I was watching General Conference* in April 2013 when I heard these words: "Be ready to give an answer to those who ask why you live as you do. Be ready to give a reason for the hope and joy that they see in you." (You can read the whole talk here.)
I didn't catch much of the rest of that talk, because those words kept echoing in my brain. And then I felt one of my first promptings:** I felt called to serve a mission.
The first thing I did mentally was fight it. For crying out loud, I thought, I just got baptized not even a month ago! And now I'm supposed to serve a mission?
And then I was reminded of a scripture from my favorite book in the Old Testament: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). I just needed to trust the Lord and relax... And as the time went on throughout the day, the more I thought of it, the more I began to enjoy the thought. And by the end of the day, I was excited to start! It would be awhile before I began the process of completing paperwork, but that was okay...for now, I could just study.
*General Conference is a twice-annual, weekend-long event in which members of the LDS Church listen to Church authorities (like the Church President) speak on gospel topics.
**A prompting is when the Holy Spirit prompts you to take or not take action regarding something, like in the Proverbs scripture that says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
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