Emmanuel

Like everyone else on planet Earth the year 2020 is not one I will easily forget. I started out the year losing my dad. The time I was able to spend with him at the end of his life is precious to me and some of the experiences I had are sacred. I want to share some of it in the hopes that it will strengthen you as it has me. It will take multiple posts to do so.

Up until October 2019 my brother and sister-in-law were the caregivers for Dad.  They made huge sacrifices to watch over him. In the last couple years of his life it was 24-hour care. Then in October Dee dee (my SIL) let me know that her own dad needed help in another state and asked me to come and take over. We had done this before, me coming so she could go; but little did we know that we were both going to help our dads in their final days.

In the beginning of my watch I heard Emily Belle Freeman describe a spiritual practice that got me through the next few months. Each Sabbath day during the sacrament she asked herself which of the names of Christ she would carry in her heart...which name did she NEED to meet her challenges. I was intrigued and decided to try that. There are so many challenges with care-giving and if anyone needed heavenly help, I certainly did. So the next Sunday I read through a list of names the scriptures use for Jesus Christ, stopping at Emmanuel. I felt a tug on my heart. Three Bible verses were listed with it so I looked them up and discovered, according to St. Matthew, Emmanuel means "God with us." If anyone needed God with us, I certainly felt that Dad and I did. Only two days later would I have an experience that showed me how perfectly God is with us. And that is what I want to share.

On the morning of December 17, during my personal prayers, I prayed for Dee dee's dad who was in the hospital with serious issues. Into my mind came the following words, "Pray for Dee dee to be reconciled." My heart sank, but then I prayed according to those instructions. Within the hour Dee dee called me in tears. She had an experience of her own which I share with her permission.

As Dee dee was waking that morning she was surprised to suddenly "see" a woman dressed in blue. The woman said, "We lost him." Then the vision faded. In shock, and then with resolve, she gave herself a pep talk about not losing faith and staying positive about her dad. The phone rang only minutes later. It was the hospital. Her dad had gone into cardiac arrest and was on life support. Dee dee called to ask me to pray. I ended up telling her about the experience I had earlier that morning, to pray for her to be reconciled. She cried and my heart ached for her; but she was grateful to God for letting her know His will and that she should prepare herself.

As we shared our two experiences, the name Emmanuel came to my mind. Oh, my gosh! EMMANUEL. God with us. He was with us! And we marveled at that realization. The days and weeks that followed only reaffirmed what had been shown us that morning.  God was aware of us and the two men who were preparing to return to their heavenly home. And He was going to help them (and us) to walk that difficult path, making it holy ground.

And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you...and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led. 1 Nephi 17:13, The Book of Mormon

President Russell M. Nelson ended his incredible address, Hear Him, at the April 2020 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with these words:

God lives! Jesus is the Christ! His Church has been restored! He and His Father, our Heavenly Father, are watching over us. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Now I have that same witness. God is with us! Emmanuel. It fills me with courage, hope, and gratitude...even if it is 2020.

I Wanna Be All In!

With permission I share the following written by Rob Eaton of Rexburg, Idaho. Like him, I also was blown away by the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. Nothing could have prepared me for the magnificence that I experienced. I'm so glad I didn't miss it.

"I had read all the hype, and I had a hard time imagining there was any way a total solar eclipse could live up to so much promotion and praise. One account was so effusive that even my young nephew dismissed it by saying, “It had too many superlatives.” Surely nothing could be that good.

"If I had not lived plop in the middle of the zone of totality in Rexburg, Idaho, I don’t know that I would have traveled far to see it. When I mentioned it to my brother a month ago, remarkably enough, he hadn’t even heard about it yet. But before I could even say anything about it, he said, “It seems like every eclipse that comes along is supposed to be the only time in the next 57 years you’ll be able to see something like it.” He hadn’t been that impressed with what he’d seen in the past, so he wasn’t interested in driving a couple of hours north to reach the zone of totality for this eclipse.

"I don’t fault him. If I were him, I might well have looked at a map and figured, “I’ll just stay here and see 75% of the eclipse and get 75% of the benefits. Why go all that way just to see the sun all the way covered?”

"But with solar eclipses, I learned vividly and personally today, there is a world of difference between even 98% of an eclipse and 100%. We watched with interest and amusement during the partial phases of the eclipse, but right up until a few moments before we witnessed the total eclipse, it seemed like not much more than a pleasant astronomical quirk visible only with special protective glasses.

