The Guiding Power of Revelation
The Guiding Power of Revelation
By Sarah Johanson
Revelation is an interesting and wonderful blessing. Tailored to each individual, revelation from God guides his children in the plan He has for them. The tricky part is what do we do with it once we receive it. Do we even recognize those promptings? Do we recognize them and then choose to ignore them going on with our lives as is? Do we recognize them and choose to act on them? Whatever stage you feel you are in, there’s always room for improvement. God loves us and wants to help us through this crazy phase called earth life. We simply can’t fulfill our responsibilities without His help.
Although I can improve on recognizing the spirit and acting on God’s promptings, receiving and acting on revelation has been a crucial part in my personal development.
This year is a big milestone in my professional development. In August, I’ll be graduating with my Master’s in Social Work from Arizona State University (ASU). Although I am excited for this opportunity, it required a lot of work, inspiration, and revelation. When I finished my undergraduate degree in December 2017, I didn’t think I would go back to school to work on my master’s until later in life after I raised children. Little did I know, God had different plans for me.
As I was sitting in the temple (which is a great place to receive revelation, by the way) doing an endowment session with my husband a couple years ago, I had the overwhelming feeling that I needed to return to school. Although I had this prompting to return to school, I had no idea which schools I should apply to or even what program I needed to complete. All I knew was that I was taken off guard by this sudden change of plans and that at some point in my life I wanted to become a therapist. As I started looking at schools and programs it became even more confusing and I kept have bad feelings about the direction I was taking. I even applied and got rejected from a school that I should have easily been accepted into. It was very discouraging. Eventually, after a lot of work and searching, I landed on Social Work at ASU. I finally received confirmation from God that this was the right program for me and I anxiously began preparing to begin classes. Today, I’m passionate about working in social work and love it more than I thought I could.
I share this experience for a couple reasons.
One, promptings and revelation may come what you least expect it. I wasn’t seeking to receive an answer about school because I thought it was going to happen later in life. Being ready and open to receive revelation at any time can open doors to incredible opportunities that you may not be expecting.
Two, revelation requires work to understand the correct path God wants you to take. Sometimes there are multiple “no’s” before you get the “yes” from God. Hard work allows you to sort through what the Lord wants you to know and what the world wants you to think. There are conflicting views out there that try to distract you from your purpose. There were a lot of programs in which I could have enrolled that would have been just fine, but none were what I needed to do to accomplish what would truly make me happy.
Elder Andersen shared a spiritual message at the end of last month that highlights the importance of “hearing Him” and how he does so. He says, “Honest, sincere, personal prayer opens the window to revelation from our Heavenly Father. Trying to listen to the quiet impressions of the Spirit and promising my Heavenly Father that I will be more attentive to those things seems to bring a greater ability for me to hear Him” (I Hear Him though Sincere Prayer and Reflection, Neil L. Andersen, December 27, 2021).
Additionally, Doctrine & Covenants 112:10 says “be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” As we humble ourselves and look towards God for guidance, we can receive blessings beyond what we could have imagined for ourselves. Take the time to self-reflect and do something about it today!
