Come Back Podcast
By Ashly Stone
If you have a story of coming back email ashly.comebackpodcast@gmail.com
for business inquiries email lauren.comebackpodcast@gmail.com
Come Back PodcastApr 28, 2024
After experiencing the loss of his young son, Jason quit going to church. He suffered years of hardship, eventually leading him back to the temple with his family.
"We need to learn how to let go of those things. We can't focus on the bad things. We have to move along. We have to move forward. It is hard. It is very, very hard. It's very challenging, but it's not impossible. I can tell you that it's not impossible. For those of you that are struggling with your testimonies and are questioning things about the church, ask Heavenly Father. You've got to get it from the direct source. Don't go looking at videos and don't go talking to people that you're not sure of. Just get down and ask God, because he will tell you and he has his own ways of telling you. It may not be something huge. He may not open the heavens to you with all this dramatic stuff that some of us are looking for. Sometimes it takes that one little small, tiny, still voice to resonate in our soul."
Joanne's marriage was failing, turning back to Jesus Christ gave her strength and the enlightenment she needed to change her life.
"I would tell my mom, it's just so enlightening. That's the only word I could think of when I would talk to her, that it's so enlightening. So I'm doing all these things, and everything at home is a big fat mess. But everything I was learning at church just all made sense. And it's funny because I had learned those things before, but now it was different because I was trying to gain my own testimony. Everything just clicked for me, the restoration made sense and I wanted to learn more. I really wanted the husband to go on this journey with me, but he just wasn't really having it. So things got pretty bad where I felt like he needed to move out. I remember every step I would take, I would pray like, 'okay, Heavenly Father, I think this is the right thing. I'm going to do it unless you tell me not to,' is usually how I would approach it. And every time I did that, it was almost right afterwards I would get some kind of confirmation blessing that told me yes."
https://www.plantwhys.com/free-1-week-meal-guide
Despite having witnesses of God's love at a young age, Lance started struggling with his testimony as an elders quorum president. How focusing on the basics brought him clarity.
"In the New Testament there is a story where Jesus heals a blind man and it says: Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. That's how it was for me, all the sudden it just hit me and I thought: I can't explain all these things, all I can say is I have felt God's love, I have felt Jesus's love and I have felt forgiven for my sins. I have felt the joy that comes from being able to change. I can't explain all these things, I can only know what has happened to me."
Happy Conference Weekend - A short message for our listeners
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Scripture Central's Neal Rappleye tells the come back story of Martin Harris, one of three witnesses of The Book of Mormon
"He comes back and he doesn't know everything, he doesn't know the doctrine super well. But he has a powerful testimony that he can bear and he can share with people. A little while later he and some of the brethren in Salt Lake decide to go on a carriage ride up the eastern bench of the mountains. They decide to pull the curtains on the carriage so that they can see out the window and see the view. And when that happens, Martin sees the valley lying before him, he sees everything that's been built up, and all the saints and how large of a population is out there, and he is just stunned by it. Martin's been spending all his time in this little podunk town, Kirtland, where there's hardly anyone who will take him seriously and listen to his testimony. Then he has this reaction where he says, 'who would have thought the Book of Mormon could do all this?'" https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/author/Rappleye,%20Neal https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/tags/martin-harris https://evidencecentral.org/evidence/martin-harris https://witnessesofthebookofmormon.org/three-witnesses/martin-harris/
Scott and Melissa got married with the intent to never be active members in the LDS church - until they began drawing closer to their Savior and were led back.
I started to get promptings and I was like, 'I'm going to go read the Bible at the temple.' I still had no inclination of going back to the church. Zero. So why did that make sense to me? I don't know. But I went to the temple and parked in the parking lot and just read my Bible at five in the morning. There was one morning when I was just reading the Bible in the temple parking lot and had words in my mind that I knew weren't mine. It just said, 'you need to go to the temple.' And I was like, 'God, I hear you, but what other churches have temples? Because that's not the one that I want to go to.' But I was like, message received. Then it took some time, and I started to feel promptings that I should open the Book of Mormon. This was all in secret because I knew that Melissa wouldn't approve or that it would upset her. So I was reading the Book of Mormon and then at some point this really strong witness came that this was the church that I needed to be going to."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rte6B5TyT0
https://www.plantwhys.com/free-1-week-meal-guide
Shannah grew up in an unstable environment and left the church at a young age. Fifteen years later she re-enters the waters of baptism.
