Episode 266: The answered prayer continuum & asking Elder Renlund a question

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Okay. I just got  back from being in Utah for most of last week, and I thought it would be fun to share some of my spiritual high highlights, and then also some of my lows and what I was dealing with last week. And most of all, share with you this once in a lifetime opportunity that I had to have a conversation with someone that's a leader, not just a leader in our church, but we believe that there are 12 apostles on the earth now.

Just like there were at the time that Jesus lived on the earth. And so I got to speak to privately, just to have a conversation with an apostle of Jesus Christ or a special witness of Jesus Christ. So I'm going to share that conversation. It was really special. And I got to ask him about the thing that I've been struggling with the most.

Recently, but first I just wanna start off with some of the chain of events that happened this week because they were really cool to witness and I've been trying to come up with a phrase, like a good term that would, you know, encapsulate everything that I experienced and witnessed. And so the best I could come up with was the answered prayer continuum, because what I saw was different people being an answer to other people's prayers.

Certain people being an answer to my prayer and then me being able to be an answer to someone else's prayer It was just really cool. So starting out I got to Utah and I ended up staying with my friend Lindsay the first night because she lives in Utah County and I had things going on the first night and then the next very next morning in Utah County and so It wouldn't have made a lot of sense for me to drive all the way up to Bountiful where my parents live and then all the way back down So Lindsay was so gracious and had me stay with her and the next day, so the next morning after I got there, she had invited this woman named Shauna over who, I met Lindsay and me when we spoke at an international women's day event in LA a few weeks ago, and it was such a cool event.

It was like for all these consul generals from all around the world. But anyway, this woman, Shauna is involved in the film industry or her husband is, and um, she was going to meet with Lindsay and kind of talk to Lindsay about some of the things that she's been up to because Lindsay is, is starting this incredible fund, um, film funding.

Well, a film fund. Yeah. This is still kind of a new world to me, but a film fund. That's what she was starting or is starting, has started. So this woman, Shauna came over and Lindsay, um, got stuck in a meeting. So she wasn't quite there yet. And then, so Shauna and I sat down at Lindsay's kitchen table and just were chatting and talking.

And then when Lindsay came, they started talking about, you know, the things that they were up to and different ways that maybe they could work together. And Shauna just looks at Lindsay and says, I'm supposed to help you. That's why I'm here is because I'm supposed to help you and they were able to talk about a couple of different projects that align perfectly with both of their goals and values and things that they like really care about causes that they really care about.

And it was just such a cool moment to sit there and witness these two women having this moment where Lindsay said to her, I've been praying for this. I have been praying for some kind of answer or something to come into my life to fill this last gap in how we were going to complete this one really important project.

So I just watching that, feeling the spirit, seeing. These women tear up and seeing the miracle of one person praying for something and another person receiving the answer all in front of me was such a cool thing to witness. And I just loved how Shauna boldly declared like, I'm here to help you. I am supposed to help you.

That's why I'm here. Cause Lindsay is such a kind person. And she was like, well, how can I help you? And Shauna was like, no, I'm here because I'm supposed to help you. And that was so cool to me to just see that. And so anyway, a few days later, I, I was getting ready to speak. So I spoke last week at BYU Women's Conference and then also at the Utah Coalition Against Pornography.

And I got to hear all of these really, really cool talks at BYU Women's Conference. Everything from You know, how to tap into your divine destiny and who you are, um, to my mom spoke on this really fun panel about friendship and how to have genuine friendship and how to never assume that someone has all these friends if you think that they're like really outgoing and successful.

And she told this story of how one of her friends in this recipe club was this very successful lawyer, you know, very like. Outward, um, appeared to have it all very confident, very well spoken, and they were planning when they were going to have their next recipe club, you know, trying to get everybody's calendars aligned.

And this friend of hers, Tinker said, I can do it anytime because I don't have anything else going on. You guys are all I have. You're this this is my friends like this group of women These are my friends and you guys are all I have and so my mom just talked about how important it is to not Make assumptions about like oh this person who seems like they have it all or they have so many friends or whatever They probably wouldn't want to hang out with me or they probably don't need friends when like oh Really, most people always need a friend.

