My Soul Hungered and My Stomach Growled!

Popular speaker and teacher Hank Smith confesses that when he was growing up he had a really hard time fasting. He kept hoping that somehow there had been a typo somewhere and that instead of fast and testimony meeting, it was really supposed to be feast and testimony meeting! Whenever he fasted, he found himself being irritated and grouchy and just downright miserable.

Through the years, Hank gained a testimony of fasting and its purpose. But his earlier experiences helped him realize the effects of being spiritually hungry. “Just as our bodies hunger for food when we are fasting, our souls hunger for daily nourishment,” says Brother Smith. “If you’re not praying, studying the scriptures, and going to the temple, it’s like letting the battery on your cell phone run down. You get grouchy and depressed and start questioning your testimony. Your spiritual batteries need recharging, too.” He quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who says that if we don’t seek the crucial bread of eternal life, we may be choosing to be “spiritually malnourished, willfully indulging in a kind of spiritual anorexia.” With his trademark humor, inspiring stories, and enlightening quotes, Hank Smith once again shares a message that youth will relate to and remember.