Experience at Institute on November 4, 2010

As many of you might know I have been working almost daily on making my blog and facebook accounts into something that I people would come to often for inspirational quotes. I guess it is one of the ways I my love for God and the testimony I have of Him. So I have spent all this time and effort to get things the way I want them. I thought now if someone can just use some of the things on here that I have found to be an inspiration I will have help someone. I started praying and hoping that someone would be affected by something that I had posted. My prayer was answered tonight at Institute in a very unexpected way.

I usually get to Institute a little bit early to save a few seats for some of my branch members. Tonight was the night that my branch member who is on the Institute Counsel was in charge of conducting and finding someone to give the opening prayer and the spiritual thought. He asked me if I had ever given a prayer or a spiritual thought at Institute before, which I replied that I had not. He asked if I could do the spiritual thought. I had about 15 minutes to come up with something. He suggested that I read my favorite scripture, but I felt like I should share something I felt a connection too, like a quote that I had found or something like that. I thought about the pages of quotes that I had compiled and about how great it would be to have those in my hands at the very moment or to have had my branch member call me so I could have prepared better.

Some of you know me well enough to know that I don't like public speaking in a formal setting. Some of you can't imagine me as a shy guy because you know me well in the workplace or outside a church setting.

Anyways, I decided I had nothing to loose. If I was not prepared I would get up there and say a few words or read a scripture that had little meaning to me and then go sit down.

I usually carry my yellow composition book with me to church type meetings so that if I hear something I feel inspired to write down I can do that. I was not sure if I had anything in my book that would be of use to my fellow Institute students. I only have about 35 pages of notes on various subjects. On the last few pages I have a few quotes that I took from a book titled The Dating Game: Secrets for Marrying a Good Man by Alisa Goodwin Snell. This is a book that took me over a year to read not because it is long; I just have been reading it on and off.

In my notes I found a few quotes from a section in the book for improving self love, self respect, and self confidence. This is a topic that I have been thinking about lately for some reason. I don't feel that it is something that I need to work on too much. I think that I feel the topic is of interest because if individuals would come to knowledge of self love, respect and have self confidence some of their problems would be easier to bear. Building people’s confidence and seeing things in a positive manner is what has driven me to set my facebook and blog up the way I have.

This basically how my devotional went. I read Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 which reads:
"Look unto me in every thought: doubt not, fear not."

I then made a joke so I would feel more comfortable. I said something to the affect, I want to share some quotes from a book on a topic that some you may be uncomfortable with. I then named the above mentioned book. Many people laughed.

Then I read the following quotes from the book mentioned above:

"Nurture your strengths rather than listening to your fears and doubts" (pg. 109).

"Face the things you fear. The more you face your fears the less your fears will be able to define you and your life" (pg. 111).

"Having faith in yourself and others in the face of rejection can be a powerful confidence builder. Keep going. Don't give up. Never loose faith" (pg. 120).

Faith and fear cannot coexist.

Back to my commentary.

That is not the end of the story. I thought as I sat down, I hope that turned out alright. As I was leaving Institute tonight a teacher and a female student were exiting the classroom near the door I was about to walk out. The teacher and the student both thanked me for my thought. I thought, ok, you know I only had a few minutes to prepare, thank you for making me feel good about the thought I presented. Both the teacher and the student shook my hand and both said I made the difference in more than one person’s life tonight. They both went on to say that they talked about the thought I presented in their class tonight.

As I was driving home tonight I thought about how the Lord had answered my prayer to help someone with the quotes and thoughts that I find inspirational. I hope and pray that I can help others through my example and the thoughts and impression that I have.

This experience has helped me to see that through small and unexpected means prayers can be answered. It has given me the courage to speak out and help others in need.

I am grateful for the experience I had tonight.