Episode 84 is a solo episode with an announcement, thoughts about President Nelson’s invitation to ponder how you hear Jesus and a resource to help you act on the invitation.

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Announcement: Be Part of a Listener Call-in Show

At the beginning of this episode I shared that I am doing another listener call-in show. I’m inviting YOU to call in and share your response to the question: How have you been blessed by following any of the invitations extended by President Nelson since the last general conference?

You can listen to the episode for more details but here are the steps to follow to leave your response to be included on an upcoming episode:

1. Call ‪(480) 525-7145‬. Call anytime. It doesn’t ring to my phone so you won’t be waking me up or anything.
2. Leave a message sharing the blessings you have received from following President Nelson’s invitations at the last general conference.
3. Keep your answer to less than 3 minutes.
4. Call and record your answer by Friday, March 27, 2020.

President Nelson’s Invitation

This episode is my way of giving you a resource to help you act on the invitation from President Nelson to “…think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him?”

A Resource To Help You Understand How You Hear Jesus

As part of this episode, I’m re-aring episode 44, which was the third part of a five part series I aired last year about how to be more spiritually minded.

All of the episodes in the series are a great resource to help you think about how you #HearHim but the third part, which I am re-airing here, shares an exercise you can do to help you understand how you feel the spirit and hear the Savior in your life.

The resource found in a free printable is adapted from an exercise I found in the Preach My Gospel manual for missionaries.

The printable includes 28 different ways you might feel the spirit. Each way has scriptures you can look up. After reading the scriptures, you can ponder and write how you have felt God guiding you in this way.

It’s OK if you leave some of the boxes blank. You are an individual and God communicates with you in your own unique way. You may not feel God in all 28 ways listed and that is totally OK. 

In the episode, I share some of my experiences and how I have learned to use God as a guide in my life.

I also share experiences of two previous podcast guests. You’ll hear a short clip of episode 10 with Ally Hayward and another clip of episode 14 with Michelle Garfield.

I hope the exercise on the printable and hearing other people’s experiences will give you hope and help you realize you can figure out for yourself how you hear Jesus in your life.

Episode Links

Download the free printable HERE.

President Nelson’s talk Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives

President Nelson’s invitation to “Hear Him!“

Alma 7:7-8

Below are links to all five episodes that were part of the series “How to be More Spiritually Minded.”

• SMM 042: Seek a Relationship With God || Part 1 of 5
• SMM 043: Build Spiritual Reserves || Part 2 of 5
• SMM 044: Use God as a Guide || Part 3 of 5
• SMM 045: Act on Promptings Felt from God || Part 4 of 5
• SMM 046: Record Thoughts from God || Part 5 of 5

Listen to Related Episodes

• SMM 010: Being Open About Mental Illness in Motherhood + When You Don’t Know If God is Your Partner || Ally Hayward
• SMM 014: How to Recognize God in Simple Ways + Battle Loneliness and Negative Thoughts || Michelle Garfield
  

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Podcast: Spiritually Minded Mom on Apple Podcasts
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Transcript

Darla: Welcome to episode 84! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy during this unique time dealing with the Coronavirus. My family is hunkered down and staying home and trying to find the positives of the situation. Before I get into this week’s episode, I want to let you know that I am doing another listener call-in episode in two weeks. I want to hear from you! 

Darla: If you are new here, I have shared some episodes in the past where listeners have called in and shared their insights. I have then put all of the responses together into one episode. If you’ve ever wanted to be on a podcast, here is your chance. This upcoming listener call-in episode will air the Wednesday before general conference on April 1, 2020. The topic of the episode will be hearing about the blessings you have received from following President Nelson’s invitations since last general conference. I am giving you the opportunity to call in and share ways you have been blessed by the following any of the invitations from the prophet like:

• “study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you.” 

• “study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with the Doctrine and Covenants 84 and 107.”

• “reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.”

• “ponder important questions such as, ‘How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?’ or ‘How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?” 

• And also incorporating the Book of Mormon videos the church recently put out into your study.

• President Nelson also said to “Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.” So, I would love to hear any blessings you have received from coming up with your own plan.

• President Nelson also recently invited us to think about the question “How do you hear Him?” so feel free to call in and share about that as well.

