Teresa Hirst

When you pray for an opportunity, remember to also pray for courage.

After writing for my own projects—my fiction manuscript, my autobiography and my blog—I needed to reach for some new possibilities beyond myself to share my talents in a way that benefits my local community.

I took my desire to the Lord and discovered a truth I knew but thought I lost—He does listen to and answers prayers.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we each fill responsibilities to serve in some capacity in our local congregations. We are not paid for our service. We don’t apply or campaign. We are called by our ecclesiastical leaders, who we believe seek revelation to know who God wants to serve in that assignment.

Unless you were a music major and are called to lead the choir or play the organ, a calling doesn’t usually match up with a member’s professional training or education. But sometimes it does.

I now serve as the director of public affairs for our local stake in Minnesota. My college courses and varied experiences writing for the media are one thing. Working with the media as a representative of our local congregations of the Church, a representative of Jesus Christ, feels like the high ropes walk my daughter took last week on her field trip.

Courage to walk forward in new and precarious situations comes from faith. Faith conquers fear and leads to action. And action simply requires following directions.

The day after my daughter took that walk, I took one of my own when an assistant editor at our regional paper, The St. Cloud Times, approached me about doing a story from a news release about the LDS Church in central Minnesota.

The experience, from initial contact to arranging interviews to publication, has been positive.  For the record, I discovered, there are individuals in the media who want to share the truth.

Read the article “Mormon Stake Marks First Year” here.