One night I was driving in Orem and I got a ride that I really didn’t want to take. I was trying to get on the freeway and head down to Spanish Fork. I just felt like that is where I wanted to work. Then I got this ride. I was about to let it go but felt impressed that I should do it.
I pulled up in front of the house that was indicated by the app. It was on a dark street and there was really no place to park so I was idling in the middle of the road.
We have to sit there for seven minutes before we can take the no-show fee and leave. I was scrolling through my sports app, thinking about how much longer before I could cancel when the spirit said, you’re not going to cancel. You’re going to take this one.
Just as I felt those words, there was a knock on the door of my car. It startled me. It’s not something that happens in the middle of a dark street at 1 AM very often.
I looked up and it was a young woman with a smile on her face. She got in the car and away we went. We were headed down to BYU housing so I was more than a little bit confused about the prompting I had received.
She seemed very quiet and I was looking for a way to get into a conversation. I hoped to find out a little bit about her and maybe receive some prompting to inform the direction of the conversation that we were supposed to have.
As we were driving down 400 North in Orem this motorcycle came whipping by us about 70 MPH. I think the road is a 30 MPH road and he was clearly out of control. His bike was very loud but it gave me an opportunity to break the silence in the car.
I said, that dude might be in trouble! He’s a little bit out of control. That’s why they sent you the best driver they’ve got tonight. We need to get you there safely.
I expected her to laugh or say something witty but instead she was choked up and she said she couldn’t talk right then. She said she was way too emotional and that she had just ruined her life.
I said, I’m pretty sure you didn’t ruin your life. Who did you kill? Through the tears she gave a little laugh and said, I don’t know that I can talk about it. I’m just way too emotional.
I said, look, I’m a dad and a grandpa. On top of that, I’m a rideshare driver. I don’t know who you are really, I don’t know where you live, I don’t know anything about you so you can talk to me and it’s like talking to the wall, assuming the wall talks back. I said, maybe I can help you out a bit.
This girl was clearly in distress but her eyes lit up and she jumped at that chance. She said she was a member of the church and had always been really good. She had done the things she was supposed to do but was a little frustrated that her life seems stagnant. She said she came to BYU to hopefully find someone that she could marry and start doing things to advance her life. Then she said, tonight I threw it all out the window. I screwed everything up.
To break the ice into this subject, I said, finding someone to marry serious business. Receiving that kind of revelation is not easy. Many kids her age think that they’ll pray and then they’ll see an 8 x 10 picture of the person they’re going to marry float by their mind’s eye or there will be some fantastic decision made by God revealed to them.
This is not the approach God takes very often. We work with him to receive revelation. It is a process and we need to do our part.
I taught her the way my friend Mark Lords would teach this. He taught that Moroni 10: 3-5 is a multi part process on receiving revelation not just an answer about the Book of Mormon’s truthfulness .
In verse three we study the Book of Mormon and compare it to what we know about how God works. We see if it fits, taking account of the spirit you felt while reading it. Then you make a decision
based on the fact that God is your father and he wants you to use your experience knowledge and brain to make a decision. He doesn’t want to tell you everything to do. He wants you to use your agency to make a choice.
Verse 4 says to take that decision to God and ask him to show you if it’s not true or wrong and be ready with faith a sincere heart and a total determination called real intent to follow through with the decision if it’s right. If it’s right, you’ll continue to feel the spirit but if it’s wrong, he will show you that it’s wrong. I said, when it’s wrong, you will know. If it’s good, you will feel the spirit.
Verse five says that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you can know the truth of all things. This is a pattern for how to receive revelation in your life. Follow this pattern and you’ll know how to get revelation from God. He’s a yes, no God he doesn’t answer open-ended questions as often as he answers. Yes, no questions.
I said, make sure when you’re looking for your husband, you don’t expect God to find him for you. You need to do your part. He wants you to do your work and he wants it to be your decision.
She said, this answers a question I’ve had for a long time. I haven’t really understood at all how to receive revelation and this should help me. Tonight my experience has made it so that I probably never will be able to. When she said this, I said, well, you do need to be worthy.