So, that was really cool to hear that and to be able to just feel like my cup was getting filled with all of these spiritually enlightening and inspiring and soul filling talks and messages.

So the next prayer answered. That really was my prayer happened and it was the night before I was supposed to speak at women's conference and I started getting text messages from the organizer of the Utah Coalition Against Pornography and There were some issues with the slides that I had presented and what they were okay with and so we started going back and forth And I started to feel really frustrated and discouraged about like, okay I don't know if these guys are going I don't know if the people who are putting this on are going to like me or want me because they were asking me to make changes that I was like, if I, if I take all of this out, then it's not who I really am.

So we started going back and forth and I started to feel kind of pressured to maybe, you know, you know, conform to what I was being asked to conform to do. And in the middle of that, my dear friend, Billy, who was in Hawaii at the time with her family, sends me this cloud picture. We have this thing in our friendship where we will see things in clouds.

Like I had this really beautiful experience when I was at her house a year ago, last May, where I took this picture and On my way home, I saw a dove. It's very clear. Like you can see the dove in the clouds. It's so beautiful. And then the last day that I was there at her house, I was out in the ocean, just like floating in the ocean and talking to God and praying.

And these three doves flew over the ocean. And so then for me to see that in the cloud picture on the way home on, in, um, inside the airplane, it was just like this really beautiful moment for me. And then I had it. N. unbelievable, incredible cloud picture in Hawaii moment where I took a picture of the Laie temple and there was like this very crystal clear picture of Jesus Christ above the temple.

I mean, it's unbelievable. And I have it on my Instagram. If you go to at current Stokoe, you can go see that if you scroll down just a little bit, cause I reposted it around Easter, but you can see this very clear outline of Jesus Christ. Right above the Laie Temple and it's so special. So anyway, that very night as I'm just getting these text messages and trying to sort through this and be, you know, agreeable because it is their event and I wanted to, you know, follow their guidelines, but also be true to who I am and really what it boiled down to was being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and not filtering that out or not being so worried about.

Being accepted by everyone and being so non denominational that. I wasn't being my true self. And so we were working through that and some of the different requests that I was getting and, you know, just feeling discouraged and feeling like, okay, how far should I go with this? And, and how much of this is acceptable versus where do I draw the line in order for me to feel like I am being a true representative of Jesus Christ, which is.

What I feel like, not just what I feel like, but what I covenanted to do when I was baptized into this church. And so I got this temple picture from Billy. She'd been in the Laie temple. She was there with her family. And this literally the second it came through and I looked at it, I said, Oh my gosh, Jesus, I, I saw Jesus in these clouds.

And she was like, you see him? She was like, I just wanted to send you like, A cloud picture with the temple because she had just been there and she knows how much I love the temple and especially the Laie temple. So she sends me this picture and I was like, yes, I see him and I circle it and I send it back.

And then she's looking at it and she's like, I don't see it, but I love you. And I was like, Billy, you have no idea how much this means to me. And in the moment, as I'm also fielding these text messages about the Saturday conference that I was going to speak at, I didn't have time to fully explain it to her.

I But then the next morning she woke up and she was like, Corinne, I see him now. And I just was able to tell her how much it meant to me that she immediately sent that to me because it was just what I needed in this moment of frustration. And all of these things kept happening to me the last couple weeks leading up to speaking at these two events and both events I spoke about addiction recovery, pornography addiction, codependency, and How to heal from all of those things through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

And I felt a massive amount of opposition, like more opposition than I have ever felt in my life before or leading up to any other event. So, I mean, that was just getting those text messages felt like one more thing where Satan was like, I'm going to get into her head and make this feel too hard. Like too difficult.

Like, okay, you know what? Fine. I quit. And I was feeling those things until I got her picture and I saw in the clouds, I saw Jesus. And I was like, okay, that's, that's whose I am. That is whose errand I'm on. And I'm here to represent him. And I'm going to do my best. And if that means sticking it out through some of these really challenging things, I'm going to do it, even if it feels hard.