"The community is really awesome and going to school is really awesome. But I'm happier now because I have a healed, happy, healthy, strong relationship with Jesus Christ and with Heavenly Father. I have peace in a way I never had before. I did a lot of healing from my traumas on my own in secular therapy but this has brought me beyond healing, it's brought me to hope and trust. That's why I'm happier, it's just been so amazing. The saying is true, you do become a new creature in Christ. I still look at the things I'm doing and am surprised."
A mother/daughter duo - Laura and Chelsea share their journey as Laura returns to the church after watching her daughter, Chelsea, convert.
"I just had the desire. I thought in order to be baptized, that I had to know everything about the religion. Just like I told her "you gotta know, you better know." So I wasn't planning on getting baptized so quickly until I read Alma 32:27. It says you just have to have a desire and God will do the rest. And I was like, I have a desire, I really do. I have felt so good about this. I've been going from summertime until April. I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon in January so by April I was devouring it. I was mind blown by all of the truths. I couldn't believe it. I love the Book of Mormon. It's amazing! It's so relatable, you know, to your life. You can just see yourself."
Dallyn was exposed to anti content on his mission, since then he has spent a lot of time reading everything he could find. Why he chooses to stay despite the naysayers.
"When I compared what I heard from the antagonistic point of view to what I saw in my wife or my children or my parents or my brothers or in my bishopric or the relief society presidency. When I compared what everyone was saying on the antagonistic side of the coin to everything I saw in real life. It didn't make sense .They were saying such terrible, horrible things, but I'm like everything I'm seeing is good. I'm not seeing perfection. But everywhere I look, I look at all my brothers and they don't cast stones. They don't teach to be against any group of people or anything. They're just loving and kind with their fair share of mistakes and with their fair share of issues."
Aubrey's postpartum depression was so severe she felt she was losing everything she loved, then Christ came and lifted her back up.
"I felt so confused. I would listen to something that was negative and then I'd listen to something that was positive for the church. And it felt like I couldn't be in the right mindset to fully grasp what they were talking about. So I needed to just turn it all off and go directly to the scriptures and Heavenly Father. That is where I found absolute truth, it was in the source. Even this conversation, this can be a beautiful spiritual conversation you and I have, but if someone is actually just questioning and none of this is helpful to hear, then turn me off, turn my voice off and go directly to Heavenly Father and talk to Him. He is our truth, He knows the truth of everything. So instead of trying to seek for truth here or there, I would just turn it off and go directly to Him."
https://www.aubreygrossen.com/
https://www.amazon.com/He-Came-Me-Stories-Modern-Day/dp/B0C6BXJ3F8
At a young age Julio struggled to reconcile being gay and an active member of the LDS church. After living an alternative lifestyle, he turns to Christ and his heart is transformed.
"Jesus' first miracle was to transform water into wine. It was almost a foreshadowing of what He can do. He can transform things, He can transform people. I feel like that's what He's done with my life. Not about being gay -- it's never been just about that. But going from pride and not knowing, to knowing good from evil and becoming perhaps a little bit more humble than I was back then. I just love the teachings of the church around family, without that, I would not have even tried to have a family."
https://youtu.be/i7gfejDrdn8?si=MPfYluHfW1c3DNPw
https://www.northstarsaints.org/
ACT IN DOCTRINE by Elder Bednar
After leaving the church, Elise felt misunderstood. How God reached out, softened her heart and helped her marriage.
"For anyone who has left and even has the smallest desire to come back, one thing that I would say to you is: I could have left my marriage and maybe I could have healed. But me healing within my marriage was like nothing else. I don't know that I could have healed another way. Sometimes people need to come back to heal within the church; maybe they feel like the church broke them and the church caused them a lot of pain. I see that, but that might be just the place that you could come back to. And if you can heal there, it's such a deep part of us, and if you can come back there to heal, it's like nothing else."
Growing up Hayden's family was in and out of the gospel. As he began experiencing difficulties in his new marriage he learned the importance of making and keeping covenants.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"Once I got to the celestial room I was just sitting and thought 'I am ready, 100% if you tell me to do something I will do it.' I sat there for 20-30 minutes and nothing was coming to me. At this point I was beginning to remember what the Spirit felt like and what promptings felt like because I had experienced a lot of that on my mission. After sitting there for 45 minutes all of a sudden it was like a bus and boom I heard 'You need to be in the church, I have a lot of plans for you, you need to be here.' It was like a light switch after that, I had conviction not just in school but in every part of my life. Things I had never been able to accomplish before I was now able to do."
