Full Transcript for Divine Encouters: Finding Strength Through Trials and Prayer

00:02:28.112 Oh, if you like these stories, would you please like and subscribe to the Dear Daughters of God channel? 00:02:28.212 --> 00:02:29.032 I'd be so grateful. 00:02:29.612 --> 00:02:29.973 Thank you. 00:02:30.233 --> 00:02:30.853 See you soon. 00:02:30.893 --> 00:02:38.992 Stephanie, just like she is now, she was the, like this vibrant, darling, funny, hilarious... 00:02:39.133 --> 00:02:40.633 We served together, and we just- Yeah, we did. 00:02:40.872 --> 00:02:42.152 Oh, did I, we, I fell in love with her. 00:02:42.252 --> 00:02:46.573 We were just- Oh, thank you besties- Thank you in a neighborhood where we were raising our kids. 00:02:46.923 --> 00:02:47.893 So that was so much fun. 00:02:48.002 --> 00:02:48.522 We love them. 00:02:48.573 --> 00:02:53.524 And then we were, we end up being neighbors again after many years, and You have four children, I think? 00:02:54.003 --> 00:03:01.653 Yes, I have four children and 11 grandchildren, and I actually have more than four children,'cause I have now seven children because children-in-law. 00:03:02.153 --> 00:03:02.373 Okay. 00:03:02.514 --> 00:03:02.794 Yes. 00:03:02.854 --> 00:03:03.234 You count everybody. 00:03:03.334 --> 00:03:04.294 Started with four. 00:03:04.413 --> 00:03:04.593 Four. 00:03:04.674 --> 00:03:06.054 Got three more. 00:03:06.074 --> 00:03:07.473 Hoping for another one. 00:03:08.274 --> 00:03:08.533 Yeah. 00:03:08.734 --> 00:03:12.014 She has an absolutely amazing family, and two of them are here. 00:03:12.114 --> 00:03:12.894 and her husband. 00:03:12.993 --> 00:03:14.894 We, anyway, we just adore the Eccles. 00:03:15.294 --> 00:03:15.644 Thank you. 00:03:15.674 --> 00:03:18.663 Stephanie is also, she was a school counselor. 00:03:18.704 --> 00:03:24.283 She was trained as a counselor, and then an administrator with at Legacy- And just did amazing things. 00:03:24.343 --> 00:03:24.783 Yeah. 00:03:24.824 --> 00:03:30.663 Then retired as that, retired from there because she had some health issues, and I think she's probably gonna share a little bit about that journey. 00:03:30.903 --> 00:03:30.963 Yeah. 00:03:31.003 --> 00:03:32.683 So anyway- Yeah love Stephanie. 00:03:32.764 --> 00:03:34.843 So grateful that you're here- Thank you and we'd love to hear from you. 00:03:35.223 --> 00:03:35.843 Thank you. 00:03:36.024 --> 00:03:36.503 Thank you. 00:03:37.183 --> 00:03:42.243 I'm looking forward to all of us, having some time to get to know each other through this lesson. 00:03:42.683 --> 00:03:42.924 Okay? 00:03:44.063 --> 00:03:55.343 A significant person in my life asked me recently what I learned in the last year, and the first thing that came to my mind was, oh, I learned the living Christ. 00:03:55.503 --> 00:04:12.274 Matter of fact, I memorized the living Christ, in January, last January, of'25, and it just came to my mind, the picture of the Living Christ and the words,"Memorize this." So I thought that was gonna be very difficult because I was having migraines

at the time, three to five days a week. 00:04:12.394 --> 00:04:14.493 With migraines, I was having brain fog. 00:04:14.894 --> 00:04:17.213 Brain fog is a confusion. 00:04:17.274 --> 00:04:21.733 You're not su- quite sure, what, what did I just do, and what am I supposed to do next? 00:04:21.754 --> 00:04:23.653 So this was gonna be a challenge to memorize. 00:04:24.213 --> 00:04:27.973 After starting to memorize it, it just hit me, like, a month in. 00:04:28.634 --> 00:04:30.494 You're an educator, for goodness sakes. 00:04:30.634 --> 00:04:33.233 Bring physical actions into your memorization. 00:04:33.934 --> 00:04:35.494 So I was like,"Oh, yeah. 00:04:36.314 --> 00:04:44.733 Okay." So I'm gonna share a short segment of The Living Christ, and I'll use those physical actions because they helped me memorize it. 00:04:45.434 --> 00:04:51.093 and- And it healed me physically, and it healed me spiritually. 00:04:51.492 --> 00:04:54.874 And what I didn't know was that I needed to be healed spiritually. 00:04:55.293 --> 00:04:57.853 I thought I was okay there. 00:04:58.252 --> 00:05:11.422 But now after having memorized The Living Christ, I realize that we all need to be healed spiritually as we continue on in our faith and getting to know and be like our savior, Jesus Christ. 00:05:12.262 --> 00:05:19.182 So I wanna tell you the lessons I've learned through my own stories from learning The Living Christ. 00:05:19.663 --> 00:05:33.711 Believe it or not, the first lesson goes clear back until I w- to when I was a teenager I was 16 years old, and at the time, I was a junior and attending high school, but I was also attending the University of Utah. 00:05:33.791 --> 00:05:38.062 So I'd only be at high school until 11:30 in the morning, starting when I was 14. 