Line Upon Line

The knock was faint.

I am a pretty deep sleeper, but I heard it anyway.

Personally, I think the spirit woke me up.

Because we were in a little apartment pod with four bedrooms and six counselors, I didn’t hurry to get up. Someone else would get the door, right?

That thought process didn’t cut it, and I couldn’t go back to sleep until I got up.

So I did.

I was a little confused when I opened the door and no one was there. I noticed, however, that the motion-activated hall lights were on, so the knock must have been real.

But maybe it wasn’t … so I climbed back in bed.

When the second knock came a couple of minutes later, I bolted out of bed and immediately answered the door.

Two young women stood there, looking at me.

“Hey girls! What’s up?”

“Have you seen our counselor? She told us to meet outside our rooms at 5:20am and it’s now 5:42am!”

“Oh shoot. Let me get her.”

I woke up their counselor, and she hurriedly got dressed and rushed out the door.

With my purpose fulfilled, I jumped back into bed.

But I couldn’t sleep.

After a minute or so, a random idea popped into my head.

Go sit in the kitchen.

I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, so I grabbed my blanket and sat in the kitchen.

I watched the clock on the microwave for a couple of minutes when I looked at the trashcan and thought, “I should put that in the door.”

Curiosity then got the best of me, and I waddled out into the hall to see if those girls were still there. They were, and they waved at me.

I went back to our little apartment and sat back down.

I really wasn’t sure what was happening, or what I was doing, or why I was sitting in the kitchen.

Until the next thought came:

You need to go hug those girls one last time.

I didn’t need to be told twice, so I went out to the hall again and saw a glimpse of two of them as the hallway door shut behind them.

Running back into my room, I threw a bra and some sandals on. Grabbing my key, I went to leave when I noticed my quotes for the youth lying on the ground.

Grabbing all I had, I rushed out the door.

There was this sense of urgency, as the spirit whispered to me, “run!”

I made it out to the third floor lobby and saw the elevator close.

“Stairs!” said a voice in my head.

Let me tell you, running down three flights of stairs with sandals on is quite the experience.

I burst out of the stairwell door and caught the girls exiting the front of the building.

A sense of relief washed over me as I realized I had made it in time before they left.

I went outside, looking disheveled I’m sure, and gave them each a quote and a hug.

They said “thank you” and “I love you.”

When I finished, I said to them, “girls I have no idea why I’m out here this morning and why I just chased you down the stairs. But I hope you take care and get home safe!”

I took the elevator back to the third floor and decided to just get ready for the day.

A little bit later, I walked to the stake center for our morning staff meeting when I ran into a few of those girls again.

They hugged me once more and as a joke, I laughed and said, “did you guys pray to see me or something?!”

I didn’t expect them to be serious when they said yes. When they revealed that at least three of them had prayed to see me that morning.

Wait, what?!

To answer their prayers, Heavenly Father woke me up. He asked me to sit in the kitchen. He told me to put the trashcan in the door. He piqued my curiosity, making me walk out to the hall. He had me sit in the kitchen again. He told me to give them another hug. He encouraged me to bring the quotes. He asked me to run down the hall! He reminded me that I could take the stairs.

It would have been nice to get the end goal as a prompting right at the beginning.

It would have saved me a lot of time.

But Heavenly Father isn’t efficient, and He doesn’t need to be.

Instead, He guides us line upon line.

Lighting our path, one step at a time.

Most times, I have no idea what Heavenly Father is trying to get me to do. What the end goal is.

I just do my best, taking steps one at a time until I complete the mission.

I trust Him. I love Him.

I’m grateful He leads me.

And guides me.

I know He walks beside me.

And I know He is proud when I follow each thought, each prompting, as I am led to do His work.

Most times I don’t know what I’m doing.

So I just listen.

And act.

And follow.

And as I do so, I find joy in the journey.

I find meaning in each step.

What a joy and gift it is.

To follow Him. To be His disciple. To be trusted.

What a joy and gift it is …

to be led line upon line.

P.S. The reason these girls from another company knew me is because this was the same week that I spoke in the young women devotional and answered a question that wasn’t asked! See A Question I Didn’t Know I Had if you don’t know what I’m talking about!