"But as the moon began to totally cover the sun and we witnessed the diamond ring and the corona visible only with a total solar eclipse, I was absolutely blown away. I thought I would remain calm, but I couldn’t keep the emotions I felt inside. And neither could most of the people around me. As one writer had predicted, it was as if it touched something deeply primal within us. No photograph or video I’ve seen of this spectacular phenomenon does justice to it. It is simply the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

"Afterwards, my nephew volunteered to his mother: "Now I know why they used so many superlatives." Despite all the hype, we discovered a total solar eclipse had not been overrated.

"As a follower of Jesus Christ, this experience has reminded me of three important lessons. First, heaven is not overhyped; eternal life will be worth every sacrifice we could possibly make to partake of it.

"In one of my otherwise favorite songs by Train, the singer asks of a friend returning from some kind of cosmic journey, “Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded and that heaven is overrated?” Just as my brother assumed a total eclipse had been oversold, much of the world today has come to believe heaven is not real or that it can’t be all that. They doubt the reality of an eternal existence with God so exquisite that Peter described it as becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). I believe that one day, everyone will be as convinced of the desirability of eternal life with God as those who witnessed the total eclipse today were of its stunning glory.

"Second, I was reminded that there is a dramatic difference between the blessings that come from sort of following the gospel of Jesus Christ—being in the zone of partiality—and striving to following Him and His teachings with all our hearts—the zone of totality. One of the reasons my brother and I underestimated how rewarding the total eclipse would be is that we based our estimates on what we’d witnessed in prior partial eclipses. But a total eclipse isn’t just twice as beautiful as an eclipse where the moon covers half the sun; it is exponentially better.

"And so are the blessings that come from living in the zone of spiritual totality. I’m not talking about a place where we are perfect, and I’m certainly not talking about a condition we achieve through our own efforts alone. But I am referring to a state of mind and heart where we jump in with our whole souls, holding nothing back but relying on Christ to realize our divine potential. The blessings of spiritual coronas and diamond rings come not to those who merely go through the motions and occasional effort it takes to reach the zone of partiality; they come to those who yield their hearts and souls to God in the zone of spiritual totality.

"Finally, now that I know what a rare and exquisite experience a total solar eclipse is, I regret terribly the fact that I didn’t try to persuade my brother and his family and all my siblings and children who lived elsewhere to join us. What a terrible waste it was to have a home located in the heart of the zone of totality with only 5 guests. I wish I’d been more like some of our neighbors, who had family members and friends stuffed into every bed and couch and spilling over onto their lawns.

"For those of us who have lived the gospel of Jesus Christ enough to know just how exquisite its blessings are, there is a special responsibility to find ways to help others come to understand or even consider the possibility that it will be eternally worth the sacrifice to come to the zone of spiritual totality.

"For me, in some small way, glimpsing the silvery brilliance of the corona today felt like a symbolic foreshadowing of what it might be like to dwell eternally in the presence of God—in a place with “no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23). Even more than I will strive to persuade my loved ones and friends to go witness the next total solar eclipse visible in the United States in 2024, I feel inspired to do all I can to help others know that heaven is real and moving to the zone of spiritual totality is eternally worth it. We cannot use enough superlatives to describe it."

The Parable of the Thunderstorm

I share my daughter Amy's experience with  permission.


"It was late afternoon. I was nursing the baby when I heard a loud BOOM of thunder. A minute later another loud BOOM. Shortly thereafter my little Lemma ran into my room, exclaiming her excitement and interest in the thunder. I took her downstairs and saw that it was just starting to rain. I've always loved a good rainstorm so I invited Lemma to watch with me. I opened the front door and propped open the security door as well so we could see, hear, and smell the rain. We sat right on the threshold so our feet could get a bit wet but we were still protected from the storm.

"The storm was magnificent to watch. The drops of rain were huge and eventually mixed with hail. The wind gusted, blowing cold mist in our faces. There was thunder and lightning. It was beautiful, interesting, and exciting to watch. I was enjoying the storm and loving the cuddles I was sharing with baby William and 2 year old Lemma and feeling grateful for the moment. I started to pray to express my gratitude to the Lord for giving me my home where I could have this experience. It was during this act of praising God for His gift that I started to think of the contrast of experiencing this storm without the comfort and safety of my home.

"From my vantage point the storm was beautiful and exciting. Had I not had a shelter the storm would be terrifying and dangerous. While I was thinking of this I had the impression that this is how it will be during the days of tribulation to come. The Lord will gather His children to safety.  We will not be spared all hardships but we will be able to see the beauty in what is going on around us. We will not be overcome by fear because we will be protected, in a place of safety.

