Although we each receive spiritual answers differently, Sheri Dew believes we can all discover valuable insights about personal revelation by asking for the Lord’s help and studying His patterns in the scriptures.
Sheri, who currently serves as the executive vice president of Deseret Management Corporation, recently joined the Magnify podcast to discuss life lessons she’s learned through continually asking questions. During the conversation, she shared a question and a scripture study habit that have made all the difference in helping her recognize spiritual promptings.
How Does the Spirit Speak to Me?
“I have no magic formula [or] anything like that,” Sheri explains. “I have just asked for help in discerning the promptings of the Spirit.”
In her early 20s, Sheri got into the habit of asking for divine help in learning the language of the Holy Ghost. At the time, she had been praying and fasting about a crucial decision but struggling to figure out whether she was receiving divine guidance or making up answers in her head.
A friend asked her: “Have you asked the Lord to teach you how He communicates with you?” She replied that she hadn’t.
“He said, ‘That’s a great prayer to offer, … and you’re probably going to have to offer it the rest of your life,’” Sheri explains. “So, I started asking that question, … and then I started noticing things in the scriptures.”
Scriptural Patterns of Revelation
Each time Sheri found an instance of the Lord communicating directly with His children here on earth, she added a little red x to the margin of her scriptures.
“You could come to my house and see umpteen sets of scriptures that have zillions of little red x’s,” Sheri says. “The clues are in here about how you learn to discern what you’re being prompted to do. … And what I can say now, many years later, is, I can tell more often, more clearly [what the Spirit is trying to teach me].”
This scripture study technique has been a focus throughout Sheri’s life, and she believes it’s a practice anyone could benefit from.
When Sheri was a counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, she also spoke about the power of studying scriptural patterns of revelation. “Some of the clearest promptings I have ever received have come while being immersed in the scriptures,” she shared. “They are a conduit for revelation. They teach us the language of the Spirit.”
Like learning any other language, understanding how the Spirit communicates with us requires time and effort. Sheri says she often still needs to “labor and wrestle” to make sense of answers to prayers, but she has found comfort in applying some of the teachings of Elder David A. Bednar on this topic. She explained:
“He’ll say something to the effect of, ‘Well, don’t worry about [whether you’re making up answers or really getting a prompting]. … If you’re trying to keep the commandments and you’re trying to discern, just keep going forward, and trust that the Lord is going to guide your path.’”
And as we heed this advice, trusting in the Lord, we will receive even more guidance and perspective.
“Line upon line, precept upon precept, we receive not immediate illumination, but gradual and subtle illumination by the power of the Holy Ghost,” Elder Bednar has taught. “As we study, as we ponder, as we wrestle, … into our mind and into our heart comes, through the power of the Holy Ghost, increased understanding.”
These additional promptings will help us to look back and see the Lord’s pattern of revelation—not only in the scriptures but also throughout our personal lives.
“I think the scriptures are in part designed to say, ‘You actually can communicate with heaven,’” Sheri says. “The Lord wants to talk to us. … And we let so much stuff get in the way. … But when we ask and are sincerely prayerful and listening and trying to figure it out, I think we get helped.”
Listen to the full Magnify episode in the player below or on your favorite streaming platform.
▶You may also like: Elder Bednar’s 3 tips for having the Holy Ghost as a constant companion (rather than an occasional visitor)
Seek and Expect Miracles
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