Anchored

LDS faith, personal revelation, hearing God's voice, Jesus Christ, trusting God, Jon Schmidt, The Piano Guys, Michelle Schmidt, grief and loss, healing, temple covenants, answered prayers, hope and peace

Leta had spent a lifetime learning how God spoke to her. A quiet impression. A scripture that seemed written for her. A dream she couldn’t quite forget.

But recognizing His voice didn’t make everything He asked of her easy.

As a young mother, she was overwhelmed by the demands of home, children, and church service. Beneath all she was doing, depression and the mental weight of so much responsibility left her struggling. She wanted to give her life to God—but how much more could she carry?

Heavenly guidance came—sometimes bringing comfort, sometimes asking her to do something she would never have chosen for herself.

Then came a season of devastating loss—and a disappearance that left her family searching for answers no one could give.

With each new prompting came a deeply personal choice: would she trust Him enough to follow, even when she wished He would ask something else?

Through heartache, unexpected invitations, and moments of unmistakable peace, Leta’s story explores what it means to let God lead. For anyone who has felt a prompting and thought, “That’s too hard,” this conversation offers a tender glimpse of the strength—and surprising joy—that can unfold with the next willing step.

#LDSFaith #PersonalRevelation #HearHim #TrustingGod #AnchoredPodcast 

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Feeling Distant from God Despite Living a Consecrated Life
03:35 Recognizing How God Speaks Through Everyday Experiences
07:35 Finding the Power of Scripture Through Prayer and Forgiveness
09:13 Receiving Divine Protection and Personal Revelation
13:23 Following Spiritual Promptings About Marriage
20:56 Navigating Motherhood, Miscarriage, and Postpartum Depression
25:06 Learning to Abide in Covenants and Trust God's Promises
29:58 Finding Healing and Perspective Through Church History
33:09 Recognizing Personal Weaknesses Through Loving Correction
35:28 Sacred Visions and the Strength of Unified Women
40:47 Miracles During a High-Risk Twin Pregnancy
45:26 Feeling God's Absence During Seasons of Heartache
46:16 Finding Peace and Divine Guidance During Annie's Disappearance
55:24 Following Dreams and Promptings to Bless Others
01:06:14 Spiritual Gifts, Personal Testimony, and Why I Stay in the Church

LDS faith, Book of Mormon testimony, answers to prayer, personal revelation, temple covenants, Holy Ghost promptings, Jesus Christ, faith crisis, children leaving the Church, blessings of the covenant

Farley believed the Book of Mormon was true. But as a teenager, believing was no longer enough. He needed to know.

When he finally knelt to ask God, the answer changed him—but it was only the beginning. Across the decades that followed, Farley would discover that the Lord’s voice can arrive in unexpected ways, ask difficult things, and lead us into stories we never could have planned for ourselves.

Now seventy, Farley can look back and recognize the hand of God woven through every chapter—even the ones that remain unfinished. Through remarkable answers to prayer, sacred experiences, and deeply personal wrestles, he has learned that our hardest seasons may become the very places where God’s promises matter most.

What happens when the answers don’t come as expected, the people we love choose a different path, and the ending we have prayed for remains out of sight? Farley’s story offers a powerful reminder: God is still working, covenants still hold, and what appears to be the end may only be the middle of the story.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 A Family's Unexpected Missionary Calling
00:45 Meet Farley Anderson: A Life Filled with Miracles
02:43 Finding His Own Testimony of the Gospel
06:14 How Prayer Led Him to His Eternal Companion
08:19 Answering a Branch's Prayers in South Carolina
12:22 Recognizing the Holy Ghost in Everyday Miracles
15:07 Finding Blessings Through Trials and Weaknesses
16:25 The Book of Mormon's Message of Freedom and Liberty
21:41 A Sacred Experience in the Garden of Gethsemane
25:28 Trusting God's Promises for Our Families
27:36 Temple Covenants, Happy Endings, and Eternal Hope
35:25 Finding Faith After the Loss of a Child
38:13 Learning to Trust and Follow God's Direction
46:45 Seeing God's Hand in Our Lives and Our Nation
52:46 Why I Choose to Stay in the Church of Jesus Christ

SHOW NOTES: 

americasbook.org

http://www.youtube.com/@liberty.preparedness 

Latter-day Saint mother, stillbirth, losing a child, grief and faith, unanswered prayers, family loss, Jesus Christ, trusting God after tragedy, hope when heaven feels silent, choosing to stay. 