"This gave me a lot of comfort and quieted a lot of my fears. I want to be prepared in my heart so that the Lord can gather me as a mother hen gathers her chicks. I want to stick close by Him so that I may be protected from the brunt of the terrible storm beginning to rage."

There is a gathering storm. God has given instruction on how to get through it. Will we experience the storm from a protected position or feel the full force of that storm? 

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet...prepared an ark to the saving of his house..." Hebrews 11:7

Words Given Unto Them

A beautiful story is told in the Book of Mormon of miraculous events involving children who were present when Jesus Christ ministered to the people on the American continent after His Resurrection. I have always found it touching to read about the heavens opening and angels descending to surround the children and minister unto them. 

Then later on a subsequent visit to this ancient people we read of another miracle involving children. The Savior specifically spent time teaching the children and "he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter." 

And still more astonishing, "...babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things..."

How is such a thing possible? 

I don't know the answer to that. But I do know it is possible. It happened at my house, too. 

It was 1991 or 1992. I wish I could be more specific but my journal from that time was on a computer and lost when the computer crashed. My journals have been handwritten ever since. I did record this event again later so it would not be totally lost.

We were living in Lake Oswego. There was a big controversy brewing over new proposed sex education material in the schools. School board meetings were packed and the debate heated. So many people wanted to speak their minds. It was not feasible to accommodate everyone so the Board announced that there would be a lottery. Only those whose names/numbers were drawn would be allowed to testify. Fred planned on attending this meeting and he carefully prepared a speech. I stayed home with the children; but before he left we knelt as a family in prayer to ask God to give Fred the opportunity to speak at the meeting that night. Our son, Erik, offered the prayer.  He was only four or five at the time. I have written in my journal, "He prayed with such power that I was astonished." But that was just the beginning.

It was soon bedtime for the children. I sat on Erik's bed while he knelt beside it to say his prayers. What happened next amazes me even to this day. This little boy began to pray like nothing I have ever heard before.  His tongue was loosed and he prayed a sermon. A four year old!  He prayed about several specific things to happen for Fred at his school board meeting, things that were way beyond a child to know.  In fact, I would not have had the wisdom to pray for the things he requested of the Lord. I just sat in amazement at what I was witnessing.

I tucked all my children into bed and sat marveling over what had just happened....and waited for Fred to return.  He didn't come home until after midnight. What stories we had to share! He was invited to speak, the second from the last. It had been a disturbing meeting with people openly mocking speakers who called for moral principles in teaching the children. Fred gave his speech. He received a standing ovation!  (No one else had.)  He didn't get home until after midnight because he was thronged with people wanting to talk to him about the principles he had espoused. He told me about the events of the evening and I told him about Erik's prayer. We wept as we realized that every part of Erik's lengthy prayer had been answered in exact detail that evening. Truly his tongue had been loosed and words given to him. And Fred had been blessed beyond his natural ability. 

It is one of the cherished experiences of my life.

  23 And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, ^anot only men but women also. Now this is not all; little ^bchildren do have words given unto them many times, which ^cconfound the wise and the learned.  

Alma 32:23, The Book of Mormon

There are so many ways God wants to bless us. The experiences that we read about in the scriptures are not just for an ancient day. They are recorded as a testimony of what is possible for us today, too. 

Search the scriptures. Hope and pray and prepare to receive God's blessings, whatever they may be. You may find yourself surprised, too. 

Knock At The Door

A knock at the door. A stranger waits, holding a small piece of paper with a name written on it. The door opens and the stranger asks, "Would you please ask Brother Morgan to pray for [insert name from paper]?" The request made, the stranger leaves. Now aware of the need Brother Morgan retires quickly to his bedroom and begins to pray fervently for this person, as fervently as if the person were his own son or daughter.

Brother Morgan was my great-great grandfather. Such requests to him came frequently, according to our family history. I have always been fascinated by this.

How do you think praying for someone helps the person in need?
Do you think it does? 

Or does it just make you feel better?

These are questions that I have had. My daughter Amy gave me some answers. With her permission I share her experience.

Amy is a pray-er. Thankfully. One of her siblings faced an extremely serious problem and there wasn't much that anyone else could do to help with it. 

Aren't so many situations like that...you can't do much to change anything but wish fervently that you could fix things for the people you love? 

