For Such a Time as This: How Angels Shape History By Anne Hinton Pratt

 

For Such a Time as This: How Angels Shape History

By Anne Hinton Pratt · February 8, 2021

 

Since the beginning of human history angels have been an integral part in keeping the spiritual ball rolling on this planet.[1]  If we may be wondering where God is and what He is doing at this point in time, just look at what he has ALREADY done, knowing He can do it again! He sends angels to shield from fiery furnace,[2] shut lions’ mouths,[3] miraculously rescue from prison[4] and SAVE nations. Let’s explore some of these remarkable intercessions and then look forward to what’s coming next…

Angels Saving and Nurturing Israel

Did You Know that an angel appeared to Gideon and performed a miracle for him convincing him that he was the one chosen to smite the Midianites and SAVE ISRAEL?[5] OR that an angel appeared to Samson’s barren mother, telling her that she would bear a son that would DELIVER ISRAELfrom the Philistines.[6]

Did You know, because of all the excruciating trials that Paul went through, God sent Abel (son of Adam) as an angel of comfort? Joseph Smith writes that Abel had “become an angel of God…and was sent down from heaven unto Paul to minister consoling words, and to commit unto him a knowledge of the mysteries of godliness.” ^[7]

Did You Know that King Benjamin’s’ address was not in his own words, but the entire sermon was brought to him by an angel, so that the people could be taught about Christ and filled with joy?[8]

God sends angels to move His divine agenda forward.  He dispatches them to save, inform and sustain His people “Israel.”  President Nelson has taught us that whoever lets God Prevail and is willing to let God be the most important influence in his life, is of Israel. [9] Many historical figures fit into this category.

 

Columbus

Columbus was divinely led by the Holy Spirit and angels.  In a speech delivered on July 4, 1854, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Elder Orson Hyde, an apostle talked about an angel that helped Columbus.  He said,

“This… angel was with Columbus, and gave him deep impressions, by dreams and by visions, respecting this New World.  Trammeled by poverty and by an unpopular cause, yet his persevering and unyielding heart would not allow an obstacle in his way too great for him to overcome; and the angel of God helped him,-was with him on the stormy deep, calmed the troubled elements, and guided his frail vessel to the desired haven.”[10] Columbus was “of Israel.”

Joan of Arc

One of my favorite people in history was Joan of Arc.  She was a 13-year-old uneducated and illiterate peasant girl in the 1400’s who began seeing and hearing angels who told her that it was her destiny to save France, which was then occupied by England. 

In a series of amazing events, with continual angelic help, she became General of the armies of France at age 17 and then led them into several important victories. 

She was captured by the English when she was 18, and had to endure a dank prison alone in chains, all the while suffering through a brutal sham trial for nearly a year.  In the trial she was questioned and verbally assaulted by 62 judges and not allowed any witnesses of her own.  She was accused of heresy and being a Witch, but during the entire trial, she gave brilliant and inspiring answers to all of the questions given her.  Her angels often told her what to say to her captors.  Here is some of the informative dialogue as her captors asked her about her angels.

“Whose was the first Voice that came to you when you were thirteen years old?”

“It was the Voice of St. Michael.  I saw him before my eyes; and he was not alone, but attended by a cloud of angels.” [11]

In another setting her accusers asked her,

“Did the Voice seek you often?”

“Yes, Twice or three times a week, saying, ‘Leave your village and go to France”…

“What else did it say?”

“That I should raise the siege of Orleans.”

“Was that all?”

“No, I was to go to Vaucouleurs, and Robert de Baudricourt would give me soldiers to go with me to France; and I answered, saying that I was a poor girl who did not know how to ride, neither how to fight.” [12]

With the help of her angels this very young woman with NO military skills was raised up to eventually SAVE her nation.  

In the end she was found guilty through trickery by the leaders of the church and burned at the stake, but until the very end, she held fast to her testimony of Christ, and the angels who ministered to her.  Joan of Arc strengthened the faith of Millions. 

Joan was “of Israel.”

George Washington

George Washington had angels help him as he led his soldiers in the Revolutionary war.  He allegedly had a profound and poignant vision where an angel continually told him to “Look and learn.” President Washington then sees three great trials come to America, after which he said,

“…The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at last saw nothing but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld. This also disappearing, I found myself once more gazing upon the mysterious visitor, who, in the same voice I had heard before, said, ‘Son of the Republic, what you have seen is thus interpreted: Three great perils will come upon the Republic. The most fearful is the third, passing which the whole world united shall not prevail against her. Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his God, his land, and the Union.’ With these words the vision vanished, and I started from my seat, and felt that I had seen a vision wherein had been shown me the birth, progress, and destiny of the United States.”[13]

Elder Orson Hyde stood at the pulpit in the Tabernacle and boldly declared that George Washington had angelic help.  He specifically referred to the angel Moroni in the camp of Washington. He stated:

“It was by the agency of that same angel of God that appeared unto Joseph Smith, and revealed to him the history of the early inhabitants of this country, whose mounds, bones, and remains of towns, cities, and fortifications speak from the dust in the ears of the living with the voice of undeniable truth. This same angel presides over the destinies of America, and feels a lively interest in all our doings. He was in the camp of Washington; and, by an invisible hand, led on our fathers to conquest and victory; and all this to open and prepare the way for the Church and kingdom of God to be established on the western hemisphere, for the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the world . . . “[14]

President Washington was chosen to SAVE the republic with the aid of angels.  He was “of Israel.”

