“You Will Speak Next Sunday”

On Sunday, July 17, 2011, I woke up with a clear impression in my head. The Spirit said to me, “You will speak next Sunday.” I looked at my phone and I saw no text messages or calls, so I dismissed this idea as foolishness. Ten to fifteen minutes later a thought came strongly to my mind; it said, “You will speak next Sunday, and the topic you will speak on is pioneering in modern times.” I looked at the calendar and I realized that next Sunday was July 24th… it just happened in this year that Pioneer Day fell on a Sunday. Nobody from the Bishopric had called me, or anyone in my family to the best of my knowledge, about speaking next Sunday, and I thought surely that there was no way the Bishopric wouldn’t already have speakers assigned, especially since it was July 24th, a very special day celebrated in Utah.

I considered this personal revelation. I started thinking about that topic and how first-generation and second-generation members are truly pioneering. They are establishing standards of how the gospel should operate in their families: patterns of worshipping, including prayer, fasting, scripture study, full-time missions, family reunions, and gospel-centered service, just to name a few. I thought each family needs to be pioneers in establishing a fuller version of the gospel in our families. I realized that there are many “hidden treasures” in the gospel that people discover. I was truly excited about this topic.

We went to church and attended sacrament meeting. I got busy right after sacrament meeting, but after a while I thought I would mozy down to the foyer and see if per chance I saw one of the Bishopric members. I thought that this was probably a waste of time, but in order to be obedient to the personal revelation that I felt I had received, I should go and see who was out in the foyer.

Somewhat surprisingly, I saw Brother Ron Green, our first counselor in the Bishopric, in the foyer area. We chatted for a while, and then I asked him, “Do you have any speakers for next Sunday?” He said that the people who had already agreed to speak backed out, and that he had gotten busy this week and hadn’t called anyone yet. I couldn’t believe it; I was totally shocked. I told him that I had some inspiration that morning and that I would be speaking. He then said, “Why don’t we have you and your wife speak next Sunday at church?” I normally don’t even talk to the bishopric, so this was indeed a miracle. After discussing it a little bit more, Brother Green thought it would be nice if our entire family would speak, including all of our five children.

To me, this was an amazing turn of events. A few hours earlier I woke up with a crazy thought — “You will speak next Sunday on the topic of Pioneering in Modern Times” — and then a few hours later, the personal revelation had come to pass.

Personal Revelation Is Proof That God Knows Who You Are

This experience taught me a great lesson: that God knew who I was and that he loved me. He cared enough about me to give me inspiration, and he trusted and believed in me — that I would act on the inspiration he was so freely willing to give. This knowledge, that God knows who I am and he loves me, gave me great strength at that time and remains a powerful witness to me even to this day.

That next week our family gave a number of great talks about pioneers, including a talk by Melodie (my wife) about George Washington Bean, her great-great-grandfather, who was a pioneer. I will always remember this small event in my life that helped build my testimony of the reality of personal revelation.