- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
BLC made a comment in another thread about liking to hear about others’ spiritual experiences. I thought that was a great idea, so I am opening a new post to share those types of experiences – both in the past AND as they happen in real time. I understand there are some experiences some might not want to share in detail, but let’s use this post as a place to share – and NOT as a place to dissect, critique, analyze or in any way disparage or evaluate these experiences.I will start with an experience I shared in a comment here a couple of years ago about giving Priesthood blessings – something that really describes two spiritual experiences that are directly related:
When our second son was born, he was 19 days early. There were NO complications, and he was released from the hospital without any delays. He was small, but he appeared to be perfectly normal and healthy. When he received his baby blessing, he was told something that really jumped out. Paraphrasing, he was told that none of the physical trials he would face in his life would have the power to keep him from his appointed mission in life.
At the time, I had absolutely no idea why I said those words.There was no indication he would have any physical trials, and I certainly didn’t go into it thinking that I should “bless him” to have lots of physical trials. It was a really weird experience for me after the blessing ended and I realized what I had said. Fast forward 21 years. Of our six kids, he is the only one with severe and constant allergy issues. He is the only one who required speech therapy as a pre-schooler. He is the only one to have had major, emergency surgery (burst appendix at the age of 11 that almost killed him) – the only one to develop a serious medical disability (Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes at the age of 15). Our kids and his friends joke regularly about a pool to guess which organ will fail next and when it will happen. (When my daughter joked about him “having a heart attack” over being accepted into one of his top college choices (two years ago), a friend responded with, “Oh, no, not another organ!”)
On Christmas morning three years ago, while we were reading about the wise men and discussing the possibilities of when and how and where and why the star appeared (
and how it was ONLY a sign for those who recognized its significance), my oldest son said something that blew me away. He said, in effect: Quote:“The star for the wise men was like Jeff’s appendicitis and diabetes. It showed the wise men that the prophecy that had been given really did come from God, just like Jeff’s health problems (his “physical trials”) show us that his baby blessing really did come from God.”
I am grateful God reached down and put those words in my mouth 21 years ago, because they really are a comfort to my wife, a blessing to Jeff, and a testimony to our entire family. When Jeff’s appendix burst and later when he was diagnosed with diabetes, the hospital staff was amazed at how calmly we reacted – but they didn’t realize we had been prepared for those things to happen years before. They really were nothing more than our own Christmas star – confirming prophecy that had been given in his baby blessing.
Over a decade ago I was a missionary speed-walk tracting the hilly neighborhoods of Nacimiento, Chile. The full and proper name of the town was something like, “Bentito Nacimiento de Nuestro Salvador and Redentor JesuCristo,” but everyone just called it Nacimiento for short. There was a young man and new convert that we had been working with. Although he was still young, he was older than us – he was baptized at the age of 25 and had a burning compulsion to serve a mission. As I understand it he had to get an exemption from the 1st Presidency to serve as a 26 year old. Things are done a little differently in Chile than around here, when the day came for the SP to come and set him apart the entire ward came out to witness and support him. The SP asked us missionaries to come forward and asked us if we were doing our best to do our duty as missionaries to proclaim the gospel and to keep ourselves worthy. We were bewildered but also humbled by the spiritual moment and when we answered that we were doing our best he motioned for us to flank him and lay our hands on the young man’s head as well. During the setting apart I felt a surge of power as though energy were being transferred through my hands, but the act of transferring did not deplete my energy level at all – in fact it increased it. Afterwards we had an appointment to go to and couldn’t stay for the follow-up party. After we said our goodbyes and were rounding the street corner from the church building, I remember asking my companion if he had felt anything during the setting apart and he described the same sensation.
I didn’t get along very well with that companion. Some companionships just aren’t a very good match, but that experience galvanized us and remains as an important light post in my life ever since. I’ve always wondered whether it would have been considered “kosher” to let us missionaries participate in the setting apart. Kosher or not – so it was.
Mine was during a teaching appointment. I served in an area with a high anti-Mormon population (English-speaking). One of our investigators was dating a less-active woman, and would come to our teaching appointments laden with anger and a lot of anti-Mormon ideas to combat. Each time we would teach a lesson that filled the room with the Spirit, softened him, and left him hugging us and leaving on very good terms. But then, he would return with anti-Mormon antagonism. This happened several times, when finally, I felt either something miraculous needed to happen or we would have to drop him. My companion was negative and felt this would be our last visit with him. I went into our bedroom before the appointment, knelt down and told God I would do whatever he asked me to do to turn this guy’s heart around. I got three strokes of ideas a) get my companion to bear his testimony of Joseph Smith b) ask everyone to meditate to the instrumental Hymn “Oh How Lovely Was the Morning” seeking the Spirit and c) say what was necessary and inspiring after it was over.
My companion shared his testimony of JS focusing on his suffering and sacrifice, which created the kind of Spirit we were looking for. During hte instrumental hymn from my music player (cassette player), the feeling intensified, until at the end all four of us could not speak. The room was thick and charged almost to the point it hurt. But not quite. This went on for several minutes and everyone had tears running down their faces.