Kelsie knew what it was to find her way back to God. She had served a mission, married, and built a family around the faith she loved. She could never quite understand why someone would leave the Church.

Then she faced the loss she feared most.

The prayers continued, but the life Kelsie had pictured did not return. And as more hard things came, the questions she once had about other people began to change. She was still going to church. She still loved the Lord. But what did faith look like when she could no longer make sense of what had happened?

Kelsie’s story follows a mother through grief, unexpected connection, and the difficult, tender work of staying with God.

#LatterDaySaintFaith #FaithAfterLoss #StillbirthAwareness #GriefAndFaith #JesusChrist 

CHAPTERS:
00:43 – Meet Kelsey Beeston and Her Journey of Faith
02:27 – Experiencing Loss and Discovering a Personal Testimony
05:24 – Following the Spirit and Answering the Call to Serve
07:14 – Trusting God's Plan When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn
08:33 – Developing a “But If Not” Kind of Faith
10:38 – The Heartbreak of Losing a Child
13:13 – Finding Compassion and Connection Through Grief
15:09 – Discovering That the Savior Will Never Forget Us
18:55 – Receiving God's Comfort So We Can Comfort Others
21:03 – Facing Serious Illness and Learning Not to Judge Others
24:18 – Miracles, Priesthood Blessings, and Trusting the Lord
30:54 – Recognizing How God Prepares Us Before Our Trials
34:17 – Losing a Beloved Sister and Finding Healing Through Christ
39:35 – Holding Fast to the Iron Rod When Life Knocks Us Down
45:02 – The Savior's Grace Reaches Every One of Us
47:09 – Finding Strength and Peace Through Our Covenants
53:36 – Why I Stay: Choosing Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel

SHOW NOTES: Kelsie Beeston-Facebook  Kelsiebeeston-instagram 

LDS faith, Jesus Christ, testimony, Christian coach, mentoring young men, raising faithful sons, future fathers and husbands, missionary influence, faith through tragedy, trusting God, daily discipleship

McKay never forgot the people who saw something in him before he could see it in himself—a faithful mother, a high school coach, a mission president, and the young woman whose testimony made him look more closely at his own.

Now, standing before a team of young men, McKay understands that football is only part of what he is teaching. Behind every helmet is someone’s future husband, someone’s future father—and perhaps a boy who needs one steady person to show him what faith, integrity, and commitment look like when they are lived.

But the lessons McKay teaches have been tested far beyond the football field.

In some of the hardest moments of his life, when fear pressed close and easy answers disappeared, he found himself confronting the questions beneath everything else: Do I truly believe this? Where is my faith right now? And will I remain true when trusting God costs more than I ever imagined?

This is the story of the people who helped shape one young man’s faith—and the life he has spent shaping because of them.

CHAPTERS
0:39 – Meet McKay Young: Teacher, Coach, Bishop, Husband and Father
2:14 – A Mother’s Steady Testimony and the Generational Impact of Faith
7:16 – Falling in Love and Choosing to Live What You Believe
9:00 – Missionary Service and Becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ
12:38 – “Follow Jesus”: Love People, Keep the Commandments and Walk the Walk
14:00 – Be Honest, Work Hard and Be Kind
17:50 – Building a Daily Relationship with the Savior Through Prayer and Scripture
21:49 – Stop Hiding Behind Fig Leaves and Come Unto Christ
24:59 – Living the Gospel Is More Than Sitting on a Church Bench
27:14 – When Faith Gets Real: Facing the Possibility of Losing His Wife
31:00 – Losing His Mother and Learning That “If It’s Not Okay, It’s Not the End”
36:03 – Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
43:35 – Do It the Lord’s Way: Trusting God’s Playbook
49:45 – Why I Stay: “Because I Believe”

Latter-day Saint faith, personal revelation, temple marriage, missionary service, motherhood, priesthood blessings, miracles, grief, and learning to recognize the hand of Jesus Christ.

Alesha believed Heavenly Father had a plan for her life.

But when she found herself caught between two beautiful futures, the answer she desperately wanted refused to come clearly. One decision would change everything—and choosing it would require her to trust what she could not yet see.