Joseph Smith was Tutored by Many angels.

In a virtual 2020 Mission Leadership Seminar on June 26, President Russell M. Nelson spoke about the Prophet Joseph’s many experiences with angels.  Did you know that after the first vision, Joseph saw the Father or the Son eight additional times? Four of these occasions were of the Father and the Son together and four times with Christ alone.[15] 

Did you know that the angel Moroni came to Joseph Smith at least 20 times in the 1820s? President Nelson said that Joseph was “visited by 60 angels during his lifetime,” Some of these angels included John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, and Moses, Elias, and Elijah.”[16]

These angels were all important in advancing the Kingdom of God with illuminating knowledge of restored doctrines, ordinances and sealing powers.  They came so the whole earth would not be utterly wasted at His coming.[17] They came with SAVING knowledge and authority.

Pioneer Angels

Elder James E. Faust shared a story in a conference address about one of the Martin and Willie handcart companies, who were trapped by early snows as they crossed the plains.  Their very lives were SAVED or aided by angels.  Elder Faust relays one pioneer’s story:

“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other.  I have gone on [to some point I thought I could never reach, only to feel that] the cart began pushing me.  I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one.  I knew then that the angels of God were there.” [18]

Israel claimed it’s own that day.

Angels Powerfully Shape Contemporary History

Recently Rhonda Hair told me of a fascinating experience she had seeing angels intervene in a very important issue.  She was at a committee hearing at the Utah state capitol building during a legislative session.  The bill being voted on was a very controversial one that effected the moral education of Utah children.  For some wonderful reason, her mind was spiritually opened up to be able to see angels there.  She says,

“The heavenly armies were there in force; I could see them filling the whole front of the room up where the committee members sat, and extending far beyond the walls.  But there was another presence there too; it was dark, cold, and more than empty– it felt as if it was a vacuum. The area with that dark feeling began on the far right side of the chamber where a few of the committee members sat, and extended into the audience, where the proponents of the bill sat.”

Rhonda observed that the three legislators who were sitting in the ‘dark’ area voted in favor of this corrupt bill, while those in the light area voted against it. Happily, on that day the “Israel” prevailed![19]

Wonderful Things are Coming!

Because God has sent so many angels to help throughout history, OF COURSE, He will continue to send many more to help His precious Israel. The good news is, WE ARE “Israel!” If we are truly willing to let God Prevail, we can expect angelic intervention in our lives!  He knows how to rescue, enlighten, and console us because He’s done it before.

So, remember and contemplate on what God has already done, and know that He will do equal or surpassingly great things in OUR futures.

You can CONTACT Anne at annehpratt@hotmail.com

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[1] Alma 12:28-29 “And after God had appointed that these things should come unto man, behold, then he saw that it was expedient that man should know concerning the things whereof he had appointed unto them;

Therefore he sent angels to converse with them, who caused men to behold of his glory.” Italics added.

[2] Daniel 3:23-28.

[3] Daniel 6:16-23.

[4] Acts:4-11.

[5] Judges 6:11-22.

[6] Judges 13:3-5 3 “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son… and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

[7] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 169.  See also Donald Parry, Angels: Agents of Light, Love and Power, p. 132.

[8] Mosiah 3:2-3, Mos 4:1

[9] Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail,” October Conference 2020.

[10] Journal of Discourses, 6,p.368. Italics added.

[11] Mark Twain, Joan of Arc. P. 343.

[12] Mark Twain, Joan of Arc. P. 333-334.

[13]http://webserver.sms.org/intranet/web_smsp/mdl-indx/vision.htm   https://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/angels/2003/02/george-washington-and-the-angel.aspx

[14] Journal of Discourses, 6:368.

[15] https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-06-27/president-nelson-mission-leadership-seminar-joseph-smith-187832

[16] https://www.ldsliving.com/President-Nelson-Joseph-Smith-s-divine-tutoring-from-dozens-of-ancient-prophets-and-angels/s/93065

[17] Doctrine and Covenants 2:3; Joseph Smith History 1:39.

[18] Ensign, James E. Faust, “The Refiners Fire, ”May 1979, p. 53.

[19] Rhonda Hair, Personal interview and correspondence. Used with permission.