Darla: My goal is to strengthen each other and help us all be prepared for the what President Nelson said would be a not only memorage but unforgettable general conference. Having an empty conference center is going to contribute to this promise but I think acting on his invitations is what will truly make this conference unforgettable. I will put all of the details about how to share as well as the number you can call in the show notes at spirituallymindedmom.com, but here’s how you can share your voice on the podcast:

1. Call ‪(480) 525-7145‬. Call anytime. It doesn’t ring to my phone so you won’t be waking me up or anything.
2. Leave a message sharing the blessings you have received from following President Nelson’s invitations at the last general conference.
3. Keep your answer to less than 3 minutes.
4. Call and record your answer by Friday, March 27, 2020.

Darla: It’s super simple to share and I really hope you will share your voice. I cannot wait to hear from you!

Darla: Now, for today’s episode. I want to talk a little more about President Nelson’s invitation to Hear Him. He said: “My dear friends, today I wish to share with you a special invitation. There are a few wonderful occasions in the scriptures when our Heavenly Father personally introduced His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with a specific charge to ‘Hear Him!’ Today, this most important invitation from our loving Heavenly Father to listen to the voice of the Lord and to follow His teachings is extended to us. In this special year, as we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, I invite you to think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him?” [end quote]

Darla: I have been having great experiences with all of the invitations President Nelson has recently extended. Next week, I am going to do another solo episode talking about the prophet’s invitations and the promised blessings that go along with them. And then the following week will be the listener call-in show.

Darla: If you’ve been around for a while, you may remember the five part episode series I did last year on how to be more spiritually minded. Each of the five parts were taken from a quote in President Nelson’s talk in April 2018 general conference Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our lives. This is the quote: “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation.’ Does God really want to speak to you? Yes!”

Darla: My number one goal when I originally shared this five part series was to share the message that God is there. He wants to help you and you can figure out how He speaks to you. I wanted to reshare this series as one resource to help you follow President Nelson’s most recent invitation to answer the question for yourself of how you hear the Savior in your life. 

Darla: So, the rest of this episode will be a replay of episode 44, which was part three of the five part series and was titled “Use God as a Guide.” I’m not going to re-airing the other four parts but you can easily access them by going to the show notes for this episode, number 84, at spirituallymindedmom.com. There is also a free printable that goes along with the entire series. You can also download the printable in the show notes or in my profile on Instagram @spirituallymindedmom.

Darla: I hope re-airing this episode and sharing the other four in this series will be one more resource you can use to understand how you hear the Savior in your life.

Darla: The reason I picked part three to re-air today is because it relates directly to President Nelson’s invitation to ask how you hear the Savior in your life. Part three includes an exercise you can do to understand how the spirit speaks to you. In the printable for part three you will find an exercise I took from Preach My Gospel that helps you look up scriptures that illustrate a way to feel the Spirit and then gives you the opportunity to write if and how you have seen that way in your own life. 

Darla: I also want to point out that if you’re like me and have teens who are home from school and need something to do, they will also find the episodes and the printable helpful. Especially, this third part of the series that I am reairing next will help you and your youth figure out how God speaks to you. I think this would be a perfect exercise to do as a family with older children as you have a lot of time on your hands. 

Darla: Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. And now, here is a replay of episode 44, Use God as a Guide.

Darla: Welcome to the Spiritually Minded Mom Podcast. This is episode 44. Use God as a Guide. I hope that you’re enjoying this five week series where we’re diving in a little deeper and talking about how you can develop your own relationship with God. The quote that this episode and the principle that goes along with it is based upon this week and I’ve said in past episodes, this is from a talk given by President Nelson in April, 2018 called Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives. And the part of that talk that we’re focusing on today is this, “Does God really want to speak to you? Yes!” That is directly from the prophet. And so that’s what I want to talk about today. The point is to help you understand how God speaks to you. And you might think, well he doesn’t speak to me, but it could be that you’re just aren’t recognizing it.

Darla: So that’s what we’re going to dive into today. So on the, the printable that goes along with this episode, it’s for week three, Use God as a guide. The ponder section on this week’s printable is to help you figure out how you feel God’s spirit. And so I’ve included in there a three-week worksheet and the worksheet comes from the manual Preach my Gospel, which is what missionaries use in the mission field to help them prepare spiritually and learn how to teach and all of those things. So I found this worksheet and I thought it just perfectly helps you to figure out some of the ways that God is speaking to you that you may not have recognized before. And so that is what I included in the download. So you’ll have the little worksheet in the front and then you’ll have the the three pages behind that that you can, really sit down and think about how God speaks to you.

