🌅 HOW STILLNESS TAUGHT ME TO HEAR THE SAVIOR’S VOICE
🌅 HOW STILLNESS TAUGHT ME TO HEAR THE SAVIOR’S VOICE
🕊️ “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
📖 2 Nephi 32:3 — “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
🚶♂️ Three Months of Stillness
After spine surgery, my doctor gave me one clear commandment:
Three months of doing absolutely nothing.
No lifting, no twisting, no projects — just slow, careful walks while the bone graft heals and fuses.
The real physical therapy will come later, but for now, the work is unseen:
bones knitting, patience stretching, the spirit learning to rest.
When your body is still long enough, your spirit finally starts to move again.
That’s when I began to hear the Savior’s voice — quiet, direct, unmistakable.
💔 “Inactive,” or Finally Awake?
Since I haven’t been in church or the temple,
some in my ward assume I’ve drifted away.
But the truth is, I’ve never walked closer with the Lord.
I didn’t leave the Church out of anger.
I simply began to seek what Joseph Smith himself sought — the living Christ.
And I found that stillness often brings the very presence
that meetings can drown out.
So if that makes me “inactive,” then maybe that’s the kind of activity Heaven prefers.
🔥 The Jesus Test
Somewhere on those early morning walks, I began to measure every teaching by one question:
“Does this draw me closer to Jesus — or just deeper into the machinery of men?”
That became my compass.
The Book of Mormon passes that test.
The Nemenhah Records pass it too.
Both lead straight to the Peacemaker.
Both expose pride and warn of institutions that lose the Spirit.
What came after Joseph Smith? — that, I weigh carefully.
Even scripture foresaw that the Gentiles would one day reject the fulness of the gospel.
📜 The Warning to the Gentiles (That’s Us)
🪶 3 Nephi 16:10
“In that day shall the Gentiles sin against my gospel … and shall reject the fulness of my gospel.”
🪶 2 Nephi 28:14
“They wear stiff necks and high heads … they have all gone astray save it be a few,
who are the humble followers of Christ.”
Those prophecies weren’t about strangers.
They were about us — the modern Gentiles,
the very people who inherited the Restoration.
The Book of Mormon is our mirror;
the Nemenhah Records are the rest of the story.
🌄 What Are the Nemenhah Records?
When the shipbuilder Hagoth sailed into the north country (Alma 63:5–8),
faithful families went with him — carrying their language, covenants, and records.
They became known as the Nemenhah, a covenant people devoted to peace, consecration, and open communion with the Peacemaker.
Among them lived Corianton and Isabel.
The old account in Alma 39 painted Isabel as a harlot and Corianton as fallen,
but the Nemenhah Records tell the rest of the story.
Isabel had repented long before; she was among “the fairest and most faithful of the daughters of the Lord.”
Corianton followed her north and lived among Hagoth’s people.
There they raised a righteous lineage — lovers of truth and builders of peace.
From their line came Samuel the Lamanite,
the prophet who called a hardened nation to repentance.
Even Alma the Younger eventually left Zarahemla and walked into the wilderness —
a reminder that even prophets must sometimes relearn mercy.
The Nemenhah Records show that God’s story always continues,
and His grace always runs deeper than man’s judgment.
📖 The Book of Mormon’s True Purpose
When the Church was restored through Joseph Smith,
its greatest mission wasn’t to build an empire —
it was to bring forth the Book of Mormon.
That book was the Lord’s gift to reawaken the world to His voice again —
a second witness of Christ to prepare the humble for greater light.
And the Church did fulfill that mission.
Through its organization and industry,
the Book of Mormon went forth to “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,”
just as prophecy declared.
Even the Nemenhah Records foretold this very thing:
“Yea, in the last days shall the Gentiles build up temples unto their own glory,
but the Peacemaker shall not dwell therein,
for they shut out the humble and the poor.
Nevertheless, the Lord shall yet use them,
for they are industrious and organized,
and by their hand the record shall go forth unto all nations.”
(Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14)
That prophecy has been fulfilled.
The Lord used the restored Church to publish and spread the Book of Mormon to the world.
That was its divine commission.
But once that work was complete,
He began again to call individuals —
to walk, to listen, to hear Him directly.
The Book of Mormon was never the finish line.
It was the invitation to resume the conversation that began in Eden:
God speaking to His children, one by one.
🌿 Tradition: Living vs. Dead
Mosiah 26:1
“There were many that did not believe the tradition of their fathers.”
Tradition itself isn’t evil —
only lifeless tradition is.
Good traditions carry the Spirit;
dead ones carry dust.
🪶 Mark 7:13
“You make the word of God of none effect through your tradition.”
True religion breathes.
It listens, adapts, and follows the living Lord.
🍷 Isaiah’s “Strong Drink” — The Drunkenness of Pride
🪶 Isaiah 28:7–8
“They also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way…”
Isaiah’s warning wasn’t only about alcohol.
He foresaw leaders spiritually intoxicated with power —
prophets stumbling in pride,
priests drunk on their own authority.
Our Church boasts that it avoids wine and tobacco,
yet often sips a subtler spirit —
dependence on men instead of the Holy Ghost.
That is the wine that blinds,
and Isaiah saw it coming.
🌳 The Iron Rod Is His Voice
We’ve sung it since Primary: “Hold to the rod.”
But the rod isn’t a checklist — it’s communication.
🪶 2 Nephi 32:3
“Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
The words of Christ are more than ancient text —
they’re the living voice of the Savior through the Spirit.
That’s the real iron rod.
When He whispers, “Turn here, rest there, forgive them, speak peace,”
that’s revelation.
That’s commandment.
That’s the covenant path.
🕊️ The Nemenhah Witness
The Nemenhah echo the same truth:
“The Peacemaker calleth unto all the children of men, saying:
‘Come unto Me and hear My voice, for therein is power.’
But the Gentiles build temples unto their own glory
and shut out the poor from their doors.
Yet the Lord useth them, for they are organized,
that His word might go forth unto every nation.”
(Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14)
The Lord used the LDS Church to carry His record —
the Book of Mormon — to the world.
But now, as always, He invites each soul to hear Him directly.
The true temple isn’t built of marble;
it’s built in the heart that listens.
⚖️ The Shepherd’s Voice
🪶 Ezekiel 34:2–5
“Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?”
🪶 Ezekiel 34:16
“I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away.”
That’s what He’s doing now — seeking, gathering,
and teaching His flock to hear the Shepherd’s own voice.
🌤️ The Gift of Stillness
These months of stillness have become the greatest sermon of my life.
When you stop trying to do,
you finally start to hear.
The Savior’s voice is gentle but real.
He doesn’t need titles or buildings — just time and trust.
I’m no scholar or prophet — just a hick from the sticks learning to listen.
And if He’ll speak to me, He’ll speak to anyone.
He always has.
We just have to quiet the world long enough to recognize His tone.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” — John 10:27
That’s the gospel.
That’s the rod.
That’s the walk.
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