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/scriptures/scripture-comparison_eng.pdf

Angels That Bring Knowledge By Anne Hinton Pratt

 

Angels That Bring Knowledge

By Anne Hinton Pratt · March 10, 2021

 

From time to time God allows His angels to inform us of things that we could otherwise not know. They have abundant access to information and sometimes have permission to communicate it with us in some way.[1]  I’d like to share five profound experiences where angels have brought knowledge and understanding through voice, thought [2] or sight to those who were ready to listen…

“You Don’t Belong Here”
Haven Bouton had life-changing knowledge and direction conveyed to her by an angel.  She reports,

“I joined the church with my family when I was 15 years old. Prior to our lessons with the missionaries, my family and I attended different churches, trying to find where we belonged.
“When I was 14, my mother and I attended a local church service and while we stood during a musical performance, I felt the intense presence of someone behind me in the aisle, but when I looked nobody was there. Clear as day I heard a voice say, “You do not belong here!”  This repeated a few times more. I could feel the overwhelming presence of the angel through the rest of the service. I never went back there again and in a matter of months we were talking to the missionaries. When I attended my first sacrament meeting, I felt like I had finally arrived home. I knew that I belonged there, and I was grateful for the guidance of that angel to help me find truth.”[3]

Bringing truth and light is one of the assignments of angels.[4]  They are instrumental in helping many people find the Gospel.

Miraculous Intercession
Amelia Segi shared with me a story of a remarkable conversion that was instigated by an angel.  Her parents had been Ward Missionary leaders in her San Francisco 3^rd Ward, Tongan Stake, and they often took her “tracting” with the missionaries.   She writes,

 “On one of these ‘tracting’ undertakings, my father walked up and knocked on the door of a house. Nobody answered the door, so he started to walk away.  Suddenly, a man ran up to the side gate and yelled out “Wait! Wait, I’ve been waiting for you all day. The man told me you will be coming today!”

Amelia’s father was puzzled and asked the man to explain what he meant.  The man began to cry as he told them his story.  She continues,

“He explained that he had been struggling the past year or so because he

had been injured at his job and couldn’t work.  He felt useless at home and became very depressed. He started to become an alcoholic and he was slowly starting to lose his family. He told us that the night before we came he was so drunk his family had left him.

“He said that he woke up on his kitchen floor to a bright light standing over him telling him that my father and missionaries would be stopping by to save him and that he should listen to them.

“He couldn’t stop weeping while telling us the story. My father, mother, my siblings and I, and the 4 missionaries also started to cry. He said it was shortly after this bright light went away that he heard the knock. He was so weak, but he kept yelling out ‘I’m here.’ He crawled all the way outside and that’s when he was able to stand up and yell out to my father.

“My family went on to help him by spending every day with him until he started to feel bright and happy again.  His life began to change.  After a month or so, this man, his wife, and four kids were baptized, and we were all blessed through the process.”[5]

Amelia’s family harvested blessings that were brought by an angel of God. Angels can bring knowledge and blessings in many forms.

Best Friend Returns from Grave to Inform and Comfort

Robert Cowart shared a touching experience that happened to his family.

On August 12, 2020 his wife of 53 years passed away and his son-in-law started calling family members on the phone about 45 minutes later to inform them of the death. 

Robert tells what happened then.  He explains,

“My son Stephen grew up in Savannah, Georgia and became lifelong friends with a boy down the road from us named Rob Hernandez.  Rob had married and had two small children but contracted cancer and died 2 years ago.  Before he died, Rob extracted a promise from my son Steven to look after his wife and children, which he has done religiously.

“Within moments of my wife’s death, Stephen was out walking with his wife Amy.  He suddenly stopped and said to her, ‘Amy, Rob just spoke to me and told me Mom has passed.  He told me not to worry, because he will take care of her.’

When my son-in-law called him a few minutes later to report the death, Stephen revealed that he already knew she was gone.”[6] 

The knowledge Rob brought from beyond the veil was strengthening and supportive to the entire family.

How Angels Often Communicate

Boyd K. Packer taught illuminating doctrine when he said,

“Should an angel converse with you, neither you nor he would be confined to corporeal sight or sound in order to communicate. For there is that spiritual process described by the Prophet Joseph Smith by which pure intelligence can flow into our minds and by which we can know what we need to know without either the effort of study or the passage of time, because that is revelation.”[7]

Sometimes angels are directed to reveal pure intelligence to our minds.  Nothing is more enlightening or edifying than that flow of revelation…

Angel Brings the Gift of Language to A Discouraged Missionary

Many years ago, there was a missionary who was struggling with German while on his mission.  It was a source of great frustration and seriously interfered with his ability to serve the people in Germany.

He went to a little grove of trees nearby and prayed with all his heart, pleading with the Lord to help him.  While there, an unusual thing happened.  His mother, who was dead, was allowed to appear and to have a long conversation with him.  He related the aftermath of that beautiful experience:

“…Thus, two or more hours were spent together, by far the most memorable of my whole life.  Mother said she knew I was having a hard time with the German language and asked me to meet her at the grove again the next day at the same hour as she also wanted to be helpful to me in this.  She explained that I would not see her again just as I saw her that day, as this personal appearance and visitation was by a special and divine appointment.  Then my mother disappeared exactly as she had come – almost unperceived.

“The next appointment was sacredly kept,… This time I could not behold her person nor hear her voice just as I had done on the preceding day, but there seemed to be just as divine a presence and an unquestionably clear conversation under a much higher law than we could possibly enjoy in our communications with each other here.  We understood and exchanged thoughts more rapidly, clearly and satisfactorily than is possible with human voices, for there was no worry about what to say and just how to say it to be properly and clearly understood.

