One day I had a scheduled ride to pick up a person in Payson and take them to the airport. When I got to the person’s home, they were outside ready to go. They were waiting for me and it was 20 minutes before the ride was supposed to start. I love that because leaving early is always good. It allows you to make more money on the ride because it takes less time out of your schedule.
As I saw them I noted that the lady was dressed a bit provocatively. I thought about how inappropriate that was and just as I thought that the spirit said “slow your roll” and get engaged. I thought ok no judgement here. Then I realized by the spirit that God had a plan for the ride.
She got in and we started driving. She had a daughter that was handicapped. She was a very low functioning autistic child and she apologized to me right off the top. She said, I don’t know how the ride is going to be, my daughter always makes a lot of noise.
I said, that’s OK! In fact, I think it’s awesome! I’ve got a nephew named Reed who is autistic and I have a lot of fun with him. If you look close enough, you can see the love of God around them. I said, it’s a lot of work for you but you know you’re doing God‘s work! She said, yes, I know.
As we started to drive north towards the airport to Salt Lake she began to tell me about this trip. She was going on a trip with her mother and her aunt and they were going to take care of her daughter and allow her to relax. She said, I haven’t relaxed in a long time and I can’t wait for this.
She said that her boyfriend was staying at home and he would get a break too. She said that it was a break for everyone and a much needed rest. I asked her if her boyfriend was the father of her daughter and she said yes. I asked her if she’d been with him since the child was born and she said, yes, he’s a wonderful dad.
I kind of left it there because I hadn’t had much of an impression on how to proceed and chastising someone about their relationship is implicitly and specifically forbidden in the rules! This was within days of the Charlie Kirk assassination and she started talking about how crazy that was.
I said, did you follow Charlie Kirk? She said, well, my boyfriend did and he was very sad about the assassination. She said, he watched all of his programs and all of his clips on the Internet. That was the opening I needed so I jumped into it.
I said, he taught a lot about how important it was for young men to get married. He taught them to live in a Godly way, follow Jesus Christ, get married and have families. I said, did this ever push him to want to get married to you?
She said, just to be clear. I would love that and I’m ready at any time. He’s never wanted to talk about it but the day after Charlie was assassinated he was listening to one of Charlie’s lectures where he was talking about that and when I looked at my boyfriend, he had tears in his eyes. I could tell it was something he wanted to do or was considering.
I said, in the past has he given you the whole, it’s just a piece of paper spiel? She said, that’s exactly what he said. I told her that this is not true. I told her that a marriage is a commitment and especially for a man that commitment means something. I said, lack of willingness to make that commitment also means something.
I asked her if she thought he was getting close and she said yes. I said, this might be the time to tell him how much it would mean to you in reference to his reaction to Charlie Kirk. She said, I like that idea. When I get back from vacation, I think I’ll do just that.
She said, we’ve always wondered why it mattered and what you just said makes sense. I said, well what I’m going to say now also makes sense. The main reason we want to be married and need to be married is because God expects us to be married. He is the one that gave us the commandment to be married and he is the creator of the institution of marriage. When you get married, you can more fully bring God and his power into your lives and we all need that.
She said, I can see that. We haven’t talked about God very much. It started when I was a little girl. My parents were members of different religions and they couldn’t decide which one they would settle on, so they decided not to give us a religion and let us choose when we were old enough to choose.
I said, so basically you had no religious upbringing. She said, yes, that’s right! I said, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said, so is my mom. I asked, how familiar are you with the church? She said that she knew a few things but that she never attended.
About this point in time I could see that there was a back up on the freeway and my GPS went from telling me that instead of arriving in 45 minutes, I would be arriving in 3 1/2 hours. Anybody that’s ever gone to the airport knows that you don’t want to be 3 1/2 hours late and panic ensued. I said a prayer asking for two things. One, that I would be guided to find a way through the traffic and two, that her flight would be delayed or something.
The obstacle seemed insurmountable. All lanes of I-15 were blocked at the Lindon overpass and it was rush-hour. There was no way I was going to get her there on time. I quit thinking and started trying to receive guidance. I saw myself weaving through the roads of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and American Fork then jumping on the freeway from the Timpanogos Highway. So I went about doing this route which ended up shaving about an hour and a half off the time. The Lord had stepped up, but we still needed help.
