 Hi, my name is Mandy Alba-Jalley, blogger at abliskomplete.com, and I wanted to share an experience with you. Have you ever prayed out loud, pleading, sobbing, hoping, asking? I had to last year, during a time when I was so confused, emotionally and physically exhausted, and feeling that I wasn't doing my part well enough. In March of 2016, my mom and I attended an event in Raleigh called Time Out for Women. It was a really, really spiritual experience. Many of the points struck me and had me thinking about my plight. As I listened to the speakers, I pondered my testimony of the Savior. Was I working to increase it or letting it waver? I thought about if I was truly giving my will to God. I wondered if I was dreaming too much and not thinking enough about my faith. I asked myself, if I quit something, am I a failure? Or if not, what would I be learning? Am I giving enough love to those in my life? Am I sacrificing enough for Christ? Are my children learning from my knee? I felt an assurance that my priority should be teaching the gospel to my children. This scripture from the Book of Mormon made me think. It is Alma chapter 5 verse 26, and it says, And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, If ye have experienced a change of heart, And if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Well, can I? I thought about many other things, too. Like, what really matters? Why I struggle with the mundane and feel like I always have to be doing things. I thought about the talents I have and used to use all the time to share the gospel, but now didn't have time to. The entire event really nourished my soul and helped me bond with my mom. As we drove home from Raleigh, I ended up in tears as I spoke to her. I told her of my concerns about not having enough time for my family and for the things that matter most. I told her many of the things that stuck out to me from time out for women, and that I felt like I wasn't doing those things well enough. My greatest concern was with my home business. I reminded her and myself of the strong, overwhelming spiritual prompting I had gotten to start my business less than six months before. I was just so confused. I couldn't quit. Not when he had told me to do this, and it only been such a short time. On my ride home, after dropping my mom off, I gave a desperate and fervent vocal prayer to my Heavenly Father. I tried to be as in tune with the spirit as I possibly could as I communed with him. When I came home after saying my prayer, I wrote down my thoughts. The first thought I had was that the financial dreams my family wrote together as part of my business motivation did not really matter. I realized that we have all that we need already, that I don't have to do my book right now, which was a desire I had for some time. I realized that I really have no time for love, but that's what I need the most. And my final thought was that my family needs to be together all the time, and that was a worthwhile dream. I saw this last thought as a somewhat comforting reason to remain with my business, and life went on for nearly a month. I continued working my business, but the joy was not there. The motivation and inspiration was not there. The success I had seen before was not happening. Then the morning of April 12th, I went to my church institute class, and it was about the Savior. The Spirit touched me to the very center when we read a verse from the Book of Mormon. It was Alma in chapter 33 verse 11. Alma was quoting the prophet Zenas' words on prayer. He said, And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity, and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me. Therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy. For thou hast turned thy judgments away from me because of thy Son. It was interesting to me what parts stuck out, and it was this very small line, for in thee is my joy. When we read that I was overcome with the lack of joy in my life at that time, my business was not bringing me joy. I was overworked physically and mentally. I had so much going in my life that I could not breathe. Where was my joy? It should have been in Christ. And I hadn't had any time to focus on Him. And then in the same class that day we talked about Christ's second coming. We read a powerful quote by Dallin H. Oaks. It said, While we are powerless to alter the fact of the second coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us. What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that, we would meet the Lord tomorrow through our premature death or through His unexpected coming. What would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgiveness would we extend? What testimonies would we bear? If we would do those things then, why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately to replenish them. That quote hit me like a ton of bricks. And I knew that I would do things so much differently if I knew the Savior were to return tomorrow. Nothing was more clear to me at that moment than that I needed to quit my business. I knew that though it wasn't a bad endeavor, it was stopping me from preparing myself, my family, and those around me spiritually for Christ. I had realized earlier that day that in Christ should be my joy. He is everything. What was I giving to Him? So I went home that day feeling like I really needed to get rid of something. I knew the first thing was definitely my business. I was a little scared but I prayed for reassurance and I caught it. Within a few hours I sent a sincere and heartfelt email to my upline and friend and explained my feelings. I said, I know that to be really successful I need this business to become my top priority but if I felt anything lately, it is that my family and my devotion to Christ must be my top priority. I don't have to be wealthy and my husband doesn't have to stay at home. I told her I didn't regret doing my business but I hadn't felt peace with it for some time. I told her that writing this email with my thoughts is bringing me a lot of peace. My initial thought was that I wouldn't quit until the end of the week. I would give it some time to see if anything happened that would help me be successful. But then when my husband came home that evening we had a tearful heart to heart. I told him about the email and about my thoughts. I told him that my priorities needed to shift and that our family and God is all that matters. He told me he was proud of me and that he could tell I was making decisions with the spirit. He reassured me that he is happy to work and that we don't have to be rich. Our dreams were good but our family is what matters most. So I quit. A couple weeks later I reflected on the prayer I had on the way home from Time Out for Women and I realized that my interpretation of the thought that my family needs to be together all the time was wrong. What Heavenly Father was telling me was that my family needed to be together eternally. That is all that matters. I asked myself a few times why did Heavenly Father want me to start my business in the first place if I was only going to quit in six months? I wish I had a transfer for that. Maybe, as Wendy Olrich said in Time Out for Women maybe it isn't failing. It is learning. I definitely learned something that day. I am so grateful for these experiences that testified to me of the change I needed to make and I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know the scriptures are true including the Book of Mormon. It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. Its words helped me want to think about the eternal perspective and to follow Christ and to obey His commandments. I am so grateful to have this enviable resource in my life. I know that Heavenly Father listens that He loves us and He wants us to be the best we can be. He teaches us in ways that we may not expect. And if we listen then we will be better and we will come closer to Him. I am so grateful for the resources He has given for us to be able to do that. I see these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.