Out of her love for her brother Amy was frequently praying for him. She pleaded with God to help him. But she wondered as she prayed over and over again just how her prayers could help. What difference could they make? And she expressed those concerns to God. 

"I just don't see how my prayers can make any difference for him. How can my prayers help anyone?" 

Have you ever felt the same way? I certainly have. God gave her an answer.

"That is because you do not understand the power there is in prayer."

That really hit me. As much as I have prayed in my life and as many wonderful prayer experiences as I have had, still I found that this insight applied to me, too. I do not comprehend the great power that is unleashed in prayer. 

But when Amy shared this experience with me, something changed inside. I knew what she said was true and that praying is tapping into a very real power source. Talk about increased confidence in prayer! I love knowing that prayer sets all kinds of things in motion. 

Initializing that power. We can all do it.  Anytime we turn to God, reaching out to Him, He is there to take our hands.  This I know without any doubt. Whether our faith in Him and in prayer is great or small has no bearing on whether He will respond. He is always there. And when we pray, the power begins. 

We don't have to be powerless in overwhelming situations.

Let us engage the powers of heaven! We need it.

A Child's Prayer

Johnnie's mom was mean.  All the neighborhood children knew that, at least I thought we all did. Looking back I can't figure out why I was so intimidated by her. I can't remember any unpleasant interaction with her myself. But in my young mind, Johnnie's mom was mean.

So when Johnnie came over to play one day and confessed to me some misdeed he had done, now long-since forgotten, I was plenty worried for him.  We both knew he was really going to get it.

But Johnnie had a plan. He was going to lie and deny everything when his mom found out. It seemed so plausible then.

Although I don't remember my exact age at the time of this incident, I was old enough to recognize a lie, which ability typically doesn't kick in until around age five, if I remember my childhood development principles correctly. My guess is that I was six when this happened.

At any rate, I knew that Johnnie's plan was wrong, that he shouldn't lie. And I told him so. He, of course, wasn't buying it. But again, I encouraged him with all my young heart not to lie to his mother. I went so far as to promise him that if he would tell the truth that he would not get in trouble. Where I got that idea I have no idea.  Perhaps my mother taught me that. Or perhaps I was responding to a prompting of the Holy Ghost because this event ended up being quite the testimony-builder for my young heart.

Johnnie was persuaded. He took courage in my fledgling witness that when we choose to keep God's commandments that we are blessed. And he left me with his new plan to go home and confess to his mother. I felt so good about that.

But once he left I remembered that Johnnie's mom was really mean, and I got really scared. She was gonna kill him, I just knew it. And I did the only thing I could do. I prayed. This was my very first real prayer. My parents had diligently been tutoring me in the mechanics of prayer throughout my young life, putting words in my mouth and modeling prayers that I could copy. But this was the first time that I turned to prayer for myself. And how fervently I prayed at that moment on my front porch.

"Heavenly Father, Johnnie has gone home to tell his mom the bad thing that he did. But she is so mean. I'm afraid what will happen to him.  I promised him that if he would not lie that he wouldn't get in trouble. And he believed me.  Please, please, please help him."

It was a desperate plea but my first true act of faith. 

Later Johnnie came trotting back over to the house, bright and cheerful.  "You were right!  I didn't get in trouble at all when I told my mom the truth." It was truly a miracle in my young eyes. God heard me! He helped me! He helped Johnnie.

That was 55 years ago. As simple of a story as that is, it is one of the important events in my life.  That initial reaching for God. That tender reaching back. I learned then that He is there and the many years since have only confirmed that truth. We have only to put out our hand and He will take it. Really.

I wonder if Johnnie remembers....

It's The Little Things

Poor as church mice.

Probably the most accurate description of our growing family in those early years in Portland. Fred's gross income was $1750 a month. Even in 1989 that couldn't possibly go far enough. I worked out a budget that seemed pretty impossible. After we paid the mortgage on our house, the utilities, and the insurances that left $17 a month to buy everything else. We needed more miracles. And the Lord sent them regularly. It is how we lived.

Not many days after we moved into our house a stranger showed up at our door.  He introduced himself as Arnie Borgersen. He and his sweet wife lived just down the street and they were leaving shortly on a mission for our church. He asked if I would be interested in taking care of his home while they were gone for which he would pay me. It gave me a little bit of grocery money.

Then I was assigned to visit teach Marva Price and soon I was babysitting her two youngest girls before and after school. That added a little more, not to mention brought us some very good friends.