Then, I iniated a discussion about how the Spirit has testified of JS as a prophet, to which this investigator indicated that yes, he had felt the presence of God, but that it was because he loved his girlfriend. I countered and testified it wasn’t….that it was about what we had been talking about immediately before — Joseph Smith and told him he needed baptism.
We ended without the issue resolved, but he called us a few days later and schedule baptism.
After that, he went anti-Mormon again. Apparently the ex-Mormon’s for Jesus had told him to take the discussions, get baptized, and then get excommunicated, and bring his girlfriend with him (so said the girfriend’s father). The father was ANGRY at us for pushing him and going too fast.
The Bishop met with him for four hours one afteroon and went through all the anti-Mormon stuff, and countered it, and at the end, this investigator softened again….and then, that Sunday received the Aaronic priesthood.
I moved after that, but I felt we were in an battle for this man’s soul through that whole experience. Later, he and his girlfriend got married in the temple.
I have to share one more because it happened today. I was at a Conference and had to share a mission statement I was supposed to be developing for a mentoring role I will soon take on. I was paired up with a very striking looking woman, very intelligent and self-assured. I explained that my mentoring mission statement was still developing; that I have one that I’ve used for the last 12 years for my life in general that is in flux now given some retrenchment in my life (my commitment crisis with the Church, although I didn’t say that). She asked me about it, what it was, and what made me create one.
I indicated I felt it was important because vision drives a wide range of behavior, and makes sure you use your time and thought wisely. It actually creates reality. I then shared a four-line cheer that my kids know by heart which represents our family mission statement. I then described the way my kids have shown they are living the mission statement; how it has come to life with some huge acts of kindness (a value in the mission statement) that my daughter has undertaken recently.
I shared the story of my daughter’s acts of kindness to a girl who had been bullied at school, which I attribute to the regular emphasis we give to kindness in our FHE and the cheer. As I shared the story, this woman’s eyes got red, and she started having huge tears roll down her cheeks. She just rivetted her eyes on me and I kept talking. I can’t remember what I said, but the feeling it left me with was absolutely beautiful. It was the first time I felt that kind of Spirit in over a year.
And it has me realizing that my retooled mission statement needs to focus heavily on my children’s development, and as I reflect on this, I realize that I have gotten way off track as a father, and that my Church and work and some selfishness are partly to blame. It’s time for a new realignment so I can accelerate the application of this talent I have for developing my kids during this important time. The time is now…and the Church should play a lesser role than it has in my life so far; still there, still supportive of it, but my efforts should be invested in developing my children.
This is more spirituality than I’ve had in some time.
thanks guys for sharing your experiences !! i hope more are coming !! :clap: My experience has been that God truly works in all churches when a person is sincere. I have had many spiritual experiences in the lds church, but one I remember the most is when my husband stopped going to church and I felt so alone during a fast and testimony meeting. It was hard for me to listen to men get up and bear testimony about how the church was true. I started crying and praying in my heart, asking God why he had not given my husband a testimony of the lds church. Out of the blue, I heard a voice in my head that said, “Why don’t you go visit that Seventh Day Adventist church down the street.” I wondered where the heck that message came from and then the voice told me 2 more times the same thing. So, on my drive home, I passed by that church and went in. I met the pastor there who gave me this little book called, “The 5 Day Plan to know God.” I started reading it and came to a section where it was talking about the early Jews and how they were waiting for this Messiah to come and save them from the problems. It explained how dissappointed the Jews were when Jesus claimed to be that Savior but said he came to save them from their sins, not the Romans or their problems. A huge light bulb went off in my mind at that moment. I realized I had been paying tithing, going to the temple, doing my callings etc for the wrong reasons. Yet, almost every Sunday at the lds church I would hear about all the blessings you would get if you did those things. Well, for me, none of the blessings were happening. Everything was going wrong in my life, but in that aha spiritual moment I realized that my only reason for living the gospel and following Christ should be to overcome my sins. My husband and I attended that church for two years and then God led us back to the lds church. This is when the Spirit told me that God works through all his children in all churches. I would like to add that two of the most powerful spiritual experiences I have had, were in regards to my gay son. One, was where my husband was going to discipline our gay son harshly and the spirit stopped him and said, “It’s Necessary!” Meaning that whatever our son had to go through was ‘necesary’ for his growth and development as well as ours. The other thing that happened was when I was trying to finsih the ending to my book, “Prayers for Johnathan” about our gay son. The Spirit overwhelmed me with the most powerful and beautiful feeling of my life and the words flowed to end my book. The Spirit told me to see my son as in the story of the blind man in the Bible. In Jesus day if a man was born blind people thought it was because the man had sinned in the pre-existence or his parents had sinned. So when Jesus was asked that question he said it was no ones fault but for the glory of God that the man was blind. It made me realize that our only job as parents was to love our son and let God use his ‘same-sex attraction’ for His Glory. I was looking through older posts and found this post from Hawkgrrrl about her perspectives on spiritual experiences, and I thought it was relevant to this thread…something worth pondering: Hawkgrrrl wrote:I guess I have a few observations about spiritual experiences.