“Exactly all that took place on this occasion, I do not remember, but I do know that something did transpire whereby I was able from that time to easily understand, to read and even write this new language (German) and in a most surprising manner to myself and those with whom I came in contact.”[8]

I love the process and principles by which angelic revelation can flow. 

In this last poignant story, an angel brings revelation in a very unusual way. 

Departed Catholic Priest Brings Saving Knowledge

Carola A. Strauss relates an extraordinary experience of how the appearance of a Catholic priest aided her grandmother, Anna Maria Theresia Lormess Fischer in becoming a member of the church.  This account took place in Hernkaschuetz, Germany in the late 1890’s.

“Anna Maria had always been extremely inquisitive about her church and its doctrine. She spent many hours talking to her priest in an attempt to understand and resolve in her own mind who God was, and what the purpose of life was, etc. She never felt satisfied with what she was told and always felt that something was missing. Anna Maria was especially concerned with what happens to us when we die.  In fact, that is what she and her priest discussed during her last visit with him.

“One morning, just prior to dawn, as Anna Maria was waking up, there appeared before her, her Catholic priest — he was holding a book. As he approached her, he held the book up and pointed to it. It was titled ‘Das Buch Mormon’ (the Book of Mormon). The priest said nothing to her; he simply continued to point to the book and then he disappeared.

“Confused, bewildered, and baffled by what had just taken place, she got out of bed, then set out to visit her priest so she could share with him her strange experience or dream.

“Upon reaching the church, she quickly learned of the untimely death of the priest. He had suddenly passed away earlier that week. My grandmother was thoroughly confused, to say the least.  She was convinced that she needed to find this mysterious book . . . she just knew it would provide her with some important answers to this entire puzzle.

“Although her attempts to locate the book seemed an exercise in futility, Anna Maria remained determined — she never stopped searching or hoping to find ‘the Book.’ A number of years as well as World War I passed by and then one day she found it… in an outdoor garbage can! She also tracked down the missionaries herself. 

As she read through the Book of Mormon’s pages, she found the answers to so many of the questions that had for so long perplexed her. She also now understood why her priest had appeared to her. He must have discovered the truth himself and wanted to make sure that she found it too!”[9]

The departed priest’s newly acquired level of light and knowledge must have qualified him for that angelic errand. He wanted to share his new understandings with Anna Maria, because he knew how much she sought truth.

Angels Bring Pure Intelligence to Shape Our lives

As these stories illustrate, angels operate at a higher level of light than we comprehend and can transfer that life-changing knowledge to us in amazing ways. Angels can bring truth; comfort or even a new skill to move us forward on the path God wants us to be on. 

Do you have any angel stories that you would like to share?  I’d love to hear them. Please CONTACT me at annehpratt@hotmail.com.

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[1] Alma 32:23 “He imparts his words by angels to men, women and children.”

[2] Dallin H. Oaks, Conference Report, Oct. 1998,, or Ensign, Nov. 1998, p. 39. “Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind”

[3] Haven Bouton Al-Otaibi, personal correspondence.  Story used with permission.

[4] Doctrine and Covenants 20:35, “revelations … come hereafter by … ministering of angels,”

Moroni 7:25, “Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ;” 

[5] Amelia Segi, personal correspondence.  Story used with permission.

[6] Robert Cowart, personal correspondence.  Story used with permission.

[7] Boyd K. Packer. From an address delivered at a seminar for new mission presidents on June 19, 1991.

[8] Joseph Heinerman, Spirit World Manifestations: Accounts of Divine Aid in Genealogical and Temple Work, 1986. pages 185-189.

[9] Carola A. Strauss, personal correspondence.  Story used with permission.

https://latterdaysaintmag.com/angels-that-bring-knowledge/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scot-maurine-proctor&utm_content=Friday+12+March

Remembering Heaven By Sarah Hinze

 

Remembering Heaven: A New Documentary about Pre-mortality

By Sarah Hinze · February 21, 2021

 

 

For many years I have collected stories about heaven. My collection includes not only the heaven we go home to when we graduate from earth life, but the heaven we come from before we are born. The quest to understand these concepts has been a personal one. My search to know my spiritual origin and destiny has always been with me, even as a child.

I was born to loving parents and grew up surrounded by the verdant hills of eastern Tennessee’s Smokey Mountains.

From an early age, I was especially eager to learn about God. I ached deep in my heart for an understanding of where I came from. I sensed that I was a child of God and lived with Him before I was born. I missed him and, well, I was homesick for heaven, I guess is one way to put it.

Our family regularly attended our local Protestant church and every Sunday, together as a congregation, we would stand and recite a creed that went something like this, “God is so small he can dwell in your heart and He is so large He can fill the universe.”

I wanted to stand up on the pew and shout, “That’s not true, people. That’s not who God is!” But I restrained myself. After all, I was seven years old. Who would believe me?

In my heart, I never believed God was like a cloud or a seed. I knew he was a man with a son named Jesus. I knew he didn’t live in the entire universe, but in a special place called heaven. I knew heaven was my home and God was my Father.

 My strong desire to know Him continued throughout my young years and on into college. A pivotal moment for me came when I first heard in my University English Literature class the following poem by William Wordsworth.

