We’re going to war here, POWER UP

One day I was in Salt Lake City and I was looking for a ride to Utah County. I got three or four rides around Midvale and was starting to think I would just have to turn off and drive home. That’s not good because it doesn’t give you the opportunity to earn money. I felt like I should hang on for just a little while longer and made the decision to heed that prompting. As soon as I finalized that decision in my mind, I got a ride from Midvale to Payson.

Payson is a little bit further than I was thinking I wanted to go but it was around 5 o’clock. That time of night there is a lot of traffic on the roads. Having someone in the car would allow me to be in the carpool lane. Once you get to Orem, there’s really no traffic down to Payson or back to Orem from that point. I got excited about the ride.

I started to drive to the pick up spot. As I got closer I realized where it was and because of this I became a little apprehensive about the ride. It was just off of the 215, north of the Union Park exit. It was right there in some sketchy motels. There’s not a story you could tell me of the goings on in those hotels that would surprise me. I know that everything is bought and sold in that place. I hate giving people rides out of there and I hate driving around the parking lot. It feels unsafe and you feel exposed.

Even though I felt apprehensive, I drove around trying to find this guy. He wasn’t aware that the app indicated where he would be so we were texting back-and-forth. Finally, I found him. He asked me if he could put luggage in my car, I said yes. While he was talking to me, he was also talking to someone else on his phone. I assumed it was a friend and he was receiving instructions from that friend. I assumed because of the conversation I overheard that this friend was in Payson where we were going.

He started bringing down his belongings to load them in my car. I say his belongings because it was everything he owned and it filled up the trunk, the passenger and middle seat in the back all the way to the ceiling. Even my front seat with was full with his luggage from the floor to the roof.

Before he started loading I looked at him, and the spirit said that we would be talking about the church. He was a young African-American man with tattoos all over his arms. He had kind of a ticked off, angry look on his face. I thought, this should be interesting and I prayed for help.

Finally, after he had his things loaded in my car, we got going. I asked him about his story. He told me that he had lived in the mountains above Heber until about six months ago. He said that he had been in an accident and because of that accident he had lost his truck and then lost his job. He said, I lost everything.

I could hear desperation in his voice and I had a very strong prompting that he needed to feel the love of his father in heaven and understand the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ in his life. I felt an urgency to get going on that discussion.

I asked him if it would be OK if I asked him some questions and he said yes. I asked him if he had a religion. He said no! I am spiritual but not religious. I said, when you’re going through a hard time like this, a religion can be a real good thing.

I said, are you sure you don’t have a religion? He answered the same way, but it wasn’t quite with as much conviction as his previous answer had been. He waited a second before he said, no I don’t have a religion.

I felt that he was saying that because he wasn’t really converted to any religion nor have he ever been converted to any religion. I asked, do you believe in God? He said, that’s all I’ve got. That’s all I’ve got left.

I said, let me tell you about God, your Heavenly Father. I said, your heavenly father is the father of your spirit and your spirit lived with him for thousands of years, He loves you and you love him. There is a special feeling that you two share. When you feel this it lifts you and lightens you. Your father in heaven loves you. I said, God loves every one of his children but today especially he wants you to know that he loves you.

I felt impressed to tell him that he had been in the army and had been doing really well in his life. I said, I feel by the spirit that when you got in this accident, it didn’t just ruin you financially it ruined you spiritually and physically.

I said, due to the effects of your injuries and in the process of your recovery, you became dependent on the pain medicine, which led you to an addiction. I said, you feel like you’ve been dealt almost a death blow. He lowered his head and said, you’re right.

You lost your truck, you lost your job, you lost your health, you lost your sobriety and in many ways you feel like you already have lost your life.

I said, even though you have felt numb inside for a while now, I believe God put you in my car today so that he could put his arms around you and let you know that he loves you. He wants you to feel his spirit and have his love in your heart. I could tell that he was starting to tear up. The spirit was really strong in the car. I asked him how he felt and he said, overwhelmed.

He said, I haven’t felt anything for months until just now. It’s like I’ve been dead inside. He said, how do you know these things? Am I that easy to read? What you’ve said here has really shaken me up. How did you know?

I told him, you’re so important to your father in heaven that he’s not making me read you. He gave me those promptings so that you could know that he knows who you are, where you are and that he loves you. He wants you to feel his love today.

