One day I was in Salt Lake and I was headed down to Utah County. I got a ride from around Bangerter Highway and 70th South all the way to UVU. Bingo! That’s awesome.
I rolled up in front of this house and there was a young lady standing outside. I love it when they’re standing outside waiting for you. So many times you have to spend so much time waiting. A lot of people make you wait five minutes or even close to seven minutes before they show up. When time is money that’s frustrating and I was excited she was standing out there.
We were in a residential area, a cul-de-sac, so I assumed I was taking this young woman back to college. She seemed older than a freshman and she seemed to have a rebellious spirit. The way she was dressed screamed this. It was totally the vibe that she put off.
The good thing was that she was very friendly and we started to chat. The conversation quickly turned to my experiences in driving rideshare. She talked about how all of her friends are scared to take rideshare. I told her that the company knew that and that’s why they sent her the best driver.
I asked her how often she took rideshare and she said she does it quite frequently. I asked her to share her favorite or least favorite experiences and she did.
When we start telling stories about rides, it makes it easier sometimes. It makes it easier to relate, to settle in and be comfortable. Especially on a long ride like this one.
As she finished her story, I started to tell some of my stories and my experiences driving people in the car. Funny stories, freaky stories, and some scary stories.
As I was thinking about which stories I should tell, and there are many, the spirit told me that I was supposed to tell stories from my blog . I had previously decided that due to the party girl vibe she put off, probably talking about religion would not be advised. The spirit however again assured me that this is what I was supposed to do.
I eased into it at first. I talked to her about how it’s good to be a driver because that way I can help other people. I talked to her about the people who had tried to commit suicide and the people that had been roofied that I’ve been able to help. Given the fact that you can be deplatformed if you discuss something personal, political or religious, sometimes doing this is quite a leap of faith.
Given the fact that I had received the prompting, I decided to jump right in. No guts, no glory I guess! I started to tell stories from my blog about people that have been put in my car.
I didn’t say it just like that. I just started telling the stories and following the spirit as to which stories to tell. I told the story about the guy who tried to attack me from behind and got shocked when he touched me. I told the story about the guy who had been in jail and the spirit gave me that knowledge. I shared this knowledge with him so that he would know that the rest of the words I said were true. Then he got baptized 4 weeks later. I talked to her about the girl who had a dream and the Lord gave me the prompting about that dream and about parts of that dream before she told me about the dream. I talked about how it had astounded this girl and how she was later baptized.
It was amazing how telling these stories changed the temperature in the car. The spirit was there and I could tell she was feeling the spirit. I had the prompting that even though she was feeling the spirit she didn’t recognize it. She only knew that she felt good.
Each story was told completely and with full religious context backed by the spirit. I remember being prompted that I shouldn’t shy away. I remember thinking that when I was in the MTC, I was taught that anything you say will be fine as long as you say it with love and with the spirit. That has been my experience in life. When you say things with love and the spirit, the Lord will deliver the message to the heart.
As I told the stories, the spirit assured me that she was receiving the intended spiritual confirmations of what I was saying. The spirit gave me these words to say and I said them. I asked, what do you think of these stories? She said, I love them, they make me feel so good! She said, I was raised as a Mormon and so I used to believe these things.
I asked, did your family leave the church? She said no, Just me. I left the church when I was 16. I quit going but the rest of my family goes. She said, my sister is going on a mission in a month but I don’t believe in that.
I asked, why don’t you believe in it? She said, “there are just too many things”, as if that was an answer to my question. Unsatisfied with her answer, I said, look, right now you have an opportunity to clear up some of these things and questions.
I said, in the past, you have been terrified to ask the questions that were in your heart and discuss with your family the reasons why you didn’t want to go to church. You didn’t want to discuss these things and so you left the church rather than risk alienation.
I said, the cool thing here is that because. you have never seen me, you don’t know who I am and that after today, you’ll probably never see me again, you have the opportunity to ask me the uncomfortable questions. You can ask me the questions that you have felt uncomfortable asking your family because you didn’t want to cause trouble.
I felt very strongly that this was one of her issues. I felt like she had been in arguments before. As a result of those arguments and confrontations she had not ever asked the deep question or resolved the underlying issue. I felt like she had let it go and this is why we found ourselves in this situation.
She hemmed and hawed a bit and then started saying, well, really there’s not anything in particular. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do that anymore. As she said that, I heard in my head, “I never got my answer”. I had the very distinct impression that this young lady had prayed. and not known how to recognize the answer that she received. I felt very strongly impressed that this was an opportunity to help her feel the spirit, recognize the spirit and get her back in the game.
I asked her how long it had been since she went to church. She said that she was now 22 and she quit going to church when she was 16. I felt very strongly that she had received the answers to her prayer. but that she hadn’t recognized them. I think this happens a lot because it happened to me.
I decided to tell my story about how when I was young I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. I never got what I recognized was an answer. I didn’t think I had felt the spirit. I said, then one day it clicked for me and all of a sudden, then I remembered all of the times that I had felt that feeling and realized that the problem was me not recognizing God‘s hand, not him forgetting me.
The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked what she felt right then. She said she felt excited and warm and peaceful. I told her that that was the spirit. I told her that when she was a teenager she had tried to pray to find out if the church was true. I told her she had asked in prayer and that she hadn’t felt like she received an answer. I told her that because she didn’t get an answer she recognized, she didn’t feel like God had revealed anything to her. She couldn’t say the spirit told her the church is true and so she decided to rebel a little bit.
