In this episode, learn how you can help kids find their own spiritual answers by connecting them with heaven.
Visit https://ldsbooknook.com/growing-up-unto-the-lord to read this episode's transcript.
Visit https://lizkazandzhy.com/ to learn more about the host.
OUTLINE
🔹 Growing Up Unto the Lord is a religious book by Craig Cardon (Emeritus General Authority Seventy) that was published in 2021
🔹 What it Means to Grow Up Unto the Lord
Helaman's sons, Nephi and Lehi, "began to grow up unto the Lord" even during a time of great wickedness and corruption—and we can do the same.
🔹 Teenagers: "By Divine Design, They Begin to Question"
"As a divinely appointed part of their earthly experience, [teenagers] question. They want to know for themselves rather than merely accepting what others know. .... [Adolesence] is not a time to be lamented. It is an important, essential time that is to be knowingly and faithfully embraced."
🔹 Connecting Kids with Heaven
Our role as parents and leaders is to connect kids with heaven so they can gain a testimony from the Holy Ghost.
🔹 Mission Distractions: "He Will Let You Know"
Elder Cardon asked his father for advice at the beginning of his mission, and instead of his father sharing his own advice, he taught Elder Cardon how to find the answers by seeking revelation from the Lord.
🔹 Breaking Curfew: "Did You Hear Him?"
When Elder Cardon's children would come home late, he would ask them if they had heard the Spirit speak to them.
"If the child responded saying, 'No, I didn't hear anything,' we knew that as parents we had some important spiritual work to do.... However, if the response was something like, 'Yes, I heard the voice," as it most often was, we would say, 'Good. Now help us understand why you responded the way you did.'"
🔹 Dating Before 16: "Because a Prophet Said Not To"
The Lord inspired Elder Cardon to hold discussions with his teenage son, and in one of their conversations, his son received a powerful spiritual witness about the prophet.
🔹 Takeaway
The next time you're talking with someone close to you and they ask your advice about something, redirect them heavenward and invite them to seek their own revelation about it. That doesn't mean you can't share your own thoughts and feelings, but try to make the focus much more on the Lord than on any wisdom you might have to impart.
🔹 Quotes from President Nelson
"I promise you ... that wherever you are in the world, wherever you are on the covenant path, even if at this moment you are not centered on the path, I promise you that if you will sincerely and persistently do the spiritual work needed to develop the crucial, spiritual skill of learning how to hear the whisperings from the Holy Ghost, you will have all the direction you will ever need in your life."
"Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will 'grow into the principle of revelation.'"
