What classes do I take next semester? Should I take classes off-track? Am I even in the right major? Which internship or job should I accept? Should I serve a mission? Should I swipe up or down on Mutual? Are we ready to get married? Does God love me?
We all have questions, and we all want answers.
President Russell M. Nelson has told us, “Our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, what will help us the very most is to hear His Son. Because when we seek to hear—truly hear—His Son, we will be guided to know what to do in any circumstance.” [1]
In 2013, we were living in Mesa, Arizona, in a nice home. I had a good job and six children at home; my wife and I started the PathwayConnect program. We both knew that we needed to complete our education, and the time had finally come. After a year of online classes and many nights up until the wee hours of the morning, we finished. I wish we could say we were getting a good night's sleep during those late nights, but it took every precious hour to complete homework assignments. Upon completing the one-year PathwayConnect program, it was time to move on, and we had a choice: to complete our degrees through BYU-Idaho online or to come to Rexburg and take classes in person on campus.
My wife, who is not a fan of the snow, knew right away we needed to come to BYU-Idaho and take classes in person.
Now I, on the other hand, was struggling with that choice. I had a good job, a beautiful home, and our children were very settled in our community. And being a full-time student with children ranging in age from preschool to high school, it just did not make sense.
Every day my wife would ask, “Have you prayed about going to Rexburg?” My answer was always the same: “Yes.”
She would then say, “What answer did you get?”
Again, my answer would be one of two things: “I got nothing,” or, “I’m not getting any warm fuzzies about it.”
Of course, being a car guy and understanding the nuts and bolts of things, I looked at things in a more “natural-man-logical way,” and it still did not make sense to go to Rexburg. Well, Sister Waldron is very persistent, so she would then ask me to watch Elder Bednar’s video “Patterns of Light.” [2] I must have watched that video a hundred times.
She finally booked a flight for us to come to Rexburg to see campus for ourselves. While here, I could not deny the spirit I felt—of course, it was August and great weather. You see, before we came to visit, my prayers were not very sincere because I knew what I wanted. I doubt many of those prayers made it past the ceiling (maybe some of you have had prayers like that?). But after visiting, my heart was changed, and I knew we should come here.
My prayers shifted. Instead of “Should we go to Rexburg?,” my prayer was now, “I know I should go,” but I was scared. I wanted to know how it was going to work, because I was pretty sure my six kids wanted to eat while we were college students. I wanted a laid-out plan of the details; I don’t know how many of you get answers of perfectly laid-out plans, but I seldom do.
In the whole process, I kind of knew what we should do, it just did not make sense on paper.
My thought was, “Give me an Excel spreadsheet and show me how it’s going to work,” because it just didn’t add up.
I was like Amulek when he said, “Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God.” [3]
My heart was softened, and my prayer had changed.
I did receive two answers: one was, “Don’t worry, I will take care of you,” which is nice to know. The other was, “You are not going for yourself.”
My initial thought to that second answer was, “Yes, I am going for myself,” but then my niece and nephew, who were attending school here, came to my mind, and my thought was, “Yes, I can help them.” I will tell you this, both of those answers have and are still coming to pass.
This is a photo of when we very first arrived here from Arizona. You may notice the shorts and flip-flops, and everyone is freezing: it was a low of 80 in Arizona and 32 in Rexburg that day.
As students, my wife and I were rushing from class to class and learning from the wonderful, loving faculty here. We saw hundreds of miracles that, if I had more time, I would share with you. For the record, none of our children starved.
I graduated in 2017, and Rolayne graduated in 2018.
After graduation, the struggle continued while working on a master's degree, and I also had the blessing of teaching adjunct classes here.
And now, as I teach full-time and serve on campus, I have realized that I did not just come for myself; I came for you. I enjoy the blessings every day of working with so many students on campus.
I love you guys. But more importantly, know that our Savior loves you and is there for you. [4]
I know the answers I received were revelation from God, yet they came from one step of faith after another.