I am accustomed to the late rides and I know what is usually going on. For whatever reason some of these guys just send a car to transport the girl so they can violate her. It drives me crazy and it drives me crazy that the girls do it. I had the vibe that this was what was up. The spirit was telling me the same thing that I was interpreting from the words she saying was exactly right. She had been immoral that night.
With that knowledge, I decided to talk to her about the atonement and repentance. First, I told her that she messed up but that she didn’t throw her whole life away. I told her that repentance is a beautiful thing and you come away totally cleansed from the sin you have committed .
She asked, how can I be forgiven for this? She said, I don’t think I can. I said, it’s time to quit listening to Satan. It’s time to quit playing where he tells you to play and doing the things he tells you to do. It’s time for you to look to Jesus Christ and ask your father in heaven to forgive you.
I asked her about her relationship with her Heavenly Father and she seemed stumped. I asked, do you know what the spirit feels like? She said yes. I told her that the way she feels the spirit is a manifestation of her father in heaven‘s love for her. I told her that his plan is for her to come home and that she hasn’t done anything to foil that plan. I told her that she made a mistake and correcting mistakes are part of the plan.
I told her that if she will do the things she needs to do to repent, her father in heaven will allow the blood of Christ to cleanse her from her sin and it will be as if she never committed it in the first place.
She said, I just got here though and I screwed up so bad. I said, all of that may be true but it is not a fatal error. I asked her if she knew her Bishop and she said she saw him once but that she was new in the ward.
I asked her if she had his telephone number and she said she didn’t but that her roommate did. I said, get his phone number and call him tomorrow morning. Tell him you want to meet with him as soon as possible. You need to get started on this.
I asked her if she’d ever been through the repentance process before and she said no. She said she always done what she was supposed to do until tonight. I asked her if this was someone she knew or if it was someone she found on Tinder. she said that it was a guy she met on Tinder and that it was a huge mistake.
I told her that the Bishop was going to ask all of these questions so that he could understand how to help her. I said, the purpose of going to the Bishop is so that he can help you get to the point where your father in heaven can forgive you for your sin. He also helps you reestablish behaviors that will act as guard rails to keep you from falling over that cliff again.
She said, that will be greatly appreciated. I can’t believe I was so stupid. I said, he’ll probably ask you to say prayers multiple times a day and to read your scriptures a predetermined amount of time. He’ll want to make sure you show up at church and meet with him frequently so that he can check your progress. He’s going to want to help you change your heart and your habits so that they can act as this guard rail.
I said, in the scriptures it talks about having no more desire to sin. I said, that’s more than just feeling bad that you went too far or sorry that you got caught. It’s a total change of your way of thinking. It will take you to a higher plane where the thought of doing what you did won’t be as much of a temptation. That’s what the Bishop is going to try to help you do.
She said, if it can prevent me from feeling like this, I’m all in. She said, the problem is, I came here to find a husband and now I’ve screwed that all up.
As she said this, these words came to my mind, and I said them exactly as the spirit prompted. I said, you haven’t mess that up. As you are going through this process, your father in heaven will forgive you and the light that shines from you will shine brightly. I said, the person you’re supposed to marry will see that light and be attracted to you because of it. I said, it’s important that you get this underway.
She said, Heavenly Father sent you, didn’t he? I said, yes, he puts people in my car. She said, I know that because you just told me exactly what it says in my patriarchal blessing word for word about how I will meet my spouse.
She said, my patriarchal blessing says that I will carry a light and that the person I’m supposed to marry will see that light and be attracted to me because of it. In your car is the only other place I’ve heard that so I know Heavenly Father sent you here tonight.
I said, he sent me because he wants you to know that even though you made a mistake, he loves you and he’s there with his arms outstretched to bring you back. Due to the fact that I am here, you should now know that you can be forgiven and that your Heavenly Father still loves you.
By this time we were at her apartment and the despair was replaced by determination and the tears had been replaced by smiles. She said, tonight God sent me an angel and I will not let him down.
She got out of my car and I’m positive that by now she is well on her way to get her light shining brightly again.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 