Stephen Murphy left the church after being exposed to anti-Mormon content. After much studying and researching, he returned.
"I remember my dad, he sent me an apologetic video -- initially I was like 'dad I don't want to listen to this pseudo scholarship, this mental gymnastics the church isn't what it claims to be, come on give it a rest.' He was like just watch it. I sort of recognized that I'm not being very open-minded, I'm not willing to listen. I'd already come to a firm conclusion so I was like fine I'll watch it. It was by a guy called Bruce Porter and it was about the connections and correspondences and parallels between our temple endowment and ancient Egyptian temple rituals. If I'm being intellectually honest and consistent, just as I couldn't deny that there are things which are similar - if not identical, between a Masonic ritual and the temple endowment, there were things which correspond quite well. So I was like, 'okay, I can understand why a true believer they might think that the temple endowment is like a restoration of an ancient temple ritual.' So that sort of sparked some curiosity and I started to explore more evidence for things like this."
Check out his channel: https://www.youtube.com/ @mormonismwiththemurph
David Alexander grew up Christian but found most faiths to be unfulfilling. After searching for 47 years he found the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and was baptized.
"From then on, I'd listen to conference talks, I'd been studying the Bible and just trying to sort everything out. All these bombs would be going off in my heart -- where everything that I'd learned for 47 years just melted seamlessly into the restoration. It's just the most amazing thing, beyond human understanding as far as I'm concerned. It's like a class triple A miracle! I haven't even scratched the surface of the vastness of the Restoration! As soon as I really humbled myself it just began to open up to me. It still took me another two months after that before faith completely came to me and I heard powerfully and definitively in my heart that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God."
https://www.youtube.com/@davidmalvinalexander
What is the CES Letter and why you shouldn't let it shake your faith | Q&A with Sarah Allen
"How I handle things when I have questions is I do my own studying and I look at things from different sides, but I always lean on Heavenly Father, I always keep Him in the loop. I always tell Him what I am questioning, what I am struggling with and He always points me to sources that help. Sometimes it takes a while, the answers don't always come right away. But He always points me to something that helps me understand things or helps me feel at peace about it even if I don't fully understand it."
PSA: The Letter For My Wife is another anti LDS document that Sarah is writing a rebuttal to on FAIR
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Sarah_Allen_CES_Response_Posts
Unexpected pain and loss led Susan to leave the church, after 15 years away she returned.
"There were a lot of small steps along the way, and then one day I had a revelation. A voice came to my head, it was my first spiritual experience in 15 years and it said: "your family needs you, it's time for you to go back to the church." And I just said who are you? But I knew what I heard and I knew what had happened and it was a faith filled journey from there. I had to rethink things again. One thing I thought about was the story of Rip Van Winkle. It was like all the sudden I woke up and thought how did I get here? What am I doing on the side lines? Why am I not in the church anymore? I just felt upside down."
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/waiting-for-the-prodigal?lang=eng
Josh's faith crisis began during law school and progressed as he began practicing law. After many years of reconstructing he shares his wisdom and powerful testimony of the Savior's church.
"A faith journey is a long conversation. One of the things that gave me great comfort when I came back to the church was reading the story of Abraham. The father of the three western religions would sometimes go decades between spiritual manifestations. If Abraham is going decades between spiritual manifestations, you might go decades too and that's ok. Remember that it is a long process, the sooner you can get back to having the faith of a child the shorter your faith crisis is going to be because those spiritual manifestations are real."
Aaron opens up about his struggles with addiction stemming from his parents' divorce and how he used the atonement to heal.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"I was able to bring suppressed memories to the surface, deal with it as an adult, go back and forgive my mom and forgive myself. That was when real healing began. If you are holding a grudge against someone -- no matter how bad it was -- number one you have to forgive them, or else you will get eaten up. You aren't hurting anyone but yourself if you're not forgiving someone. Number two pray, and God will guide you on how to do that. That is where healing came, it was still a process and work but then I was able to deal with committing to someone and not running. I no longer had the desire to use women anymore because I had dealt with that."
