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Read-a-thon Week 4 | Young Women Worldwide · Words of the Living Prophets

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  Hi everyone. We're so happy you're here.
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  We love Tuesday nights with all of you, just so you know.
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  It's our favorite. And there's so many exciting
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  things happening right here that or right now, which is so fun.
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  We've been, we just talk about them every time we get together.
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  We're talking about all the exciting things that are
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  happening. And we've got the new FSY guide
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  that all of you are reading with us.
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  We have the new Sunday schedule coming out.
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  We're so excited about the curriculum that's coming.
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  You're going to love the curriculum.
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  We've loved watching your comments on the post that came
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  out earlier this week about the fourth Sunday, the last Sunday
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  where we will be studying a woman in Scripture.
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  And we loved how many of you were like, wait, what about
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  these women in Scripture? And we want to know more about
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  this. And this is one of our favorite
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  parts of what is coming. Our those last Sunday lessons
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  are going to talk about our purpose as women in God's plan
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  and we are going to learn from women in scriptures.
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  And this is the question everyone asks, where do we find
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  out about the women? And the answer is going to be
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  really familiar to all three. 123 the magazine that you.
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  Subscribe. Are you subscribed that?
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  Is where you are going to find these women.
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  Every month a new woman is going to come and there are 12 women
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  and they'll just each month you'll get to meet a new woman
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  from scripture and you are going to love what we're going to
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  learn and study together. We are so excited about this
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  part OK, so how many of you are doing the read a thon with us is
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  what we want to know who's been doing the raise your hand and
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  I'm loving having an entire week to study 1 chapter because it's
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  giving me time to like ponder yes.
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  Read Old Marketer, Yes. Choose your favorite scriptures
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  from the end and just think. And we're going to be so
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  prepared by the time September comes.
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  We're on Chapter 2 this week. That's what we're studying God
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  and wants to communicate with you.
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  And this is one of my most favorite of all 12.
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  But you know, I'm going to say that every month.
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  I really like this one. And one of the reasons why I do
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  is because the question that we get asked the most often when we
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  travel anywhere in the whole entire world is how do I know if
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  it's the spirit? How do I know if the Lord is
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  working in my life? Like how do I know where the
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  prompting is coming from, if it's my own thought or how do I
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  know? And this is what I love about
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  chapter 2 is there. It just helps us to be like, oh,
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  OK, those are things I can be watching for.
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  So we want to talk tonight about what are we learning in our
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  studies so far. OK, so I would like to start
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  with the first paragraph in this introduction.
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  The guy talks about Joseph Smith when he went to pray to the
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  Grove and I, I was thinking about this.
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  He went to the Grove and he started kneeling down and start
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  to open his mouth to say a pray. And I love to read from Joseph
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  Smith 1/15 his account. He said this.
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  I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by
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  some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an
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  astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I
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  could not speak. So he was ready to say a praise,
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  start talking and of course that prayer had a lot of magnificent
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  influence, right? It will turn around the whole
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  thing that we that we that they know at that time.
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  So Satan was trying not for him not to talk, not to say the
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  prey. And also I love this and I want
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  to just think about that for a minute because how many times in
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  our life do we have that moment? It makes you think of the him.
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  Did you think to pray? Like if Satan can just bind our
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  tongue, if he can just cause us to not want to connect with our
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  heavenly Father and to have that moment of prayer, imagine what
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  stops when we stop praying. We we stop being able to pour
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  out our heart. We stop being able to receive
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  that inspiration and to hear. And, and all of a sudden that
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  becomes a really important part of Joseph's story, that line,
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  Direct Line that we have with heavenly Father, with my father,
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  right. OK, so in Second Nephi 3289, it
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  says that the evil spirit teaches not a man to pray, but
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  teaches him that he must not not pray.
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  So we have that influence of the enemy.
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  OK, you don't need to pray. Why are you going or you're not?
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  Worthy to. Pray or you're not worthy.
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  But then he said, I say unto you, that ye must pray always,
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  and not faint, that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord,
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  save in the 1st place ye shall pray unto the Father.
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  So I love that, right? Yes, each one of us has this
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  moment of oh, I'm too tired to pray, or I don't want to do or I
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  don't feel like praying that well, at that moment we need to
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  pray. We need to kneel and just wait
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  till we open our mouth and start praying to our Father.