Darla: So basically there are 28 different ways that God might communicate with you that are listed on the sheet and what the, the sheet offers for you is to read some scriptures that go along with each one of those ways. And then to be able to write down if that’s something that you ever felt, if you can remember an experience or you, if you just in general feel like, yeah, that’s a way that God communicates with me, then you have the opportunity and a space to write that down. If you don’t have enough space, you could do it on another piece of paper. And I also want to emphasize on this exercise that you might leave some of the spaces blank and that is totally okay because God doesn’t communicate with us all the same way. It might be different for you. So I say this all the time, but the way that he communicates with me might be totally different than the way that he communicates with he’s a personal God and he reaches us in a way that is best for each of us.

Darla: So, don’t feel bad if you cannot think of anything of a way that God communicates with you and if you have to leave some of them blank. That is totally okay. So when I did this exercise, I was really surprised about some of the things I thought about that I hadn’t really thought of as ways that I have felt the spirit before. And that’s why I want you to do this exercise, especially if you feel like you don’t have a lot of communication with God. You don’t really know if he is there because you will be surprised that he is there and you may not have been recognizing it. So let me give you a couple of examples from my life. There’s one of the boxes on that says that way that we can feel the spirit is that it gives ideas in the mind and feelings in the heart.

Darla: I can tell you that when I was getting ready to launch the podcast, so this was about a year ago, I’m almost a year in. I wasn’t quite sure what I needed to do for episode one. I knew I didn’t want to do an interview and I knew I wanted a way to introduce myself and I just really didn’t know what I wanted to do. So one day during that process I was in the temple and I was sitting in the temple having a lovely experience and thinking about, you know, what I was experiencing and what was going on around me. And all of a sudden I had a complete and new thought come to me and it was like whatever I was thinking was completely shifted and I had a new thought come to me and it was basically “This is what you need to share on your first episode.”

Darla: And if you’ve listened to the first episode that you know that it’s a little bit of my story and it’s a little bit vulnerable and it’s a little bit about an experience I had with my son. And I was never planning to share that whatsoever because it’s not entirely my story. It’s my son’s story and I just wasn’t going to share it. But that day in the temple, I cannot tell you how profound the shift in my thinking was. It was like I was thinking about something and then, you know, boom, all of a sudden the spirit redirected my thoughts and I really experienced that and I got the confirmation that this is what you should share in that episode. So if you want to know what I shared, go back and listen to episode one. It’s really short and it tells a little part of my motherhood story so that I knew that that was one way that I have experienced the spirit and God’s guidance is that he’s given me ideas that we’re really not my own.

Darla: Another example. There’s another one of those boxes on that sheet that says that a way that we feel the spirit is that it guides the words of humble teachers. When I read that and I read the scriptures that went along with it, I thought about a time that I was a leader at girls camp and I was one of the leaders that was in charge of the whole camp and had been planning this for months and we had everything down to the detail was all ready to go and n the very last night, one of the leaders got injured and we didn’t know she was injured and then in the middle of the night she had to leave camp to go be treated for this injury and we woke up. Some of the leaders had been up with her at night. I had not been and I had been asleep all night, woke up and realized that this leader that had had to leave camp was the main speaker at our final culminating event of camp and we had no speaker.

Darla: The other person that was the main person that was in charge. A sister looked at me and said, “Darla, you are going to do this. This is what you have to do.” The spirit washed over me and just confirmed that yes, this was true. I had no idea what I was supposed to say. I had nothing prepared. It was in like 45 minutes. We had to do this and I had no time to really sit and think about anything. My leader, this other leader that I was with, she reassured me that I could do it and that this would be okay and she knew that this was the right thing and I trusted her and we got someone who was there helping us, who held the priesthood to give me a blessing and to, you know, gave me a beautiful blessing and promise that I would be guided by the spirit to know what to say.

Darla: I can tell you that we’re walking up a hill to this outdoor grove where we’re going to, where we’re going to have this final culminating event. And I get up to speak and I had a couple of thoughts in my head, but I really did not know what I was going to say. And I got up and I spoke for quite a few minutes, probably 15 minutes and was able to wrap up the camp and say things that I don’t even know where they came from. They were not from me. And He guided my words so perfectly. And that was a really great testament to me that that was one of the ways that the spirit can guide me in my life. It was, it was just a fantastic experience in something that I will, I will never forget. Let me give you one other example from this worksheet of, of something from my life.

