The 10th of September was a crazy day. I thought it was going to be pretty busy around town and I was debating going to the Charlie Kirk program at UVU. I started heading over there but then I just got the feeling that it would be too much of a hassle and I wouldn’t want to be trapped in traffic. I thought it would cost me too much time and it just didn’t feel right so I went to work.
I took a ride or two and then I saw the news about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It was very sad but as I listened and read, I noted that the one person that he completely had a discussion with gave him an opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ. It was a tragedy but I thought about how great it was that he was able to testify of Jesus Christ with almost his last breath.
I thought about the atonement and how that little family of his would need the atonement and of the importance of the atonement and the role of Jesus Christ in our lives.
I was thinking about these things while I was driving and keeping up on the news of the day. It was very heavy and sad. I decided that I would head home for dinner and caught a ride from Lehi to 800 North in Orem. That’s a great ride when you are headed home and it got me to where I needed to be goal wise for my early session.
I pulled into a motel in the Lehi area and a guy got in my car. My goodness, what a horrible vibe in spirit accompanied this man. He was clearly in distress and had zero happiness or light shining from his countenance.
I tried to start a couple of conversations but everything was so negative. I thought about just shutting up but the spirit told me that I needed to keep going. The spirit told me that I needed to talk to this man.
All of a sudden he asked me to pull over and let him out. I asked him where he was going to go if I let him out and he said he didn’t know. I talked to him for a minute and convinced him to just hang with the program. I felt very strongly by the spirit that he needed to go to his destination and I sold it hard. I’ll bet it sounded weird because for the most part, we really don’t care where people go but because of the promptings I did. Finally i won and we continued our trip.
In trying to keep him in the car to complete the ride he had started communicating with me a bit and talking about his frustrations. He asked me what I thought about driving and if I liked it. I told him that it was good but the main reason I liked to drive was that I felt like I could help God. I said, God puts people in my car and for some reason he wants you here.
He said, I don’t know if I believe in God. That seemed to be a little dramatic for me but I decided if we were going to be dramatic that I would share some stories with him. I told him that sometimes God puts people in my car and he gives me specific things to tell them.
I told him that in the past I had seven people in my car who had told me in the ride that they were going to commit suicide. I told him that during the ride, the Lord was able to give me the words to say and the things to do to help them.
I told him about the story of the guy in Magna who wanted to commit suicide. I picked him up where he had told a guy from his unit to get the flag off of his casket after his funeral. I was taking him to Burger King. That’s when he told me that he was going to commit suicide and that was going to be his last meal. I told him that no one has Burger King as a last meal on my watch. He told me that he didn’t have any family. His mom had abandoned and disowned him when he was 10 and his father had passed away when he was 18. He joined the military and had been in Afghanistan or Iraq for the holiday season 10 years in a row. He said he was sick of killing, he was sick of being alone and he was especially sick of being alone at Christmas.
Then on the way to his house we passed the church. I felt very impressed to promise him in the name of Jesus Christ that if he would go to that church house on Sunday morning at 9 o’clock and ask for the Bishop, meet with the bishop and tell the bishop everything he needed in his life, at the end of the year, he would have the family he so desired.
Here is the complete link to that story https://sometimesgodsendsyoualift.com/2022/01/02/when-all-else-seems-hopeless-god-will-send-his-love/
As I told this story, I noticed the temperature change in the back of the car. He became very meek and I didn’t feel the spirit of contention in anyway. Then he started to cry. He wasn’t just crying, he was sobbing loudly.
He asked me, why did you tell me that story? How did you know? I said, know what? I just felt prompted by the spirit that I needed to tell that story to you on this ride. He said, are you sure you didn’t know anything? I said, no but God does and he is the one that gave me those words to say.
He said, I was going to commit suicide this morning. I was angry and I was going to commit suicide and end it all. I made a phone call and got a reservation at this treatment facility we are going to. He said, a few minutes ago when I told you to let me out I had decided again that I wanted to commit suicide. That’s when I asked you to pull over and let me out. You wouldn’t let me and God wouldn’t let me either. He said, then you started telling me that story and that’s crazy.
