He will always leave the light on

One night I decided to just go out and drive a little bit around Utah Valley. I came home early and decided not to go back to Salt Lake and was just trying to make a little extra money without burning a lot of gas. I got a little ride from Provo up to Orem and then I got a ride from Orem while I was on that ride and I didn’t see where it was going, but I accepted it anyway.

When this young lady got in the car, the app said we were going to Magna. MAGNA! From Orem! I took a quick look at my cancellation rating to see if it would be possible to just say no, and it was. Nevertheless I had a strong impression to take the ride so I did. I pulled up in front of an apartment and this young lady came out and got in the backseat.

It was dark and she came up from behind the car so I didn’t get a really good look at her before she got in the car. Once she did, I felt emptiness and sadness. I looked in the mirror and saw her face. There was very little emotion in her face. I could tell that she was emotionally drained.

The spirit told me that this woman needed a lift. It wasn’t the last time I’d hear from the promptings of the spirit during this drive. I asked her what she did for a living and she said she just had some part-time jobs but mostly she had been caretaking for several years for her mother who had just recently passed.

I started saying the words that came to my heart immediately. I felt the spirit and assurance about the words that I was saying so I just said them. I told her that I felt prompted to say that she had been caring for her mom and now that her mom had passed she was relieved from that pressure and responsibility. I told her it made her feel good not to have that pressure and responsibility. I said that she felt guilty because she felt relieved.

She said, yes! That’s exactly how it’s been. She said, death is a really crazy thing and I don’t like it. I said, you’re right! Death is a very crazy thing but I have some insights if it would be ok for me to share them. She said yes! Fire away!

I told her that death can be one of the most spiritual experiences that we can have. As I said this, I received a prompting that she was a member of the church. I hadn’t asked and she certainly didn’t look the part, but the prompting was very specific and strong.

I told her that Heavenly Father knows when it’s our time and he brings us home. I told her that Heavenly Father loves us and we want to be with him. I told her that when we die, we go home. I told her that we have work to do and it’s not always in this life. I told her we have family and friends on the other side and that reunion is sweet.

I told her the story about my father‘s passing and that I had received a prompting to give him a blessing. The prompting said that I was to release him from this life and call him to a new responsibility with his father in heaven. I told her, my dad wasn’t as bad off as my mom at that time, so I thought that I was maybe losing it a bit.

I told her I was in church when I got that prompting. I went up to Idaho and gave that blessing to my dad and two days later my father passed and my mom is still with us. I told her that God is in charge and when he needs us, we go.

I told her that now her mother doesn’t suffer, now her mother wasn’t restricted by her bodily condition and now she doesn’t require the kind of assistance that she had rendered to her mother. I told her that now her mother is serving others.

I could tell that this touched her. I told her that our spirits love our father in heaven and his love for us is what makes everything work. I told her that when she feels the spirit, she feels this love. The spirit was in the car and we passed the temple.

I told her that the temple is the place, where heaven meets earth and we connect our families. I asked her, wouldn’t you like to go to the temple someday? She said, I’ve always wanted to but I’ve never felt like I could make it. I told her that this is how Satan keeps us down. He lies to us and tells us we can’t make it. I told her if she really wanted to she could make the changes needed in her life to go. I told her that she had been thinking about this a little bit lately. I said that she he felt like it was a daunting task but that her Heavenly Father would walk that path with her. I told her that the holy ghost would be right by her side.

I told her that its more than that too. I said, in the temple she could be sealed to her parents. She could do baptisms and sealings for her ancestors and that she could be the focal point to bring her family together. She looked up and said that would be wonderful.

The Holy Ghost was manifesting itself in the car and I could tell she was feeling it. It was working on her and I could see that she recognized it. I asked her what she was feeling and she said peaceful and loved. I told her that’s how she felt in the presence of her father in heaven. I told her that when she felt that when she knew the things she was hearing were true and that her father in heaven had sent his spirit to be with her to confirm truth.

I told her that with her new free time and new priorities since her mother’s passing, she should fill that with good things. I told her that family history work is one of those things. I told her that she could go to the temple for her family.

I told her that I felt by the prompting of the spirit that she doesn’t pray and hasn’t prayed for years, she doesn’t go to church and she never reads the scriptures. She said, you can tell all that? I said, yes. I told her that she was put in my car by Heavenly Father so that I could tell her how much he loves her and that he wants to hear from her.

I told her that the way we talk to our father in heaven is through prayer. I said that in her life, she had never had a father and there was a great big hole in her life. She said, that’s correct!

I told her, you have always wanted a father to fill that hole. I told her to let her father in heaven fill it. I told her to develop a relationship with him and his son, Jesus Christ. I said that if she would rely on the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that hole could be filled and she could feel complete.

She was choking back tears. I told her that when bad things happen Satan wants us to blame God but God wants us to look to Christ. I told her that Christ can lift us out of our condition regardless of how desperate it seems. I told her that Christ had suffered so that he could lift our burdens and guide us. I told her to pray to her Heavenly Father and she could develop that kind of a relationship.

I told her that one of the reasons that it’s important to read the scriptures is we feel the presence of our father in heaven. I told her she needs to read the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had one and she said yes, it was her mother‘s Book of Mormon. I said, as you read that book, you will feel close to your father in heaven as well as your mother. I told her that this would fill that void and she would feel direction from God.