After many years of struggling with alcohol abuse, Kayci - a single mom, returned to the church
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"Coming back has really given me insight on where I want to be and who I want to be. Navigating my life through some of these changes is going to take some time. I can always hit my knees in prayer, it doesn't matter where I am, I find myself praying all the time."
Mark lived a picture perfect life until he fell into temptations in adulthood. After stealing from his work he surrendered to the Lord and completely changed his life.
"Besides my family leaving me, my life couldn't get any worse. I had hit rock bottom. I met with my bishop and stake president -- in my mind I had strayed too far from the path. I just couldn't see myself becoming the person that I once was. The missionary I was, bearing testimony of Jesus, bringing people to Jesus, and being worthy to exercise the priesthood. It just seemed too distant. But they said I could be clean through the atonement of our savior, Jesus Christ and I could come back from this. I believed them and I had hope in what they said, that's all I had to go on was hope."
With Jen's faith in Christ, her life was changed from being a homeless meth addict to helping others.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"There is a song by David Archuleta called Glorious and he talks about how we all have times in our life where we feel aimless and we can't see where we belong and we can't see where we fit. That life is this beautiful symphony we all have parts that we contribute to make that melody the masterpiece that it is. If you haven't figured out your part yet then just keep listening, you will figure it out. In that moment I translated that to stay on the planet a little longer, you haven't figured out what your part is yet. So I decided I would give this prayer thing a chance. I drove my truck to my storage unit that I was living in and turned off the car. I turned to God as if He was sitting in the seat next to me and I just started pouring my heart out to Him."
https://turtleshelterproject.org https://instagram.com/turtleshelterproject?igshid=MTNiYzNiMzkwZA== https://www.facebook.com/turtleshelterproject
Matt shares his struggles of overcoming rejection when he converted to the church as a young adult, as well as overcoming challenging things he since learned within church history.
"I may be crazy, but I'm not crazy because I joined the church, it is one of the few good decisions that I have made in my life. I have investigated everything I can find about the church. I've read every negative publication that is noteworthy, I've listened to people share their exit stories. The only reason that I am here is because it is true, The reason I know it is true is because of the experiences that I have had. I hope if someone is thinking about coming back, just do it. Your life will be better, your posterity will thank you for making it through the hard times. I believe all the Church's truth claims. I am happy to be here and that I am still a member going to church."
Alayna's mission ended abruptly due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. She found healing and closure as she returned to visit two years later.
"Remember all those miracles and the steps you had to take that you made it through to get where you are now? The same God who called me to Spain, called me home. My Heavenly Father knows me so much and so personally, He knew I wanted to go to Spain. He knew I needed to meet the people that I met. He has shown again and again throughout my life the truth that I am His daughter and that He knows me personally and that He loves me. That was this thought I held onto the most."
Justin's struggles took a toll on his growing family. After realizing what is most important, he was able to turn his heart to Jesus Christ and get his family back.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I still remember the very day that I was with my family again for the first time when my wife decided that was ok. We went to Hogle Zoo in the dead of winter in January. It was one of the most beautiful memories I have ever had. I can still picture it so vividly. We were almost the only ones at the zoo, the snow was lightly falling, and it was such a spiritual and beautiful moment. I looked at my wife and my two boys and I was thinking I know this is what I want. I started to have that celestial mindset which shifted my whole perspective on life and how I live it now."
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinbrey?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app https://hearebrotherhood.app.link/J3QAubu7fDb
Kevin opens up about his struggles with addiction and how his life journey has strengthened his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"100% I have not lived the principles of this church, but I do my best where I stand now to lift where I stand. Even if the principles of this church weren't true I'm better off by observing the law of tithing, I'm better off by bettering my health, I'm better off by attending church, and I'm better off by doing things that benefit others like be kind, be human, and be respectful."
Eric's experience rebuilding his faith, beginning with the prophet Joseph Smith.
"I had this amazing experience where I looked at this little stone that said "here is where Joseph Smith was born." I had the most peaceful, beautiful experience where I could feel God's love for Joseph Smith, just the love that he was a child of God and that God loved him. That was such a balm to my soul. Then I was able to go back throughout the years and build back this extremely strong testimony of how God calls prophets."
https://www.youtube.com/@themenwholovegod/featured
Emily's battle with cancer strengthened her testimony of The Book of Mormon and her relationship with her savior, Jesus Christ.