So. That was beautiful. The cloud picture. It gave me just enough to, to be like, yep, I can do this. I can go. And the next day when I spoke at BYU Women's Conference, I just felt filled with the spirit. I felt like I showed up. I was well prepared, but also I just felt like the spirit was just running through me the whole time.

And, you know, I don't know if you've had this experience, but I have experiences where I feel like the words are flowing and they're not even mine. And that was how I felt when I was speaking at BYU Women's Conference. It just felt like I was speaking with the confidence of knowing that I was testifying of Jesus Christ.

And it was so powerful for me to feel like. I was able to deliver a message, a message that's also pretty unique as far as, you know, our situation is not unique in that Neil has struggled with pornography addiction, but the fact that he's been willing to be open about it and we've openly shared our story so many times, that's what makes it really unique.

There's just not very many people who are willing to talk about that. And yet it's such a. common problem where people are struggling with pornography use in, you know, either, you know, on, on wherever you are on the pendulum, if, if that's a struggle in your life or in your marriage, you know, for some people it's less and some people it's a lot more, but either way, it's something that I think Satan loves to do.

To just worm his way into our marriages, into our lives, and bring pornography in and just have it wreak havoc. It just creates so much chaos and hurt and pain in people's lives. And so The opportunity to talk about that and talk about it with solution, like with a focus on the solution rather than the problem, felt so powerful to me and it felt really important.

And I also think that was why I had so much opposition leading up to giving these two talks. So the BYU Women's Conference talk felt like it went really well. I was so grateful. My parents both came and supported me and. I just really felt like, too, when I pray before these things, I just pray that whoever Really needs that message will be there like I didn't need a packed, you know, to the back room I just needed the people who really needed that message to show up and to find that and I think they did I was able To have a lot of cool conversations after with people who were like, this is the message that I needed.

So the next day Or sorry, actually that night I packed up my stuff. I had stayed in a Provo Marriott hotel that, that BYU Women's Conference puts all of their speakers up in if, if you want a hotel room to stay in. So my mom and I stayed there. It was fun. We had this little sleepover and then I went back, packed up all my stuff.

And drove up to my parents house where I was going to hang out with my parents. And then my brother and his wife and their two darling little girls were all going to be there. And we got to spend time that weekend, but my brother, Jake, wasn't there quite yet. So I got up to my parents house and it was just my mom and dad and they were, hustling to get ready to go out the door to a viewing and it was a viewing of a guy who is just a little bit younger than me.

I want to say he's probably, I don't know, somewhere between like six or seven years younger than me. So probably like, you know, early 30s and he just died of a drug overdose last week, which was so heartbreaking. And this is a kid that I used to tease him. Like, I used to change your diapers, which is not true, but I did babysit him and his twin brother when they were younger.

Um, and I mean, I grew up with his family. Like our families grew up together in the same neighborhood, in the same church congregation. And so, Anyway, my parents were getting ready to go to the viewing of this kid who died and I was like, Oh, like I wasn't super close to him. And also I don't love viewings.

Like I kind of have a thing about dead bodies. And so, um, it's a fear that I've worked to come to overcome and to get over. And I've, I've come a long way, but it's still like, not my favorite thing. So I was like, Oh, I'm just going to stay and I was exhausted from speaking that day and I still had to get ready to speak the next day.

And I knew I needed to tweak my slides just a little bit to be ready for some of the changes that I agreed to for the next day. And so I told my parents at first, like, I'm just going to put on my pajamas and hang out here. Like you guys go, I'll see you when you're done. And they were like, okay, fine. So they were getting ready to go.

And I went into the guest room that I was going to stay in, went into the bathroom and was about to change into my pajamas. And the spirit said to me, you need to go. And I was like, ah, but do I, do you ever do that? When the spirit talks to you, I was like, do I really need to go though? Or is this just maybe me thinking this, or did I actually hear that?

Right. And so I kind of pushed it aside. And then probably 30 seconds later, again, the spirit said to me, you need to go to this tonight. So I was like, okay, so I come out of my bedroom, still in my dress that I had spoken in, and I told my parents, I'm supposed to go with you guys. And they were like, alright.

So, I get in the car with them, we drive to this viewing, and we walk into the church building where they were having the viewing. And I see this friend of mine who is the cousin to the guy who died and she and I are the exact same age and as kids every summer she was like the California cousin who would come visit them every summer.