I said, I also believe that I’m not taking you to a friends house, I’m taking you to drug rehab. He said, it’s my last chance. I have to do this or I’m gone. He said, I can’t believe that Heavenly Father would send someone for me. I said, if you had a child, would you leave your child in distress and not send someone to rescue your child or go yourself to rescue that child? He said, I would absolutely rescue that child. I said, your Heavenly Father is a perfect loving father. That is exactly what he’s going to do. He’s going to rescue you.

He was going to Payson to start with detox for two days and the first step in this program. After detox he would enter a program for an extended period of time. I will say that it was clear he wasn’t on any drugs at that moment. He had started detox by himself and seemed determined.

At this point, we had left the discussion about his religion aside and just gone on talking about the spirit. I turned back to that conversation and asked, when were you baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints? I had received a distinct impression to ask him that question and he looked shocked when I asked it. He said, what makes you think I’m a Mormon? I said, the same prompting that helped me know the other things helped me know to ask you that question. When were you baptized?

He said, about six months before my accident. He said, since then I’ve felt like I was abandoned by my family, abandoned by my friends and abandoned by God. That’s when I decided that I didn’t have a religion. I asked him if the fact that God sent someone here today to rescue him would affect that perception and he said yes, I’m overwhelmed. This is what I needed.

He said, I have been dead inside and to feel something now is wonderful. Yes it makes a difference. It makes a difference to know that God loves me and that I matter. Before this ride I didn’t believe that.

I told him that it was the love of God that would help him pull through. I told him that his soul was predisposed to crave the presence of the spirit of God. It’s an essential part of who we are.

I told him that Satan knows this and tries to counterfeit it. He tries to fill that part of our soul with drugs, alcohol, and riotous living. I told him that it’s like eating cotton candy, it never fills you up. It never satisfies you and it leaves you only wanting more.

I told him that the spirit is like eating steak and potatoes. It fills that spot with what is intended to be there, which is the love of his father in heaven. I said, if you can have the spirit of God with you, it will greatly assist you in defeating your addiction. I said, your addiction is both a physical and a spiritual addiction. By filling that spot in your soul with the spirit of your father in heaven, you can win half that battle.

I identified the spirit again and asked him what he felt and he said, I still feel overwhelmed. I asked, how about your cravings? Do you feel those? He said, right now, no, I don’t.

I told him about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it was much more than a way to repent of our sins. I said, it’s the gift that Jesus Christ has given us to help us through the tough times. I said, Jesus suffered for all of the negative things you’re going through. These include addiction, injustice, infirmity, pain, embarrassment and even the humiliation of losing your job. Jesus has descended below it all and this gives him power to lift you above it all.

I told him that between the atonement and the power of the spirit of his father in heaven filling that part in his soul, he can beat this addiction. He said, that’s what I need to do.

I felt prompted to bear my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. I could tell he felt it. I told him the story of my friend Abram. Abram had been told 25 times that he wouldn’t ever be able to learn to read. We taught him how to read out of the Book of Mormon. When we finished reading a whole page one day he said, I paid professionals to teach me to read 25 times. Each time they said it was impossible. They said he was incapable of learning to read. Abram said, then you come here and you don’t know what you’re doing and in three months I learned to read. He said, it isn’t you, you don’t know what you are doing. It’s this book. He was shaking the book at me while he said, there’s a power in this book and then he said it again, there’s a power in this book that has unlocked my ability to read and I want to be baptized.

I told him that Abram had lots of struggles with people and issues in his life but he never wavered because of the power in that book. I said, there’s a power in that book. He said, wow, I could use some of that power.

I asked him if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a copy prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, if you will read this every day and every time you have a craving, you will feel the power of God through your study of this book.

I told him that the Book of Mormon would teach him to rely on the power of God and access the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said that this is what he needed in his life right now more than anything. I looked back in the mirror and could tell that he was still very emotional. I said, God is testifying to you that the things I am saying are true, isn’t he? He said, yes.

I said, the Book of Mormon contains the promises God made to the children of Israel all over the world, including your ancestors in Africa. I said, when Jesus was leaving the Americas he said, other sheep I have which are not from here or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout, and he was going to them. I told him that I believed that his ancestors in Africa were included in those people. I said that the promises Jesus made to them and the blessings he gave them are the same ones found in this book. I said, this is your book. This book and its teachings are meant for you.

