Angelic Drives and Faithbuilding Experiences

In which Our Heroine is saved, the first Time

I have previously discussed how there have been difficulties in finding a place to hang my faith at times during this latest episode of my life, especially nearer the beginning.  I had some questions and had to find ways to answer them.  You’ll remember my fourth blog post about finding out I would live.  Did I mention to you that there were two weeks of not knowing how to pray for the answer to my “Will I live?” question before I received an answer?  Somehow, I found that all that faith that was good enough for a normal day wasn’t quite good enough for the big stuff.  Two weeks is a short wrestle before God, but a sincerely difficult one.  However, I am grateful that I didn’t have to start from a zero point of faith—that would have been very difficult indeed.  And it would seem very ungrateful of me (to my Heavenly Father) if I didn’t offer to you, my readers, a few of the ways that He prepared me for the end of my world.

How did he do this?  Over the past year I have had at least two experiences with angelic ministrations.  Angels among us?  Yes.  I have not mentioned them before because it is difficult to toss something so sacred and personal out onto the loud-mouth internet.  But after watching Conference yesterday, I realized that the general authorities talk about sacred stuff all the time to the world, and leave it up to the Holy Ghost to do the rest.  So, I offer to you my first tale of angelic ministration. 

It was a year ago, a winter day.  I was driving to Target and hit a patch of very black ice—invisible enough that later I actually questioned all of this.  Some of you Alaskans will know the roundabout at Minnesota and C-Street.  There will be many others of you that have driven on northern icy roads, and will know that when you hit ice and need to turn your car, the darned thing will just keep sliding in a straight trajectory toward destruction.  Turning your wheel, even in moderate amounts, will get you nowhere.  Either that, or to the wrong place quick.  There I was, going too fast and not able to get my car into that nice curve that roundabouts require.  I was quite sure I was going to crash our recently purchased car—a car that represented long hours of work and savings for our family. 

Upon this last thought, the terror hit me.  We could not suffer the loss of this car! (Well, we’ll see about that certitude in a later angel blog post.) Anyway, terrified, I opened my mouth and uttered “Heavenly Father, please help me!”  At that exact moment, my car began to turn.  It did not slow, but was on that perfect curvature. At this point my mind seemed fractured between terror and astonishment.  I experienced a second kind of fracturing here as well: I wondered just what was going on with my car, and the answer came through the Holy Ghost.  It was if I had another set of eyes (spiritual eyes) looking down on my situation from above and then again looking to the left out of my window.  It was like I was seeing three things at once (Picasso style): my current physical view along with the double spiritual vision.  I saw my red Subaru legacy had a tall broad-shouldered man just there on the left, pushing the car to make the turn for me.  I don’t remember seeing details exactly, but I had the impression he looked like one of my brothers, Bryce, and that his name was Hyrum Scott, who is an ancestor of mine.  I made it to C-Street, turned to the right, and went shopping as if my day was a perfectly ordinary day.  In the next few weeks, I thought a lot about the protection that temple covenants can offer to us and how our families really are linked for eternity. 

The Power of a Good Prayer

In which our Heroine recounts Tidings of great joy

I would like to talk about the power of a good prayer.  So many of you are praying for me, that I thought I should first, thank you whole-heartedly, and second, tell about things from my end.  But first I will segue into a little experience I had a year or two ago.  I had a friend who happened to have a child that often gave her grief.  I cannot tell you the hours of patient work she put into this kid’s wellness.  One day she called me and it was plain that things had been going badly that day between her and her little angel.  It sounded like her heart was breaking, and I listened to her and murmured supporting comments as any good friend should.  After I hung up, I had the strongest feeling that I should pray for her.  Still standing by the phone, I dutifully did so.  After five minutes, I was sick of standing and felt like I’d said all the important things.  However, I’d read a talk on prayer by Elder Bednar recently, and knew I could do better.  So I continued.  It was looooooonnng.  But I looked deep at my friend’s situation and prayed from every angle I knew, and then threw in some extra stuff for her as it came to mind. 

At a certain point, I finally felt like the prayer was complete and closed.  The feeling afterward was one I will never forget.  The Spirit felt so strong, and there was a sense of ratification.  I knew my prayer had been heard, recorded in some great book somewhere, and that it would be answered.  My friend would receive her help, much beyond what I could do on the phone.  The forces of heaven had been marshaled o her behalf.  The best part, though, was the knowledge that Heavenly Father approved  of my offering. 

And so now I thank all of you out there for your offerings on my behalf.  It is interesting being on the end of what I know to be hundreds of prayers and meaningful fasts.  I can feel it on my end too, and I don’t mean just in my rapid healing or in the feeling of support and friendship and openness.  Or, even the excellent treats and dinners you all keep bringing to my door.  My brother told me recently that I have the Jewish community of Phoenix, many of whom live or work on his UPS route, praying for me too.  How charitable of them to pray for a complete stranger. The thing is, all I have to do at any given moment is open myself up in a quiet moment to the Holy Ghost and send the question out, “Am I receiving blessings right now because of prayer?”  And the answer is a resounding yes.  There is no doubt in my mind.  And I appreciate the prayers so much because they are not just for me but for my husband and child.  I thank you, each and every one of you.  And I hope for you to feel that divine sense of ratification in return.  It is truly one of the best things in life.  Although I must admit, this is pretty good from my end too.