Our Spiritual Anchors and Testimonies

Prompt: Share a spiritual experience that acts as an anchor in your life. Something you can think back on that brings you strength when times are tough. Something that has guided how you act and think.

Tyson: 

I've been thinking a lot about the topic this week and I really appreciate the importance of this topic and recognize the reverence and sacred nature of the topic. That being said we probably all have sacred experiences that are better shared in a different environment when prompted by the spirit. My spiritual foundation/conversion has never been based on a singular event that I can look back on. My spiritual foundation has been built brick by brick, step by step, and I'm so grateful for each experience. I'll share a few...

I remember we had a really old blue Toyota? when I was very young. We needed to get somewhere and the car wouldn't start. Mom suggested that we kneel and pray as a family for heavenly help. We did and then we went out and piled in the car and started it right up and went on our way.

Another time Dustin was lost and we searched the entire house and started searching the neighborhood and called several neighbors to help. After over an hour we were about to call the police but decided we should pray first. Immediately after the prayer we walked straight to a box downstairs that was covered with clothes and there he was sleeping under the pile of clothes (there was a baby gate over the box and clothes piled over that).

Once I was in a field on Grandpa Heiner's farm and could not start the three-wheeler. I was worried I could not finish my work. I tried for too long before praying for help. After praying, the next kick brought life to the three-wheeler and it worked the rest of the day. Heavenly Father cares about the little things.

I had the opportunity to visit the Sacred Grove as a teenager and the group split up so we could all spend some time alone doing whatever the spirit directed. I read some scriptures and knelt in prayer. It was a bit awkward because I already believed the Church was true, but I felt an overwhelming outpouring of the spirit confirming that what I believed was indeed true. I have since felt this same outpouring numerous times when needed.

When pondering what to do with my relationship with Amber (whether to marry her or not) I was in a Book of Mormon Institute class and a combination of the scriptures and the Spirit made it very clear what I was to do. BEST ADVICE EVER! 

I wrote about this while in AZ: I call it "He told me the wrong thing"

Today we were looking for a toy to take back to the Gould family and we had lost it.
Amber suggested saying a prayer, Kelti was voice.
After the prayer we all started looking but Kelti said 'wait guys we need to just listen first.' After a moment of silence she said with surety 'it's in the garage' and proceeded to look in the garage. She didn't even go in the garage, but rather poked her head in and took a quick glance then said "it's not here, He told me the wrong thing," then she re-entered the house and since Tatum was still poking his head in the garage the door shut on his head. He started to cry and wanted his blanket. Kelti ran to get his blanket and the toy was found under the blanket.
God often answers our prayers in ways that we are not expecting.

While living in OKC at the end of my training at the FAA Academy our van was running poorly and had a check engine light on and we were unsure what to do to get to Utah to get our belongings and then to Phoenix. We had little extra money. We considered selling the van but we left our middle seats in Utah. We prayed a lot for wisdom and revelation and a working vehicle. We were open to whatever answer we might receive. In a tithing settlement with our Bishop the week before leaving we mentioned or situation and he promised us that it would work out and because of our faithfulness we would be taken care of on our journey and feel peace. We both received witness through the Holy Ghost that we had enough things to worry about and our van was not one of them (although it was to this point on the to of the list). We did nothing to the van beyond checking the oil and by the time we arrived at Jana's parents house in New Mexico the first night the van was running as good as when we got it and the check engine light was off. It continued to run well until earlier this year when we could afford to fix it. The promise was overwhelming and brought such peace to us, and the fulfillment was unmistakable.

Isaiah 55:9 - For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It is fun to look back and see how true this verse is. It is also interesting to note that the things I want (my ways) are often not God's plan for me, even though they are good things. I end up looking back saying "oh my, I see now why You didn't give me what I wanted back then, thanks for giving me what I didn't want so I can now enjoy my present blessings that wouldn't have occurred otherwise". My career experience has been this way over and over again. I can testify that no matter how hard things seem they will always work out. Also I'm finally learning to be more thoughtful in my prayers, seeking more now for God's will and the ability to carry it out.

(Travis's response)  Speaking of Tyson's Isaiah verse... I've always loved the God is the gardener talk by Hugh B Brown 

Feeling the Spirit through singing is another brick in my spiritual foundation. I remember I was so nervous to give my farewell talk. Our family sang Master the Tempest is Raging right before I was to get up and the Spirit of the song completely calmed me. "Peace be Still", and I felt such peace, more calm than I've ever been speaking in my church in my life to this point.

Cameron:
I wrote this one day in a sacrament meeting in a singles ward I attended. I like to look back on it every now and then. 
"In 20 minutes from when I got there and 15 from when it started I got informed of 2 months of activities, I got to sustain a sister to a sacred calling, we sang 2 songs, prayed together, and received the sacred ordinance of the sacrament both the bread and the water. Now who could say this in any other organization. I know this is the one and only church of God on the earth."

