
She said that she wanted to write these things down that we were talking about. I told her that it was important that she remember these things and that when she went into her apartment she should get out a journal and write them down. She said she would do that.
I told her before she did that she should pray. She said she would. I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said yes. I asked her if she would commit to me to read in the Book of Mormon and she said she would. I asked her if she would commit to me to say her prayers and she said she would. I asked her if she would commit to me to go to church and talk to her bishop about getting a new job and about getting worthy to take the sacrament. She said she was still a little hesitant about talking to the bishop but that she might talk to him after church.
The spirit was telling me that this had to do with the gay marriage issues regarding the temple and being married. I pressed for her to reveal that to me and finally she did. She said she had a sister that was gay and that this was a big deal.
I said, “tonight God sent you a witness. Many times you have prayed and asked for God to send you a sign. Tonight you got that sign.” I told her that God had sent me to give her these messages and that he had confirmed them with his spirit. I said that there was no way she could deny what had happened in the car.
I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and modern prophets. The spirit was strong and I asked if she believed those things were true and she said yes.
I said if those things are true then the atonement is the answer for people that suffer in this life. I told her if people would look to God he would lift their burdens and make it so that they can be happy in this life. I told her that counts for everyone including me and her and all of the LGBTQAI people in the world. I told her God loves them all, they’re all welcome in his kingdom but they need to learn to turn to God instead of turning their back on God and being angry.
I told her that she should sing the song “I am a Child of God.” I asked her if she knew it and she said yes. She said she would but then she also said that she really loved the song I Stand all Amazed. She said she was going to go in her apartment, play that song, pray and then write in her journal.
She said, I like that plan. I will go to church Sunday and I will talk to the bishop. I need to have this light in my life. I can’t live without it any longer. I need to do what is necessary to get it back. I told her to remember that the church is a hospital not a museum. She smiled and said I like that!
She grabbed my shoulders and talked to me about how she believed that God had sent her an angel tonight. She said that God had sent me once before and now this was twice. She said that she didn’t want to let this one go. I looked in the mirror and saw a beautiful smiling face where before I had seen pain and sadness.
As she got out of the car, she grabbed the beer and said, I think I’m going to put this on my neighbors doorstep. I think they’ll be really excited to have it. It will be a great gift for them.
It is simply amazing how I happened to be there both of these times and how the spirit gave me the words to say that were necessary both of these times.
She knows who sent me those two nights and she knows God loves her and sent his son, Jesus Christ so that she can come home.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 