President Harold B. Lee has told us, “You must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness; then the light will appear and show the way before you.” [5]
Joseph Smith was also seeking for truth; I like the way Elder Dushku in his conference talk, “Pillars and Rays” describes his situation: “He’s worried about his soul and his standing before God. He seeks forgiveness for his sins. And he’s confused about which church to join. He needs clarity and peace—he needs light and knowledge.” [6]
Joseph, in his search, read James 1:5-6: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” [7]
Joseph went into the grove of trees to pray and receive answers. He saw a pillar of light and two personages, Heavenly Father and His Son. He did not receive how the whole church would be organized that morning, that came line upon line, but he did get answers.
Like Joseph and like my wife and I, we must learn to trust and to work.
Elder D. Todd Christopherson shares his experience in his “How I Hear Him” video. He relates how he went to the sacred grove as a teenager expecting answers like Joseph Smith did. Elder Christofferson was there for a long time praying very sincerely, and nothing came. There was no response, no answer. He gave up and left disappointed. Six weeks later, he was home, reading the Book of Mormon, pondering in a quiet moment, and a confirming spirit came flooding over him, when the Holy Spirit spoke to his spirit, and he knew. He learned from that experience that you can’t tell God how and when He responds to our prayers. It wasn’t easy, but he did receive answers. [8] It required effort on his part just as it took effort on our part to find our way here.
As Elder Dushku encouraged, we may not see a pillar of light, but we will receive rays of light that will build upon each other. [9]
Do not doubt that He loves us, that He knows what we can become, that He knows us better than we know ourselves. Do not doubt that He has a plan for us. He has a plan for you.
Hold on. The light will come. It may be one ray at a time, but it will come, and each ray will build upon the next.
As I mentioned earlier, the video we’re about to share played a significant role in my life and the lives of my family. It is from Elder Bednar’s talk, “The Spirit of Revelation.” [10]
Another lesson I’ve learned about moving forward in the darkness has come to me these last few weeks driving to the gym early in the morning in the dark when no one else is on the road. Using my high beams allows me to see farther ahead. I love it when I have a clear vision of what is ahead. But sometimes it is foggy or snowing and the high beams are a detriment. During those morning drives, we may need to slow down and readjust to our circumstances. But we always move forward, knowing that, after this patch of uncertainty, we will be able to once again use our high beams and see farther ahead, each condition requiring us to adjust to the appropriate time and season.
Acting in faith requires a step into the fog or darkness of the unknown, trusting that the Lord’s got us, and it also requires trusting in the Lord’s timing.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminded us in this last general conference, “Faith is not faith if never tested.” He then continues, “Don’t despair if you have trials of faith or unanswered questions. We should not expect to understand everything before we act. . . . As Alma taught, ‘Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things.’ If we wait to act until all of our questions are answered, we severely limit the good we can accomplish, and we limit the power of our faith.” [11]
Of course, I will talk a little bit about cars because that is what I do, and I figure if Elder Uchtdorf could talk about planes, then I can talk about cars.
Being a master diagnostic technician with Toyota for more than 20 years, I like to think about our relationship with God and the communication we receive from Him like an electrical conduit or wire. A car uses electricity to run almost everything in it. For example, the starter on your car uses the most power from the battery to turn over the engine. The wire going to the starter is so big we call it a cable. On the other hand, the little lights on your dashboard, which my daughters call emojis, require a small amount of power; these wires are wee tots by comparison.
In this analogy, the power for revelation comes from the battery, which I will liken to Heavenly Father.
As our relationship with God grows, our light gets brighter, and the wire or conduit between God and us expands. On the other hand, if we turn away from God, the ability to receive revelation decreases.
I’m sure we’ve all had the experience where we’ve gone out in the morning, late for class or work, and the car doesn’t start. You have no idea what’s wrong, so you pop the hood and think you’ll take a look—not that you’ll be able to fix anything because you may or may not know how—but when you open the hood you see something like this: corroded battery cables.
The battery and cables in our car need constant care to maintain proper performance, but, sometimes through neglect, our cables end up corroded and lose the connection they need, reducing the power to the starter, and our car does not start.
This is like our relationship with God, which requires constant care to maintain. The good news is that the battery with dirty, corroded cables can be cleaned up with some baking soda, water, a scrub brush, and some elbow grease. Your battery can then be recharged and have the power to start your car again. So it is in our lives.
