Of A Surety

Elder Shayne M. Bowen related this personal experience in the most recent general conference: “In 1989, our family of seven was returning from a ward outing. It was late. Lynette was expecting our sixth child. She felt a strong prompting to fasten her seat belt, which she had forgotten to do. Shortly thereafter we came around a bend in the road; a car crossed the line into our lane. Going about 70 miles (112 km) an hour, I swerved to avoid hitting the oncoming car. Our van rolled, skidded down the highway, and slid off the road, finally coming to a stop, landing with the passenger side in the dirt.” He related how they had to get each of their children out of the car through his window, but in so doing they realized that their 10-year-old daughter was missing. He continued, “We yelled her name, but there was no response. Ward members, who were also traveling home, were at the scene frantically looking for her. It was so dark. I looked in the van again with a flashlight and, to my horror, saw Emily’s tiny body trapped under the van. I called out desperately, ‘We have to lift the van off of Emily.’ I grabbed the roof and pulled back. There were only a few others lifting, but the van miraculously flipped onto its wheels, exposing Emily’s lifeless body. Emily was not breathing. Her face was the color of a purple plum. I said, ‘We need to give her a blessing.’ A dear friend and ward member knelt with me, and by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ, we commanded her to live. In that moment, Emily took a long raspy breath.” She was rushed to the hospital where she was in a coma for over a day, but eventually she did fully recover. Elder Bowen knew that they had had seen miracles that day: “Those who lifted the van off of Emily observed that the van seemed to weigh nothing. I knew that heavenly angels had joined with earthly angels to lift the vehicle off of Emily’s body. I also know that Emily was brought back to life by the power of the holy priesthood.”

                Of course, not all of the miracles we hope for are realized in this life. Elder Bowen also related that the baby his wife was carrying that day was okay and was born healthy. But “eight months later, after receiving his earthly body, Tyson returned home to Heavenly Father.” Elder Bowen told more of that story in a different general conference address. He recounted, “When Tyson was eight months old, he aspirated a piece of chalk that he had found on the carpet. The chalk lodged in Tyson’s throat, and he quit breathing. His older brother brought Tyson upstairs, frantically calling, ‘The baby won’t breathe. The baby won’t breathe.’ We began to administer CPR and called 911. The paramedics arrived and rushed Tyson to the hospital. In the waiting room we continued in fervent prayer as we pled to God for a miracle. After what seemed a lifetime, the doctor came into the room and said, ‘I am so sorry. There is nothing more we can do. Take all the time you need.’ She then left.” Elder Bowen told of the difficult time he had after losing this son who had been so miraculously preserved in the womb: “It is impossible to describe the mixture of feelings that I had at that point in my life. Most of the time I felt as if I were in a bad dream and that I would soon wake up and this terrible nightmare would be over. For many nights I didn’t sleep. I often wandered in the night from one room to the other, making sure that our other children were all safe…. Tormenting thoughts continued to plague me, and I soon began to feel anger. ‘This isn’t fair! How could God do this to me? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?’” Surely he must have wondered why the Lord so miraculously spared their whole family in the car accident the year before only to let their son die at eight months old to something that seemed so preventable. He continued, “As I felt the guilt, anger, and self-pity trying to consume me, I prayed that my heart could change. Through very personal sacred experiences, the Lord gave me a new heart, and even though it was still lonely and painful, my whole outlook changed. I was given to know that I had not been robbed but rather that there was a great blessing awaiting me if I would prove faithful.” He had received a different kind of miracle of a softened heart and peace from the Lord.               

                These two stories highlight that we can expect both miracles and trials in mortality. Sometimes the Lord will indeed answer our prayers in miraculous ways, saving or even reviving life when it appears to be lost. Other times, He lets difficult experiences come with no ram in the thicket to spare us the pain we desperately want to avoid. We can take both a warning and comfort in this commentary of Mormon as he told the story of the people of Alma who suffered unjustly under the hands of Amulon and the Lamanites: “Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people” (Mosiah 23:21-22). I love what the Lord did for this people before He fully delivered them out of bondage: “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions” (Mosiah 24:14). Whether we receive the miracle that we yearn for or not, we can trust that through our trials the Lord will visit us and lighten our load if we will trust in Him. No matter what happens, His promise is “of a surety” that He will visit us and ease our burdens when we come to Him in our afflictions.