Divinely Guided: A Young Woman's Journey to Revelation in Leadership
By President Scott McAllister
I once had the wonderful experience as a bishop to call a young woman to be the president of her Young Women class. She was a member of a large class of more than 20 girls and felt overwhelmed and underqualified to fill this great responsibility. As we continued our discussion, her concern turned to whom to call as counselors and secretary of her class. She lacked confidence and worried that she wouldn’t “pick” the right girls. I reminded her that she wouldn’t be “picking” anyone; the Lord was in charge, and He would reveal to her the names of the girls who should be called. I asked her to review her class list, consider each of the names, counsel with her parents and perhaps her Young Women leaders, and then to ponder further about these names and take them to the Lord in prayer, and she would receive personal revelation about who should be called to serve in her presidency. I told her that I would also go through the same process to understand which three girls of the more than 20 girls in the class were being prepared for this calling, and that we could then speak on the phone, compare our lists, and pray together again to confirm the Lord’s will. The next Saturday afternoon, I was returning from a road trip, passing through Yuma, AZ, when this new Class President called me in tears to say that she had had a tremendous spiritual experience and, for the first time, had received personal revelation and knew whom to call. I confirmed with her that earlier in the week, I had had a similar experience, but she was very hesitant and nervous to share her list with me for fear that she might have gotten it wrong. As she said the first name, then the second name, then the third name, my response was, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” Our lists had matched perfectly about who should be called to serve in this presidency. I testified to her that, with more than 20 girls in this class, finding the same three girls from more than 20 in the class was statistically improbable and that the Lord was absolutely in charge of every detail if we prepared ourselves to know His will, regardless of our age, calling, or limited qualifications.