Heavenly Father, are you really there? Do you hear and answer a lost child’s prayer

One night I had finished up and I was getting gas and preparing to head home. From time to time at the end of the night, I will give a ride to someone who looks like they need it. This was one of those nights. It was cold. it was winter. It was snowing and while I was getting gas I noticed a girl in a light sweater jacket, short sweats, and flip-flops with no socks come walking by.

She was holding in her hand plastic bags which I quickly recognized as the bags that the jail puts your stuff in and then gives to you when they kick you out the door at 3 AM with no ride and no way to get home. I felt very impressed that I was supposed to give this girl a ride and give her a Book of Mormon.

She needed a ride about 8 miles away and there was no way with those clothes she could walk that distance.

When she got in the car, my first question was, why were you in jail? She said that she had a roommate who was letting her stay in his apartment and she had no idea that he had warrants for his arrest. She said she also had warrants from two years ago for possession and prostitution.

When she opened the door of her place and looked out she saw the whole Salt Lake City police department out in front of her looking for this guy and she was caught up in the net. They told her that they would’ve never gone looking for her but snatched her up because she was part of their search for him and he was a really bad dude.

They put her in jail to make sure that she didn’t have anything to do with what he was doing and then her warrant kicked in.

She told me that she had done these things years ago before she moved to Texas and that she had just moved back and that’s when everything fell apart here.

She told me that she had tried to be clean from drugs and some times she was successful, and other times when she wasn’t.

The spirit told me that this was my opportunity. I told her I know a couple of things, first off, I know that you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints and that your family are good members. She looked like a deer in the headlights with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped as she listened.

You couldn’t tell that from her appearance, especially that night but the spirit was screaming it. I told her that she was angry at her parents and made bad decisions, trying to spite them. I told her that it had snowballed out of control and she had been lost ever since.

She started to cry and said how do you know this? I told her that I knew it by the spirit, that it had whispered to me to say these things. She told me that her father was a stake president in Utah County stake. She told me that he kicked her out of the house.

I asked her if she wanted to go home she said yes. She said she would like to go home more than anything but she couldn’t go home until she got clean and then she didn’t know if her dad and mom would let her.

I didn’t want to put a judgment on her parents because I don’t know her parents and I don’t know anything about the situation and the dynamic between her and her parents, but her desire to become clean first and then go home touched me.

I told her that we were talking about two different kinds of clean. One clean is to be clean from drugs and the other clean is to be clean before God. I asked her if I could talk about both of these, and she said yes.

I told her that the atonement of Jesus Christ made it possible for the people who have done even the most serious sins to be forgiven and become clean but she had to develop a relationship with her Heavenly Father, so she could access the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told her that if she would do that, get worthy and go to church she could get and stay clean before God regardless of what she had done.

I told her that she looked back at the things she had done and she had agreed with Satan when he whispered to her that she could never be clean. I told her Satan was lying to her and that she could be clean because Jesus was more powerful than Satan. I told her that Jesus and his atonement is the thing that scares Satan the most. I told her that Satan has no power in the presence of Jesus Christ and Jesus has the power to forgive all.

I told her Satan wanted her in this condition, suffering because he’s suffering and he’s miserable and he wants everyone to be like that. I told her that Satan was lying to her, telling her that she couldn’t be forgiven because he didn’t want to lose her and right now he thought he had her soul. I told her that Jesus paid and bled for her soul, and that he would never quit if she would never quit.

I told her that Satan had put those words in her heart and in her mind and she had agreed with him from a place of fear and desperation. I told her that inside of her I could feel her spirit wanting to be clean and wanting to be good, and that it could happen through the atonement of Christ.

As I said this, the spirit rushed in the car. I told her that her Heavenly Father loved her and that she had felt his spirit throughout her life at different times. She agreed and said that she felt it growing up. I told her that her spirit craved that. I told her that feeling was developed by living with her father for thousands of years and she developed a relationship with him and the way she feels the spirit is how it felt in his presence.

I asked her what she was feeling right then and she said, “I’m feeling tingly warm and I feel love.” I said that’s how your father in heaven wants you to feel because that’s how you feel in his presence. Tonight he is sending you a message and he is sending his spirit with that message so that you can know that it’s true.