Years later, a quiet prompting seemed almost too small to matter. Alesha followed it anyway.

She couldn’t have known what it was preparing her for.

As joy and heartbreak became unexpectedly intertwined, Alesha began to recognize a pattern she had missed before: heaven had been speaking all along.

But would she be able to see God’s hand in the part of the story she never would have chosen?

#LatterDaySaintFaith #PersonalRevelation #HearHim #TrustGodsPlan #FaithInJesusChrist

CHAPTERS: 
0:41 – Meet Alicia Lopez: Seeing God’s Hand in Her Life  
3:22 – Line Upon Line: Recognizing God’s Divine Design  
5:59 – A Patriarchal Blessing and Knowing Heavenly Father Is Aware of Me  
7:42 – When God’s Plan Looks Different Than My Plan  
11:44 – A Boyfriend and a Mission Call on the Same Day  
13:15 – Choosing the Temple and Trusting the Lord’s Direction  
18:30 – Learning to Recognize and Act on the Holy Ghost  
22:50 – Following a Prompting to Create and Discovering God’s Goodness  
26:00 – Godly Sorrow, Repentance, and the Power of the Atonement  
27:47 – Trusting God’s Plan for Our Family  
30:29 – Losing Our Baby and Hearing “It Was Not Your Fault”  
32:16 – Feeling Surrounded by Earthly and Heavenly Angels  
36:32 – Putting the Savior First Every Day  
38:51 – Cling to What You Know When Life Hurts  
42:18 – Why I Stay: Too Many Witnesses to Deny

SHOW NOTES: 

https://a.co/d/0gUYH3p2

LDS conversion story, joining the Church of Jesus Christ, Mormon missionaries, baptism, kindness, service, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, temple, gospel truths, relationship with God

Bobby wasn’t searching for God.

Raised in a California farm town by a single mother, he grew up with two rules—don’t lie and don’t steal—and almost no understanding of church, scripture, or the kind of people who built their lives around either one.

By his early twenties, Bobby had found a very different way to live. Yet wherever he went, Latter-day Saints seemed to appear. They helped strangers. They quietly served. They lived by convictions Bobby didn’t understand—and their goodness made him wonder what they wanted.

Then two missionaries knocked on his door.

Their message was simple enough. Some of it even made sense. But Bobby had spent too much of his life relying on himself to be easily persuaded by a few lessons about God.

And then, on a day when everything was falling apart, those missionaries came back.

What they did next left Bobby facing a possibility he had never seriously considered: What if these people were not merely talking about Jesus Christ? What if they actually knew Him?

Following that question would require Bobby to reconsider nearly everything he believed about goodness, repentance, and the kind of God who might still want a man like him.

He thought the missionaries had come to teach him a religion.

He had no idea they were about to show him an entirely different way to live.

CHAPTERS:
00:46 – Meet Bobby Tracy and hear where his story began
03:49 – Early encounters with Latter-day Saints and examples that stayed with him
07:38 – Meeting the missionaries and seeing the gospel differently
09:27 – Missionaries in Barstow open the door to conversion
12:03 – An unforgettable act of service that changed Bobby’s life
12:41 – Baptism, repentance, and discovering that the gospel is a process
15:08 – Learning to receive service and let go of pride
18:08 – Seeing everyone as brothers and sisters
21:19 – Moving beyond checking boxes to a real relationship with Heavenly Father
23:13 – Divorce, heartbreak, and a powerful experience with God
27:15 – Meeting Nicole and recognizing the Lord’s hand in their relationship
37:00 – Holding onto spiritual experiences and choosing faith
42:00 – Finding the Father he never had in Heavenly Father
48:05 – Following God to Nauvoo and living a life of service
56:06 – Why Bobby chooses to stay in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS faith, Jesus Christ, emotional healing, temple worship, family struggles, generational trauma, grace, spiritual growth, personal revelation, finding hope, healing through Christ

Elaine had done everything she thought faith required.

She had grown up with scripture stories around the dinner table and gospel music drifting through the house. She had felt the Spirit when she was young, married in the temple, and built a life centered on the gospel.

But beneath the music and memories, something remained unhealed.

Elaine could see patterns in her family she desperately wanted to change. She believed that if she tried hard enough to be good, somehow everything would turn out right. But when she reached toward heaven for the healing she longed for, heaven seemed silent.

