“Led to Answers,” Ensign, July 2017
Young Adults
Led to Answers
The author lives in Utah, USA.
I learned that the Lord can inspire multiple people to answer one prayer.
Landing flat on my back and staring up at the ceiling, I realized that my two roommates had just dumped me out of bed. Jerry and Burt stood over me, grinning. They had literally picked up my mattress and turned it upside down, depositing me directly onto the floor.
Jerry proudly held up a white shirt he’d ironed and declared, “You’re going to church with us today.” Too startled to object, I mumbled a simple acceptance.
I hadn’t attended church for nearly two years. Few of my college friends knew I was a Latter-day Saint. While most of my member friends from high school had gone on missions, I had not. I had slowly drifted into inactivity, and now here I was, looking up at two grinning friends with reactivation on their minds.
What Jerry and Burt didn’t know was that just the night before, the girl I had taken out was a Latter-day Saint. As we had sat in my car talking about religion, we had concluded that I needed to find my own answers to three questions: Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God? Was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really the only true Church upon the earth? Was the Book of Mormon revealed scripture? After the date, I had decided I would put these questions to the test and went home to offer a simple prayer for understanding.
At church that day, the sacrament meeting speaker started out, “I’d like to review today how we can determine that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.” Then in Sunday School we talked about how even though all religions contain some truth, God is not the author of confusion and disharmony. He provided us with His restored gospel, which gives us the complete picture. Next, I found myself in priesthood meeting learning how this restoration was accomplished through the plain and precious truths found in the Book of Mormon.
A sense of wonderment started to stir within me. In less than 24 hours from the time I had prayed, I felt that the Lord had orchestrated several events and prompted multiple people to help me find my answers. The conversation with my date planted the seed; my roommates bringing me to church showed me that I was important; and the testimonies and insights of ward members helped me feel the Spirit enough to trust in the doctrines I knew.
After that revelatory experience, I returned to Church activity and have done my best to remain active and faithful. I’m thankful that the Lord cared enough about me to prompt the people around me to influence me to return and to seek the answers I needed. Because of these events, I’ve been blessed in many ways. I know that He hears our prayers and knows the desires of our hearts.