At this time in your life, you have probably had the experience of trying to
perform a task that seemed really difficult and beyond your ability or experience.
And possibly while you were attempting this seemingly insurmountable task, there
were some, maybe even friends, who tried to discourage you, embarrass you, and
belittle you. Challenges are different for each of us, but the Source for help
is the same. Let's look at Nephi's experience.
He grew up in a desert. We don't know if he had ever seen a ship before the
Lord asked him to build a ship—a seemingly insurmountable task! But Nephi
had faith the Lord would help him. He said the Lord showed him "from time to
time" how he should build it (1
Ne. 18:1). Nephi tells us he did not build it like men build ships. He built
it "after the manner" the Lord showed him (1
Ne. 18:2). Then he tells us how. "I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore
the Lord showed unto me great things" (1
Ne. 18:3).
When you pray often and seek to know the Lord's will like Nephi did, the Lord
will show you the way. But you can be sure when you are trying your best to
obey, you may face strong opposition from those wishing to discourage and dissuade
you. Nephi's dissenters were his own brothers. Think how hard that would be!
At times you young women may feel you are having an experience like Nephi.
The Lord has not asked you to build a ship, but to build your life. You don't
yet know what your completed mortal life looks like. But your Father in Heaven
knows and can guide you one step at a time. He is asking you to build your life
according to His guidelines because He is the One who created you and wants
you ready to return back home with Him someday. Like Nephi, you too may have
detractors and dissenters seeking to change your course, or at least slow down
your progress.
But you have access to the same system of communication that Nephi used. Long
before e-mail and faxes, cell phones and satellite dishes, computers and the
Internet, this communication with your Heavenly Father was in place. It predates
every type of networking invention today. Its power extends through the cosmos.
Heavenly Father has given you the gift of the Holy Ghost to be available to
help you whenever you earnestly seek Him. Like Nephi, you can know what to do
to build according to the Lord's plan for you. You will want to invite this
power to help you navigate through the challenges of mortality until you are
safely home.
It requires no special equipment or experience, no social status or money for
the Holy Ghost to guide you. The next time you renew your baptismal covenant
by taking the sacrament, listen to the promise: when you always remember your
Savior and keep His commandments, you will always have His Spirit to be with
you (see D&C
20:77,79).
Think of that! With a gift so magnificent, why would we ever resist such guidance?
When our young daughter was practicing the piano, I suggested she play her
piece over five more times to be prepared for her lesson.
She said, "No, Mom. Five is too many."
I said, "Then you choose how many times you need."
She said, "No. You choose—but don't choose five!"
Are we ever like that when the Spirit prompts us what to do and it isn't easy
or comfortable or popular? We say, "Please tell me again. I want to be obedient,
but just tell me something a little easier—and more fun." It can be dangerous
trying to please ourselves.
I remember when I was about your age wishing the Spirit would tell me something
different. I grew up in a small town in Canada. There were 10 people in my high
school graduating class, so I graduated in the top 10 of my class! One evening
my sister Shirley and I were going to the same party at a friend's house. Mom
and Dad reminded us to come right home after the party. Shirley was a year younger
than I and went with her group of friends, and I went with mine. After the party
Shirley went directly home, a clear indication to Mom and Dad that the party
was over. I was not as wise. With my group of friends we began driving around
the exciting places in town—the grain elevators and the cemetery!
As time passed I got the strong feeling that I should be home. But how could
I be the first one to say, "I have to go home"? So I didn't. I stayed with my
friends, laughing and pretending I was having a good time. The feeling that
I should go home grew stronger and stronger. Finally I laughingly said to my
friends, "If you see a blue car ahead, it's just my dad looking for me." No
sooner had I said those words than there indeed was a blue car and my dad standing
in the middle of the road (there wasn't a lot of traffic), waving his arms for
us to stop.
Dad came around to the car door, opened it, and said quietly, "Sharon, you'd
better come home with me." I wanted to crawl under the floor mats of the car
and never come out! How could my dad be so cruel and insensitive, and why didn't
my sister wait outside the house so Mom and Dad wouldn't know when the party
was over? I talked to my sister recently about this, and she said, "I did wait
outside until I almost froze to death." At the time I was sure it was everyone
else's fault that I was so humiliated in front of my friends!
Through the lens of time and reality, I see more clearly what really happened.
I was prompted and warned several times--not by a legion of angels or even one
small angel, but a still, small voice. Actually, it was just a feeling I had.
It was so subtle, so quiet that it could be easily brushed away and I could
pretend it wasn't really there—and my friends were!
I had overstepped something that was expected of me. I had chosen to be popular
with my friends instead of pleasing my parents and the Lord. But even when I
deliberately chose not to obey, the Spirit was still there prompting me. You
can't do wrong and feel right. Pretending the Spirit isn't prompting you when
it is, is like putting the wrong answer down on a test when you know the right
answer.
There may be times the Spirit finds it difficult to help you because maybe
you are not asking for His help in your prayers, or maybe because you are not
listening, or maybe the message can't get through the loud music or the radio
or video.
Kirstin said, "From personal experience, if we will listen to the Spirit, our
lives will not be as complicated and full of temptation" (letter on file in
the Young Women office). Laman and Lemuel refused to listen so many times that
they were "past feeling" those sacred promptings (1
Ne. 17:45).
You might ask yourself, How can I tell it's the Holy Ghost teaching me and
not my emotions or circumstances? Think of a time when you know you felt
the Spirit of the Lord. Maybe it was during testimony meeting at camp or you
were with your family or you were reading the scriptures or praying. Maybe sometime
during this meeting as you listen to the music or hear our prophet speak, you
will feel that warmth in your heart. That is the Holy Ghost bearing witness
to you. Remember, remember how the Spirit feels. Use that experience to help
you identify the Spirit again and again.
The Holy Ghost will teach you in different ways at different times. Nephi had
to learn this. Learn how the Lord communicates with you. Amanda said: "I was
sitting in seminary one day, listening to the 'Plan of Salvation Speech' that
I had heard a million times before, but all of a sudden, it just clicked. I
could kind of see in my mind everything and how it fit together. I could really
feel the [Spirit of the] Holy Ghost with me and knew that everything in
the gospel was true" (letter).
Sometimes the prompting is no more than an uneasy feeling. One young woman
said, "My stomach got a funny feeling and something was telling me to say no
and walk away."
Carolani was having a particularly bad time. She said: "I asked in my mind,
'What did Heavenly Father want me to do?' I got the impression to read my patriarchal
blessing, so I did. I cried tears of joy knowing I was someone who was loved
and worth something" (letter).
Young women, you are loved, and you are worth everything, even the life of
your Savior. I saw evidence of this love in a small branch in British Columbia,
Canada. We met in a little house for branch conference and in the basement for
Young Women. The poster of the theme was on the wall. A doily and flowers were
on a small table surrounded by four chairs. Attending were the branch Young
Women president, the stake Young Women president, a general Young Women officer,
and one young woman named Hawley. Also present were the influence and power
of the Holy Ghost. I learned a lesson at that very moment—that the Lord
was as concerned about one precious young woman as He is about the thousands
of you.
Heavenly Father's top priority is His children. If it's important to you, it's
important to Him. Whatever concern you have is His concern. Whatever you have
a question about, the Lord knows the answer. Whatever sadness you are feeling,
He knows how you feel and will ease the pain. He knows what it's like to feel
all alone. He will comfort you.
If Heavenly Father knew me growing up in a town so small it was rarely on any
map, He knows you. If He knows one young woman in a faraway branch in British
Columbia, He knows you—wherever you are. I have learned that truth for
myself and bear that witness to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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