Then, during a long day at the temple, two strangers unknowingly gave her the beginning of an answer.

What if the Savior’s promise was not that every struggle would be taken away? What if some burdens remained because they had something to teach her?

This is Elaine’s story of wounds passed quietly from one generation to the next, the difference between knowing the gospel and allowing it to change you—and the relationship with Jesus Christ that made survival possible.

LDS faith, Jesus Christ, emotional healing, temple worship, family struggles, generational trauma, grace, spiritual growth, personal revelation, finding hope, healing through Christ
Elaine had done everything she thought faith required.

She had grown up with scripture stories around the dinner table and gospel music drifting through the house. She had felt the Spirit when she was young, married in the temple, and built a life centered on the gospel.

But beneath the music and memories, something remained unhealed.
Elaine could see patterns in her family she desperately wanted to change. She believed that if she tried hard enough to be good, somehow everything would turn out right. But when she reached toward heaven for the healing she longed for, heaven seemed silent.

Then, during a long day at the temple, two strangers unknowingly gave her the beginning of an answer.

What if the Savior’s promise was not that every struggle would be taken away? What if some burdens remained because they had something to teach her?

This is Elaine’s story of wounds passed quietly from one generation to the next, the difference between knowing the gospel and allowing it to change you—and the relationship with Jesus Christ that made survival possible.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 When Living the Gospel Doesn’t Mean Life Will Be Easy
2:04 Building a Testimony from Childhood
3:42 How Family History Strengthened Elaine’s Faith
4:48 Finding Strength and Healing Through Music
6:00 Recognizing and Breaking Generational Emotional Patterns
8:14 Why Trials Are Part of Living the Gospel
12:29 Becoming Doers of the Word and Choosing Love Over Contention
15:15 Becoming Who Heavenly Father Wants Us to Become
21:07 Helping Others See the Savior Through Us
23:21 Learning to Hear and Trust Personal Revelation
25:28 Taking Our Struggles to the Temple
27:45 “I Want You to Learn to Be Nice When You’re Tired”
29:40 “I Cannot Do This Alone” — Jesus Christ Is the Way
32:32 How Following a Prompting to Minister Brought Healing and Peace
36:00 Balancing Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Help
38:41 Why Others Can’t Fix Us — Learning to Rely on the Savior
43:07 Grace, Works, and Learning to Simply Be
44:19 How to Love Someone Who Is Struggling Emotionally
47:17 Why Elaine Chooses to Stay in the Church of Jesus Christ

Show Notes: 

https://pepence.com/    https://www.youtube.com/@becoming58/videos 

By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/the-gift-of-grace?lang=eng

By Elder Dallin H. Oaks

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2002/08/the-challenge-to-become?lang=eng

LDS meditation, hearing the Holy Ghost, personal revelation, prayer, stillness, knowing God, Jesus Christ, spiritual peace, quiet time with God, and learning to “be still and know” He is always there.

Justin had spent years doing what faithful disciples do. He served a mission, attended church, honored his covenants, and kept moving forward. Jesus Christ had always been part of his life.

But knowing about God was not quite the same as knowing Him.

Through years filled with school, military service, midnight watches, marriage, work, and the constant motion of an ordinary life, Justin began to discover something he had nearly missed: God was not asking him to search harder. He was inviting him to become still.

In the quiet, thoughts came with unexpected clarity. Impressions sounded almost like his own voice, yet carried a conviction he could not manufacture. Experiences that once seemed random began fitting together, slowly revealing the hand of a God who had been near all along.

But in a world determined to fill every silent moment, how do we become quiet enough to recognize Him?

Justin’s story is an invitation to step away from the noise, sit patiently in the stillness, and discover what can happen when we stop trying so hard to find God—and become quiet enough to let Him find us.

Show Notes: 

firthmindfulness.com 

LDS divorce, Latter-day Saint women, temple marriage, Jesus Christ, healing through the Atonement, trusting God, faith after divorce, prayer, Holy Ghost, repentance, remarriage, second chances 

Ne’Cole was eighteen when she entered a Latter-day Saint marriage believing temple covenants would lead to forever. The next day, her husband told her he had made a mistake. He didn’t love her.

Those words did not end the marriage. They became the wound around which Ne’Cole built it.