I told him that one of the main things I’ve learned from the Book of Mormon is that when things are broken in my life and I can’t do it, I need to look to God so that he can lift me. I talked to him about Nephi’s bow and how when it broke Nephi looked to God. When he did this, he learned that God could and would provide. He learned that God could protect and God could teach them how to do the things they didn’t know how to do. They learned that they could do anything through the power of God and that on their own they were nothing. They learned that their strength was found in their relationship with God.

I said, that’s the Book of Mormon and that’s why you need it now. You are broken and you don’t see the way out. I said, if you look to God, he will use his power, his knowledge and his abilities to bring you through to the light. If you try to do it yourself, you will fail, but with God you will be undefeated.

I said, besides that, why would a God that has shown you these miracles here today let you fail. You need to trust in him and rely on him.

I looked back and I could tell he was still feeling the spirit, he was smiling and there was a light in his eyes. I said, it feels good, doesn’t it? He said yes. I said, what your soul needs is to rest and in the presence of your Heavenly Father it can rest. It can be healed by the atonement and what you’re feeling right now is the spirit testifying of that.

I said, Satan has been on you constantly and it has made you tired spiritually and you’re tired of it. The weight of this had made you tired physically too Satan has been telling you for a long time that you’re broken and you can’t be fixed. Satan has been telling you that you’re not worthy and that God doesn’t love you. Satan has been telling you that you can’t go to church and that you can’t be forgiven. Satan is a liar, a liar from hell and he wants to drag you down to hell with him. You’re a fighter, don’t let that happen. God sent me here today to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

I felt the impression again to identify the spirit testifying of this truth. I told him that his Heavenly Father wants him to know that he is worth fighting for.

I said, now, with this knowledge, what do you do going forward? We need to make a plan. I said, if we don’t make a plan, you’ll be right back where you were in no time at all. He said, what would you suggest?

I said, the church has an addiction recovery program. They have meetings frequently and they are here to help people who want to get over their addictions. They want to help people learn to apply the atonement of Jesus Christ to their lives specifically in this way. Does that sound like you? He said, yes, I didn’t even know about that.

He said that he was going to be in detox for two days and then they would get him in a program. I told him that along with that program, he should attend the addiction recovery program for the church. I said that a lot of people do that program simultaneous with the other ones. He said, that’s awesome. I didn’t know that!

I told him he needed to go to church. I said that he needed to go to church and get right with God. We looked up the church that he would attend in Payson and I texted him the information for the ward and the Bishop. I told him to go to that ward on Sunday and asked for the Bishop. I told him to talk to the Bishop about what we had talked about on the ride. I told him to be open with the Bishop about everything and that the bishop could help him.

I told him that if he would do that he could take the sacrament and get power from that too. I told him that the most powerful thing I do every week is take the sacrament. I told him it fills my spiritual tank and helps me walk with God. He said, that’s what I need to do. I said, then you need to talk to your Bishop on Sunday. He said he would.

I said, before you told me that your friends abandoned you. Do you have any friends you know that are members of the church who you could reach out to? You could ask them to pray for you during this time. He thought for a moment then he said, yeah, I have two or three. I said, you should reach out to them today. I said, send them a text and tell them what’s going on and ask them to pray for you. He said, that’s an amazing idea. Right then he texted those friends in a group text and asked them to pray for him.

I said, hopefully this will bring them back around you and get them back in your life as a positive influence. I told him, all those people who have been a bad influence in your life need to be out of your life. They are not your friends and you will relapse if you don’t shed them now. Satan for sure needs to be out of your life. You need to quit listening to him. Most of all you need to remember that your Heavenly Father loves you and he’s there for you. You need to remember that today, in your hour of greatest need, he sent someone to rescue you. He said, I know I can’t hardly believe it. I said, it’s true!

He said, this ride is just what I needed, it gave me the lift and the light. I didn’t know how I could face it but now I know I won’t do it alone. God can be with me.

I asked him if he was still feeling the spirit now and he said yes. I told him to remember that feeling and take it with him. I told him that, especially in detox, he would need to pray when it was tough. I said that God would be there with him. I told him that if he would do this, being with God, reading the Book of Mormon, saying his prayers, going to church and doing the things he needed to do, he could win. He said, I will win.

He got out of the car, went in and registered. He came back and grabbed his stuff out of the car and shook my hand. He said, Brother, now I believe in angels, now I believe in miracles, now I believe I can do this. I asked him if he would commit to me and God to do the things that we had discussed and he said, yes, I promise. He let go of my hand, waved and shut the door. He went into the facility to start his detox. One thing we know is that he is not alone.