Ode on Intimations of Immortality

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come,
From God, who is our home.

The poem was electrifying. The words sang out like beautiful music to my soul. A strong spirit of holiness rested upon me in my class. I thought, “So that is where I come from. I come from God, who is my home.” But where and how can I learn more?

 My search for God expanded into a search to learn all I could about the human soul, however, many of the philosophies I studied, existentialism for example, left me confused and even depressed.

Months later, my mother had a miraculous encounter (a story for another day) with a Latter-day Saint senior missionary couple from Brigham City, Utah, and invited them to our home. My mother thought they may have answers to my questions. Their first visit left a lasting impression because it was the first time I felt the Holy Ghost. It was tangible and real, but I had no idea what had happened. That was the beginning—or continuation—of an eternal relationship with the Bunnell’s.

After the Bunnell’s finished their mission in Eastern Tennessee, they invited me to Utah. I jumped at the chance and a few weeks later I arrived to spend the summer with them.

 One evening I was with my new friend Mavis sitting on her front lawn in Brigham City, Utah.  As we looked into the darkness of the evening sky watching for shooting stars, she turned to me and said, “You know we lived in heaven with God before we were born.”

 I sat in silence, amazed at how easily she said something I had only believed in the deepest and most sacred place of my heart. This was the first time I had heard another person say that we lived with God before we were born.  All of my life I had known it was true, but here with this new friend, who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she shared it like it was common knowledge. This impacted me greatly. I had found people who believed as I did.

Within weeks I requested the missionary lessons and in September, 1968, I chose baptism into the church. I was the Bunnell’s only baptism from their eighteen month mission…what an honor!

Meanwhile I enrolled at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.  My future husband Brent also enrolled there after his mission. We are both converts to the church and were drawn together on a beautiful April afternoon as we shared our testimonies with one another. A few days later Brent invited me on a drive up Logan Canyon, which manifests some of the most majestic views imaginable.

After about half an hour we had wound our way up the narrow twisting road until we reached a mountain pass.

We parked the car near a shady meadow alive with wild flowers surrounded by groves of white birch. Brent took my hand as we walked.

 The scenery, the sounds, the smells—it all seemed so familiar. The feeling was sacred and we were quiet, almost reverent. We didn’t speak for a time. Finally I broke the silence. In an unusual display of boldness I said, “I think I have walked with you before. . . . in heaven before we came to earth.”

“I feel it too,” Brent whispered. From that moment, we sensed one another as we had in the world before we were born and our spirits seemed to renew a relationship from long ago. We could feel there had been love between us before and a divine spark seemed to rekindle those memories.

Eventually it was time to drive back down the canyon and return to the real world. Our surroundings looked the same, but we were not. Our marriage came a year later in the Salt Lake Temple. Soon our children came along to join us.

Several of our children’s births were preceded by what I later learned is called an announcing dream. An announcing dream can be defined as dreams, visions and other spiritual connections with unborn children, or preborn spirits. In some cases I was even told what the child’s chosen name was to be. This is my story.

I was at home, just 10 weeks along with my sixth pregnancy, when I felt intense pain in my lower abdomen. At the same time I began to hemorrhage badly. “This is NOT supposed to happen again!” I cried out in my mind.

I fell to the floor and prayed with more intensity than I had ever prayed in my whole life. Flashes of memory of the miscarriage I’d had experienced just the year before and the grief I’d endured overwhelmed me. I had been promised that this time she would come!

Even before that fifth conception I had felt this gentle female presence with me and knew she was the daughter who was coming. During the three months her tiny body grew within me, her spirit self would occasionally enter my dreams and share with me her love. I had grown to love her; therefore my grief was enormous. When I miscarried, I feared I had lost her forever. Months went by as I struggled.

Then one day I had a dream-vision. I saw her again—she was a mature spirit woman dressed in white with brown hair pulled back at her neck and hanging down her back. She had large inquisitive brown eyes. I marveled at her radiance, she looked like a queen–she was my daughter, the baby I had miscarried two months before. She was apprehensive about her sojourn on earth and reluctant to leave behind the loving environment and special friends of the pre-mortal heaven. However, in this dream she called me “Mother” and I knew that she was committing to come to our family. I was greatly comforted and offered a prayer of gratitude to God for this understanding that she would still be born to me at a later time.

In another powerful dream several months later I saw myself in a hospital room. I was aware of every detail— the narrowness of the room, the window, the bed, the television. I saw the door open and a nurse walked in with a little bundle. I rejoiced when she placed a beautiful baby girl in my arms.

As I awakened from the dream, I sensed a divine, loving male presence standing in the doorway to my bedroom. In a distinct voice he declared of the female infant I had just seen in my dream, “Her name is Sarah. Her name is Sarah.” She was to be named after me.

Not long after this miraculous experience I conceived again. The first 10 weeks or so had progressed normally, and yet here I was again, lying on the floor, hemorrhaging and so very frightened. I prayed, desperately pleading to God with all the power of my being, “Please help me!”

