After taking her three-year-old son to the hospital because he swallowed caustic poison, Jennifer Hunter was told he was alright and could take him home. She examined the X-rays the doctor had taken from her son’s lungs and saw there was a blurry cloud in the lower left lung. Feeling some doubt in herself due to the fact she had no medical expertise whatsoever, she felt prompted to further push the issue and ask the doctor what the cloud was in the image. Another doctor overheard her question and after a second opinion, it turns out the poison was solidifying in her son’s lungs, and he wouldn’t have made it the night.
Hunter attributes her son’s life being saved to the spiritual prompting she received that night at the hospital. She said if she hadn’t been worthy or capable of receiving that revelation, the worst-case scenario would’ve happened. That is why this week at BYU-Idaho’s devotional, she chose to talk about the importance of disciples of Jesus Christ to increase their capacity to receive personal revelation.
“After acting on inspiration and learning how the Lord communicates with me, and listening to Elder (Alexander) Dushku’s examples, I now know I received revelation to save my child,” she said.
Hunter said the journey of receiving personal revelation is a deeply personal and transformative process. It requires disciples to go beyond the basic principles that were learned in primary like daily scripture reading, daily prayer and attending the temple. Hunter said individuals need to seek higher, holier actions and that will help create a deeper relationship with both the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father.
“I’m starting to see that increasing my spiritual capacity means increasing my spiritual work. I have to put in more spiritual effort building on original primary answers,” Hunter said.
Hunter emphasized the great importance of acting on the first promptings. When a person receives a prompting, she describes it as hearing two voices. The first voice is from the Holy Ghost and the second voice comes from the adversary trying to instill doubt in your mind. In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, she emphasized the importance of listening to that first voice because she says people never know what the consequences of ignoring the prompting might be.
“You don’t know if it’s actually to save a life, but God is trusting you enough to give you this inspiration to do it,” she said. “I would be heartbroken if I ever received inspiration and didn’t act on it, and someone died because of it. Saving a life is so much more valuable than any other argument I could come up with to not follow inspiration.”
Hunter reiterated the advice given by Sister Camilla Kimball to never suppress a generous thought. This simple principle encourages people to act on every good prompting they receive, recognizing it as an opportunity to serve others and Christ. No one can tell how great the impact might be of a small, kind gesture. Hunter further reinforced the idea with the phrase, “First I obey, then I understand,” said by Sister Marjorie Hinkley.
“Sister Sheri Dew has a quote that I use that says, ‘Spiritual work, works.’ And it’s so true. You have to put in the work to get the benefit,” she said. “When you put in the work, you get the blessing.”
In the conclusion of her address, Hunter repeated the plea of President Russell M. Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to commit to increasing spiritual capacity. By doing so, disciples will not only be able to better navigate through spiritual challenges but also be able to experience the profound joy and peace that comes with it.