I know this isn't a new story to you, but it was my first life-changing spiritual experience.
During a Spanish class in my sophomore year at BYU I found out about the Disney College Program. A girl next to me had a flyer about it, telling when they were coming to recruit. You cannot imagine (okay, you probably can) how excited I was. It would be a perfect internship for my major, and I would get to work and live at Disney World?!?! And then, of course, I would apply for and get accepted to their next level of internship, the Advanced Management internship (which you can only do after having done the first one), and then I would stay on and work my way up to manage one of their resorts there (or at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, or move over to their cruise line). And at some point in there I would meet a good ol' Southern boy and that's that. Perfect plan. Except that it was my plan.
Well, I kept trying to make it work, but something kept coming up or I needed another class, and kept saying that maybe I can do it next semester. Then finally, in the fall of 2004, I actually applied and auditioned! I was so excited and stopped at Elizabeth's apartment on the way home to tell her all about it. She was so excited with me, which was really fun, except her brother was sitting there on the couch, too, listening to me ramble on and on about this, and for some reason I felt odd. But I could hardly wait for my letter to come in two weeks, that would for sure tell me I was accepted.
It was only a few days later that I was reading my scriptures when I read Helaman 10:4. "And thou hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." I realized I hadn't prayed about going to Disney World, but I thought, "There is nothing wrong in going to Disney World; I don't need to pray about it." And I knew immediately that when I finally humbled myself to pray about it, the answer would be no. I ignored that for several days, because I wasn't ready for that. Then I finally prayed about it, and felt a very definite no. And then my letter came, telling me that I was accepted. And then I turned it down, which was hard, but my answer had been so clear that there was nothing else to do. And now I am sealed through the holy Priesthood to the best man in the entire world, with three beautiful, horribly obnoxious boys, and I love it!
That experience, above all, taught me that the Lord loves me and that He is very much aware of me, and has a plan for me, and that as long as I am striving to do as He would have me do, He will not let me unknowingly do something contrary to His plan for me. I very well could have chosen to go anyway, and I don't think that something horrible would have necessarily happened, but I do know what would not have happened, and that makes me extremely grateful that the Lord told me where He would have me be.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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I am always the last to know stuff around here...I have never heard that story. Thanks for finally letting me in on stuff everyone else already knew....plus I think it is a great story.
ReplyDeleteDad
Thanks Dad. Love ya.
ReplyDeleteThank you Emily. That is a beautiful experience.
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