I have made plenty of mistakes or even failed. Sometimes, these mistakes require something as simple as tightening the battery cable, and other times, they require more work, like a replacement of the engine, which is the equivalent of having a mighty change of heart.
Because Heavenly Father loves us, He sent His Son, the Master Technician or Master Healer, to atone for our sins and to help us with our shortcomings, pains, and challenges. When we allow His healing hands to do so, we can repent and grow closer to our Savior as part of our regular vehicular maintenance, allowing the conduit of His love to expand us.
A part of that maintenance includes partaking of the sacrament every week to maintain our relationship with Him.
President Nelson shared about our efforts to hear Him, “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, and His truths. We simply cannot rely upon information we bump into on social media. With billions of words online and in a marketing-saturated world constantly infiltrated by noisy, nefarious efforts of the adversary, where can we go to hear Him?” [12]
President Nelson then gives us examples of how we can better hear our Father in Heaven. These examples include being in the scriptures, being in the temple, learning to better recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, heeding the words of prophets, and keeping the Sabbath day holy.
President Nelson then says, “I renew my plea for you to do whatever it takes to increase your spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation. Doing so will help you know how to move ahead with your life, what to do during times of crisis, and how to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of the adversary.” [13]
My friends, as we do what it takes to increase our spiritual capacity, the bigger the conduit or wire becomes in our lives to receive revelation, which moves us closer to the Spirit.
In Doctrine and Covenants 50:24, we read, “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” [14]
Acting in faith, we can receive revelation, promptings, and nudges in our lives from the Spirit, yet they will do nothing unless we act upon them. In Ether 2, after the Lord chastised the brother of Jared, He tells him in verse 16, “go to work and build . . . barges.” [15]
Or in Nephi, when Nephi says, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded [me].” [16]
Nephi did not get the plates the first time he tried, nor the second time. And after he was beaten with a rod by his brothers, an angel visited them, and his brothers still murmured. Yet Nephi says in 1 Nephi 4:1, “And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?” [17] He then goes, “not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do.” [18]
Sometimes I acquire cars that are broken and dead with no hope, but, after hard work, they can be restored and brought back to life to operate in their normal fashion.
Starting one step at a time, acting in faith that, as we continue, the car can be brought back into full restoration, even the most broken-down cars can be restored. But it takes trust, faith, and work; it takes turning that wrench one rotation at a time. If we never pick up the wrench, then the car will sit there, old and rusted in the middle of a field.
Sometimes it may feel as if we are not receiving revelation. Could it be that we have not recognized it? Or recognized the way in which we are receiving it?
Is it the sun rising slowly, or is it a foggy day where we can only see one step ahead of us, as we learned from Elder Bednar? We can receive revelation in our lives and replace our fear with faith, take a step forward, and increase His power in our lives
I know Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ love each of us and are there to lead and guide us in our daily lives. I invite you to prepare yourselves to learn how you hear Him, and prepare yourselves to hear Him with greater clarity and desires to move forward in faith.
Notes
[1] Russell M. Nelson, “Hear Him,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2020, 88, Hear Him - President Russell M. Nelson.
[2] “Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation” (video), Gospel Library, Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation.
[3] Alma 10:6.
[4] See “Portrait of Christ Smiling” (image), Gospel Library, Portrait of Christ Smiling.
[5] Boyd K. Packer, “The Edge of Light,” BYU Magazine, Mar. 1991, magazine.byu.edu.
[6] Alexander Dushku, “Pillars and Rays,” Liahona, May 2024, 14, Pillars and Rays - Elder Alexander Dushku.
[7] James 1:5-6.
[8] “How I Hear Him” (video), Gospel Library, How I Hear Him - Elder D. Todd Christofferson.
[9] Dushku, “Pillars and Rays.”
[10] See David A. Bednar, “The Spirit of Revelation,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2011, 87, The Spirit of Revelation - Elder David A. Bednar.
[11] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow,” Liahona, November 2024, Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
[12] Nelson, “Hear Him.”
[13] Nelson, “Hear Him.”
[14] Doctrine and Covenants 50:24.
[15] Ether 2:16.
[16] 1 Nephi 3:7.
[17] 1 Nephi 4:1.
[18] 1 Nephi 4:6.