Jesus loves the little children

One night I went out late in Provo. I just got back from the BYU basketball game with my wife. Cougars won! I dropped her off and then I went out to work.

I had just had a skin cancer removed from my lower eyelid that day and so my wife had thought that I wasn’t going to go out. I had thought that too but I felt like I was doing all right and that I should go out. It wasn’t a strong push, but a gentle nudge by the spirit.

I turned onto the street trying to decide where I should go before I turned on the app. That’s kind of my process. I want to turn it on where I’m supposed to. This time I drove down to Provo and was right by the old Provo High School when I turned it on.

When I do this I am not sure whether or not God’s going to bless me with lucrative rides or missionary experiences, but I’ll take either or both. I knew the game had just gotten out so I thought that this was as good a places as any.

I turned it on then drove two blocks down the road and got my first ride. It was over at one of the fast food establishments on Cougar Boulevard. I drove over there to pick up this young lady. She and a boyfriend came out.

They got in the car and I started talking to them. As I looked in the mirror, he was almost standoffish but she was really chatty. She seemed a little rough at first. She had a tattoo on her face and I could tell she had been through a ringer emotionally.

We talked for a minute and he just never said anything. We talked about the weather and stuff like that. This was a two stop ride and the first stop was where I let him out. The second he got out of the car things changed. The spirit woke up or exploded. I started getting impressions.

I asked her why he didn’t say anything and she said that there were two reasons. One he didn’t speak English and the second was that he was angry. He had met her and they were trying to discuss the relationship that they had broken off. It seemed to me that it was still broken off and probably not a good thing to continue.

I asked her how she was doing and she said, I just want to be with a good person that loves me. She said, it seems to me that all of the guys I date don’t want to commit and they don’t want to go all in.

I thought about the many rides I have given where I have listened to women complain about the people they date and when I asked them about it, I always ask, what was your first date like? In almost every one of these cases they say we went to dinner and then went to one of their houses and became inappropriate.

I related this to her and said that part of the problem is the way we date in many circles. I told her that the expectation on her part should be that he prove himself to her and to her family. I told her that this is how courtship always has been and that’s how it should be now.

She said, I need to be better at that. She said that she had a difficult history. She said that she had been in a long-term relationship with a guy and that they had a son together but it broke up after her daughter who was older had passed away. She said that he could never get over the death of that child and it scarred their relationship.

She said that he would never talk about it with her but she could tell it was ripping him apart. She said that it sure would’ve made a lot of difference if they had been married first because they also had their son together. I told her that the family, based on marriage, was God‘s plan.

She asked me how long I’ve been married, and I said 37 years. She said, that’s great! How do you make a marriage last that long? I said, you’ve got to want to be married more than you want anything else. I said, you’ve got to want to be married more than you want to be a great sister or a great friend. You’ve got to want to be married enough to prioritize anything the challenges that.

I told her that if you want a career more than anything, you’ll have a career and you won’t be married. I told her that if she wants to be a daughter to her father, first she’ll be a great daughter, but she might not be married. I told her we have to put marriage first and have it be what we want more than anything.

She said, oh, that makes a lot of sense. I told her that if you take that mindset into dating and date looking for that person, it will change everything.

I also asked her how often she went to church. She said that she never went to church. I explained to her that this is part of the problem. I told her that when we are going through the depth of sorrow, I don’t see how there’s anyway that we can deal with it if we don’t have the Savior and his atonement.

I told her that the Savior’s atonement lifts us through our burdens and carries us through our rough patches. I told her that he has felt the suffering and anxiety that we experience and therefore has the power to nurture and bless us in the midst of our tribulation.

I felt inspired to tell her that when her child died she went to her mom and her sisters and she talked to them and she cried with them and she shared feelings with them. I asked her, who did the boyfriend go to? She said that he didn’t go to anyone and that he just clammed up.

She said that he stopped talking about it and started separating himself from the situation. She said that it was really sad because her family all loved him and she could’ve seen them getting married.

I told her that this is where the atonement could have helped him. If he had understood the atonement, he could’ve gone to Jesus Christ with his fears and his pain. I told her that many men don’t feel comfortable looking weak and that’s why it’s so important for them to have a relationship with Jesus Christ so that they can go to him and be lifted and blessed. I told her that he didn’t have the network she did but he only needed one person in his network and that was Jesus Christ. I told her this is why having Jesus Christ in our lives is so important. He could have blessed her, he could’ve blessed him, and if they had done the things necessary to be worthy to have the companionship of the spirit, it would’ve made it easier. I emphasized and said, not easy, easier to deal with. You would’ve received extra strength.

