“Inspiration and Come, Follow Me,” Liahona, September 2020
Inspiration and Come, Follow Me
While preparing a lesson for the young women, I decided to try something new.
Illustration by David Green
I flipped through the pages of the Young Women lesson I was going to give the following Sunday. The General Authority quotes it included were important and applicable, but they were old.
For example, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) was President of the Church when I was baptized. I valued his words, which filled the manual, but I worried that the young women wouldn’t connect to the words of leaders they didn’t know.
I prayed for guidance and felt prompted to try something new. I updated some of the stories and included quotes from the most recent general conference, quoting President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018). The results were overwhelming. We had a special lesson with a lot of participation. From then on, I used the lesson manual as a guide to prepare my lessons.
Such preparation took extra work. I had to study more, I had to get to know the young women better, and I had to think about the experiences they were having. Then I would look for examples and words from living Church leaders I could use to relate to their lives. I was happy to go the extra mile for the young women because of my love for them.
My leaders eventually noticed what I was doing. I feared they might reprimand me for being rebellious, but they encouraged me to continue.
A few weeks before the end of 2012, youth leaders in our stake were asked to attend a training meeting where stake leaders introduced a new curriculum for youth called Come, Follow Me.
I could hardly believe what I heard. Stake leaders explained that we should teach as the Lord taught, seek inspiration for our lessons from living prophets and apostles, and get to know our youth better. I already had a testimony of those things.
Others asked questions about how to prepare lessons, but for me, the new approach was crystal clear. I felt that Come, Follow Me was an answer from the Lord that I was not being rebellious. I felt that He had been preparing me to teach this new curriculum. I know that if we are humble and diligent and listen to the Holy Ghost, we will be in harmony with all the changes announced by our prophets and apostles.