Eyes closed, a scene unfolded in my mind. I saw my own spirit-self departing our heavenly home. I was looking back at it as I moved swiftly away and saw it bathed in what I can only describe as holy flames of bright white fire that did not consume. I knew that I had prepared for this journey for eons of time, but I was terrified. I didn’t want to leave my Home. Separating from our Heavenly Father was heart-wrenching for me. I felt an intense sadness as I moved down through space. I was leaving a place where I had been safe and loved unconditionally for untold millennia, but I knew it was my time to embark on my mission to mortality.

As I continued traveling down through the stars, the pace accelerated. Then I saw it, the earth…far, far below–forbidding, distant, cold—a stark contrast from heaven. I remembered being taught in my premortal life that earth was a long way from our heavenly home, but when I actually experienced the journey to earth, I was stunned by the cosmic distance.

I felt the chill of the approaching remote and dreary world. Fear and loneliness filled my being as the abyss widened from the nurturing, peaceful and loving environment of my premortal childhood. Comfort appeared in a presence, a strengthening escort who suddenly was by my side. Telepathically I conveyed to him, “I did not realize that the earth was so far away from our heavenly home.”

“Indeed, it is a great distance,” he acknowledged.

As the vision faded, a message of hope entered my mind: “You came to earth to be tested and tried, but you shall overcome the trial of this threatened miscarriage.”

Reawakening to my immediate surroundings, I found myself in the most humble position of prayer I could imagine, flat on the floor. I sensed with my spirit a Being of power enter the room. I felt compelled to rise. I was totally immersed in His love. I begged Him to heal my body for the sake of the child within me. In answer, He conveyed these words to my mind: “I am the Great Physician. I will heal your body, and this baby will be born whole and well, for I have so decreed it.” The promise delivered, His presence gently withdrew. I laid down on the bed, enveloped in a peaceful, healing power. Soon, the pain and hemorrhaging stopped entirely. I was whole. And, above all, my baby was safe! The following day, my doctor confirmed that everything was okay.

Months later, when I went into labor, my husband drove me to the hospital. It was a cold, dark and rainy night. I closed my eyes to the soothing rhythm of the windshield wipers. In my mind I saw her–a beautiful woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She was saying goodbye to many people, all dressed in white in the heavenly realm. I was eager to receive my promised namesake, little Sarah, but I could sense that she was vacillating about leaving the unconditional love of her heavenly home. I feared there was a real chance she might withdraw from earth life again and I prayed for the safe arrival of our sweet daughter.

When I opened my eyes, we were just pulling into the hospital parking lot. I checked in and was wheeled to my room. The labor went normally. With my husband comforting me as best he could, I approached those final few minutes before giving birth when things get most challenging. I again closed my eyes and prayed silently. With my spiritual eyes, I saw the outline of a personage dressed in white, standing by my bed.

“I have personally escorted this child to mortality,” he confirmed in my heart.

I was much relieved by this assurance that little Sarah would not “back out” again – that her apprehension for earth life was overcome by the aid of a divine escort. Shortly thereafter, our precious daughter was born.

Soon a nurse came in and said, “Every room on the maternity floor is full. We have to move you down to an area on the second floor.” I was taken on a gurney through long corridors and down elevators to an isolated little narrow room. As they propped me up in my bed, mental images from a year earlier flooded my mind. I had seen this exact room in my dream, along with the events that followed.

The door opened and a nurse walked in with a little bundle and placed it in my arms. As I looked deeply into the eyes of my beautiful baby girl, it was as if I heard the proclaiming voice echo from the past, “Her name is Sarah. Her name is Sarah.” At last I held my namesake–Sarah Rebekah–the sweet baby of my dreams, whose earthly body had miscarried on the first try, now returned to earth as promised.

 Hinze, Sarah  The Announcing Dream: Dreams and Visions about Children Waiting to be Born, (Three Orchard Productions, 2016.)

 It is a humbling experience for a spirit waiting to be born to announce their desire for birth   into your family.  None of us are perfect parents by any means, but it seems our children love us and want to be with us, seeing past our imperfections, perhaps seeing our potential more than we do.

I wondered if other parents had these experiences, and soon discovered that I was by no means the only one. But what began as curiosity became a quest when I received profound impressions that part of my life’s mission was to research, teach, and write about this special experience occurring to people worldwide. Collecting stories was one thing I could do, but writing about it was something else. I was frightened. It seemed like more than I could possibly do. After much prayer and contemplation, I realized that I needed to be faithful to this assignment.

As I began doing so, I was soon joined in my research by my husband, Brent, who has a Ph.D. in psychology. We proceeded to conduct interviews, collect case studies, give talks, and publish about the marvels and mysteries of announcing dreams. Brent and I coined the term “pre-birth experience” or “PBE” to refer to any experience that relates to souls prior to birth or conception. We learned through an analysis of the data that unborn children can warn, protect, and enlighten us from another plane of existence. Most often they appear to announce it is their time to be born.

Social scientists coined the phrase “announcing dream” to identify dreams about unborn children and other types of PBE, not only in the western world, but in cross-cultural studies around the world. It is our belief that PBEs, like NDEs, are universal and occur among all peoples, now and in the past.

