There is a particular kind of spiritual “numbness” that can set in when you have been in the Church for decades. We know the stories. We’ve heard the promises. We are familiar with the teachings. I recently spoke to a good Latter-day Saint man in his early 40s who longs to be married and have a family but does not believe it is possible for him. Things that seem so easy for other people feel overwhelmingly difficult for him. He says, “I don’t have a good sense of humor.” Others say, “I don’t know how to flirt,” or “I’m just not very social.”
For the single adult, the promises of marriage, family, and spiritual power often feel like they are held only for other people who have talents we lack. And the search for an eternal companion is, thus, reduced to the ability to deliver a well-timed punchline or a witty pick-up line. We spend so much time looking at the empty chair in our homes that we often fail to look into the open vault of Heaven standing right in front of us—to claim the gifts that truly make a difference.
In the middle of the silence that accompanies single life, one often ignored question may merit more attention—not a question of doubt, but a question of activating faith: What if it’s all true?
How amazing is it if a young prophet actually received from an angel a book of ancient scripture made of gold plates and translated that book by “the gift and power of God”? What would that mean to us? It would mean that God’s power is here among His covenant people—us! It would mean that He is a God of miracles! It would mean that he intervenes in our lives to bring us both happiness and holiness. And if all that is true, you may trust in Moroni’s final admonition in that book to “deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever” and to “deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God” (Moroni 10:7-8).
The Manual for Deliverance
Because of the miracles the Book of Mormon promises, we would do well to ask: What if the Book of Mormon is true? If that book is exactly what it claims to be, then it is not just a volume of stories—it is a functional manual for personal deliverance. The Book of Mormon is a record of individuals who were stuck in trackless deserts, literal prisons, and emotional pits, and yet who found ways prepared for their rescue. If the Book of Mormon is true, then you are part of a covenant lineage that has a legal claim on the protection of Heaven and the words to teach you how to call upon divine power. You can stop praying for the burden to be removed and start utilizing the book’s specific formulas to receive the strength to bear and overcome it.
Prayer as Divine Navigation
This leads us to the mechanics of our search for eternal blessings. What if prayer is real and God is listening? What if it isn’t just a monologue of our desires, but a tool for real-time navigation?
We often pray for the end result—the spouse, the job, the relief. But what might happen if we seek the Lord’s help in the logistics of the search? The Spirit can whisper the name of a person to call, a place to be, or a book to read, and we are never truly wandering. We are on a guided adventure. Seeking His guidance means we stop trying to force doors open and plainly see and start walking through the ones He has already unlocked. Prayer is the divine key that opens the vault by aligning our will with His, making us ready to receive what is already there.
The Unclaimed Key: Priesthood Blessings
If we truly believe the Priesthood is the literal power of God delegated to man, then a blessing is a divine intervention. We often operate on General GPS—the broad truths of the Gospel that apply to everyone. But a priesthood blessing is an opportunity to receive personal revelation—any time you want it—and claim gifts and blessings that are uniquely for you. What if it is actually true that having words spoken over you by a person with special authority has power to change things, to activate spiritual gifts and power, and to bestow divine revelation about your deepest questions or the direction of your life?
As Latter-day Saints we have become so complacent about the power we wield and to which we are heirs that we often exercise it with apathy if we exercise it at all. How about newly and intentionally appreciating your right to receive priesthood blessings more than ever before and ask for a blessing seeking special revelation and spiritual power to overcome the challenges you face at this time in your life?
What if it is true that some blessings are contingent upon our asking? When we hesitate to reach out for a blessing because we don’t want to inconvenience someone, we aren’t being self-reliant. We are leaving heaven’s most powerful resources on the table. Reaching out for a blessing is a declaration that you believe your life is significant enough for the Lord of the Universe to stop for a moment and speak directly to you. And if He has words especially for you, don’t you want to know what they are?