I told him that it was important that he understand how much his father in heaven loves him. I told him that he was very loved and that God wouldn’t waste a miracle like this on him if he didn’t plan on being there for him. He wouldn’t waste a miracle on him if he didn’t have important things for him to do. I said, God doesn’t want you to commit suicide. He wants you to go to the treatment center. He wants you to get help.
I talked to him about the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said that the atonement of Jesus Christ is probably the most important thing he could understand in his life right now. He said, I haven’t been sinning, I just can’t deal with life. Why are we talking about the atonement?
I told him that the atonement is for a lot more than just sin. I told him that through the atonement Jesus Christ has the power to lift our burdens, relieve our pain, mental, emotional and physical.
As I started talking about the atonement, the spirit intensified like it always does when you testify of the atonement. It testified with power and I could tell he was feeling it. I asked, do you feel that? What are you feeling? He said, yes. He also said he didn’t feel hopeless anymore.
I told him that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus bled from every pore. He suffered for all of these things so that we can look to him and live. I said, look to him and live is what your father in heaven wants you to do right now. He wants you to look to his son so that you can have his spirit to walk with you. He needs you to heal your mind and your heart so that you can walk upright before him and serve him.
I said, you are hurt and you are sad. That story I told really touched you. You’re struggling because of family as well, right?
He said yes. He said that he married a woman from outside the United States five years ago. He said, one day last week when she got her citizenship finalized she told him that she never loved him, ever. She told him that she was done with him and that she was going to leave him. She told him that he was ugly and she couldn’t stand to look at him. She didn’t want to end up being with him. She said the thought of it made her physically ill. She said that she had only married him to get citizenship in the United States and now that she had it, she was done with him and left. Through the tears he said, I thought we’d be together forever.
She had trashed all of his stuff and taken money out of the bank. He felt destitute, abused, betrayed and broken. He said, I know exactly how your guy who had been in the army felt. I just don’t know if I can go on. I didn’t think so last night and I didn’t want to live a few minutes ago.
I asked him who it was that would tell him to commit suicide. I asked him who would be whispering that in his ear. He thought for a minute and said, I guess it’s Satan. I said, we’re not going to let him win are we? He said, well, we’re headed to the treatment center aren’t we? I laughed and said, yes we are!
I told him that it was really important for him to learn to love the atonement, go to church and take the sacrament and walk with God. I said, that relationship with God will help you through.
I said, I never asked if you were a member of the church but I just felt like you were. He said I am. I asked him how it made him feel to know that God sent someone for him today. He sent someone to make sure that he would get there. Someone to bring the spirit into his life and testify. I asked him how that felt. He started crying again and he said he was pretty sure that no one cared but now he knows he was wrong. Now he knows that that it was Satan whispering in his ear.
We were just pulling into Orem and driving up 800 North to the treatment center. I asked him if he wanted me to pray for him. He said, yes! Can you pray for me here in the car before I go in? I said yes.
We pulled into the treatment center and parked in front of the main doors. There were people all around but we bowed our heads and had one of the most spiritual prayers I’ve ever felt. I remember being directed about what things to ask for in the prayer and to assure him that Heavenly Father would continue to place people in his path to lift him as he recovered his mental health. I remember feeling tremendous love poured out from his father in heaven for his son who was in danger that day.
As I prayed, he began crying again, very loudly. Tears were flowing, and the spirit was felt. When I finished praying, I wanted to identify the spirit with him. I asked him what he was feeling and he said the spirit. I asked him, why would God send his spirit here? He said, I don’t know. I said, he sent his spirit here to let you know that he loves you and that he’ll be there for you. He said, I think now that I know I will have God‘s help, I can do this.
He said, I don’t think I can remember feeling the spirit this strong before. With tears streaming down his face, he thanked me for being there for him and bringing the message of God into his heart.
He got out of the car and walked into the treatment center. I drove home which was easy because it was only about five blocks away. It had been a very heavy day and I just needed to take a nap. On that day, I could rest assured that Heavenly Father was in charge and in the end His will, will be done. God will send his angels to be roundabout us in our time of need. We had felt them in the car
Along with Charlie Kirk, I got to testify of Jesus Christ that day. Charlie, his faith and example will be greatly missed.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 