While I was weaving, it occurred to me that I had more time to talk about the gospel. I asked the young lady what religion she considered herself to be and she said Christian, but non-denominational. She believed in Jesus, but that’s about it.
When I heard that and knowing her situation, it became clear to me by the spirit that I was supposed to talk about the atonement. I talked about how much our father in heaven loves us and how Jesus can help carry our burdens through the atonement. I said, it’s not unlike what your mother and your aunt are going to do to help you with your daughter. She’ll still be your responsibility, but the weight of that responsibility will be lifted for a time. That’s how the atonement works. I said, anything that has happened in our lives that is unjust, negative or evil can be repaired and healed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, our father in heaven knows what our trials are and he has given us the atonement so that we can be happy even in our trials.
She was a little choked up and one thing I noticed is that as we started talking about the atonement and I started saying the words the Lord put in my heart, the daughter who had been quite vociferous became quiet, even reverent.
In the stress of the traffic jam and the worry about not making the flight, something that would normally agitate a child, she was calm. Her mother even commented on how. shocked she was. She said, this is crazy.
Needless to say, the spirit was in the car. When you talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ the spirit comes in the car. It is the greatest manifestation of God‘s love for his children, in my opinion. This along with the first vision and testimony of the Book of Mormon, teaching of the atonement of Jesus Christ always brings the spirit and this day was no exception.
I talked about how in our lives sometimes we feel like we get the short end of the stick, whether it’s that we’ve not been treated well by someone or that we’ve had a challenge that makes our life difficult. I said, that’s when God can bless us through the atonement of his son Jesus Christ.
I asked her how familiar she was with the Book of Mormon and she said she knew about it because her mom had one but she didn’t know anything. She said, my mom goes to church every single Sunday and she reads the Book of Mormon.
I told her that in the Book of Mormon, there was a time when the people were held captive as slaves and they were forbidden to pray or they would be killed. I said they were given very heavy burdens and punishments. Everything seemed to be insurmountable in their situation but they prayed in their hearts to their father in heaven. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ their burdens were lifted to the point where they could barely feel them and they were able to be happy.
I told her that this is the way that the atonement of Jesus Christ helps us in finding God‘s justice in an unjust world. It helps us be happy when we should be sad and it gives us strength when we need it because we know that God has us.
I said, you always had the question about how God lets bad things happen to good people, haven’t you? She said, yes. How did you know? I said, I just felt like I needed to say that and tell you this. When bad things happen satan would have us blame God and turn our backs but God points to Jesus and his atonement and says look at Christ and live. I said, we look to Jesus Christ and his atonement so that we can live and be happy.
I said, the other part of that bargain is that through our membership in the church we take on obligations to serve and lift and bless those around us. By doing this, we become God‘s hands to lift those who are down. This is God‘s plan. He will never take agency away from a person. That would destroy his plan. He allows us to make mistakes but then he’s given us the atonement and the church so that we can have our burdens lifted and our wounds bound and healed..
I asked her if she could feel the spirit right then. She said, yes, I got chills when you were talking about that. I said, that’s the spirit of God and he sends that spirit to testify to you of truth. Now you know that the things I have said are true. She said yes.
By the time we got done talking about this, we were back on the freeway. We received a call that her flight had been delayed by 40 minutes. That combined with the route we had taken and the fact that she had left an hour and a half early for the airport to begin with put us on a glidepath to get her to the airport 45 minutes before her flight would leave. She was excited because she was flying Delta, which is at the front of the airport and easier to get to. It is more easily accessible and she had arranged to have people meet her because of her special needs child. We knew she would be OK.
I told her that Delta stands for (Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport) so I knew there would be a good chance that she would make it. She laughed and said, funny, not funny.
I told her what my prayer had been earlier on in the ride, when I asked Heavenly Father to help us get there. I told her I believe in prayer. Prayer works. She said she hadn’t prayed a lot so I testified of its power. I told her that when she feels overwhelmed that’s how she can access the atonement of Jesus Christ.