The abundance of research on near death experiences (NDEs) strongly suggests an afterlife. Add the increasing research on pre-birth experiences (PBEs), implying a pre-earth life, and the data leads to the following model that we really are eternal beings:

The concept of a pre-earth live is not new and is familiar to members of the church, but it has been largely forgotten or even rejected by the world. Most people are not aware that within the growing collection of ancient texts there are a plethora of teachings referring in some way to our premortal origins.  

After I had published several books, Brent and I had the chance to visit with Elder Hartman Rector Jr. who was staying at a friend’s home after speaking at our stake conference. She had given him one of our books to read, and he was very encouraging with the direction we were going with our research and writing. “There will be books, films, music, art, and various forms of media that will share this important information,” Elder Rector said.

 The word film caught my attention. I knew nothing of filmmaking. It seemed like an impossible dream, but I took Elder Rector’s counsel to heart that someday, with the Lord’s help, we would have a film.

 I knew that with God’s help, all things are possible.

In 2018 while we were serving a mission at the London England Temple, I received an email announcing the LDS Publishing and Media Association’s Annual Conference in Provo, Utah which would convene soon after we would return home. I was strongly impressed that I needed to be there. The promptings continued, so arriving home from London, my suitcases still packed from our mission, I packed a small suitcase and headed to the conference.

Once I arrived, I networked and talked to many people until I was given the name of Tom Laughlin.  Soon afterwards, we talked on the phone and our dream of a film began to take shape.

I believe that the adversary has taken the teachings of preexistence out of the mainstream and placed it into obscurity to hide from mankind their true spiritual origin.  It should be shouted from the rooftops! 

https://latterdaysaintmag.com/remembering-heaven-a-documentary-film-and-my-personal-testimony-of-premortality/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scot-maurine-proctor&utm_content=Tueday+23+February

Wilford Woodruff Story

 Wilford Woodruff gave a rather fascinating discourse on the phrase, “appointed unto death,” as follows: “The Prophet Joseph Smith held the keys of this dispensation on this side of the veil, and he will hold them throughout the countless ages of eternity. He went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors and to preach the Gospel to the millions of spirits who are in darkness, and every Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc., who has died in the faith, as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach there than there is here. I have felt of late as if our brethren on the other side of the veil had held a council, and that they had said to this one, and that one, ‘Cease thy work on the earth, come hence, we need help,’ and they have called this man and that man. lt has appeared so to me in seeing the many men who have been called from our midst lately. Perhaps I may be permitted to relate a circumstance with which I am acquainted in relation to Bishop Roskelley, of Smithfield, Cache Valley. On one occasion he was suddenly taken very sick—near to death’s door. While he lay in this condition, President Peter Maughan, who was dead, came to him and said: ‘Brother Roskelley, we held a council on the other side of the veil. I have had a great deal to do, and I have the privilege of coming here to appoint one man to come and help. I have had three names given to me in council, and you are one of them. I want to inquire of your circumstances.’ The Bishop told him what he had to do, and they conversed together as one man would converse with another. President Maughan then said to him: ‘I think I will not call you. I think you are wanted here more than perhaps one of the others.’ Bishop Roskelley got well from that hour. Very soon after, the second man was taken sick, but not being able to exercise sufficient faith, Brother Roskelley did not go to him. By and by this man recovered, and on meeting Brother Roskelley he said: ‘Brother Maughan came to me the other night and told me he was sent to call one man from the ward,’ and he named two men as had been done to Brother Roskelley. A few days afterwards the third man was taken sick and died. Now, I name this to show a principle. They have work on the other side of the veil; and they want men, and they call them. And that was my view in regard to Brother George A. Smith. When he was almost at death’s door, Brother Cannon administered to him, and in thirty minutes he was up and ate breakfast with his family. We labored with him in this way, but ultimately, as you know, he died. But it taught me a lesson. I felt that man was wanted behind the veil. We labored also with Brother Pratt; he, too, was wanted behind the veil. “Now . . . those of us who are left here have a great work to do. We have been raised up of the Lord to take this kingdom and bear it off. This is our duty; but if we neglect our duty and set our hearts upon the things of this world, we will be sorry for it (Journal of Discourses, 22:333–34).--

Your Ancestors are Reaching for You, Here's How to Reach Back By Wallace Goddard

 

Your Ancestors are Reaching for You, Here’s How to Reach Back

By Wallace Goddard · January 11, 2021

 

I remember driving Grandpa Goddard up Emigration Canyon to home teach the Ramseyer family. I was a glib 16 and he was a mature 85 years old. Every month we went to visit the Ramseyers, and it seemed that every month he told the same stories from his mission to Germany. I would sigh and the Ramseyers would nod patiently.

Because I was just a dumb kid, I didn’t pay much attention to Grandpa’s stories. I wasn’t interested. Now I can’t remember any of them. And I am old enough to wish I knew much more about my grandfather—as an esteemed scholar, a Church leader, a respected professional, a committed family man, and a fine Latter-day Saint. I would now give anything to hear Grandpa tell those stories one more time.