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  Some of my favorite stories Sister Spanos has ever told me
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  have been times where she says she runs up to her room and
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  throws herself on her bed, and then she just pours out her
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  heart to the Lord. And I love that that's your
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  first inclination. And I want to think just for a
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  minute, I think it'd be so fun. What does pray always look like
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  for you? Like we know about saying your
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  prayers in the morning and saying your prayers at night and
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  saying your prayers before you eat, but what does pray always
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  look like for you? For me, it's just a thought in
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  any moment of my day that I need something.
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  Just it's not not that I'm going to close my arms and no, it's
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  just I don't know. I'm driving, I'm doing things,
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  but I is this heavenly Father help me this or look at this,
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  whatever, it's just a conversation a few seconds.
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  So I love that with the father. How about for?
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  You. Yeah, and mine is very similar.
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  It's it usually starts with the him, the phrase from him.
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  I need the every hour. And when that comes into my
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  mind, I'm like, oh, I know what I need to do.
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  And then, you know, wherever I am, whether I'm driving in my
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  car, then I start that conversation.
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  And it's. Kind of an ongoing conversation,
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  like after I get up off my knees in the morning, revelation
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  continues to happen on the move. Like I'm it's still, it's still
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  there that that connection. That's so good and I love that
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  you mentioned it could be in your car.
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  I love to pray when I'm mowing the bond.
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  It's my favorite time. Do you pray out loud?
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  Because. The loud, yes, but those moments
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  when you just can connect for a longer time and invite him into
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  your life and your story as you're pondering and and
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  listening and you were having some thoughts about that.
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  Just what does the listening look like?
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  Well, it's it's a really interesting experience because
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  like you said, this is the question we get asked the most
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  because sometimes people will say, you know, I had this
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  miraculous download or revelation.
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  For. Me, I've only.
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  Had. Just a handful of experiences.
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  Where I actually felt I didn't. Really hear, but I felt a voice
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  in my head. But those were few and far
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  between. But more than that.
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  It's usually when I'm praying and I pause my prayer because of
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  this and I'm going to read it out loud.
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  So seek your Heavenly Father through prayer.
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  Share with him your joys, worries and questions.
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  Be still and listen for his answers, which may come as
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  feelings of peace, thoughts in your mind and impressions to do
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  something. So when I was growing up, maybe
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  you were like me, I was taught, you know, should pray, stay on
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  your knees. And then when you finish your
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  prayer, just stay a little longer and and listen, which is
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  wonderful, I mean. That's that's what we would do.
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  If we were having a conversation with someone, we would listen
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  for their answer. But rather than that, now my
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  prayers. Are more like.
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  A back and forth, more like a conversation.
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  And if I have that impression about a certain person or
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  somebody that I love or to to do something, I'll pause and I'll
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  write it down on a notepad next to my bed or on my phone so that
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  I can see it during the day. And then I will act on those
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  impressions. And I think that's one of the
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  most important pieces here, is that right here it says in the
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  next phrase. If you have a.
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  Thought or impression to do something kind that will bless
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  someone do it. And this is my invitation to
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  you, for all of us, maybe this next week is to act on those
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  promptings because I have learned when I have an
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  impression to do something to lift or bless somebody else if I
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  I don't. Act on it.
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  It almost always comes back to haunt me.
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  In a way. I remember 1 specific experience
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  where there was a sister. She was from another country and
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  her family had moved into our work for just a short time.
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  But she bore a very tender testimony in a sacrum meeting
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  where she. She just shared her heart.
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  I remember thinking, I want to send her a note, a handwritten
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  note, just to let her know that I was so proud of her.
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  And I kept having that prompting.
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  You should write that note. You should do that.
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  And a week or two went by and then I think we went on vacation
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  and we came back and somebody shared with me that they had
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  moved out of our ward. And they said, do you know where
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  they went? And they said, no, they moved
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  back to their country. And I remember thinking, I never
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  had that chance to, to connect with her to say that.
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  And who knows what happened after that because she was in
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  kind of a difficult situation. Never ignore prompting to lift
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  or bless another act on it. Oh.
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  I love that so much and it kind of talks about that on page 13
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  at the bottom of the question and answers.