"After chemo so much of what I thought was my identity was gone. I needed to know who I was. I feel like there is so much power in knowing where we came from and why we are here on earth and where we are going in the next life. It means so much to me."
Tawnyas' scrupulosity impacts every aspect of her life. How she has learned to rely on her Savior for strength.
"Everything became so muddled and I became so confused. Had it not been for the experiences I had I could not have lasted, I would not have made it. Because I knew God exists. I had taken those things out of the box and looked at them and said yes I know He is there, I know He loves me. That is one for sure I could put on display on my shelf."
Maxine, a historian and theologian, was excommunicated after publishing a book about early Mormon feminism. After years of studying other religions she was rebaptized into the LDS church.
"I had been serving in a private chapel for 13 years and when I came back into the ward and sat there and felt the Spirit of the body of Christ in that ward I just started sobbing, I couldn't stop crying. It felt like I was immersed in an ocean of love and light because the body of Christ is so alive in Mormonism and in sacrament meeting."
Kenna grew up in the LDS church and experienced abuse from priesthood holders. This led to trauma that drew her away from the church, until she began to see God's hand guiding her back.
"Loving people that are different from us is what it's about. We are not here to perfect anyone else. We are here to become perfected in Christ and learn of Him, and feel His love, and one of the best ways that I have felt His love and continue to feel His love is by loving other people."
Season 1 Wrap Up - We love our Come Back Family
Hey there! This episode is going to be a bit different than what you are used to. Ashly explains the exciting things that we have coming for season 2! We have been working really hard on some new things and will be taking a short break. In the meantime head over to our Instagram page and check out the giveaway that we are doing this week. It ends Wednesday, September 6th 2023 and is a chance to win our entire book club collection plus a print of your choice from our sponsor Jesus Is The Christ Prints! Thanks for helping us build this wonderful community, we love you guys!
Andrew left the church after feelings of rejection by fellow members. Through the Spirit of Christ he was drawn back.
"Actively go out of your way to show your LGBTQ children that you love them, be patient with them whether they have told you about their life 10 years ago or 5 minutes ago, it is because they want you on their path. You're better off loving them and listening to them."
Hannah gradually went inactive as a young adult. After experiencing many hardships, she found herself being fellowshipped back by her friends and family.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"I am so grateful for the fact that I have a family that cared enough about me to keep in contact with me even though I didn't keep in contact with them. And the people in my life that could see I was struggling and still made the effort to be a part of my life. I am eternally grateful for them because I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have those people in my life that made an effort."
Missy lived a tumultuous life of addiction until she turned her life over to God and returned to her faith.
"I have felt the atonement take a burden off of my shoulders and literally remove it. It is a weight I didn't even realize I had been carrying. It was a freedom and a light in my life that I had lived so long without. When you have a moment or experience like that and when you walk in darkness and then come into the light, there is no going back."
In three months, Landon went from being an influential member of the anti-mormon community, to baptizing two of his daughters.
"I still don't know why stuff has happened the way that it has happened. But that feeling I had when I walked out of that meeting with my bishop - it wasn't just like 'yeah maybe I will go back I haven't felt the spirit in a while.' No, I was both feet in going to Deseret Book to buy garments. It all came flooding back. Whatever he wanted me to do I was in."
Life was good for Shane and his young family, but after experiencing health issues he found himself on his knees and rediscovering his faith
"One day I get on my knees and say, "God I'm all in, but I cannot not drink a beer again or give 10% of my money and wear garments if I don't know. I promise I will help bring people to you and be all in but I have got to know. A few weeks later I was having a hard time again and I walked into the bathroom and saw the Book of Mormon sitting there. As soon as I see it I have this thought very clear and very strong "the answers to all the problems in your life are in that book." It was super powerful and hit me hard, My feelings of sadness went away and I could tell that was God talking to me - that was personal revelation."
After partying through High School and College, Brooke desperately needed change. She turned toward her Savior and found the light she needed in her life
"Even though I was by myself going to church, looking back on it, I don't even remember being alone. I didn't feel alone during this entire process of turning back to Him; I wasn't feeling alone anymore and I wasn't scared to go by myself. I got my recommend back and I went to the temple by myself and I never felt alone. I ended up being the happiest I had ever been. I was so excited to have that light come back within me. I just wanted to scream from the rooftops: 'I feel changed, I feel whole!'"