She said, my mom used to have me pray when I was little. I think I could start doing that again. I could use that help.
I asked her if she had ever thought about being baptized. She said when she was little her friends got baptized so she had but not recently. I told her that when you are baptized your sins can be forgiven and you can be pure and clean before God. I told her that after you’re baptized you get the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said that with the gift of the Holy Ghost, God can walk with you.
I told her that the Holy Ghost lifts you and blesses you. It comforts you and it reveals God’s will to you. I told her that the spirit that we had felt in the car was the Holy Ghost. I asked her how it would be to have that spirit with her always along with the ability to access it when she needed it. She said, I’ve never thought about that but that would be really neat. I said, that’s one of the reasons we get baptized.
Heavenly Father expects us to be clean and he wants to walk with us through our trials in life. He doesn’t expect us to sit out here and just deal all by ourselves, but that’s what you’ve been doing so far. How would it be to have some help?
She had a tear in her eye and she said that would feel great. I said, when I go to church on Sunday, I take the sacrament and I’m filled with the spirit and the love of God and I don’t know how I would go week to week without that tuneup. I don’t know how I could run without my tank being full of the spirit.
I said, when we take the sacrament, it’s all about the atonement. It’s a way that we connect right into the source of the power. By this point, the spirit was testifying very strongly. I told her one of my favorite stories that I’ve shared in my blog before about Elder Maxwell when he had cancer and he was in the hospital in such pain and torment. He said that he looked around at the children who he knew were having the same procedures and these little children were happy. He testified that he knew that it was because children are covered by the atonement and are close to our father in heaven naturally. They had their burdens lifted and their pains soothe by the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
I told her that when Jesus was on earth, he always took the children in his arms, loved them and blessed them. I told her this has never changed. I told her that Jesus loves the little children and that our Heavenly Father loves each of us. She said, that really hits home right now.
I told her if it could work for them, it could work for us. She said you know, with my daughter I’ve seen these things many times. I just never had this context but it fits so perfectly.
I said, you know you were supposed to be in my car today, right? She said, I felt that as soon as I got in.. She said, I’m kind of a private person and I don’t open up. Yet, I did right away with you. I said, you were put in my car to get this message. God wants you back. Jesus is inviting you to be baptized and get the gift of the Holy Ghost so that you can receive the blessings God wants to send you. He wants you to be able to fully access the atonement. God sees you as his child and he loves you. I said, you know what that’s like because you love your daughter like that. She looked at her daughter who was still very reverent and quiet and said, yes I do.
We were almost up to the airport by this time and I asked her what she was going to do with this. I said, God doesn’t just give you light and knowledge like this without expecting something from you. I asked, what does God expect from you?
She said, I think I need to do the things that we’ve talked about. She said, I need to get married and I need to help my boyfriend feel good with that. She said, I need to be baptized so I can have the Holy Ghost. Those are the things I want to do.
I said, how will you do that? Where do you start? She said, well, I’m going to see my mom! My guess is that she will be overjoyed and have lots of ideas about how to move forward. Like I said, she goes to church every week.
I said, one thing you need to remember is that this is all about family and being together as a family. Your mom loves you like you love your daughter and sees you in that light. Your Heavenly Father loves all three of you and sees you that way, along with your boyfriend. How great would it be to get married, baptized and be sealed in the temple by the power of God as a family? I see that for you if you will do those things.
She said, I will. This has been a crazy ride and not at all what I expected. I guess sometimes God knows what we need. I’m glad he put me in your car today.
We pulled up to the airport. The good thing is that because her daughter was special needs. I could pull up to the third floor where the normal check-in is. Normally, I can’t because rideshares have to go to the first floor. The third floor is so much more convenient if you’re checking luggage.
While she was getting her child out of the car, I went and grabbed a person there to help her with the luggage so that she could get in, get it checked and get to her flight.
She thanked me and she said she would never forget how she felt in the car. I told her to be sure and tell her mom what she felt in the car and what she learned by the spirit. She said she would. She laughed and said, best 3 hour ride to the airport ever! She turned and ran off to catch her flight.
Sometimes God sends you a lift 