Darla: So, another one of the boxes says that the spirit helps scriptures have a strong effect. So recently I was reading in Alma chapter seven verses seven through eight and had the word “thing” pop out to me on the page. It was like, I’m reading this and my eyes are just going to the word thing and it’s just totally popping out to me. And in that scripture, well let me just read it to you. It says, “For behold, I say unto you, there be many things to come. And behold there is one thing which is of more importance than they all. For behold, the time is not far distant and the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people. Behold, I do not say that he will come among us at the time of his dwelling in his mortal tabernacle for behold, the spirit have not said unto me that this should be the case. Now as to this thing I do not know, but this much. I do know that the Lord God hath power to do all things which are according to his word.” So the word thing is in there three times. And I read that and it was like that thing was popping off the page to me. And that was the spirit teaching me something. So I looked at it a little bit closer and I realized that the first thing it said was many things. And that was the distractions and the doubts and the social media and paying bills and mopping the floor and all of the other worldly cares that I, I was concerned about at that time in my life. And the one thing that it talks about, it was my relationship with the Savior and all things which it talks about in verse eight was what God can do for me.

Darla: So, this was the perfect message for me that I needed right in that moment through a scripture. Don’t worry about the many things. Focus on the one thing and God will take care of all things. Now I have read the Book of Mormon many times. I’m sure that I have read Alma seven seven through eight lots of other times. And that had never stood out to me before. But this time it was just this feeling that God was telling me, this is what I want you to know in this moment. And he did it through the scriptures. I also wanted to share today some examples from previous guests. So I interviewed Ally Hayward in episode 10 of the podcast. You might know her from Instagram as @silentlysurvivingsouls and I was really grateful for Ally’s honesty when I asked her the question that I ask every guest on the podcast, how have you seen and felt God is your partner motherhood? So I wanted to share Ali’s very honest response, an answer to that question. So here’s Allie.

Darla: One of the, one of the questions I always ask to the guests on the podcast is how have you seen and felt God as your partner in motherhood? How would you answer that question?

Ally: I would say that one way that I have felt God in motherhood, and I haven’t felt him all the time. I would say I definitely had those little experiences that have given me like a greater eternal perspective. Okay. The time that I dropped my daughter off to nursery comes to mind because it was, you know, one of those first those times where she’s with a bunch of new people and new leaders. And so it was just kind of like, I wonder if this is how Heavenly Father feels when he’s sending us to earth. Like remember the things that I taught you be nice to others and return to me. You know, I feel like I’ve had little moments like that, but in the day to day, I don’t know that I really feel that I have that partnership with God. And so I love what you’re doing Darla, because I think it’s good for women to know and to realize and to be told that yes you do have that partnership with God and he is there and even though you know you’re going through the motions some days that it does matter and it you are making a difference even though it’s hard to see sometimes you don’t get that reward all the time. But I dunno. Yeah, I don’t know that I always feel him.

Darla: I think, I think it’s so great that you’re willing to be so honest about that because I can tell you, and we talked about this before we started recording, but since starting the podcast, I have heard this over and over, so I’ve heard it in conversations with people that I know, I’ve received DMs, I received emails from people who have listened to episodes. They don’t always feel it and it’s been really eye opening to me and I think I’m starting to see, you know, I started this podcast because I felt like that’s what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. I don’t really know all the reasons behind it, but I really feel like there’s a, there’s a, something that he wants all of us to know is that he’s there and in my very way, this is the way that I can help share that message. And you know, I think I, I felt him, but you know, there are times when I haven’t felt him and I think a lot of times one of the things that we miss in that is that sometimes we don’t see it in the moment, but we have to go back.

Ally: Right.

Darla: And for me personally, it’s writing down the things that are going on in my life and just journaling. And then sometimes it’s been, even years later I go back and I read something and I go, Oh wow. Heavenly father was right there walking beside me, helping me make these decisions, helping me know what to do. And I didn’t even realize it in the moment.

Ally: Yep.

Darla: So sometimes it just takes a little bit of perspective. And so what would your message be to someone who feels like you and feels like you don’t, you’re not seeing it every day. What would you say to them?

Ally: I think just the biggest thing is to just have faith. Like you mentioned, we don’t always get those answers right away or we don’t always see things right away. But I think just having that faith that he is there and doing our best to include him in our relationship of motherhood. And you know, to teach our children about Him and, and teach them to have faith as well. I think it’s what he wants. And I think he totally, you know, understands that, you know, we don’t always feel that or you know, cause we’re human.

Darla: Right.

Ally: But I think as long as we have that faith that he, he will keep proving us that he has been there and that he is there for us.

