The Right Words in the Right Place at the Right Time

A few years ago, I was talking with a new friend who was investigating the Church. Her backstory was long and complicated, but it was obvious that she and her husband were faithful and progressing toward joining the Church. In the course of conversation, this friend told me how wonderful the Church was. She said that over the years, she’d been to many different churches, but that nowhere were the people as good and loving and friendly as in ours. I responded that I was flattered, that I was glad she felt that way; but I cautioned her that if she were planning to join the Church because of the people, she’d be better off not getting baptized at all.

She seemed a bit shocked, but I continued: if and when she joined the Church, she’d better do it because she loved her Savior and wanted to follow Him. I promised her that someday—maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday—one of those great people was going to really piss her off. It might be a bishop, it might the woman sitting next to her in Relief Society, it might even be me, but it would definitely be someone. And when that day came, she’d have a choice to make: she could remain faithful, or she could let someone come between her and God. “And remember,“ I told her, “if someone’s between you and God, that person’s closer to Him than you are.”

About a month later, her husband and she were both baptized into the Church. Shortly thereafter, his work situation changed and they moved to Germany. Their time in our ward was brief, but obviously very meaningful.

Maybe a year and a half ago, this wonderful sister and her husband came back to our area for a visit. It happened to be testimony meeting, so she stood up and addressed the congregation. I was surprised to hear her telling the above story—one I remembered well, but was now hearing from her point of view. She couldn’t remember with whom she’d had the conversation, but she said my prediction had most certainly come true. Not tremendously long after moving to Germany, her hard-nosed bishop made a decision with which she vehemently disagreed. She initially decided never to return to church, but then she remembered what someone had told her, a few weeks before her baptism. She decided to take that advice and fall back on her testimony. She loved her Savior, and that was what ultimately mattered.

It sometimes amazes me how the Lord will prompt us to say just the right thing at just the right time, and I’m humbled that He saw fit to use me to further His work in His daughter’s life. Despite always trying to friend new investigators, I’m not sure I’ve ever shared this counsel with anyone else, and I don’t know that I ever will. It was absolutely for her, and I now know she took it in the way it was intended.