Dafne:

Something that is in anchor in my life is simply looking back at all the blessing I have and how my life has worked out. When I reflect on my life, sometimes I can't explain how I ended up somewhere, or how something ended up happening. Things just work out. I've had moments in my life where something went completely wrong but somehow it turned out okay. I know our Heavenly Father watches over us each and every day and guides our lives. A good example is meeting Cameron. I had had tinder for a long time and was on and off it constantly. I had actually gotten a prompting once that told me "you're not going to find your husband on tinder." So I deleted it for like a 5th time but a few months later I felt like I needed it again. I then started dating Cameron and it all worked out. In hindsight I now interpret that prompting in that at that moment, I was not going to find my husband on tinder(because Cameron wasn't even on tinder). I had to be patient. The Lord truly loves us and watches over us. We however, need to do our part and follow His commandments diligently. 

(Cameron's response)

I also know God was in the details in meeting Dafne. I was at a point in my life that I was feeling discouraged about the direction my life was going. I felt a deep need for companionship and wanted to start dating a lot, but didn't know how. I know singles wards are a typical scouting ground to look for future spouses. I was looking, but the environment for me was not a good one. I got Tinder to help me get out of my shell and practice talking to girls. I didn't really plan on that being my main scouting ground for dating. I just wanted to get more natural talking to women. This was a good plan, because as I started talking to more girls, I felt less socially awkward, more socially connected, and my confidence was up. My first Tinder date was supposed to be a "warm up" to get comfortable dating, but in stead I found the love of my life and of coarse the rest is history. Through that whole time God was in the details. Dafne and I would never have crossed paths. We have totally different circles of friends and realms of life, but through the direction of the spirit we were able to meet. and aren't we all greatfull for that?!

Amber:

One experience that has been a foundation for my testimony happened when I was 8. The day I got baptised was wonderful. I felt so happy and it was fun to see all my cousins and friends. After everyone left I felt "just normal." I don't know what I was expecting but I started to feel a little let down. That evening I told my dad I didn't think I had the holy ghost with me. How could I know what the holy ghost was? We went to my room and knelt down to pray to ask heavenly father. I prayed and asked heavenly father how I knew that I had the holy ghost with me. I started crying and couldn't even finish the prayer. My dad asked me why I was crying and I said I didn't know why but that I was happy not sad. He said that is the holy ghost saying "hey, I'm here with you" I'm grateful for this experience. It has stayed with me and remembering that experience always brings the same sweet feelings.    I know the holy ghost is real. He has guided me and protected me. He has testified of truth and especially the truth that our heavenly father loves me and knows me.

Travis:

I think we're all similar in that there aren't too many defining moments, rather than line upon line small spiritual experiences adding to our overall testimony. One of many powerful experiences for me was in seminary we were learning about Godly sorrow, so I gave the full repentance process my very best effort with extra attention on the Godly sorrow part... In a crazy house full of boys, finding a quite place to pour my heart out was a little difficult, but one evening I snuck into the little cubby over the porch (the suncrest Orem house) and prayed for forgiveness... After praying I listened to some church music and "I feel my Savior's love" came on and I felt an overwhelming feeling of love, forgiveness and peace... That was one of the first times I felt like I was truly experiencing the healing power of the Atonement in my life :)

This isn't so much an experience, but more way of thinking, but... Everytime I see or hear about someone who is making poor choices, or falling away for whatever silly reason, I feel a sense of recommitment that that will NEVER happen to me... I don't have a perfect knowledge or anything, but I've had too many spiritual confirmations to ever betray the Lord after having blessed me so much!

Obviously we all have several lost and found prayer stories, but one of my favorite was in a BYU married ward, we had a downhill slip and slide activity in the grassy bowl just north of the Provo Temple and because of all the suds one of the guys noticed his wedding ring was missing... Talk about a quick way to kill a party! So the entire ward was searching the grass for his ring. After a while, we decided we needed to pray. It's probably the largest group I've seen with this type of a "please help us find this thing right now" prayer... Our Bishop didn't want to say the prayer, jokingly "because if we can't find it you might think I'm not inspired" so someone offered the prayer as we all exercised our faith. The INSTANT we said Amen, someone said "I found it!" I thought surely it was someone cracking a joke to lighten the mood, but sure enough... Sparkling in the bottom of the little creek was his ring! The water before was cloudy from all yhe commotion, but once we settled down to pray, the water became clear so we could find it :) The entire ward came together as we shared a spiritual experience...

A testimony builder for the restoration for me is as a missionary nearly EVERY time we shared the first vision in a lesson, it felt like the world would stop spinning for 30 seconds and everything would get quiet and the spirit would testify very clearly of the truthfulness. Whether they recognized or chose to accept is another story, but it was crazy how powerful it was.

Brittany:

I've been thinking all week about the anchor to my testimony and couldn't think of a single experience but Tyson said it best- my testimony isn't based on one event but brick by brick.

