A piercing message

I was driving home from work and turned on the radio to an awesome song.

As I listened to the lyrics though, I pretty quickly realized it was not-so-awesome.

Kyle and I were going to the temple that evening with some friends as soon as I got home from work.

I had the thought to turn the radio off.

But… I didn’t.

Later, in the temple, guess what song kept popping into my head?

I sat there and sang a bunch of primary songs and hymns in my head, trying to get rid of these terrible lyrics that kept coming to my mind.

Nothing was working.

I eventually just prayed my heart out.

“Heavenly Father, please remove this song from my mind. It’s distracting me from the spirit in the temple.”

And immediately.

Immediately.

A piercing thought came into my mind.

It was still and small, but powerful.

It was very clearly Divine.

And that voice said:

“Cali, you can’t pray away the consequences of your decisions.”

I was being reprimanded by the spirit in a very direct way.

I realized in a dramatic fashion that I couldn’t choose to ignore the spirit when he told me to change the radio station and then expect him to help remove the natural consequences of my actions later on.

Joseph Smith shared a powerful example of his experience with this spirit in D&C 85:6:

“the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest”

In the car, the spirit spoke to me in a very still and small voice.

And in the temple, it pierced my mind and made me very aware of the power behind it.

I needed to learn that lesson that day, and it has dramatically shaped my music choices ever since.

I needed that piercing voice for a major course correction.

And I am so grateful for a companion like the spirit who can give those messages in a way that I can’t write off.

I heard it, and I knew God knew that I heard it.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black