00:05:38.711 --> 00:05:44.672 And then I would leave at 11:30, and I'd go dance at the U, and I'd dance with their ballet company, and I would tour. 00:05:44.711 --> 00:05:47.101 So I was gone from school quite a bit. 00:05:48.262 --> 00:05:48.961 I'll take it from here. 00:05:49.141 --> 00:05:54.531 Now we're going to move forward until, my retirement date was July 1st, 2022. 00:05:55.442 --> 00:06:07.242 Now it's winter of'25, like January, and it's been almost three years of me having migraines along with cluster headache pain off and on. 00:06:07.482 --> 00:06:11.791 The severity's come down, but the, regularity has not. 00:06:12.651 --> 00:06:18.771 And, I'm honestly just worn out from this much pain this long. 00:06:19.305 --> 00:06:24.185 I was a changed person after three years of pain. 00:06:25.351 --> 00:06:35.081 I'm lonely because m- my physical ability or existence made it hard to be out and about, and I was a people person. 00:06:35.502 --> 00:06:44.422 I was used to working with all these people that I adored, and they always needed me, and I felt needed, and I lo- I wanted to be needed. 00:06:44.461 --> 00:06:49.221 And although I was doing Dear Daughters of God, a podcast is p- pretty much a lonely job. 00:06:49.281 --> 00:06:50.562 You don't have a live audience. 00:06:50.862 --> 00:06:56.120 You have no idea what people think of it unless someone calls you and tells you or f- in some other way. 00:06:56.641 --> 00:07:02.500 And I, it was a Saturday and I was having another migraine, and I was just, terribly sad. 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:10.740 And I went outside and I took on dark glasses and I cried as I walked, and my dark glasses helped cover that. 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:13.440 I would cry a little bit and I'd pray a little bit. 00:07:13.841 --> 00:07:16.920 I'd stop the crying and I'd just start praying, and this is what I was praying for. 00:07:17.201 --> 00:07:20.872 Dear Heavenly Father, help me to understand, my purpose. 00:07:21.392 --> 00:07:23.392 bring me companionship. 00:07:24.052 --> 00:07:31.533 Help me, continue on because it's not stopping, and yet I'm receiving blessings that I'll be healed. 00:07:33.108 --> 00:07:34.538 I'm getting fuzzy-minded. 00:07:34.709 --> 00:07:35.348 Help me, Lord. 00:07:35.468 --> 00:07:36.028 Help me, Lord. 00:07:37.048 --> 00:07:40.108 And I get a call as I'm outside. 00:07:40.149 --> 00:07:42.829 At 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon, strange to get a call. 00:07:43.269 --> 00:07:47.196 I look, and it is Wendy. 00:07:47.915 --> 00:07:50.555 And Wendy was a professional educator with me. 00:07:50.636 --> 00:07:53.716 She was a director, and a director is a principal of a charter school. 00:07:54.396 --> 00:08:00.055 And I look, and I'm thrilled that it's Wendy, but surprised because Wendy's children are much younger. 00:08:00.516 --> 00:08:04.605 They're all very much in the needy stage of life, and this is a Saturday. 00:08:04.636 --> 00:08:09.636 And when you're a director, your life is taken, and Saturdays are precious. 00:08:09.675 --> 00:08:17.786 So I thought,"Wow, I can't believe she's calling, but wow." I pick up,"Wendy, hi." She goes,"Oh, Stephanie, thank goodness you picked up." I said,"Yeah, yeah. 00:08:18.045 --> 00:08:18.935 W- how are you? 00:08:18.975 --> 00:08:21.536 W- is everything okay?" She goes, no. 00:08:21.565 --> 00:08:37.475 My daughter, Ashley, you know she's in high school now." And I said,"Yes.""She's having so much trouble, and I had the feeling, because I'm at my wit's end, that I was to call you, that you would help me." And she has no idea what I've been doing. 00:08:38.836 --> 00:08:41.495 And I said,"Yes, tell me. 00:08:41.546 --> 00:08:54.755 what's wrong with Ashley?" she's a part of this social dance club at the high school, and their competition team is just beginning to start, and she's gotten it in her mind that she's not good enough, and her body, it's not right. 00:08:55.155 --> 00:08:56.216 She thinks she's too fat. 00:08:56.255 --> 00:09:01.985 She's not fat, Stephanie." And I'm,"Oh, yes,"And even though she knows these things, and she's going to a therapist. 00:09:02.145 --> 00:09:10.225 I have her in therapy, and they're working on

cognitive behavioral therapy, and they're learning about thought d- dis- distortions, how there are distorted thoughts. 00:09:10.306 --> 00:09:11.485 and she's understanding that. 00:09:11.525 --> 00:09:18.576 But when it comes to her going into the social dance class, she has this, anxiety attack. 00:09:19.155 --> 00:09:22.895 She can't go in, and she's a good student, and she's starting to flunk out. 00:09:23.176 --> 00:09:27.475 And her partner's in great distress because he has no one to dance with. 00:09:27.525 --> 00:09:34.785 her captain is ready to just pull my hair out because my daughter won't go to class. 00:09:34.855 --> 00:10:03.899 and Ashley wants to be there, but she can't get herself to go in through the room." And I said,"Oh my goodness, that's terrible." And as I'm listening to this story, I cannot believe how similar Ashley's experience was to my experience when I was a ballerina I also felt I was not good enough, although logically that did not make sense. 