President Russell M. Nelson shares the experience of his grandfather seeing his dead departed father.

 

President Russell M. Nelson

When my grandfather A. C. Nelson was a young husband and father, just 27 years old, he saw and conversed with his father who died on January 27, 1891.  About three months after his death. His deceased father, my great-grandfather, came to visit him. My grandfather kept a journal but it is not more than a half a dozen pages long. This is the main entry in the journal.   The date of that visit was the night of April 6, 1891. Grandfather Nelson was so impressed by his father’s visit that he wrote the experience in his journal for his family and friends.

“I was in bed when Father entered the room,” Grandfather Nelson wrote. “He came and sat on the side of the bed. He said, ‘Well, my son, as I had a few spare minutes, I received permission to come and see you for a few minutes. I am glad to see you father how do you do? I am feeling well, my son.  How are you and mother and the boys getting along.  I am well father.  Can you see us at all times? Do you know what we are doing? No, my son I cannot. I have something else to do.  I have been assigned work that must be performed. What have you been doing since you died father? He looked at me and smiled. Son, I have received my commission to preach the gospel. I have been traveling together with Erastus Snow ever since I died.  

“You cannot imagine, my son, how many spirits there are in the spirit world who have not yet received the gospel,” he said.  “But many are receiving it, and a great work is being accomplished. Many are anxiously looking forth to their friends who are still living to administer for them in the temples. I have been very busy preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. ”

Grandfather Nelson told his father, “We intend to go to the temple and get sealed to you, Father, as soon as we can.”

My great-grandfather responded: “That, my son, is partly what I came to see you about. We will yet make a family and live throughout eternity.”

Then Grandfather Nelson asked, “Father, is the gospel as taught by this Church true?”

His father pointed to a picture of the First Presidency hanging on the wall of the bedroom.

“My son, just as sure as you see that picture, just as sure is the gospel true. The gospel of Jesus Christ has within it the power of saving every man and woman who will obey it, and in no other way can they ever obtain salvation in the kingdom of God. My son, always cling to the gospel. My son, be humble, be prayerful, be submissive to the priesthood, be true, be faithful to the covenants you have made with God. Never do anything that would displease God. Oh, what a blessing is the gospel. My son, be a good boy.”

 I write it for the benefit of my family and friends.

 

[A.C. Nelson received this private vision 27 years before President Joseph F. Smith received D&C 138, the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead. Both experiences testify of God’s plan of salvation and encourage us to perform temple ordinances for those beyond the veil.]

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/10/open-the-heavens-through-temple-and-family-history-work?lang=eng

Also video attached to Come Follow Me, Sunday school lessons for D&C 125-128 November 1-7

 

 

Halo Tracing: How to Be an Angel By Anne Hinton Pratt

 

Halo Tracing: How to Be an Angel

By Anne Hinton Pratt · November 3, 2021

 

I’ve written a lot about angels and the help we receive from them. What I haven’t yet mentioned is the joy and wonder that can also be ours by seeking this errand of angels; to be a miracle in someone’s life…

Poignant Awareness

Years ago, I was concerned about a special friend.  I prayed a lot for her and asked the Lord to send angels to help her through a difficult time she was having.  That day, I went to the temple, and while there, I again offered a fervent prayer for angels to help her.  This time as I was praying, I heard the surprising words in my mind, “YOU are one of the angels helping her!”

I was stunned! What a beautiful awareness!  I was taught that when we sincerely and fervently pray for others, we become their “angels,” and often through us they receive blessings they wouldn’t otherwise receive.

Merging with Angels

In a similar account, I had a dear friend share a very sacred dream. She had a daughter that had estranged herself from their family and God.  One night my friend had a dream where she saw an angel in white bending over and kissing her wayward sleeping daughter.  Suddenly, the picture changed, and that angel transformed into my friend.  Now it was she that was bending over her daughter in the loving gesture, and then she woke up being filled with the glory of the spirit.  It became clear to her that she was in a partnership with angels to help her daughter.”[1]

Adding Substance to our Souls

I love Annie Henrie Nader’s inspiring painting (above) of “an angel tracing a halo around a woman in thought as a gesture of gratitude for the woman’s kindness and thoughtfulness…”[2]  

Spencer W. Kimball echoes this concept when he said,

“The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls.”[3] 

“Angel work” is JOYFUL and literally adds to our essence!  How wonderful is that?

Are angels metaphorically “tracing” halos around you? I bet they are.

