Church Youth Program

From my quick four minute talk at our Bishop's Meeting on Sunday:

President Nelson has promised that you can learn for yourself – right now at your age – how to receive personal revelation. He says, “Nothing will make a bigger difference in your life than that!” 

We have all wondered, “Who am I? Who can I become?” By asking the Lord to help you set goals and accomplish them, you are asking for personal revelation. You are trusting that you can learn from God what is important for you to learn in becoming the best you you can be.

(When you hear this do you think, “God probably wants me to be like that girl over there with those talents, or that girl over there with that personality.” That’s not true. God knows what you love and what you’re interested in and he loves that about you. He also knows you’re not perfect and he loves that about you too. He loves you. So let me assure you, when you start thinking about goals, think about what is important to you. You don’t have to worry if its good enough for God. It is.)

Back to personal revelation… How do you receive it? Always start with a prayer. Tell Heavenly Father you want to participate in this program. That you want to learn new things and grow spiritually. Tell him you’d really like to receive the blessings that have been promised – that your Faith in Jesus Christ will be strengthened. 

If it were me at your age, I’d even tell him I’m not sure I know how to recognize spiritual promptings and ask for his help in that area too. Then tell him some of the goals you’ve been thinking about and ask him to help you know if there’s anything else you should be considering. End your prayer.

After praying, you need to ACT. Have a journal and pen with you, or your notes on your phone, and write down your thoughts for development in the different categories. Think about the four areas: spiritual, physical, social and intellectual and see what comes to mind. If you don’t think of something for every area, that’s ok. I’m still thinking about what I want to do in the “social” area myself. Maybe you’ll have one in each area. Maybe you’ll have several. Keep it a matter of prayer for several days and then decide what you feel best about. That’s it. Personal revelation is most often a good feeling about what you’re praying about.

Also, I made cranberry vanilla chip cookies for my contribution to the cookie table. And nobody ate them. Not one. And they are delicious. So take note: People don't choose vanilla chip cookies. But if you need to make cookies and you'd really like leftovers to eat at home, these are your cookie.