And I would always get so excited when this girl Lauren would show up because we were just these buddies that only saw each other, you know, once a year or every few months or whatever. And, you know, we would, whenever she came into town, we would. Buddy up and we're friends like, you know, hanging out at church when they would come to church with us.

And, and then that followed us into adulthood, like we crossed paths in the dorms in college. And then again, when I was going through my divorce, we hung out and she was a really good, supportive, wonderful friend to me, but I haven't honestly talked to her in years. Like it has probably, I looked through my text messages and the last time.

That she and I exchanged texts were five years ago when my brother in law died, and that was just like a her reaching out and being so thoughtful, like, Hey, I'm praying for you. I'm thinking about you. I'm here for you. Um, but before that it had been, I don't know, I think it's been at least 10 or 13 or 15 years since I've seen her.

So I walked into the church building and she was sitting in the foyer and she looks up and sees me and just bursts into tears. And I, you know, I gave her a hug and then my dad gives her this big hug. Big, long bear hug. And here's, here's what was funny about that is that he thought that Lauren, who's the cousin of the guy that died was actually one of his siblings because they look so much alike.

He thought that this girl that he was hugging was one of the kids that like I grew up with, right? Like one of the siblings of the kid that died. So my dad's hugging this girl, like holding her, like thinking he's comforting one of the siblings of the kid that died. You know who he knew really well and it wasn't until later on in the conversation that he realized that he had given that big bear hug to One of his cousins one of the kid who who died his cousin Lauren But anyway, and she when when we all put that together and he realized that it was not a sibling, but a cousin, he was like, Oh, I thought you were, you know, the sister.

And she was like, it's okay. That's what I needed. I needed that hug from you. But she explained to me that when I walked in and she saw me that it was just like this tender mercy to her where You know, she didn't know anybody. I mean, imagine and this, it was like this for me when my brother in law Dave died.

If you're kind of, if you're a cousin or if even you are the spouse of a sibling who died, you're not going to know 99 percent of the people that show up to the viewing, right? Because like when my brother in law died, all of my husband, Neil's friends and family and people he had known his whole entire life showed up to.

Um, pay respects to Dave and give support to Neil and the rest of his family. And I didn't know almost any of these people. So I actually also sat in the foyer during Dave's viewing. I was in there for a minute with Neil, but then I said, I think this will be better if you can just have conversations with all these people who are showing up because they love you.

So I sat out in the foyer too. So I had done exactly what Lauren had done. And she said that she burst into tears because she saw me and it was a familiar face and all of these memories came flooding back and, and she just said that she felt. So loved because it was someone that it was kind of like I showed up for her, if that makes sense.

And I told her, Lauren, I wasn't even going to come. I was just going to stay home. I was like kind of exhausted from speaking today, but the spirit told me not just once but twice that I was supposed to come to this. And I was like, I was supposed to come for you. So it was. It was really special. We got to catch up for, I don't know, at least 45 minutes or so while we stood in line to go into the viewing and then she left and I said hi to a few people and gave some people hugs, but really I wasn't close with any of the other people.

Um, I mean, I knew them very, very well because again, we all grew up in the same neighborhood, but of all the people. That I could have shown up for that. I was there for, I was there for her, for Lauren, for the cousin who nobody else really was there to support her, if that makes sense. And so it was just such a sweet experience to be able to be the answer to someone's prayer.

So are you seeing this like kind of this angel chain of events Um, what I said a second ago, I came up with the answered prayer continuum when I was trying to kind of do some word magic and figure out something that would be cool to call this. But this answered prayer continuum is so cool because it's like a circle and people are being an answer to other people's prayers.

And so it was so cool to, to be just like a fly on the wall witness of Shauna answering Lindsay's prayer and then Billy answering my prayer. And then for me to be able to answer Lauren's prayer. And then there was one last, just absolutely beautiful prayer. Well, no, no, no. I'm going to say two more. And so the second to last one happened when I showed up the next morning to speak at the Utah coalition against pornography.