An “Angel” Who Learned from Angels

As we seek to be angels in this sphere, we can be used in countless ways.  The following is unusual but shows the variety of our angelic possibilities.

Barbara Lee spent her entire life giving service.  When she was 85, her body limited her to be in bed most of the time, and she felt it was time to die and return to God.  

Her daughter Carolyn Allen shared how one day, her mom began to look very pale and still.  Carolyn thought her mother was dying, but several hours later, her mother suddenly opened her eyes and began to speak saying, “It’s not time for me to die!” 

Barbara explained that she had experienced something truly wonderful.  She described heaven and how beautiful it was. Over the next few years, she was allowed to visit the other side several times. Each time she would come back from heaven with more information.  She said, “Angels are all around us;” and “The veil is very thin.”  She described many new insights and understandings to her family.

When grandchildren came to visit, she told them things she had learned that were specifically for them.  Talk about service!  Barbara served as an “angel” who had been taught by angels.[4]

We most likely won’t have the experience of going to the other side before our time, but we CAN bring the spirit of Elijah to our family, by telling the spiritual stories of the family and bearing our own testimonies…

We can share our angelic substance with others…

BRING PEACE

Many years ago, I made what I thought was a big effort to go to the temple.  I was feeling harried and jangled because of the time it took to get there and the many projects I had left behind. 

While there, I remember looking into the eyes of a temple worker.  Her eyes were pools of peace.  She didn’t say anything to me, but I could feel the peace radiate from her, and it entered into my soul, calming all my fears and worries.  I could feel the Lord through her.  At that moment she was my “angel.”

Can others feel peace through us?

Becoming Ministering Angels

Elder Carlos A. Godoy stated,

“Brothers and sisters, I believe in angels…I promise that if we are willing to serve, the Lord will give us opportunities to be ministering angels. He knows who needs angelic help, and He will put them in our path.” [5]

Be Someone Else’s Miracle- Taking Initiative

Jim Raines became an “angel” one day and was “put on the right path.”

It was 1970 and Jim was waiting for his mission call.  He lived in Los Angeles, California and his grandmother wanted him to drive her to visit Thatcher, Arizona to visit family.  Since he had nothing pressing to do, he drove her there.

After he dropped his grandmother off, he set off to do a couple of errands.  At some point Jim needed directions to get to his destination.  He saw an elderly man with the hood up on his truck and stopped to ask directions.  In chatting with this man Jim noticed that the man was working on his transmission but was quite clueless how to fix it.  Jim knew how he could help, because he had just put a transmission in his car back home.  As Jim left he said, “I’ll be back and help you do this.” 

After returning hours later, Jim found the old man still working on his truck, without making any progress. Jim rolled up his sleeves and after an hour or so, got the transmission installed and working. 

After they cleaned up, the man’s wife invited him to dinner.  As Jim was leaving, the man’s wife privately told him,                                                                                                      “Last night when I prayed the family prayer, I prayed to the Lord to have someone come help my husband with his truck.  He needs that truck and he had no one to help him.  YOU coming along was a direct answer to prayer!” [6] 

Jim was their angel that night and through this act added to his essence as well as theirs.

Be Illuminated and Enlarged

Lorenzo Snow taught,

“When you find yourselves a little gloomy, look around you and find somebody that is in a worse plight than yourself; go to him and find out what the trouble is, then try to   remove it with the wisdom the Lord bestows upon you; and the first thing you know, your gloom is gone, you feel the light, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, and everything seems illuminated.” [7]

When we look for ways to become someone’s miracle, as Jim was, the Lord illuminates and enlarges our spiritual core.

So, BE the “angel” that opens doors for others, listens intently, redirects toxic conversations to positive, visits the lonely, shares testimony, prays and fasts for others, and your goodness will be “traced” into your countenance by adding substance to your soul!  

How can you be an “angel” today?

You Can CONTACT me directly at annehpratt@hotmail.com.

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[1] Friends experience, name withheld.  Used with permission.

[2] Annie Henrie Nader, https://altusfineart.com/products/annie-henrie-nader-angels-gratitude-woman-finishing-halo

[3] The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball (1982), 254.

[4] Carolyn Allen, personal correspondence. Used with permission.

[5] Carlos A. Godoy, “I Believe in Angels,” October Conference 2020

[6] Jim Raines, personal correspondence.  Used with permission.

[7] Lorenzo Snow, Conference Report, Apr. 1899, 2–3.Italics added.