This talk was given in a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sacrament meeting on Sunday, June 12, 2022.
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. In case you don’t know us, my name is Mandy, and that was my husband, Josh. He’s from Massachusetts; I’m from Nebraska. We both served in the same mission, but we actually met afterwards. It’s kind of a funny story—it involves cheese. But, I’m not going to say it here because we don’t have much time. So if you’re interested, you can, you can ask us about it later.
In the scriptures, it talks a lot about revelation, and President Nelson has been talking a lot about revelation and how important it is for us in the last days. Also, in the scriptures, as we go through and we read, there’s a pairing that can be seen frequently. When one is mentioned, often the other will be mentioned as well. It is the pairing of the heart and the mind.
Now, this can be seen in many contexts, and I just want to share some of those contexts that are within the scriptures today. So, the first one is in Hebrews 8:10, and the Lord is talking about his law. He says, “I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their heart.”
The second one is Mosiah 2:9, and this is King Benjamin talking to the people. He tells them that they should “hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.”
Then, in D&C 8:2, it says of revelation, “Behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.”
Finally, I want to mention Philippians 4:6-7. I’m actually going to use the New King James Version to quote this one. But, this one, in particular, is what I want to base my talk on for revelation. It says, “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
I believe that one of the reasons that the heart and the mind are often paired together in the scriptures is because we need to use both of them to interpret, to receive, and to understand revelation. I believe that with only one, there can be a lot of misunderstanding. And, I want to share a story that a friend told me, that shows how the heart and the mind can help us receive revelation, interpret it, and follow through with it.
So this friend is older than me, she actually has already had kids, and her kids have already grown up and had kids, and she has a lot more experience than me. So, I was really happy to talk to her and to hear this experience from her.
Her story takes place when her first two oldest boys were just in elementary school. Her, her husband, and her kids were living in an apartment complex. In this complex, there was a family who didn’t have the best reputation. In this complex, there was a single mom with two daughters. One daughter was in high school and the other was in elementary school, like her boys. The mom was known to get angry at the neighbors frequently and chase them with a bat, so my friend didn’t interact with her often. Even, oftentimes, the negative aspects that we’re seeing with the way the mom would act would be passed on to the daughters.
Now, initially, my friend had seen the elementary school aged daughter interact with other kids and had gotten a bad impression of her. She thought this little girl was just mean. Just a mean little girl.
One day, the elementary school principal had contacted my friend and said there was an incident on the school bus. He said it was a “he said, she said” thing, but the girl had been mean to her two boys.
The boys came home, and they went to their mom, and they said, “What are you going to do about it?” Like, you gotta do something. She would have rather avoided the conflict, but she told them to leave the room, and she decided to say a quick prayer. In her prayer, she asked for the guidance of what to do and felt she needed to help.
Instead of avoiding the conflict, her boys came back in and asked what she was going to do. With a peaceful feeling, she told them that she was going to go over to the other family’s apartment. Now, because the mom of that family had a reputation of not interacting positively with others, she decided to try and approach them when she could talk to the kids directly.
She went over to the apartment and knocked on the door. The oldest daughter opened it. She described the daughter as opening the door angrily, with a quick thrash of the door open, and it almost seemed as if steam was coming out of her ears. My friend said to the older daughter, “Hey, so I heard that your sister got in a fight with my boys on the bus, and they were feeling pretty bad about it. So, I figured that your sister might be feeling pretty bad too. I just wanted to check and see if she was okay.”
All of a sudden, my friend could see a countenance change of the older sister. The sister stepped aside, and there was the little girl. My friend checked on the little girl and said, “Are you okay?” The little girl nodded yes, surprised that my friend wasn’t reprimanding her or getting upset at her. They were able to leave with a positive interaction.
She told her, “Hey, if your mom wants to come talk to me about it later, let her know. We’ll be home.” The mom never did. But, my friend said two things that I really liked about this experience. One, she said, “I think the Holy Ghost answers prayers quickly when it comes to kids.” I think when we need that guidance—God is there for the moments that are necessary.
Two, she said that through her revelation of being able to receive this feeling of peace, and this guidance in her mind of what to go and do—though she didn’t fully know it all at one point, but it was laid upon step by step—she was able to make a difference in these kids lives. The Holy Ghost and God were able to intervene in their life. They may never know that in that moment, that was God, stepping in and showing them something different, showing a way to interact with love. But, she knows and God knows, and they will always have that positive effect to look back upon.
I know that it’s so important to look to God for help and for guidance. I’ve had many instances in my life where I’ve been trying to figure out revelation, and it’s a process we may not always understand, and it may take time. But, when we are able to use our heart and our mind, to feel, to know, or to make sense of things, when these things correlate together, we can have a greater understanding that the revelation is coming from God. That He’s guiding us. And I just want to leave that testimony with you and the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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