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I was headed nowhere but the wrong direction, and fast.
I wasn't going to let anyone know of my wayward ways. Besides I didn't consider myself evil. Plus I had a pre-conceived notion that truth didn't exist. "Did I turn myself around and if, so how?" May be the questions lurking inside your brain, because we all backslide. If so you've come to the right story.
Because I had put in a hard day's work, which included asphalt work, and a sport called basketball, I decide to relax. So I disappeared to my bedroom. I turned on some tunes that I got at an EFY in 1997. I had listened to them since only because I thought had the coolest beat. Six words penetrated both my ears and heart. They were "The Truth shall set you free". I thought to myself "that'd be cool to be able to know the truth and be free, what do I have to loose?"
If you knew me before this incident what I was about to do sounded comical. Prayer. A thing so foreign to me that the only time I ever uttered one was when asked at church or before a meal so that I wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings.
So right there in the silence of my sports abode, I dropped to my knees. I prayed for what seemed to be an eternity, not even knowing if it was being done right or what. Afterwards I sat there contemplating what was going on. I felt something that I'd never be able to deny. However, there was one problem : I had no idea what it was.
I had grown up hearing all about the Holy Ghost in primary, but still I was unsure.
So I turned to the scriptures, another ridiculous thing for me. I opened a Latter-Day Saints copy of the Triple combination. I looked up the word prayer. That is when the great prophet Nephi informed me that from 6th grade to now,(now being right before I graduated from High school) that the evil spirit had a hold of my heart, convincing me not to pray. So then I decided that prayer was a good thing but still had no clue of how I felt.
The spirit then led me to The Doctrine and Covenants, Section Six Verse fifteen. Which states: "Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the spirit of truth."
With the help of a few things including: Song, Spirit, Prayer, Spirit, Scriptures and did I say the spirit, I came to know that I already knew the Truth.
So I got my life in order. I decided to serve a mission so I could let everyone else know what I had learned that day. That day up until I received my mission call I faithfully prayed and read the scriptures nightly. Right around the time that my mission call came I was getting really anse to receive it. I got a feeling that I probably wouldn't receive it until I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I finished reading it that night and received my call to The Charleston West Virginia Mission the next day
Throughout our lives we
are always going up and down or as the Baptists refer to it: Backsliding.
Even at this time I have been considering in-activity because of the lack
of spirit that a return missionary feels, but the writing of this story has
helped me see the light.