We knew God was watching out for us and helping us. But He had much more to teach us using these circumstances as our schoolroom. God is the perfect schoolmaster. 

Because of my earlier experiences in prayer and our miracle house I was quickly developing great faith in the promises found in the scriptures. I knew I could pray and be heard. I knew I could ask and receive. And I learned to ask regularly and specifically.

A routine developed. Monday morning, look at the needs for the week. Did I need milk? Did anyone need shoes? Was there an unexpected bill? A school fee? Take those needs to the Lord. And then wait to see His Mighty Hand unfold.

I remember so clearly wanting $12 for school pictures when one of my kids started first grade. It was the cheapest picture available but I didn't have the needed $12. My heart yearned to preserve that precious moment in time with a picture. So I prayed. I had been searching the scriptures to know just what God's instructions were concerning prayer and I knew that they taught that we could ask for what we needed but also for things we simply wanted. I also knew that I could not ask flippantly but instead carefully, to "ask not amiss," and to be willing to submit to the Lord's will in all things. After all, He knows far better than I do just what is good for me to receive.

He sent the $12 and everything else I needed along the way. Just another of His many, many gifts to me because I learned to ask.

The most visible reminder I have of those early years and the lessons of asking is my rocking chair, a double rocker, perfect for a mother who always had a baby on her lap and toddlers at her sides.

I frequently stopped at garage sales, hoping to pick up things we needed for a low price. One day I stopped at a beautiful home where the entire block was having a sale. The homeowner was sitting in a double rocking chair while she tended her "store".  Hanging on the back was a tag, $300. I quickly looked through her other things and went home. But I couldn't get that double rocker out of my mind. In fact, my heart yearned for it.  And I was surprised by that.  "Stuff" has never meant much to me. I was most often quite content with the hand-me-down furniture we had and often hand-me-down clothes. I had what I really wanted in my husband and children. So I really was surprised to find an ache in my heart for a chair, and one so far out of my reach. Finally, though, I went back to the garage sale and looked at that rocker again. I told the owner that I couldn't afford the chair but wondered if she would consider selling it for less if it didn't sell by the end of the sale. She thought for a moment and then asked, "How much did you have in mind?" Well, I hadn't actually thought that far and I was a bit embarrassed anyway but I blurted out, "$150?" To my surprise she said that she would consider that and took my phone number.

Well, on Friday she called.  She still had the chair and said that I could have it for my offer of $150. I delayed by saying that I needed to talk to my husband and that I would call her back to let her know. What was I thinking?!! It might as well have been $1500! I didn't have $150 and no way to get it either. 

I called Fred to tell him about the chair, and then I asked him, "If I can come up with $150, can I buy that chair?" His response was, "You can have anything you want if you can find a way to pay for it!"

So, I took it to the Lord.  I remember that prayer as if it was yesterday. "I know there are people starving in the world and that in the grand scheme of things a chair doesn't matter at all. But You have also told us in the scriptures that we can pray not only for what we need but for what we want. My heart aches for that chair. I don't know why. You know that "things" just don't matter that much to me. But I am asking if You will send $150 to me so that I can buy that chair."

I laid it at His Feet and then I waited to see what His answer would be. 

It didn't take long.  Actually, that very day my prayer was answered. It doesn't always happen that way but this time it did. 

My phone rang and it was Marva. She always paid me on Friday. Ten dollars one week. Fifteen another.  She told me that she didn't want to keep writing little checks like that and wondered if she could just write me one big check and have me keep track of my daycare hours and then let her know when she owed me more. That was fine with me. No amount was discussed, just a new process.

Late in the afternoon Marva arrived and handed me a check. $150. I stared at it in amazement and then looked at her and asked, "How does it feel to be the answer to someone's prayer today?" Wow!

I called Fred and asked him to bring home the temple pickup so that we could go get my chair. I had my money.  He wanted to know if I had robbed a bank.

I brought that chair home with a deep gratitude in my heart. I felt so very loved by my Heavenly Father. He cared about the little things in my life as well as the big things. Whether it was a gallon of milk I needed for my children, a school picture, or a chair. Or a house. He knew. And He cared. He just waited for me to ask. 

Our $17 budget was increased just like those loaves and fishes in the Bible. Every bit as much of a miracle. (See Matthew 14:13-21)

And, you know, when it is just me, I sit across from that chair instead of in it so that I can look at it, that visible reminder that God hears me, He loves me, and He will help me.  You, too.