Darla: Ally and I had talked before the interview and she had shared with me that she didn’t know if she always felt Him. Her response made me want to share her experience even more because I know so many of us have felt that way at times in our lives. Sometimes it takes looking back and then recognizing him. Sometimes we have to write it down to know if it was a spirit. Sometimes we need to share it. Sometimes we need to keep it close and pondered in our hearts. So this week’s exercise is for you to explore and hopefully learn how to recognize the spirit. It’s not just getting up in sacrament meeting and crying while you bear your testimony. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But if that isn’t how you feel, the spirit, don’t worry. There are lots of ways to feel the spirit and that’s what this week’s exercise will help you to know.

Darla: Another podcast guest that I’ve interviewed is Michelle Garfield. I wanted to share a little clip from, from her episode and then I’ll come back and talk about why I wanted to share it. So here’s Michelle Garfield.

Michelle: So, when I did the challenge, and this was part of it, I kept thinking back to right after I had my first baby, I just felt God carry me. I felt him there constantly all the time with me. Just like carrying me through those first couple months of becoming a mom because it’s really hard. Like it’s life changing. And then after a little while he wasn’t there. At least that’s what I thought or felt. Because it was different. He wasn’t there like holding me up constantly. I knew that he was there like, I believed he was there but I couldn’t feel in the same way. And it’s like I already talked about it was because it was at all because it’s not always an overwhelming feeling, but like I said, I know that there are angels in my life that helped me a lot and that’s how he, how he talks to me and how he helps me a lot of the time.

Michelle: One thing that I really feel him there with is when I wake up in the morning and I take a few seconds, I just take a couple of really deep breaths and I just feel like I connect to Heavenly Father and then I say my prayers and I tried to ask him at the end of my prayers, I say, “What? What’s the most important thing that I do for you today? What’s the most important thing I do for me, for my family?” Sometimes more than one thing will come to me, but I keep try to keep it at one to begin with. Otherwise I get really overwhelmed. And usually the first thought that comes to mind is what He is telling me. That’s how would I take it as, and that just gives me guidance and feel him throughout the day, that he is there and just his guidance to different, resources and I don’t know, a lot of it is just the people in my life and I’m really grateful for them and that he’s put them there in my life for me.

Darla: I love how Michelle points out the different ways that she’s learned to recognize God. She says in that clip that he carried her when she became a mom and then when the feeling lessened. And that she’s had angels in her life. She talks about taking breaths before praying and using that to connect with God and also asking the question, “What’s the most important thing I need to do today for you?” And then she just goes with whatever the first thought that she gets is, and she knows that that’s what he wants her to do. So we don’t have to hear a voice and sometimes we can feel him through others. I just love how Michelle illustrates that. So if you’re thinking that you aren’t sure how God speaks to you, I hope these words from the prophet Gordon B Hinckley will remind you that you probably feel him often, even if you don’t recognize it.

Darla: “That’s the test. When all is said and done, does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind to be generous. Then it is of the spirit of God. If it invites to do good, it is of God. If it inviteth to do evil, it is of the devil. And if you are doing the right thing and if you are living the right way, you will know in your heart what the spirit is saying to you. You recognize the promptings of the spirit by the fruits of the spirit. That which enlighteneth with which buildeth up that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the spirit of God.”

Darla: If you ever feel enlightened or built up or positive, uplifted led to do better, you are feeling the spirit of [inaudible] of God. That’s what president Hinckley promised us. In that quote, I hope you’ll download the printable and do the exercises for this week of reading the scriptures that are listed and pondering on the thoughts and feelings and impressions that you have experienced in your life. The world is full of distractions and it takes effort to slow down, listen and hear him, and I want to remind you that the way that you feel him is unique. Don’t compare your relationship or your communication with Heavenly Father, with anybody else. Focus on finding how he guides you. Thank you so much for listening. Please share this episode and any other episodes that resonate with you with those that you feel might need it. If it resonates with you, it probably will resonate with someone else and so please feel free to share it and I will see you next week. We’re going to be talking about one of my favorite subjects. I’m really excited for next week’s episode, acting on promptings from God. We’re going to talk about all about taking action and I can’t wait. In the meantime, remember the words of our prophet. “Does God really want to speak to you? Yes!”

Outro: I hope you enjoyed the podcast and if you did share it with a friend. I would love it if you would leave a review and rate it on Apple podcasts. This actually helps more moms to find the podcast and to gain confidence in their ability to hear and follow God’s voice in motherhood. For show notes, resources, and information about courses to help you be more spiritually minded, head over to spirituallymindedmom.com. For more motherhood inspiration. Follow along on Instagram @spirituallymindedmom. Have an amazing day and remember, you are a beloved daughter of heavenly parents who want you to succeed and who want to be your partner in motherhood.