What they are not (IMO):
– just normal emotional responses to touching stories or AT&T commercials, feelings of inadequacy or gratitude (80% of what passes for spiritual experiences in F&T mtg)
– God intervening in big ways in our lives (the hand of God or a voice telling you what to do). I’m not denying that people might experience these types from time to time, but I don’t think everything good and bad that happens to us is God’s will. I believe He intervenes less than some would have us believe.
What they are like (to me):
– getting in touch with the seed of God in me; almost like an internal spiritual alignment that gives me clarity or helps me see the bigger picture.
– little nudges from God (or from inside of me) that say “not that way; this way” or “a little less of this, a little more of that”
– sometimes dreams that clarify my perspective on my life
I did have a breathtaking answer to prayer about the Book of Mormon at a time when I did not believe and had left the church. What exactly does that mean? To me, it means this was important, good for me, not something to discard. It doesn’t answer every question A to Z in polemic fashion, but it gave me direction that was meaningful.
The whole thread of 16 posts is worth reviewing:
http://www.staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17http://www.staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17” class=”bbcode_url”> experience A: i was sitting in sacrament meeting one sunday, closing my eyes. for a few moments i had an out of body experience. i felt i was near the very throne of God, Christ or the Father, I’m not sure but I felt I was near a throne. i felt the aura of God at that moment, a vibrational energy emanating from his being. what I felt was that God was a being of diligence.
experience B: many times i dream i am flying in my spirit body. i have some type of energy where I can fly simply by the power of my mind. it reminds me of the book of mormon picture of when the resurrected Christ descends to the earth to visit the Nephite people.
experience C: I attended a gathering of youth with church leaders at the Washington DC Temple visitors center back in 1986 (estimation). We had a private meeting where youth and leaders could share their feelings of the experiences they had while attending the Mormon temple there.
I was a proxy for ten individuals and the peace I felt inside the baptistery inside the temple was divine. It’s a peace you can’t feel anywhere else but in a temple.
To make a long story short, our group of 35 to 50 souls, mostly teens and some adult church leaders, attended a testimony meeting the next day in this visitors center so that we could share our feelings regarding our time in the temple.
Members of our group took turns sharing their stories and as I listened I had the personage of the Holy Ghost rest upon my body. I am not sure how long the experience was but the feelings and thoughts I had while this was happening to me was so tangible that it felt like I could cut the air around me with a knife.
I’m sure no one could see what I was feeling but I’m sure others around me felt a divine presence because there were some who were crying. The feeling as the Holy Ghost’s personage resided in me was so real and special and the feeling I had while He resided in me was that I felt a great love for everyone in that room even though I hardly knew most of the people in that room accept as acquaintances.
I was feeling a divine love or I was feeling for that instance what the Holy Ghost was feeling in the moments His personage rested upon my physical body. It was an experience I will never forget and never had I had an experience that was as rich as that one was. I have had spiritual experiences before and after this one but nothing to compare to the richness of this one instance as a boy of 16 years of age.
The following posts on my personal blog next Monday, and I thought of this thread as I was preparing it for publication:
Almost exactly two years ago, I got a phone call from my youngest brother telling me that my mother’s medication had quit working again and she was starting to hallucinate. I had just started my new job in Missouri; my family still was in Ohio; I was driving to church on a Sunday morning – alone – when I got the call.
As I prayed while I drove, the phrase “Thy will, O Lord, be done” came into my mind – clearly and calmly.
When I got to church, I was quite early, so I went into the RS room and sat down at the piano to play some relaxing music and try to not stress out about my mother’s condition. When I opened the hymnal, I saw hymn #188 – “Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done”. I played it and sang the words silently in my head. It was a wonderful few minutes, full of the recognition of God’s grace and love and understanding of my personal situation that day.
When I walked into the chapel to sit and wait for Sacrament Meeting to start, I looked at the program and saw the intermediate hymn – #188, “Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done”.
I can’t explain fully what happened that day, and I can’t explain why it happened to me and doesn’t happen to some others, but I am grateful that it did.
God knows us personally. Of that, I am certain.
Ray, I like those small but significant examples that help remind us, for whatever reason, that all things don’t just happen by coincidence. Thanks for sharing. about 1989 – 90: I was at work and got this “burning in the bosom” feeling to go to my boss and tell him that i would work more overtime in his department. I had the feeling for 1/2 an hour but he wasn’t around. The feeling passed and I did not go to my boss. Two weeks later I got laid off.
I would have probably not gotten laid off had I followed through with that prompting I’m sure, lol !
At 12 years of age I woke up from a nap and had a “feeling” that I would be successful. Not sure quite what it meant but life was hell for me after I moved away from that town – from age 14 onward to age 40. It just seemed I had trial after trial. It’s only in the last little while I feel I’ve had a reprieve from trials (thank goodness !) and had emotional and occupational stability. Knowing that I have had a handle on depression – thanks to medication – has really helped. One of my most interesting spiritual experiences dealt with someone who suffered from depression. I’ve written about it somewhere, so rather than try to recreate it I will try to find what I’ve written already and post it here. yes, looking forward to hear about that, Ray !
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.