Church Leaders struggle through life decisions too (e.g., marriage)

I listened to Elaine Dalton's 2009 CES fireside today and really enjoyed her account of the decision to get married. She was so nervous, she almost backed out on the day of the wedding.

Here's her account about revelation and how to make decisions:

It was here at BYU, in a devotional such as this, that it all began for me. I had been dating a young man. One night he began talking about marriage, and he was very persistent! I didn’t sleep well that night because of the things he said, and I knew I had to make a decision. I prayed that the Lord would help me know what to do, but I received no instant answer. The next morning we attended a devotional together. While sitting in that devotional, I listened in amazement as the speaker, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle, stood and began to speak about the process of making important decisions. It was as if he were speaking directly to me. He knew my heart, and his words went deep into my soul. He outlined the process of decision making by referring to Doctrine and Covenants section 9. Everyone else seemed to be very familiar with this section of the scriptures except me. You are all familiar with it too, but for me, that day, it was pure revelation and provided a pattern for me to receive an answer to my prayers. He read:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong” (D&C 9:7–9).

Though this passage was originally directed to Oliver Cowdery, in that moment it became personal for me and was a direct answer to the question I had asked the night before in prayer. Elder Tuttle also outlined a process of listing positives and negatives, making a tentative decision, and then taking that decision back to the Lord in prayer.²

I knew that I had to act! I couldn’t just keep doing what I was doing. I had to decide to decide. I knew it, and I knew God knew that I knew it. After I made a tentative decision to move forward, I can’t say that my answer came as a burning in my bosom. But it did feel right and comfortable and good. I was no longer perplexed or troubled. I felt peace. I knew what to do, and I was happy. And so I went forward, and that persistent young man is here with me tonight. I am grateful for his goodness, his insistence, and his patience.

Was it always easy after that answer came? No. My husband says, to this day, that he can show you the heel marks in the sidewalk outside the door of the Salt Lake Temple where I got a little scared and thought that I wanted to wait. But this is what I learned: As you exercise your faith through prayer, the Lord will help you make defining decisions in defining moments. He will hear and answer your prayers through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. You will not be left alone. You have been given the blessing to be able to receive the guidance of the Holy Ghost. In Doctrine and Covenants section 8, the Lord promises each of us, “I will tell you in your mind and in your heart” (D&C 8:2). That is what happened for me, and that will happen for each of you.

I bear witness that the Lord hears and answers our prayers and that He will guide and direct us as we seek to do His will and keep His commandments. This is the process of receiving personal revelation.

Clearly she's not saying that someone should go through with difficult decisions no matter what they're feeling. However, she definitely struggled making this important decision. She had help from the Lord but still wanted to wait to get married on the day of the marriage. 40 years later, I think she's glad she went through with it.

In general, the leaders of our church understand our situations much better than we think. They have a lot of wisdom and experience. They have not had an easy path through life. We would be wise to follow them as much as possible.

Holy Ghost Guides

We should really depend on this promise in 2 Nephi 32:

5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will ^ashow unto you all things what ye should do.

It's important to realize that great knowledge can be given in plain words. Christ is the Savior of the world is a very plain statement, but there's a lot of meaning there.

7 And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the ^aunbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the ^bstiffneckedness of men; for they will ^cnot search ^dknowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in ^eplainness, even as plain as word can be.

Christ came to show us the way. This verse in 2 Nephi 31 helps us know that his example is the one to follow and that came in part to show us how to live:

16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall ^aendure to the end, in following the ^bexample of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.

Power of the Holy Ghost to touch people - weak and simple of the other preach the gospel

There's two young Tongan men in our ward; they're 17 and 19. One of them likes to bear his testimony every couple months. Remarkably, when he gets up and talks in his broken English and says basic truths, such as "I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet" and "I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior", I feel it is true. Every time. That young man has the spirit accompany his words.

It's the first time in my life someone has had that power with me. I know the Spirit testifies of his words. I love that young man. He makes my testimony meetings better.

This is what happens when he speaks - 2 Nephi 33:1

for when a man ^bspeaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.

He touches my heart.

Everyone that speaks the Lord's message is given the Lord's words

D.C. 68 is given to four apostles, but the Lord is careful to specifically mention that his promise here applies to everyone.

2And, behold, and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth—

3And this is the ^aensample unto them, that they shall ^bspeak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

4And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the^aHoly Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the ^bpower of God unto salvation.

5Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.

6Wherefore, be of good ^acheer, and do not ^bfear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I ^cwas, that I am, and that I am to come.

There are so many times we may not know what to say, but if we're appointed to preach the gospel (which all members are), we'll be blessed with the Holy Ghost to tell us what to say, it will be the Lord's words, and it will have power to move people to salvation.

I have seen this happen. I remember we had a lesson once in which we taught a lady with some members. After we asked her to be baptized, she said No because she'd already been baptized and probably also said, "because God should not be played with" - Dios es no jugete. Then one of the members said, "but did you get the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?" "No" was the response. Then the sister said, "Elders, tell her what she was missing." So I explained about the need to have the laying on of hands according to D.C. 35 and Acts 19:

1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper ^acoasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto ^aJohn’s baptism.

4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of^arepentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5When they heard this, they were ^abaptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with ^atongues, and prophesied.

Focus on verse 6.

So, after the explanation she said, "yes, I'll be baptized." Lest you think this was some false promise, we set a date for 5 weeks from then, and she was baptized that day. 6 months later she was in the Relief Society presidency. A year and a half later she was on a mission in Panama. The church is better because she's in it, and for some reason, there was great power in what we said that day. And great job by the members. I wouldn't have been as aggressive but they were tremendous. I love them.

We're lucky to get to do some of the work of the Lord. He blesses us as we do with his words and also with his presence. That's a large promise indeed.