I told her the feeling she was feeling right then was the same feeling she felt with him in the pre-existence, it’s the same feeling she felt when she was baptized and it’s the same feeling that God was using to testify to her. She had tears in her eyes and she said you’re right, that is beautiful. I told her that when we’re in trouble our Heavenly Father sends help. Sometimes we take it, sometimes we don’t. I asked her, kind of rhetorically,“which kind of time is this? What will you choose?”

I told her that I was prompted by the spirit to pick her up and that her Heavenly Father wanted her to receive this message tonight. I told her that she needed to pray and that it had been years since she prayed. She said that’s right. I told her that she needed to read theBook of Mormon. I asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon lately, and she said she didn’t have a copy. I reached in my glove box and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon, prepared by the Secrists, and gave it to her. I asked her if she would promise me to read that every day and she said yes. I asked her if she would commit to pray when she read it, she said yes. I told her if she would do that she would feel the spirit and it would fill her and make it easier to change. I told her she had to go to church. She was a long way from where her mom and dad lived. I told her she needed to find a church house that was close and go to that church house on Sunday morning.

I told her that when she went to that church Satan would not go with her and she would have time to rest her soul and feel the spirit. I told her that this would make her stronger.

One thing she said was, I’ve wondered if my father in heaven was really there and now I know he is because he sent you. She said, I even prayed once a few years ago, to know and now I know he answers.

I told her that over at DI, which wasn’t far away, they have a transient bishop and she should go there and get help from him. I told her that he could help her. She said she would do that the next morning (which was like in 4 hours.)

I asked her if she wanted me to talk to her a little bit about her addiction and she said she would love it.

I asked her if she remembered me telling her about living with her father and that feeling. She said yes, I said you are hardwired in your soul to crave that feeling it fills the hole in your soul that’s intended for you and your father to share. I told her Satan counterfeits that feeling with drugs, and tries to fill that spot with drugs and riotous living. I told her that he makes it look more fun but in the end all she’s doing is filling the hole with cotton balls, potato chips, fluffy things with no substance, not the thing that was intended, not this substantial and soothing spirit of her father.

I told her that if she would go to church, say her prayers, read the scriptures and get involved with the church addiction recovery program through the transient Bishop that she would start to replace that emptiness with the spirit of her father in heaven. It would make it so that she could beat her addiction.

I told her that the addiction is a two-part problem. The first part that is an issue is the physical craving and the second part of the addiction is the hole that needs to be filled with the Spirit of God, the thing that gives us peace and makes us happy. I told her that if she would follow through, it would help her quit and fill that hole so that she didn’t have that craving. This would allow her to focus on the physical craving and she could win that way.

She said that makes sense. Why is it that no one ever explained this to me.? She said it makes perfect sense.

I asked, do you want to see how much sense it makes? She said yes. I said, when you walked up to me what were you looking for? She said money and a ride. I asked her what she was going to do with that money, she said she was craving drugs and she was going to buy drugs.

I asked her to take a minute and think about whether or not, she still had those cravings. She thought for a second and looked up with a surprised face and said no! I do not have those cravings right now. I told her it’s because the spirit was in the car and was filling her soul. I told her that if she really wanted to beat this addiction she would not be able to do it unless she had that spirit with her, filling her soul. I told her, how ever much that spirit was with her depended on her because the spirit was always ready to come around and lift, love and bless if she wants it. I told her she needed to take these steps, that she needed to reach out and that she needed to make this decision.

She said the decision is made. Tomorrow morning I’m going over to the DI to talk to the transient bishop. Do you think he’ll help me like you said he would? I told her he would.

She said, I’ve missed this in my life. I need to get right, I need to get home and I need to be the daughter my parents will allow in their home.

She took her Book of Mormon, clutched it to her chest and said, you don’t know what you’ve done for me tonight. I thought you were giving me a ride but you’ve brought the spirit and that’s going to help me get my life back.

She got out of the car and went into the seedy hotel room that she was staying in.

I felt the resolve and recognition in this young lady. I know our Heavenly Father sent me to pick her up and I know she felt the spirit and the message was delivered by the spirit. If she goes to the bishop like she promised she would and starts attending church, I believe that she’ll soon be home with her family,