That Little Voice

I wanted to tell you a story that was told by our teacher in Relief Society on Sunday. This woman has only in the past 2 years become active in the church. Before, that she believed in the gospel, but her faith just wasn't strong enough, and she didn't go to church and didn't really teach her children much about the gospepl. But she did tell her daughters to always listen to that "still small voice" inside. I don't think she really even explained to them that we believe that voice is the Holy Spirit telling us what we should and should not do. Maybe she herself didn't fully understand back then. But she taught her daughters the best she could.

Some years ago, when her daughter was a young single adult, she went out with some friends partying at bars. They were drinking and dancing and having fun. They went to one bar, and were so excited to see a certain movie star there. I don't really want to name him in this post because I don't want google searches leading to this post. I might put his name in the comment section though. ;) Suffice it to say, that when I heard his name, I rolled my eyes because I have heard quite a bit about his bad reputation. Anyway, they were all excited and giggling and laughing, and at some point the other girls challenged this teacher's daughter to go over and give him a kiss. She wasn't going to go at first, but they pushed her so much that she finally went over and said, "My friends dared me to come give you a kiss.", whereupon this man let her kiss him on the cheek. She thanked him, and went back to her friends who were laughing and cheering.

A little while later, this actor's manager came over to her and said, "Mr. S. is having a party at his room tonight, and would like to invite you to come." She said, "Oh, no, I couldn't do that", and looked at her group of friends. He said, "Well, I think we could make an exception this one time and invite all of your friends to come with you." She wasn't too sure, but her friends said, "Please! If you don't go, we can't go!". So they all agreed to go, and went back to their rooms to get ready.

This girl was the first one to shower, and as she was getting dressed she heard a voice tell her not to go to the party. She looked around, and wondered where the voice had come from. She figured she must be imagining things, so she ignored it. But then as she was getting ready, she heard the voice again, even stronger, telling her not to go to that party. She remembered what her mother had told her about listening to that "little voice", so she went and told her friends she couldn't go. They said, "Why not?! If you don't go, then we can't go." She said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I just can't go. I'm sorry. I'll call the manager and tell him." They were all disappointed, but resigned themselves that they couldn't go to the party afterall.

That night she called her mother and said, "Somehow I think you were with me today." She mistook the voice she heard for her mother's voice. She didn't understand that the Spirit works in that way. The next morning the headline in the news was that this actor's apartment had been involved in a drug bust. He had been arrested, as well as the other people at the party. If this group of girls had gone to the party, it is likely they would have been arrested too, and may have been pushed to take drugs. When the girls saw the headline, they were all shocked and came and asked my friend's daughter how she knew not to go to the party. She didn't know how to explain it, but said, "Just listen to your mother." I think this was a good reminder to all of us to pay attention to the promptings that we get!