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:04.778 I was sure of it. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:11.440 I also felt that my body was not right, although I was thin, too thin. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:12.860 I was sure I was heavy. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:23.799 And I did, I even dreamed of scenarios that might happen so I wouldn't have to go rehearse with the company because I had so much stress in getting there. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:31.500 So I could relate to Ashley and thought,"Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing my prayers. 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:43.980 I know just what she's feeling." So because she was working with a therapist on distorted thoughts, I thought,"Okay, we have that covered." And she was already on a medication. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:54.839 I said,"I'm aware of a supplement that can help her." And I became aware of it because I was, of migraines, and it's called niacin, which is the same as vitamin B3, niacin. 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:59.870 And I had tried it in hopes of healing from migraines in high doses. 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:08.090 And through trying it and then reading a lot about it, found that it has this lovely side effect of calming you. 00:11:09.789 --> 00:11:15.350 And you don't need the super high dose, but boy, if you have that, you could almost go, just go right to sleep. 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:17.730 Now, it didn't heal my migraines. 00:11:17.769 --> 00:11:19.309 It didn't, it wasn't my answer. 00:11:19.809 --> 00:11:24.990 But I did learn it helped my anxiety, which is another symptom of migraines. 00:11:25.409 --> 00:11:35.929 And I did learn now that there was another form of niacin in NMN and a lower dose, and if I took it that way, then I didn't have the terrible stomach ache. 00:11:36.330 --> 00:11:37.649 I just have a sensitive stomach. 00:11:37.929 --> 00:11:39.529 Some people don't have any problem at all. 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:41.629 I just had a sensitive stomach and couldn't take it. 00:11:42.389 --> 00:11:45.450 And then I found a lower dose in this other form. 00:11:46.169 --> 00:11:48.169 And I said,"All right, this is what I know. 00:11:48.950 --> 00:12:00.750 It's called niacin, and it's vitamin B3, and you can get it in these different forms." And I explained it to her, and I said, and as long as it's all right with her doctor, she should take it one hour before the class begins and just try it. 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:06.679 But I think it's going to calm her just enough that she can walk in that room, along with this other support she's getting. 00:12:08.210 --> 00:12:16.230 And Wendy said,"I'm okay, great." And Wendy takes it from there, and she works with her doctor. 00:12:16.250 --> 00:12:24.070 And indeed, this is a game changer for Ashley, and she gets to class. 00:12:24.809 --> 00:12:25.820 But you know what? 00:12:26.789 --> 00:12:38.690 My miracle was I was seen in that moment outside of the church parking lot as I was crying myself to the blitherings. 00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:49.409 I was needed, I was useful, I had a companion, and I just helped a child. 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:57.817 and that's what I was trained to do I thought I could keep going. 00:12:59.018 --> 00:13:00.657 You see me, you hear me. 00:13:01.736 --> 00:13:10.070 I could keep going And it's this part of the living Christ that reminds me of that story. 00:13:11.249 --> 00:13:25.369 As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:35.369 None other has had so profound an influence upon all who've lived or will yet live upon the earth. 00:13:36.869 --> 00:13:49.149 And in that moment, my Savior, Jesus Christ, the God of this world, had a profound influence on my life, and I was reminded that He knew me. 00:13:49.589 --> 00:13:50.528 He saw me. 00:13:51.089 --> 00:13:51.948 He heard me. 00:13:53.089 --> 00:13:53.990 He would be with me 00:13:56.028 --> 00:14:03.849 Thank you for bearing with me through this emotion Now what about you? 00:14:05.149 --> 00:14:06.370 What about in your life? 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:17.609 Think of a time when the Savior answered your prayer and answered it quickly What were you pleading for? 00:14:19.450 --> 00:14:20.969 How did he respond? 00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:26.249 And how did that experience strengthen your faith? 00:14:28.072 --> 00:14:30.091 It's been a joy to be with you. 00:14:30.792 --> 00:14:41.035 Thank you for sharing your lives with me as I say farewell I'll end with remember, because of Him, it is enough