I think there is a reason that the whole earth will be smitten at the Lord’s coming if we have not bound our hearts to those of our ancestors. We need our ancestors. They are our connection to heaven and history.

Let’s jump from our provincial, earthly perspective to the heavenly perspective for a minute. Imagine that you have passed to the other side of the veil and are looking down on earth on your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. What is your attitude toward them? Would you beg Heavenly Father to allow you to look after them, sending messages of encouragement and inspiration for living? Wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help your descendants in their mortal journeys?

When I depart this world, I will be asking the heavenly scheduler to let me look after my grandson Ian to be sure he is happy and hopeful and to look after Eliza to connect her with good people and uplifting experiences. I want to be sure that Sam is growing and Anna Claire feels safe and loved. I will be looking after every beloved child, grandchild, and great-grandchild with more power and wisdom than I ever had on earth. You can see why we should turn our hearts towards those heavenly beings who are looking after us.

Our ancestors are in heaven looking down on us and wanting to help us with every challenge we face. They are our heaven-assigned ministers. Just because we don’t know them yet, doesn’t mean they don’t know us. They are deeply invested in our lives and want to uphold and strengthen us as we make our journeys through life. As we connect with them, we draw heavenly power into our lives. When we make them a part of our lives, we live more joyously and purposefully.

So, I am repenting of my youthful disinterest in my grandfather’s life. Over the last few weeks, I have been typing every word of J. Percy Goddard’s missionary journal into my computer. I hope I can find the stories that were so important to him—the stories that I once dismissed. I hunger to have them back. I want to connect with Grandpa!

We may think of family history as something both mysterious and tedious. Until we do it. When we start connecting with ancestors, we find deep personal satisfaction and great excitement. There is hardly anything more rewarding.

All of this connecting starts closer to home than we might imagine. Family history starts with keeping some kind of record of our own lives. As we make a record and review it, we will see God’s participation in our lives. Family history also includes being curious about the people we think we know. Do we ever ask our own parents, “What are the five most important things you have learned in your life?” “Who are the people who changed your life?” As we take an interest in the people who gave us life, we learn more about their hearts. Then we can ask questions about grandparents and great-grandparents. We can ask to see pictures and hear stories. Our hearts will be tied to those who came before us, and whole new vistas will open for us as we climb the family tree.

When I was a young adult, I started to ask a few questions about our ancestors. I remember interviewing Aunt Ruth with whom Grandpa Goddard lived the last years of his life. She lit up as she talked about her father. I was starting to get the bug. Then, years later, Aunt Ruth asked me if I would like a dusty old box of Grandpa’s papers. It had sat in her basement for decades. No one had opened it. No one cared about it.

I took the box home and started to sort through it. There were old, dusty newspapers that had no obvious connection to the family. There were business letters and Church correspondence. I sorted them into piles. Every once in a while I found a treasure. I found a poem that Grandpa had written to Grandma. I found letters and pictures. As I found more treasures, it became more engaging than watching Nicolas Cage in National Treasure.

Then the greatest treasures! I found letters from my great-grandpa to his teen son at home while he was serving a mission to New Zealand. Imagine holding letters from the 1890’s between two admired ancestors! The letters invited me into their lives, their concerns, their goodness, and their love. Grandpa is now a vital part of my life.

In the thirty years since Aunt Ruth gave me that box of dusty papers, I have also become best friends with my great-grandfather. I have come to know and love my Grandma Goddard who died when I was a baby. I have come to cherish every object that was passed on to me—including Grandma Wallace’s cookie jar, a vase from my great grandmother, and an opal tie-tack from my grandfather. I feel surrounded and protected by their love.

I have learned more compassion as I discovered some of my ancestors’ mistakes and limitations. If we don’t condemn them for their imperfections, but instead give thanks to God, we may learn from their mistakes and be wiser than we would otherwise be. (See Mormon 9:31)

The formula for connecting with ancestors is surprisingly simple. The blessings are highly predictable. Are you interesting in finding more meaning and connection in your life? Here are a few ideas to help you. 

1. Turn toward your ancestors. Be open to being taught and blessed by them.

2. Ask questions. Ask relatives what they know about your ancestors and their stories. Ask about their papers and keepsakes.

3. Check Family Search. If you don’t already have an account, open one and enter what you know about your ancestors. It will connect you with a world of relatives.

4. Do those things you feel directed to do. You may feel drawn toward one ancestor or another and you may feel directed to do one thing or another. As you follow impressions, you will bind your heart to your ancestors. The blessings don’t come without making an effort, but when the blessings come, they are in vast disproportion to our meager efforts.

5. Using your talents, share with family members. You may create a display in your home or write stories about ancestors’ experiences. Step by step you will be led to the next things you should do.

As you do these things, you will be creating eternal bonds. You will be binding hearts. You will feel joy.

In future articles, I will share ideas about gathering, organizing, and sharing the treasures of your family story. I hope you will join me on this joyous journey of binding and healing hearts.

Thanks to Annie Foster for her insightful contributions to this article.

https://latterdaysaintmag.com/your-ancestors-are-reaching-for-you-heres-how-to-reach-back/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=scot-maurine-proctor&utm_content=Tuesday+12+January