For nearly thirty years, she tried to become lovable enough to change the story. She raised eight children, filled her home with prayer, served in the Church, attended the temple, and kept reaching for the marriage she had believed faithfulness would produce.

But when the marriage ended anyway, Ne’Cole was left facing a question no amount of praying, striving, or trying harder could answer:

What if God was not asking her to save the life she had built—but to trust Him to create a more perfect way?

She moved to the small Idaho town of Malad and began swimming each morning in the warm waters of Downata Hot Springs. Like the man who waited beside the Pool of Bethesda, Ne’Cole longed to be made whole. Yet the Savior was not asking her to keep waiting for someone else to carry her into the water.

He was asking her to rise.

Healing would require Ne’Cole to confront the belief she had carried since she was eighteen—that love had to be earned. It would ask her to stop forcing the future, release the relationships she thought might save her, and trust Jesus Christ enough to let Him lead.

Ne’Cole had spent much of her life trying to create the right ending. Now she would discover that Jesus is a far better Partner—and that life becomes something more beautiful when we stop trying to manage His work, get out of His way, and allow Him to create a more perfect way.

CHAPTERS:
0:40 – Meet Nicole Tracy: Faith, Family, and an Unexpected Adventure
2:34 – Pioneer Roots and the Seeds of a Personal Testimony
5:19 – Learning to Hear Heavenly Father for Herself
7:03 – When Righteousness Became a Checklist of “Am I Good Enough?”
9:33 – Loss, Divorce, and Learning to Completely Trust God
12:15 – Healing, Self-Love, and Finding a More Excellent Way
15:46 – Atonement, Forgiveness, and Healing a Blended Family
17:22 – Covenants and Knowing You Are Unconditionally Loved by God
20:36 – Letting Go of Checkbox Faith and Truly Trusting the Savior
24:31 – Your Worth Doesn’t Change When You Make Mistakes
29:01 – What “A More Excellent Way” Really Means
33:02 – Daily Repentance, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Growth
35:50 – Trusting God’s Plot Twists: Saying Yes to Nauvoo
41:04 – Having the Faith to Act When God Says Go
45:20 – Why Nicole Chooses to Stay in the Church of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, personal revelation, faith transitions, Church culture, and true discipleship—what changes when following the Savior becomes personal, intentional, and transforming

Jeff had spent his life surrounded by the gospel. But it wasn’t until he chose to seek God with real intent that belief became something more—and he began to experience the mighty change that comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

That choice would shape everything that followed: the way he understood revelation, the missionaries he later guided, and eventually the questions he pursued through years of research. Why do some people flourish within the Church while others feel judged, misunderstood, or unable to remain? What are we missing when we assume everyone’s faith should look the same?

Jeff’s discoveries invite us to look more closely at what it really means to become a disciple of Christ—not only in the way we seek Him, but in the way we make room for people in different places along the path.

Because perhaps the clearest evidence that Christ is transforming us is not simply what we believe. It is who we are becoming—and how we love those whose journey looks different from our own.

SHOW NOTES: Buy the book:  Amazon.com : torn by jeff strong 

Website: Home | Torn - Understanding why those we love leave the Church 

CHAPTERS:
00:48 – Jeff Strong’s Story: Faith, Family & His Book Torn
05:25 – From Going Through the Motions to a Real Testimony
08:22 – Experiencing a Mighty Change of Heart Through Jesus Christ
13:04 – Desire, Discipleship & Being Called to Follow Christ
16:02 – Choosing Faith Over Fear When Life Feels Uncertain
22:48 – Fear Is a Warning Light, Not a Windshield
28:31 – Personal Revelation, Agency & “Bumper Bowling” with God
34:45 – Prayer, Contemplation & Recognizing God’s Tender Mercies
41:27 – Why Faithful Latter-day Saints Sometimes Leave the Church
47:47 – Trusting God When Someone You Love Steps Away from the Church
53:30 – The Five LDS Faith Mindsets: Seeker, Cultivator, Protector, Avoider & Connector
57:34 – From Protector to Cultivator: Making Room for Different Ways of Believing
1:04:22 – Building a Church Culture Where Different Faith Mindsets Belong
1:08:43 – Why Jeff Strong Chooses to Stay in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1:10:51 – New Wine, New Bottles & Making Room for Faith to Grow