I said, bit by bit you quit going to church, you quit praying and you quit believing. I said, even though the rest of your family went to church, you didn’t think that it was for you because you hadn’t received that answer. You even wondered if anybody had been given an answer by the spirit or if they were just saying it because everybody else did.
She said, that’s exactly how it went! I prayed and prayed and prayed. I never got an answer and finally, I just gave up. I decided that if I didn’t get my answer that it wasn’t that important.
I asked, you were thinking about this just before I said this weren’t you? Isn’t it interesting that you were just thinking about these things and I started bringing them up? I asked her, how do you think that happened? Did you think I was just a lucky guesser?
She said, no. There’s no way you could have known those things. I said, the Holy Ghost put those things in my heart to say so that you would know that the rest of the things I say are true. Heavenly Father has sent his spirit to us here in the car and you have recognized it. She said, I’ve loved how it felt. I said, that is the spirit of God.
I said, God gives us his spirit so that we can know that things are true. I said, God confirms truth by giving us his spirit. When you feel the spirit, that is your answer. This way you know it’s true. That’s the answer you were looking for all of those years ago. That is how God speaks to you. He speaks to your heart and he speaks to your soul. And sometimes we just miss that.
When you were a young woman, you had a certain expectation of how that revelation would look and feel. That expectation was not realized. This feeling that you’re feeling today is how God answers your prayers.
When I was younger and I recognized the spirit, I realized that God had been giving me this confirmation all along and that I just needed to learn how to listen to God. I told her that once we understand this, God can reveal truth to us through the Holy Ghost. This is how he does it. This way God can walk with us.
She said, I love this. I said, so let’s realize what is happening here today. That prayer you uttered all of those years ago has been answered and God has given you his witness here today that these things are true. Right now the spirit is helping you know that those prayers have been answered and that God wants you back.
I told her that we lived with Heavenly Father for thousands of years and his love was the most important thing in our existence. We felt it and we knew when we were in his presence because we could feel his love. I told her, we all feel that love differently and we certainly all express how it feels differently. I said, today you have felt God‘s love and he has confirmed to you that the things you’ve heard are true. Now you know that you have had that witness. You know this is the witness you looked for.
Your spirit recognized the presence of its father and you have put that together here in this car today. Now you just need to seek to have that with you so God can direct your path. Now you know by your own revelation that your father in heaven loves you and the church is true.
She said, wow, I wish someone had explained this to me before. I said, it’s a journey we all have to take because we need to learn to listen. I said, I think we need to learn to listen so we can value the communication and the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. We have to developed that relationship so that we can hear his voice and do his will.
I said, how cool does it feel right now, how much do you enjoy what you’re feeling right now? She said, it’s life-changing. I love this feeling. I wish I never had to leave your car. I wish this ride wouldn’t end.
We were just then approaching her apartment complex at UVU and she said, I’m serious, I wish this wouldn’t end. I said, this feeling doesn’t have to end. You can have the spirit with you anytime you want. That’s why we pray. That’s why we go to church. That’s why we read the Book of Mormon and that’s why we take the sacrament.
I said, when we take the sacrament, we are told that we can have his spirit to be with us always. I said, that’s what you want, right? She said, at the first of this ride I would’ve said that’s crazy but now I say that’s what I want more than anything. She said, I’m afraid it’s too late for me.
I said, it’s not too late for you. I told her that she needs to know that when she feels like she can’t come back, that comes directly from Satan. I said, Jesus suffered the atonement so that he could lift us out of despair. So that he could rescue us from the mistakes we make and bring us back onto the path. That’s why he suffered and he did it for us.
I said, when you take the sacrament worthily you renew your baptismal covenants. He can forgive your sins and help you get back on the path so that you can have his spirit to be with you always. I said, that’s the path, that’s how to do it. You go to church, you say your prayers, you read the Book of Mormon and you take the sacrament worthily.
I said, when you do those things, God will give you his spirit and cleanse you of your sins. She said, I don’t even know how to start. I asked, do your roommates go to church? She said, no. They party too late on Saturday night. I said, you need to go to church. Church is on Sunday, who can you go to church with? Let’s make a plan. She said, my sister!
She said, my sister who’s going on a mission is going to school here too. I think I can go to church with her, right? I said, absolutely. I said, what you should do is call her and talk to her about our ride. You should talk to her about what you felt and how you’ve had your prayer answered. You should tell her that you now know that the church is true and that you finally have had that witness that you looked for all of those years ago. She said, my sister will probably ask if that’s really me on the other end of the line if I call her and tell her that. She laughed. I said, won’t that be fun? She said, yeah, she’ll love that.
I asked, when are you going to call your sister? She said, I’m going to text her right now to call me as soon as she’s out of class I will tell her as soon as she calls me. I’ll ask her if I can go with her on Sunday.
She said, I can’t believe this ride. It seems to me like God rode with us in this car. It’s like this ride was meant to be. I told her that I believe that God puts people in my car to get messages. I told her that I believe that God put her in my car to get this message just like those other people in the stories that I had told her. I said, God knows who you are, he knows where you are and he’s all about bringing you home.
She said, I want to do that and it does feel like home. I feel better right now than I have felt in as long as I can remember. This is what I want. We pulled up to her apartment and she said, look, I already sent the text to my sister. I can hardly wait to share this news with her. I can’t believe how this all happened! I said, the most important thing for you to remember is that God loves you and today he put you in this car so that he could give you a hug and let you know that he wants you home. That’s how God brings us home. She nodded and smiled then got out of the car and went into her apartment.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 