I told her that she needed to go to church and when she goes to church, she needs to prepare spiritually to take the sacrament. I told her that one really cool thing about the sacrament is that it was given to us so that we could commune with God. Through the sacrament we have the promise of having his spirit to be with us. This way we can be happy and it can fill that hole in our lives.

I told her that’s why we go every week. I said that Jesus told us to meet often and take the sacrament. I told her that it would give her tremendous strength if she prepares to go to church and take sacrament.

She said, I haven’t done any of these things in years. I told her that the spirit had given me those words to say and let me know that she hadn’t done those things. I said that if she would do these things god would lift her burden and give her peace and rest from the turmoil in her soul. She said, I don’t know how you’ve hit everything right on, but you’re 100% right. I told her that God gave me these things to say so she would know that the rest of the things I said were true. She said, well, so far, you’ve hit the nail on the head.

I said to her, you’ve done some things that you are ashamed of. You’ve done some things that would have made your mother very sad had she known. You’ve been ashamed of these things, and it’s one of the reasons why you haven’t prayed and one of the reasons why you haven’t gone to church. You have felt like you were unworthy of God and unworthy of light.

She said, now you’re getting pretty specific but still right on. I told her that Satan is the father of lies and everything he says is a lie. I told her that he lies to us to take us away from God. I told her that he wanted her to blame God, turn from the church and not feel God‘s love, warmth and light.

I said, you feel all three of those in the car right now don’t you? She said, yes. I said, God is reaching out to you and Satan wants desperately to retain you. I asked, who do you want to follow? She said, Jesus.

I said, the way to follow Jesus is pray to your father in heaven, read your scriptures and go to church. I told her that Satan would tell her that she wasn’t worthy but that God would tell her that he loves her. He would invite her in and help her become worthy. God would tell her that she’s always worthy of his love and he wants to help her be better and he can do it through his son Jesus Christ and his atonement. She said, that’s beautiful!

I asked her if she would go to church this Sunday, read the Book of Mormon and say her prayers twice a day. She said, that would be a huge change for me. I said, right now with the spirit you’re feeling you know that’s what your father in heaven wants you to do. She said, yes. I asked her if she wanted to be happy and she said yes. I said, given the path you’ve gone down, this is the only way to become happy. She said, that is correct. This is what I need to do.

I asked her if she would promise me and her father in heaven that she would do those things and she said yes. She said she would go to the church on Sunday at the church house right by where she lives and gets started. I told her to go and have a chat with the Bishop and he would be able to help her.

Then I got another prompting. I looked in the mirror and she was very emotional. I could tell the spirit was working on her and she could feel the love of her father in heaven. I said, you’ve missed this feeling haven’t you? Satan has told you it never really existed. She said, you’re correct on that. I didn’t think it existed. I wondered if God existed, but this ride is shown me that he does exist.

I told her that I was receiving a prompting that she had a very traumatic abusive experience and in that experience, she felt alone, forsaken, abused and lost. I told her that Satan had been telling her since that day that God had abandoned her.

I told her that Satan had been telling her that there is no way a loving Heavenly Father would allow that to happen to someone he loved. She started to cry and said, yes that’s exactly correct.

I told her that she needed to remember that Satan is a liar. I told her that any path that she had gone down because she felt unloved and unworthy of redemption was a lie and she had been tricked into it.

I told her that her father in heaven never abandoned her and that he had put her in my car today so that I could tell her that he loves her. I told her that the first thing she noticed when she got in my car was his spirit and then she felt his love.

She said, I felt that the whole ride. I said, your father in heaven really wants to fill that hole in your soul. He wants to fill the hole in your life and he wants you to know that you are important to him. He wants you to be able to come home.

Your Heavenly Father wants you to know that his arms are open. I told her that the church is not a museum for perfect people but a hospital for sick people and the thing that makes people spiritually sick is sin. I told her we all have it and we all need to go to church to get better. I told her that this is why Satan works so hard to tell people they shouldn’t go to church because he doesn’t want them being healed from their sin. He wants them to double down and indulge.

She said, everything you are saying is true and is striking a chord with me. I said, to be clear, I’m just saying the words God puts into my heart. God loves you and God is reaching out to you.

I asked her if she had realized that her mother was behind this whole ride. I told her that her Heavenly Father and her mother were teaming up on her. She said that she had felt her mother in the car and had felt her quite a bit around her lately.

I told her to let God heal her heart and heal her soul from the abuse and sin in her life. I told her that God wants to fill her heart and fill that hole that has been there for so long. She said, I want that so much.

I asked her again if she would go to church on Sunday and she said yes. I asked her if she would pray tonight and she said she would. I asked her to read the book of Mormon every day. She said, if it makes me feel like this. I will do all those things

I told her to remember what the spirit felt like and when she was praying, reading and going to church, she should look for those feelings so she would know that God was with her. I told her it would help her get clean and come home.

We pulled into the driveway of the home that was our destination. She got out and waved goodbye. It was an intense, loving ride and it’s always amazing watching our father in heaven reconnect with one of his children and bless them with his light.