I'm Glad To Hear Your Voice

The tone of a person's voice becomes familar very quickly. The personalized working of that tone is comforting in various ways.
I watched a young child listen intently to their mother and their eyes peered up and down toward the mother's mouth and eyes. I wondered silently what the tone from the mother's mouth really meant to the child. Inside my mind I rehearsed the many times that I have heard my parents speak, my wife speak, and even the sounds of our children's voices. I imagine that I would easily recognize these voices even if I couldn't see them. Because they are important people in my life I know how important the tone of their voices is to me.
That comfort translates to the comfort we can feel even when these people are no longer around us. It is that comfort that helps us deal with their absence.
Every day I think about Becky and our kids. I wonder how their day is going and what they are learning. I think about the latest conversation I have had with them. I think about my intense love for each individual. I even anticipate when I will see them in the afternoon. I love my family!
All of us have people that are dear to our hearts and we long to talk to them or be in the same room. I find great comfort and satisfaction in the kind tone of the voices of the people I love the very most.

Prepare. Listen. Obey.

Specific promptings come to each one of us from time to time.  We need to be prepared to listen and to obey.  I think that it is appropriate to share a part of a message written by a modern-day prophet in our time.

 

"I have a friend who prays every day to meet someone who is prepared to receive the gospel. He carries with him a copy of the Book of Mormon. The night before a short trip, he decided not to take a copy with him but instead to carry a pass-along card. But as he got ready to leave, a spiritual impression came to him: “Take a Book of Mormon with you.” He put one in his bag.

When a woman he knew sat next to him on the trip, he wondered, “Is this the one?” She rode with him again on the return trip. He thought, “How should I bring up the gospel?”

Instead, she said to him, “You pay tithing to your church, don’t you?” He said he did. She said she was supposed to pay tithing to her church but didn’t. Then she asked, “What can you tell me about the Book of Mormon?”

He explained that the book is scripture, another witness of Jesus Christ, translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. She seemed interested, so he reached into his bag and said, “I was impressed to bring this book with me. I think it is for you.”

She began to read it. As they parted, she said, “You and I are going to have more conversations about this.”

What my friend could not know—but what God did know—was that she was looking for a church. God knew she had watched my friend and wondered why his church made him so happy. God knew she would ask about the Book of Mormon and that she would be willing to be taught by the missionaries. She was prepared. So was my friend. You and I can also be prepared.

The preparation we need is in our mind and our heart. The woman had heard and remembered words about the Book of Mormon, the Lord’s restored Church, and the commandment to pay tithes to God. And she had felt the beginning of the witness of truth in her heart.

The Lord has said He will reveal truth to our mind and our heart by the Holy Ghost.  Most of the people you will meet have had the beginning of that preparation. They have heard or read of God and His word. If their hearts are soft enough, they have felt, however faintly, a confirmation of truth.

The woman was prepared. So was my friend, the Latter-day Saint who had studied the Book of Mormon. He had felt a witness that it is true, and he recognized the direction from the Spirit to take a copy with him. He was prepared in his mind and his heart.

God is preparing people to receive your testimony of restored truth. He requires your faith and then your action to share fearlessly what has become so precious to you and to those you love.

Prepare to share by filling your mind every day with the truths of the gospel. As you keep the commandments and honor your covenants, you will feel the testimony of the Spirit and more of the Savior’s love for you and for those you meet.

If you do your part, you will increasingly have the sweet experience of meeting people who are prepared to hear your testimony of the truth—offered from heart to heart, yours to theirs."  (Henry B. Eyring.)

 

Our job is to be prepared and then listen to the instruction we will receive in our daily lives.  We all have some experience in this arena.  There are people who pray, every day, that somebody will come to their aid.  I hope that I will always be ready to help.

Will Somebody Really Listen?

I have found it very interesting how many people there are who spend their lives with nobody to listen to them. I knew a young man when I was a teenager who never did feel validated by his parents because they were both so busy talking that they wouldn't listen to anything that was going in his life. His important accomplishments were only important to him. Last night, our oldest son Brady and I were shooting some hoop on the driveway. Brady loves basketball. It is also a time that I enjoy a great deal because it gives me some alone time with him to visit and talk about life. He had kind of a rough day and so the combination of that for him and a lack of patience on my end had a lousy outcome. We ended the night with tears because when something didn't go his way it saddened him. Once that had happened all he wanted was some love from me and I told him that there was nothing to cry about. I realized afterward that I had errored in judgement. I apologized and we ended the night on a better note. He needed me to listen and then show forth some extra love. Each of us has or will be approached by someone in real need. In that time of need, I hope that I will stop, listen, and then show an increased measure of love.

Listen And Obey

Its time for another blog post that deals with the inner feelings of the heart. 
When I was a teenager, I attended a church meeting with my dad.  It was a stake priesthood meeting and because my stake president had been seriously injured in an accident, my dad was conducting and overseeing the meeting.  He sat up on the stand in the chapel.  During a part of the meeting, my dad motioned for me to follow him out of the meeting.  I wondered what was wrong.  I stood up from my seat and followed him out to the car in the parking lot.  I asked him what we were doing.  He told me that the Holy Ghost has prompted him that he needed to go and visit an older couple, in our stake.  The woman was an active member of the church but the man was not.  The impression that he received was that he was to go and invite the man to be baptized and become a member of the church.  I must confess that I was thinking that there was no way that I was going to be the one extending the invitation.  My dad put that all at ease when he told me that we needed to go make that visit and that he was the one who was going to invite.  We arrived at the home of this couple and were warmly welcomed into their home.  They loved my dad and he loved them in return.  "What are you doing tonight?"  They asked.  Without hesitation, my dad told them exactly why we were there.  He invited the good man to become baptized and become a member of the church.  Now I honestly thought, at the time, that because my dad was doing what he was supposed to that this man would accept the invitation.  As courageous as my dad invited, this man declined the invitation.  My dad didn't even flinch.  He didn't seem bothered it either.  I was devastated, inside.  We had a great visit and when we left their home and got back into the car, dad taught me two valuable lessons.  One, he stated that we learned to listen and obey an impression with boldness.  Two, God knew that he could give an impression and know that my dad would listen and then act.  
I got to learn some good solid things that night.  Can I share one other thing that I thought was neat?  My dad received that impression during a meeting that had required planning.  It didn't matter to him.  I really admire and love him for the lessons he teaches me.
Each one of us receives similar whisperings just like my dad did.  I am trying to listen and then obey on the first time.  The blessing of helping somebody else is remarkable. 
Be ready, because today might be the day that you are called on to listen.  We are all in for a rewarding treat!