The blessing I absolutely love that comes from living the gospel is feeling completely at peace. I have several friends and family that live without the Savior's atonement in their lives and I see a vast difference in their ability to find peace and joy in this life. Many of their lives are chaotic, unsettled, and complicated. I look at my life and truly feel genuine peace as I have asked for forgiveness, allowed the Savior to help me with my weaknesses, and in living my covenants. I love where Trav and I are in life. I know by keeping our temple covenants, allowing the Savior to work through us, submitting our will to Heavenly Father's and continuing to teach our children gospel principles we will feel peace despite life's challenges.

I often look back on the first time I truly utilized the atonement and asked the Lord for forgiveness. I felt so unsettled with a decision I had made and after praying for what seemed like hours I felt the most outpouring feeling of love. I felt Heavenly Father's arms around me and I felt peace once again.
Earlier this year I set a pretty lofty goal for myself to overcome a weakness and looking back on the first few months versus now it's amazing what you can accomplish/change with the help of the Savior. I love knowing I can always improve, make weaknesses become strengths, and with faith become the daughter of God Heavenly Father wants me to be through the Atonement. I think it's sad when people say, "That's just the way I am, take it or leave it." That statement is ignoring the beauty of the atonement to change and the immense power we can receive through Jesus Christ. I love the doctrine that we can become like the Savior and truly believe that's possible!

Trinsica:

I've been so behind in this group chat, but I have a couple spiritual experiences I want to share. 1) when I was doing personal progress, my friend Ariya who is inactive in there church pulled me out of the room and asked if I could help her understand the scriptures. She asked me so many questions that I had not thought about. The spirit testified to me of the truthfulness while I was beating my testimony. I read the scriptures with her, and prayed with her, then we talked about the plan of salvation. She asked me so many questions about different principles in the church. The spirit was so strong that by the time it was time to go home, my leader walked into the room and could feel the spirit too. She left us there to keep talking while she took the others home. My testimony grew so much that day!

2) I was going through a very hard time. Chloe had completely shut me out of her life when her dad died. I was starting to lose courage, not knowing what I had done wrong and I didn't know what to do. Right before her dad's(Tim's) funeral, I was very anxious and nervous because I knew Chloe was going to be there and I had a feeling she wouldn't be super kind to me. I decided I needed to read my scriptures before hand to have the spirit to be with me. I was in Matthew 5 in my personal scripture study. It was a miracle! That chapter was EXACTLY what I needed at the time. It talks about loving those who are unkind to you and pray for those who despitefully use you. I immediately was overwhelmed with the spirit. I was filled with peace and I knew that no matter what happened, I would be ok. A song entered into my mind after that and it was "a child's prayer". I ended up being ok during the funeral. It was definitely hard, but I had the spirit with me and that's all that matters. I know that when we pray and ask for Christ's help, he will comfort us through our trials.

Dustin:

One that I remember was in the MTC. I had my initial interview with my branch president and he really came down hard, and I started second guessing whether I was good enough or worthy enough. I began pondering deeply and praying about what I was doing and why I was there. The next day our teacher randomly stopped the lesson and decided to just give us some time to study for ourselves, promoting us to find a scripture about the Savior. So I turned to 3 Nephi and started thumbing through. I ended up in chapter 17 and started reading. I began to feel the Spirit and then when I got to verses 20-23 the waterworks started: "20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.
21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
22 And when he had done this he wept again;
23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones." I knew that the Lord was pleased with me and that i could use his Atonement to grow closer to him. I've been grateful to be able to look back on that time for reassurance and comfort. I know God loves. Christ is our brother and Savior. He enables me to bear my burdens and blessed my family.

 Another waterworks story: this was right before my mission. I was sitting with the family in the front row sacrament meeting and we started singing the opening hymn, "Each life that touches ours for good." I began thinking about those people who were examples to me: Jon and TJ had recently left on their missions. And of course my older siblings and their good examples. I was flooded with the Spirit and I was feeling so blessed. I wanted to savor the experience so I just left church and went home to play that song over and over on the piano and I just cried for a long time, feeling so grateful and inspired.

I'll bet it's the first time the spirit prompted someone to leave church!

Skyler:

One really meaningful spiritual experience that comes to mind was on my mission, but it wasn't really the kind of story you would expect. It was the day of our mission Christmas fireside get-together thing and the first part of the day just wasn't going very well. I think we were a little late to the meeting and I accidentally left my white elephant gift at my apartment and just a few other things that individually weren't really a big deal, but kind of damped my hopes of having an enjoyable Christmas party. But then at the end, we had a devotional with lots of great music and there was this one piano duet that was amazing. As soon as the music started I remember feeling the most distinct and powerful wave of love and peace I have ever felt in my life. It totally washed over me, drowned out any feelings of frustration or turmoil I had been feeling, and whatever didn't fit in my heart seemed to overflow in a gush of tears. I just sat there in the chapel weeping and knew without a doubt that God lives and that He loves us so much more than we usually realize and more than we could ever comprehend. I feel like that was the closet I have ever come to understanding at least an inkling of God's love and I always think back to that moment as a reminder of the closeness of God and the depth of His love.