I had been praying so earnestly to try to find some direction, some guidance on what to do when you feel like Satan is just. relentlessly after you when you're trying to do something good. And this is something that so many people see when they're trying to do something good. And I've seen it in the lives of other people.

And in my own life, we did a podcast episode about it, about the resistance a few weeks ago, but this was next level. This last couple of weeks, getting ready to speak at BYU women's conference and then the Utah coalition against pornography, the audiences were bigger. The, the potential impact was bigger and.

The subject matter also, like I said a minute ago, was uniquely important because not very many people are willing to talk about these things. And, and Satan loves it when people feel hopeless, when they feel like, Oh, like this is never going to get better. There's no solution. We've tried everything.

That's where I was for so many years. And so that's the story that Neil and I are able to share or when it's just me that I'm able to share. Um, so I show up to the end, sorry, just to complete that. So, I just had been praying so many times on my knees for days and days saying, Heavenly Father, I feel like Satan is just attacking me and I cannot get rid of him.

Like what do I do? And I had spoken to some close friends about it and gotten some good advice. In fact, a friend of mine recommended this book. I'm going to pull it up. And this did really help too. My friend Tana recommended this book to me called, Look, Looking Unto Christ in Every Thought, Defeating Fear, Doubt, and Discouragement, and it's by Dennis R.

Deaton. So I was, I've been listening to it on Audible and I've listened to about half of it and it is a really, really good book. Wonderful book with so many cool insights and ways of thinking that I hadn't thought of before so that was Really helpful, but I show up to the Utah coalition against pornography to speak.

I get there an hour early I also parked like I swear in the farthest place you could possibly have parked so it took me 15 minutes to walk from the parking lot up to the room where we were speaking But luckily, because I got there an hour early, I got there about the same time that Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in our church was arriving as well.

And so I kind of just sat back at first, and he was shaking people's hands and talking to different people who had organized this event. And I, I talked to his wife for a little while and was talking to her about my parents mission call. They're going to be mission leaders or mission presidents in the Philippines for three years.

And we were talking about that and how they had served in Spain before. And I was just kind of waiting. I didn't want to be like, I didn't want to like pounce on the opportunity to talk to this apostle, but I did want to shake his hand. So I shook his hand. I'm, I asked his wife, like, do you think I could meet him?

And she was like, yes. And so she pulls him aside, Dale. She said, um, come meet Corinne. She's speaking today. So I, I shake his hand and then he got pulled away immediately, which was totally fine. Like shaking his hand was neat enough for me to be like, that's, that's like once in a lifetime, you know, to, to even, you Shake the hand of an apostle of Jesus Christ.

So, you know, that was going to be enough for me. But then I had this opportunity where he came back around and he was kind of just standing there and I was still talking to his wife and I said, Do you think I could ask him a question? She said, Sure. So she pulls him over and I said, Elder Renlund, I have to ask you.

So what you do when you feel like Satan is being relentless, I said, I feel like I can't get him off my back. And I said, I spoke at BYU Women's Conference yesterday and leading up to speaking there and then here today, I just feel like the adversary has been absolutely relentless with me. And so this is what he said.

I wanted to share it with you because I did a lot of research before having this conversation with him and I could never find something that was quite this clear. He said, I think of the first vision and the first vision in our church is where Joseph Smith went in a grove of trees to pray, to ask God which church was correct.

And he did receive this beautiful answer, but before he did, he describes how like thick darkness just enclosed around him and how he felt Satan's presence right before God and Jesus Christ appeared to him in a grove. And so. When Elder Renlund said, I think of the first vision, that's what he's talking about.

And he said, when there's opposition and when Satan is working hard, it means you're on the right track. He was like, I always know I'm on the right track when that happens. So that was comforting to me. So this was his instruction. He said, call it out. Call it out for what it is. So, you know, to even name it, that this is opposition, this is Satan trying to pull me down.

And then he said, call for heaven's help and you will receive it. If you call for heaven's help, you will get it. And then he said, Satan loves for us to feel like there's no hope and to focus on the problem. And he said, he doesn't want people to feel hope or to focus on the solution. And that's why it's so important to share these messages.