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  With time and practice, you will learn to recognize the spirit in
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  a variety of ways. And I I think that's so good to
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  realize it's going to be different for each of us and and
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  we are practicing. That's what we're practicing.
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  I love as you look at the invitation part of the first the
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  strength of youth guide, it says seek, hear and act.
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  And we're just kind of practicing what that looks like
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  in our life. And I think we're going to have
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  moments where we actually, we follow that prompting.
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  We do it and then we and we have that confirmation that, yeah,
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  that was the right thing to do. And sometimes we're going to do
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  good. And we may never have the
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  confirmation of was that the spirit or was that not the
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  spirit? And I love what you're teaching
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  us, but sometimes we'll have the prompting after that was like,
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  that actually was a prompting. And and we'll want a do over,
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  you know, we'll want to be like, oh, I wish I would have done
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  that. I attended a class of our
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  builders of faith, just that youngest group of girls.
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  And in that class, the teacher was teaching the lesson.
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  And at the very end, she said, maybe you've wondered how do I
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  know if it's the spirit? And so she said, I'm going to
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  give you a bold invitation. And she said, I promise you, if
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  you act on this bold invitation, you will learn.
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  You'll, you'll be able to learn. Was it the spirit or wasn't it?
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  And then this was the bold invitation and I can remember
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  she was getting ready to give it that.
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  I was like, I love practicing, learning to listen to the
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  spirit. I've been practicing so hard for
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  two decades. 20 years ago, I made a decision.
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  I was going to practice listening to the spirit and work
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  on doing that. And but I thought to myself, I'm
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  taking the bold invitation. I don't know what it is, but I
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  love learning more about the spirit and the bold invitation.
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  Was this for one week? No matter what, if a thought
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  comes into your mind or into your heart and it's good, it's
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  it is a good thought. You're not going to question
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  where it's coming from. Or if you're, you're not going
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  to have that moment of like, is this me?
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  Is it the spirit? You're not going to have that.
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  You're just going to do it every time, no matter what.
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  Every impression. That's your goal.
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  That's the bold invitation. Every invitation that comes,
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  every prompting, every whatever, you are going to act on it.
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  And then she said, you want to do it.
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  I promise you want to do it. Because she said at the end,
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  you'll look back and you will be able to clearly see, oh, that
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  actually was the spirit. That actually was a prompting.
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  So I was like, I am doing it. I'm going to do it.
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  And I set my goal right after church that Sunday.
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  And then I went through the whole week and here's what I
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  learned. Some of the things that
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  happened, the, the thoughts that came in my mind that happened, I
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  had really sweet experiences with that.
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  I was like when it when I was done, I was like that.
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  That was the spirit. That really was the spirit.
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  And then there were somewhere I afterward, I just, I wasn't
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  sure. I was like, I don't know, I
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  mean, maybe, but there was 1 moment in the week.
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  And remember, I had said I was doing it.
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  I was going to do it the whole week.
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  It didn't matter what the thought was.
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  I was doing it no matter what. And on this particular day, what
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  had happened is I was driving up to the church and I had this
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  prompting come clear your afternoon schedule.
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  Just clear the schedule. And we don't really do that.
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  You couldn't. You couldn't.
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  Even. If you wanted.
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  To but I was like, Oh no, do I do do I do my bold invitation or
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  not? I don't know because that is
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  kind of bold. And so I called the Kristen who
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  helps with my schedule and I was like, could you just like check
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  all my afternoon things and just see if we, if we had to cancel,
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  could we And just maybe just like be prepared in case.
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  And so the day went on and you guys all remember we were here
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  at lunch and I got this text at lunch.
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  And it was from a Bishop of a young woman who was up in
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  Primary Children's Hospital. And the family had asked if
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  there was any chance I could come up that afternoon right
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  then for a visit. And I just knew immediately it
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  was a moment where I was like, oh, that really was a prompting
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  and I was prepared so I could leave.
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  And I say to these two, I feel like I should take something
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  with me when I go up there. I feel like I should take
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  something and and do you have anything?
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  Do you have anything? No one had anything.
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  And I kind of was looking through my office because I was
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  like, there must be something. And I got in my closet And at
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  the bottom of my closet, there were these three birds.
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  I don't even know why they're in my closet.
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  And their job actually is to hold like table number.
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  They have a little spot in their back to hold these numbers.
