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Home » Calling and Election Made Sure » How You Received Your Calling and Election Made Sure » How I received my Calling and Election made sure
Re: How I received my Calling and Election made sure [message #696 is a reply to message #167] Tue, 24 July 2012 10:39 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
bishop is currently offline  bishop
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Registered: July 2010
Location: USA
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In response to a PM that I received concerning CE, I wrote the following letter, which may be especially helpful to new CEers.

Thank you for your personal inquiry, as to what happened immediately after receiving CE. You are wondering if your experience is "normal." There were two major things that happened to me and then a third, some time later.

I cannot share with you the trial that I was embroiled in, but I must say that it was very intense. At the height of it, I went to an empty room at work and prostrated myself on the tile floor, face down, in abject humility. I told the Lord, "I will do thy will." At that moment, I understood, deep within myself, that I would always do his will, no matter what the cost. In this case the cost had the potential of being everything that I held dear. As I reached this point of commitment to the Lord, I understood that there was no greater test that could be performed on me that would yield a different result. I understood by the Spirit that my sacrifice was accepted. I was told that the Lord already knew that I would follow him no matter what, but that I needed to know for myself. This was profound. It was upside down to realize that the test was to prove who I was to myself, not the Lord.

I understood by the Spirit that because there was no greater test that could be given me, that I had my calling and election made sure, a goal I had made when I was 17 when I read the Book of Mormon for the first time [Ether concerning the Brother of Jared].. I was now 49. I was currently serving as bishop, as I had done multiple times before.

So what happened? The awareness of spiritual things opened up to me. The conversation with the Spirit that began, as rehearsed above, continued. I was at a whole new beginning, an infant with infinite things to learn and understand. As I read the scriptures and listened to conference talks, I perceived a whole new level of communication and understanding. I saw myself as having unlimited potential, while at the same time seeing myself as virtually ignorant in the new level that I had entered. Spiritual knowledge came much easier than before. In summary, the first thing that happened is that I understood that I had received a new ability to perceive spiritual things and that there was a vast amount of things to learn. I was beginning a whole new spiritual journey.

The second thing that "happened" was what my friend calls "the Big Letdown." I had many misconceptions about what it meant to receive CE. Although I had suddenly become immersed in a whole new level of spiritual understanding, my trial did not end-there was no ram in the bush per se, but the Lord did guide me so that I did not lose everything that I could have lost. I still had to make a living. I was not immune to future trials. I still had to work hard at piercing the veil-it just was easier with experience. Just as President Grant had said, in essence, that things get easier as we do them because our ability to do them increases, not because the job itself gets any easier. In summary, I still found myself in the lone and dreary world, right where I was when I received CE. The only thing that changed was inside of me, mostly my spiritual perceptions.

However, to make things worse, now I was more of an alien in the world that I had occupied for 49 years. I perceived things at a level that could not be shared with even many of those closest to me. I quickly learned that I could not share the cool new things I was learning, except with other CEers, who are very hard to find and who keep their experiences to themselves for the sake of not being persecuted. But I must confess that every now and then I make a comment in priesthood meeting that only the other CEers understand and I am embarrassed at how nutty I must sound to the others. Fortunately, these comments seem to go completely unnoticed by those dosing off in the high priest quorum. The Spirit has a way of only allowing us to hear what we are ready to hear.

The third thing that happened some time later, as I searched to receive the Second Comforter, was the realization of what it means to see with spiritual eyes. Our spirit sees things which our body cannot. Seeing with spiritual eyes is like seeing with one's imagination. The way to discern whether we are seeing something with our spiritual eyes or our own imaginings is to run a spiritual test. Simply put, the test consists of pondering how your conscience would feel if you were to deny the reality of what you are seeing. If you sense with your spiritual eyes the presence of an angel, but doubt yourself, deny it within yourself and your conscience will feel guilty as though you were lying to the Spirit. If it is your own imaginings, your conscience will feel okay. The Hindus call your spiritual eye your third eye. It is located in the middle of your forehead. That is a pretty good description of where you sense spirit beings. So the third thing that happened was that I realized that I had already seen beings from the other side of the veil and not understood it. I used this knowledge to see and converse with many more from the other side.

I have shared with you some things that are very personal in hopes that you will be aided in your search for truth. I know that this journey can be very lonely at times. I hope you find this letter helpful.

Most Sincerely,
Bishop

Bishop

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