And then he told me one more time to call on heaven's help and that it would come. Amen. And so that was just a really tender experience for me and answered a prayer where I felt like I had asked God so many times and then to be able to receive that direct answer in a conversation with someone who I really honor and respect and revere as a special witness of Jesus Christ was just really, really meaningful to me.

And I felt like it was. It's totally not only a tender mercy from God, but I sat down next to this man, Jim Jardine, who introduced me right before I spoke and he said, that was payment for today. And I was like, yeah, that, that was, that was, I felt like it was God's way of, you know, giving me something that said, thank you for your, you know, for putting up with all of this to be here and to share this message.

It just felt so special to me. Um, And so then the last angel, you know, experience that I saw where someone answered another person's prayer, again, not answered prayer continuum, was when I was at my parents house, so I gave the B, um, sorry, not the BYU, but the, Utah Coalition Against Pornography. I gave that talk and I felt like it went really well and I was able to still be exactly who I was and tell people like I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and didn't feel like I had to hold that back.

And then, um, at the end I testified of the atonement of Jesus Christ and I felt really good about it. It, to be honest, it wasn't quite as powerful as the day before because the day before I had more of a focus on like, All of the spiritual elements of hope and healing, where the next day at the Utah coalition against pornography, I was asked to specifically focus on secular quotes and thoughts.

And so I did add my testimony at the end, but I just, it, it was still powerful, just wasn't exactly the same as the day before. But anyway, I felt really good about it. I felt like I showed up and I did what I was supposed to do. And I went home to my parents house that afternoon and was able to spend time with my brother and his wife and their two kids.

darling little girls. And while I was there, um, So my parents went to the funeral of that guy that died and they came home and they said, okay, the Becks are going to come over. So David Beck was, David A. Beck was my bishop. And then he was my stake president. These are like ecclesiastical leaders. Like the bishop is the local congregational leader.

And then the stake president is like, he presides over and watches over all of the bishops and all the congregations in a greater area. Like my probably, I don't know, eight to 10 different congregations. And that's a really big calling. And I think you have it for like 10 years or something. So he had been my stake president growing my bishop, then my stake president growing up.

And then he was a mission president in Rio de Janeiro when I was about middle school age. And I grew up with his kids. They, we grew up on the same street. Like they, their house was like three houses down from mine. And then when I went through my divorce many, many years ago, he counseled with my parents and with me and gave us some really great advice.

So he's a person that's had a lot of meaning in my life. He also was in the general young men's presidency in our church, which meant that he was in charge of or oversaw all of the teenage boys in our church. Worldwide church with millions of people in it. So he's had some really incredible, um, leadership positions and he's so humble and he and his wife are just such good people to the core there.

They are the kind of people who my parents were saying after like, Oh, they started, I think they said the perpetual education fund. Um, and they, he was in charge of so many huge projects. Like he was the reason all of these cool things happen and he never takes credit for it because he's just really humble.

And his, His whole thing is like Just serving God and living, you know, however he can to be an instrument in God's hands. And I so admire that and strive to be like that kind of a person. I'm not on his level yet, but I strive to be like that. And so anyway, he shows up with his wife. My parents said, Oh, the Becks are coming over.

So he shows up with his wife and they're talking to us and talking to my parents about their upcoming mission. And, uh, my parents had to ask them like six times, please give us advice. They kept saying, Oh no, you don't need any advice from us. Finally, after asking them over and over, they did give some advice to my parents, which was really cool.

But at the very end they said we brought something for you and they they showed them this one gift that they gave them Um, but then that I I could tell they have given it several times because there's like a pre printed card that says like dear and they filled it in with fosters and then it said like you know, this is a representation of the tree of life, which is So significant to so many faiths and, and also to ours.

It's something that's written about in the book of Mormon. So anyway, they gave that gift to my parents, but then they were holding this huge painting and, or you could tell it was a piece of art and they had it turned away so that we couldn't see it the whole time. And so they said, we have this painting, and it's a painting of two missionaries.

And President Beck said, when I was serving in my church callings, I really wanted a painting of two missionaries. I think he said when he was serving as a A mission president, he had commissioned someone to do this painting. Um, or maybe he just purchased the painting, but either way, it was like an original painting.