I sensed by the spirit that she had concerns regarding her daughter. I told her that I was prompted that the sorrow she felt from her daughter’s loss was compounded by the fact that she believed that her daughter was OK in heaven but she had been taught that her daughter was not OK because she had not been baptized.

I told her that in her Catholic upbringing she had not been taught that her daughter still had an opportunity to be with God but I could tell by the way she spoke that she hoped that it would be different.

She said, that’s exactly right. I can’t believe that she wouldn’t be with God. She was so beautiful and innocent. How could he turn her away? She said, they always taught that Jesus loved the little children and she sang that song “Jesus loves the little children”. She said, I believe that and I don’t believe he would condemn a child.

I told her that she was 100% right. I told her that the atonement that I talked about also covered little children. I told her that every little child that passes away goes straight to live with our Heavenly Father forever because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told her that this was the most important gift that we had ever received.

I told her that the atonement could save her in her grief and put her daughter in her Heavenly Father’s arms. She said, I’ve never heard that, but I love that.

I said, you had relatives from Mexico, right? She said, yes. I said, were you aware that Jesus visited your ancestors? She said, no, I had no idea. I told her that Jesus came to America after he was resurrected.

I told her that there were prophets in America that had prophesied of his coming and they wrote down their prophecies. I told her that they also wrote down the story of the visit of Jesus Christ to America where he took the children in his arms and blessed them and loved them.

I told her that Jesus loves the little children. I told her that he loved those children. He blessed those children. I told her that this was not all he did when he was here. When he first arrived, the people begged him for salvation and he called up 12 of them. He gave them authority and instructed them how to be baptized properly. Then he commanded that they all be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized.

I told her that later he gave them the Holy Ghost so that his spirit could be with them always. He told them to become like their little children so that they could be saved with their little children. She was touched by it and the spirit was really strong in the car. I asked her what she was feeling and she said, usually when I think about my daughter I feel sad but what you say gives me hope and makes me happy. She said, right now I feel like I’m floating full of happiness and joy.

I told her that was the spirit of God, confirming to her the things which I had taught. Then I said, it’s confirming to you that your daughter is with God and the God’s spirit can be with you. I told her that the invitation that Jesus gave to her ancestors to be baptized is the same invitation that is extended to her.

I told her that she could be baptized and she could have the spirit of God with her all the time. She said, I would love that.

I asked her if she had ever thought about joining our church. She said that she had thought about it quite a bit recently and had asked some guys at work about it. She said she asked them how you join that church or what you have to do to join that church. She said she needed religion and she needed to feel close to God so she figured she’d ask people that went to church.

She said they told her that she needed to read the Bible and said they would read the Bible with her.

I said that we could do better than that. I pulled out one of the Book of Mormons I have that’s prepared by the Secrists with the tabs. I turned to Moroni chapter 8 and I bent the corner down and I handed it to her. I said, this chapter right here, chapter 8, talks about little children who die. I told her that these are the words of Jesus Christ through his prophet and that she should study them. When I said that a wave of joy and happiness hit both of us and she smiled.

I told her that this book, the Book of Mormon is the compilation of the prophecies by the ancient people of America, some of whom were her ancestors. I told her that they knew that little children were saved in Jesus and they knew that they were invited to be baptized. I told her, this book is for you, but more than that the words in the book are meant for you. She grabbed the book and looked at the page I bent over and then held the book close. She said, I want to get baptized. I want to have this feeling.

I asked her if it would be OK if I had missionaries stop by or give her a call. She said she would love that. I told her that they would be able to teach her how to get baptized.

She asked if it was really hard? She said, the other people told me that I had to study a lot before I could get baptized. I told her that generally, she would have to go to church three times, take five lessons from the missionaries and gain a testimony, as well as a desire to be baptized. I told her that fortunately she had a head start on the testimony part because the spirit had testified to her that night and she knew it was true.

I told her that the missionaries were there to help her get to that point, and that there would be a ward family that would accompany her on the journey.

She said, that’s what I need. I told her I would send in her information to the missionaries and have them get a hold of her so that she could start that process. She was really excited and thanked me.

She got out of the car and went inside the house. I imagine she read that chapter in Moroni. Here’s the thing; that spirit was something she recognized. That spirit was something she wanted. The atonement was something she needed for her and for her peace of mind regarding her daughter.

God‘s plan is perfect and I’m so glad we get to be part of it.