The world today is very busy and we often find ourselves looking for ways to slow down and take a moment for ourselves. With a constant bombardment of noise and people competing for your attention, many people have turned to meditation as a form of release and relaxation. Like many others, Shauna Snell was someone who was needing a place for herself to slow down and take some time for herself. However, as Shauna searched for a guided meditation app she could use, she was unimpressed by the apps that were available to her. Shauna wanted an app that combined guided meditation with doctrinal truths from her LDS faith but quickly found out there wasn’t any app like that existed in the app store.
Feeling defeated, Shauna got on her knees and prayed to her Heavenly Father hoping to receive guidance to show her where to find what she needed. Shauna received an answer to her prayer, but not the answer she was expecting. The Lord revealed to her that if she wanted an LDS meditation app, she was going to have to build it herself. Confused, determined, and full of faith, Shauna embarked on a journey she never anticipated for herself. This is the story of Refill My Soul.
Trusting in God’s Timing and Guidance
As I sat down with Shauna and learned of her story, I was nothing short of impressed. Here was a woman with a million different responsibilities on her plate, trying her best to build an app during a time where it seemed like the universe was rooting against her. As a mother, Shuana was juggling helping one of her daughters plan her upcoming wedding, preparing another daughter to serve as a full time missionary, and taking care of her other children. On top of her many responsibilities, Shauna’s husband had unexpectedly found himself out of work. With everything going on, it would have been easy to put this idea on the shelf and pick it back up when I have the time to put into it. But the promptings from the spirit and personal revelation from the Lord were hard to ignore. So she decided she was going to try and find the time, energy, and money to make this app a reality. So she pushed forward, determined to figure it out even without any technical or programming background to fall back on.
I am often reminded of a scripture in Ether chapter 12 that states, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” I can’t help but think of Shauna when I read this scripture. Here was a woman, who within the realm of app building can easily be considered “weak.” She had no experience with programming of any kind and when she told her family of her plan, her daughter responded, “mom, how are you supposed to create an app if you don't know how to use the ones you already have on your phone?" This was such an unlikely goal for her to accomplish, why was the Lord prompting her to do so?
We often don’t understand why God is pushing us in a specific direction. And while that can often be frustrating, the trick is learning to put your full trust in Him. He is the one that sees us perfectly and knows our potential. And as willing as we may be to follow his direction, we sometimes need that little nudge to get us going in the right direction. In Shauna’s own words, “one of the things that came clear to me is that God is going to open doors. And when He opens a door, I need to have the faith to walk through it.”
Overcoming Obstacles and Resisting the Urge to Quit
Now just because Shauna had faith the Lord would guide her, doesn’t mean her journey was without its fair share of obstacles. One of the first things she did when she decided to embark on this journey was to find out how much money it was going to cost her. With her husband recently out of a job, money was tighter than normal. After getting a bid from an app developer, for a little more than $20,000 her heart sank. There was no possible way, even before her husband lost her job, that they would’ve been able to afford to spend that much on an app. Dejected but still determined, she went to her husband. Together they discussed how much money they were going to be able to spend on this project and with the new number in mind, she got down on her knees and prayed.
Shauna prayed for a miracle. She knew the money she and her husband had budgeted for the app was significantly lower than the previous bid and she was going to need to find another way. Shortly after, she reached out to a couple of computer science students at Brigham Young University to pitch her idea and get their opinion on how much it would cost them to build the app. To her surprise, the number these BYU students gave her was the exact number she and her husband had budgeted for. Again the Lord stepped in when Shuana needed Him and provided the path for her to take.
Something that I think is very easy to forget, is when the Lord gives you personal revelation to do something, he will also provide you a way to accomplish it. Even when it seems impossible, the Lord will find a way. As mortal humans, it is hard for us to comprehend the idea that nothing is impossible. We are sometimes incapable of seeing the solution which is why we need to trust in the Lord. A Lord that is omniscient and powerful. With His help, we truly can accomplish the impossible.
Embracing our Divine Identity and Purpose
Through the help of the Lord and her app development team, Refill My Soul launched in June 2020 with amazing results. Since its initial launch, the app has been downloaded by thousands of people all over the world. In my interview with her, Shauna recounted to me her experience of finding herself and embracing her divine identity and purpose. She said, “I can testify that the Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible. I am the most unlikely person for this job, so if the Lord can help me figure this out, he can do anything with you. He can help you fulfill your purposes on this earth that he has divinely designed for you to do that only you can do.”
Each of us has a divinely designed purpose for us to accomplish here on this earth. And God uses us to help Him accomplish His work which as we learn from Moses is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Wow, what an amazing opportunity for us! I can’t help but to be grateful for the opportunity I have in my life to help the Lord in His divine work. And what is amazing is that knowing that even though each one of us is different and each of our divine purposes may also be different, we are all working towards the same goal.
Answering the Plea: Stepping Up as Covenant-Keeping Women: An Invitation
I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend a lot of time studying the words of our Prophet Russell M. Nelson. His words are so powerful and I truly believe him to be a prophet of God. In a talk from the October 2015 General Conference titled, A Plea to My Sisters he states, “So today I plead with my sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of LAtter-day Saints to step forward! Take your rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God-more than you ever have before…And I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that as you do so, the Holy Ghost will magnify your influence in an unprecedented way!”
What a tremendous blessing from our prophet! As I have studied this talk, I have felt the spirit testify to me that this is indeed true. As we, through the help of the Lord, step forward and take upon us our divine purpose as women and mothers, the Holy Ghost will magnify our influence. I think of this talk as it relates to Shauna and Refill My Soul, how many people have been blessed by this amazing app? And how many of them might not have been able to receive those blessings if Shauna had ignored the promptings from her Heavenly Father? And more importantly, what promptings have you received from Heavenly Father that you need to act upon?
I know from experience, it is often easier to recognize the big promptings than the smaller ones. When you are prompted to build an app from scratch when you don’t have any experience with programming, it is hard to ignore. But when you are prompted to go sit by a person sitting alone on a park bench, it might be difficult to recognize that as a prompting from the Spirit. But I am here to tell you both are promptings from the Spirit and both are equally important! The Lord works in mysterious ways and as Alama taught us, it is “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”
So my invitation to you is to try harder to recognize and then act upon the promptings of the Spirit to help God further His work. And if you feel you aren’t receiving any promptings, I urge you to have the courage to ask God what He needs you to do. I promise that when you ask God for guidance, He will lead you. But it is up to you to have the faith to push forward even when the task may seem overwhelming or insignificant. Trust in the Lord. He knows you, He knows what you are capable of, and most importantly, He knows how you can help His other children come closer to Him and feel His presence.
Comments