After returning to the faith she was brought up in, Katie shares her experience going through a divorce and being a single mom in the church
"I will never forget my kids being dressed in all white and being brought to us at the altar. It will always be one of the most amazing moments of my life because I knew we were going to be together forever."
Wendi's experience living in a marriage with her spouse in a faith crisis. Her advice on how to navigate the complexities while still respecting boundaries.
"Statistically everything was against us at that point. I knew that I would never leave the church because of the spiritual experiences that I had. I had no doubt in my mind I could never give up Christ, the Church, and Heavenly Father and all my knowledge and testimony. I can't give it up, I can't give Joseph Smith up."
Kyle's journey through his struggles and triumphs as he experiences tragedy at a young age. His testimony of God the Father and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"These miracles that I have had in my life will never lead me astray from the church again. I cannot deny these things and it is because of the strength and relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father."
How Hannah's struggle with Scrupulosity led her to a faith crisis and how she was able to come out stronger on the other side.
"There are going to be things that we don't know, whether it has to do with policies or church history, we may. never have the answers. But that doesn't mean we need to throw away the things that we do know."
Trevor came back after years of struggling for a direction in life - his inspiring testimony of Jesus Christ
"They sang this song called 'Jesus Comes to Fight For Me' and when I heard that song it was the first time I had felt the spirit in ten years. It was very emotional for me. I had not felt the spirit for a really long time and had been through many trials and tribulations. I was lost and to feel that again was rewarding and it meant there was something out there, that being sober was going to be ok, and that eventually everything would be ok."
Mandy's powerful conversion and how she found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the help of so many around her.
"I ran track so I would go on long runs out in the country by myself. On one run I had stopped to walk for a little bit and I could feel God's presence. I just knew God was trying to say something to me. I felt that He knew me and that He loved me, and that He had a plan for me. There were going to be some scary things that He was going to ask me to do, but I just had to face my fears and if I did I would find out that He was bigger than anything I was afraid of."
Jaxon struggled with many aspects of the church as a youth, but he learned the value and power of repentance from his mission, as it brought him closer to Jesus Christ.
"For the first time in my life I decided to humble myself and say a sincere prayer. I just wanted to know God, are you there? What can I do, what do I need to do? Immediately after saying that I heard a voice "you need to go back on your mission." All of the feelings of anger, frustration, and confusion that I had felt from many past years were gone. I will never forget how at peace I felt and how close to God I felt at that moment. That experience has been the bedrock for everything I have done since in the church because I know that was real."
A young woman's experience in an abusive relationship that shook her faith. Her story of healing and how it strengthened her faith in Jesus Christ when she turned to Him.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"Learn to give what you can and stick with it. There are going to be dark valleys but there is light and hope on the other side of them. We're going to have to do some work but balance that with compassion. Move forward and go back to the things that you know, that is why we are counseled to write things down."
Amber grew up in a troubled home, after finding joy reading The Book of Mormon she comes back to the church. She now volunteers with youth and loves being a foster parent.
"I love watching Jesus Christ work in the hard things. I love watching Him heal others from these hard places. I can go to the temple and feel the spirit, I know I can and I should be there. In the heavy I know I can bring my 5 loaves and 2 fishes. I have so little things that I can offer. My husband and I are in no way perfect foster parents, but our heart is there. If we bring what we have to offer to God He is going to sanctify it and he's going to make it enough."
Don Bradley, a church historian that was disillusioned by Joseph Smith, removed his records. After more studying, he discovered his faith being strengthened and returned to the LDS church.
"I was seeing all these things where I was like 'Wow - what is the Nauvoo endowment doing in the Book of Mormon?' I had been convinced that Joseph Smith didn't know anything about the endowment until he became a freemason in 1842, instead I was seeing it all over the Book of Mormon. I was seeing it in accounts of Joseph Smith's first vision and acquiring his seer stone. I was seeing it in the accounts of the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. My mind was kind of blown."
How wrestling with questions helped Lindsi strengthen her relationship with her Savior, Jesus Christ.
Alan opens up about his struggles with mental health and infertility. His story of his return with his family and the miracles that ensued.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
"It doesn't matter if it's a baby step or if we are sprinting. He just cares that we are moving forward so that He can bless us. I was standing still and allowed dark thoughts to creep in and lose faith in my Heavenly Father. But the moment I took that step I was flooded with all these blessings."