The Ancient Blueprint
We see this same power in our Patriarchal Blessings. What if the blessing you were given, perhaps at a young age, is truly God’s word to you? If that is true, the blessing is a literal revelation from a Father who sees the end from the beginning. The promises it contains are your birthright, and those words are as available today as they were the day the patriarch’s hands were upon your head. (I will also guess that your blessing speaks, directly or indirectly, about your future spouse.) The Lord was speaking to your current solitude long before you ever experienced it. A blessing is a living document, a seer stone for your personal journey, and a love letter from your Heavenly Father, waiting for you to re-read it with the eyes of a seeker, rather than a mere historian. If your blessing is truly a gift from God, there are no more important words for you in the entire world. Your blessing tells you your place in the House of Israel and confirms upon you the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. It grants you spiritual gifts and powers that will allow you to work miracles as you come to understand them. Why don’t we unlock this power more often? Perhaps patriarchal blessings have been given so widely that we have forgotten how special they are.
The Temple as a Weight Room
Perhaps the greatest untapped resource is found within the Temple. What if it is really true that you can be washed clean from the blood and sins of the world we now live in? What if we can really be anointed to become kings and priests, queens and priestesses, with all the divine power that implies? What if being clothed meant being protected and covered by the power of Jesus Christ’s atonement—not just wearing a fancy dress on a future wedding date? What if it is all true? What divine powers have been bestowed on you that you are not making full use of?
There is a specific sanctification that happens when we stop treating the temple merely as a waiting room for an eventual sealing and start treating it as a “weight room” for the soul. The sealing is a royal wedding and represents the capstone of the temple experience. But a marriage is stronger when it rests on the strong foundation of covenants established to empower and direct our lives.
The Final Call: Availing the Available
The root of the word available comes from the Latin valere, meaning “to be strong” or “to possess worth.” Every blessing in the open vault is already packed with inherent strength. But that strength is static until it is activated by our own will.
If we are not willing to avail ourselves of these blessings—to reach out, to ask, and to act—then they will “avail” us nothing. The word available simply means that the strength is there. It is “able” to be of value. But the verb avail is a choice to act.
The greatest tragedy of single life isn’t the absence of a spouse. It is the presence of an available power that we don’t avail ourselves of. We stand in a room full of tools, feeling exhausted and discouraged because we think other people know something we don’t. We think if we could just have the personality or the talent, or the sense of humor, or the social skill someone else has, we would be married too. But what are such trivialities against the gift and power of God—the power by which kings and queens rise and fall, by which worlds have been spoken into existence, and by which the dead have been raised and the blind received their sight.
If the Restoration is true, the vault is not just open—it is overflowing. But a gift that is never unwrapped provides no benefit. We must be willing to “avail” ourselves of our covenants, our prayers, and our priesthood identity, or we remain spiritually weak in a kingdom built to make us strong.
Ask yourself, “What if it’s all true? What then?” If it is all true, we can claim the gifts we may have been taking for granted and ignoring and stop spending our strength focusing on our deficiencies. And we can unlock these gifts by following Moroni’s counsel to “deny not the gifts of God” and “deny not the power of God.” These divine blessings are not “coming soon.” They are here. Claim what is already yours.
Resource:
Intentional Courtship can help in this journey.
About the Author
Jeff Teichert, and his wife Cathy Butler Teichert, are the founders of “Love in Later Years,” which ministers to Latter-day Saint single adults seeking peace, healing, and more joyful relationships. They are co-authors of the Amazon bestseller Intentional Courtship: A Mid-Singles Guide to Peace, Progress and Pairing Up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeff and Cathy each spent nearly a decade in the mid-singles community and they use that experience to provide counsel and hope to mid-singles and later married couples through written articles, podcasts, and videos. Jeff and Cathy are both Advanced Certified Life Coaches and have university degrees in Family & Human Development. They are the parents of a blended family that includes four handsome sons, one lovely daughter-in-law, and two sweet little granddaughters.
Purchase Jeff & Cathy’s book Intentional Courtship:
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Website: http://www.loveinlateryears.com/
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/loveinlateryears
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/loveinlateryears
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LoveInLaterYears
Instagram: http://instagram.com/loveinlateryears/
Email: [email protected]
Margaret AndersonApril 9, 2026
How sad it is that you portray a life that does not include marriage and children as a negative. IT IS NOT! The Church has always been a negative place to be for single adults. Singles have to shut out the noise from members/leaders and their "good intentions", "condolences" and "advice" to us singles and find joy in their lives just like everyone else. I am 82 years old single and have loved my single life. One Sunday in Relief Society we were asked to tell everyone what we thought our talents are. I said that my greatest talent was that I could be a happy, financially successful woman capable of taking care of all her needs. Needless to say, that did not go over well.