Charity Never Faileth

Several months ago I was asked by the primary chorister in our ward if I would be able to sub for her while she was out of town with her family for a week. I don’t know how to sing nor do I know how to lead music very well, but I enthusiastically told her yes because I know first hand how hard it is to find subs for primary. The day finally came and as nervous as I was I got through that hour and loved every minute of it! After church let out as I was gathering my things one of the 10 year old girls came up to me and thanked me for doing the music and told me I did a good job. I told her thank you and that her comment was very much appreciated. She didn’t know that was my first time ever doing that  job and she certainly didn’t have to thank me for doing it, but she did and I can’t help but think that maybe she went through with a prompting she had, had to say something to me.

Later, when I got home from church as I was eating lunch I got a prompting that I should text this girl’s mom whom I know really well and tell her what her daughter said to me and how good it made me feel. I wanted to let her know that she was doing a good job raising her children. But as quick as that prompting came, I pushed it out of my head thinking it’s not a big deal that her daughter thanked me and made me feel good; people do that all the time. It’s probably something her mom would read and say “oh that’s nice” and then let it go, so I ignored the prompting even though that prompting kept coming back telling me to send the text. It wasn’t until several hours later when the kids were all in bed and Stephen and I were having our quality time together that this thought kept coming back, so I got my phone out and sent a text to this mother—my friend letting her know what her 10 year old daughter said to me and how good it made me feel. Then I ended my text with the words “you’re doing it right.” I wasn’t expecting a text in return so I put my phone away so I could continue spending time with Stephen. My conscience was finally at ease.

Two days later I get a lengthy text back from my friend telling me that the message she received from me was divine. A week prior to this she had caught someone else’s child being kind so she snapped a picture and sent it to the mother to tell her she was raising her children right and as she typed her message she thought to herself “Will I ever get such a message that my child was doing something good to know that I am doing it right?” And then she received my text about her daughter. She said she didn’t know why I chose to use those exacted words “you’re doing it right” at the end of my text, but by doing so she knew it was a message from heaven. Now I know why I was prompted to send that text! I wrestled that whole day whether or not I should have sent it, brushing off that still small voice telling me to do so. I am so glad I decided to do it even though I didn’t do it right away I’ll know next time to just do it.

About a month ago in Relief Society we were to study the talk given by Michele D. Craig called “Divine Discontent” from the women’s session of conference last year. In it she referenced a story from sister Bonnie D. Parkin several years ago about a woman named Susan who was an excellent seamstress. She had just received some nice fabric from her father who had been traveling. She noticed one Sunday that President Kimball was wearing a new suit and thought “I could make a tie with my new fabric that would go really well with his suit.” So she made the tie and put it in a box and went to the prophet’s house. As she neared the door doubt started to settle in and she thought to herself, “who am I to make a tie for the prophet? He probably has lots of ties and doesn’t need mine” as Susan turned away from the door to go back home sister Kimball opened the door and said hello. Susan stumbled as she tried telling her why was there. Sister kimball stopped her, took hold of Susan’s shoulders and said, “Never suppress a generous thought.”

I loved what sister Craig said next so here is a quote from her talk: “I love that! “Never suppress a generous thought.” Sometimes when I have an impression to do something for someone, I wonder if it was a prompting or just my own thoughts. But I am reminded that “that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”
Whether they are direct promptings or just impulses to help, a good deed is never wasted, for “charity never faileth”—and is never the wrong response.”

I love that! And I loved this story because it reiterated my feelings and my experience I had all those months ago. Even though my prompting was a small gesture it made a big impact on the person it was made for. You never know what someone might need. And I know those few seconds directly after a prompting is the only window that satan has to convince you that what you heard or thought is wrong, and he entices us to forget about it or brush it off. It is always better to do a kind a deed whether or not you might feel silly than to do nothing at all. That is how satan works—little by little and he’s really good at making us doubt ourselves. Since then I have tried my best to make sure whenever I have a thought or prompting to do something I do it in a timely manner no matter how out of my comfort zone it is.