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  And I got I. Said to both.
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  Of these two, do you think it would be weird if I took these
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  and both of them just looked at me like, you know, And then in
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  my mind, I was like, no, that would be weird.
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  And so I just put him back in the closet.
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  You guys, I did not do the bold invitation.
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  And I drove up and I sat with this darling family and I talked
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  to the mom and the dad and the sisters that were there.
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  And we had the sweetest conversation.
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  And at the end of the conversation, the dad said, can
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  I ask you a question? And as he started talking to me,
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  he he started telling me about this, the symbolism of birds and
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  that it would kind of have been a symbol of their family and
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  even with this daughter. And he just, he wanted to know
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  my thoughts on that. And right when he said it, I
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  thought to myself, I left these in the closet and I could have
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  put one of these in the hand of every one of those family
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  members who a bird is so symbolic for their family.
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  And here's the thing, Heavenly Father knew.
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  He knew about that. And the sweet thing for me is I
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  actually got to go back and sit with that family again.
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  And you know what I took when I went back, one of these for
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  everyone in the family to have with them.
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  And, and that's also true when we practice is sometimes we
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  really will get a chance where that prompting or that
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  understanding will distil upon us and, and we'll have that
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  opportunity to say, OK, try again.
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  And I love that you have this birds here.
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  So we can take a look at the birds and remember that
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  experience. Yes, we will never forget it
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  will. We never will.
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  And at the end of that week, I was with that woman who had
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  taught that lesson and she asked if I had done the bold
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  imitation. And I just started crying.
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  And I said to her, you were actually right.
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  It, it changed my life. It changed how I respond.
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  And I think as we think about that, as we go through, we're
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  going to realize that each of these chapters is going to teach
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  us a spiritual lesson, a principle that is going to
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  change us. It's going to make us better.
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  It's going to make our lives better.
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  And at the end of the day, the most important lesson that we're
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  going to learn is where we can turn for strength.
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  And I just want to say this at the very beginning of this read
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  a thon, I don't think I've even told you guys this yet, but this
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  is such a fun thing. So when we were at the very end
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  of editing this book, there was a day when I sat down with the
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  head editor at the church and we were just going over just the
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  final, like, did we get it all right?
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  And he said to me, there is one thing it says in the book in
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  four different chapters, Jesus Christ is your strength.
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  So which chapter do you want that in?
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  And I sat there for a minute and then I said to him, all of them,
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  if I had my wish, I would put it in all of them.
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  And then we never really talked about it again.
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  And a month ago a man came up to me and he had read this whole
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  book in one week. He was so excited about it and
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  he said to me, I'm sure you know this and I'm sure you probably
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  put some thought into this, but did you know that it says in
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  every chapter, Jesus Christ is your strength?
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  And I didn't know that the editor had really done it, but I
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  was so happy. And so I'm going to give you a
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  clue in this chapter where it is.
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  But as you're doing the read a thon, you might want to be
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  watching for that in every single chapter.
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  As we go in this this chapter, it says this at the bottom of
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  Page 1. He is your strength.
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  That's what it says in this chapter.
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  He is your strength. But as you're reading, if you'll
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  just look through every chapter, you're going to find something
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  really similar to Jesus Christ is your strength.
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  And don't you think it's going to be so fun to watch for that
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  the whole. Summer, it's like your talk of.
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  Course, yes, it's my favorite part of this book.
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  And, and as you look at these pictures of Jesus on the cover,
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  just a reminder that this is one of the places we can turn for
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  strength to, to hear words from prophets and apostles and to
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  help us understand better the principles, the eternal truths,
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  and the invitations and the promised blessings that come
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  from the Lord through his Scripture.
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  And we're so grateful for that. Yes, Amen.
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  I will add that I cannot imagine my life without this line of
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  communication with Heavenly Father.
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  Can you? No.
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  Yes, so. Even on those nights when you
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  think, can I really pray, I don't feel like praying or you
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  feel like this is the same thing I was repenting of last night or
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  the week before. He wants to hear from you.
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  Turn to your Father in heaven. Oh, that's so good.
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  We love you. I hope you know that we love you
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  so much. And we'll be back again next
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  month and we'll be talking about all of our reading between now
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  and then. Yes.
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  Bye bye, bye bye. Love you.