And he said, um, I have this painting and it's of two missionaries, but he said, you know, we're they just had moved or we're in the process of moving, so we're clearing some things out. And he said, I realized that these two missionaries. That are painted. They are painted, walking the streets of the Philippines.

This painting takes place in the Philippines. So he turns it around and shows it to my parents and he said, I feel like I'm supposed to give this to you. And it was just really cool where my parents, you know, both got emotional and then my dad said. I have been telling Cy, my mom, I, I have wanted specifically a painting of some kind.

We talked about having their friend, Anne Marie Oborn, who's incredibly talented, paint a picture for them. She's been commissioned by our church to paint many pictures and she's painted pictures for my family before. She's so talented, but my dad was saying like, I've been telling Sai that I wanted to get a picture before we left of two missionaries, but you know, we just haven't had the time and they've been so busy getting ready for their mission.

And so that was so special. And then there was this other special moment where my mom noticed that off to the side, so it's these two missionaries walking down like a rainy, um, a rainy street. And I'll have to ask my parents the name of the, uh, The title of the painting, but it was something like, um, the Lord prevails even through the storms or something like that, which was cool for me personally to see that messaging.

Cause it was basically what I had just talked about with Elder Renlin that morning, but anyway, there's a woman painted off to the side who has an umbrella and. A child next to her and she's painted in red and they were talking about the artists that painted this painting and they said, Oh yeah, it doesn't.

And I apologize because I don't remember the name of the artist, but they said, doesn't so and so always paint a woman in red to represent the heart of a woman? And then they, both of the backs were like, yes, that's true. So then my parents, Pointed to the painting that they have on their mantle and it's a picture of my family all of my siblings and my parents when we were younger when all of us were like, you know, growing up still in the home and we're walking toward the temple in this picture and she asked my mom or sorry, my mom asked the painter and Marie to paint my mom in a red sweater to symbolize the heart of the home is with the mother and so anyway, It just had all of this like really significant symbolism and meaning for my parents.

And that was, you know, the final of so many different prayers being answered. Like my dad had specifically prayed about and, and wanted this painting of two missionaries. And so for the Becks to show up, not knowing that with a painting of two missionaries in the Philippines was so special. It was so cool.

So anyway, one last thing that I want to tell you, that was the, the repeat theme that I just kept hearing. And I don't know if I kept hearing it because it was for me or if everybody else picked up on that, but I kept hearing people refer to this scripture that I love. This is one of my favorite scriptures in Hebrews 12, verse 12.

Two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There were so many messages where people talked about how Jesus is the author and finisher of our, of our stories and that right now we're in the middle of our story and that he is the author of our current story and also will be the finisher of our story, but the finish, like the arrival.

It's never in this life. You don't arrive. You don't finish. You don't check all the boxes and go, okay, like I've made it. And so the middle is where all the hard stuff happens. The middle is where the growth happens, which bummer kind of unfortunately means that we're just going to keep facing opposition all throughout our life.

But it also is comforting to know that we don't have to be completely perfect. This is my dear friend, Emily Snyder spoke about this on the first night of BYU women's conference, where she said that she's a work. She's perfection in progress. Like she's a work in progress and how we all are. And so I just kept hearing that theme that Jesus is the author and finisher of our stories.

So to just keep in mind that if you're feeling opposition, number one. And from. My now friend, Elder Renlund, I can say that he taught me that that usually means if you're experiencing a lot of opposition, it usually means you're on the right track and, and you're doing something that really matters. But number two, that if things are really hard and if it feels like there's just so much struggle or it feels like you can't quite, you know, perfect something or overcome something that's because you're in the middle.

None of us have arrived, none of us are at the finish line and Jesus is the author and the finisher of our stories. So if we remember that, then we can take a lot of faith and hope and comfort and knowing that he has authored our story and that he's right here with us, helping us to grow and become the people he needs us to be.

Thanks so much for listening to Mint Aero Messages. We're so grateful that you spent time with us today. Make sure you go follow us at Corinne Stokoe or at Mint Aero Messages on Instagram. And then if you have a second and you love the show, I would love it so much if you'd leave a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts.

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