So, if you know me at all it goes without saying that I am Mormon or Latter-day Saint, but in case you were not aware for some reason, I am LDS and we have a prophet who speaks with God directly, and recently we had a general conference where the mouthpiece of God speaks directly to his people (Mormons). It has been said of such a gathering that one gets out of it what one puts into it. That seems sort of "Emporer's New Clothes"ish to me, but it is undeniably true. It is also true for every meeting that one attends looking for meaning.
I recently decided that this must be true for temple attendance(worship) as well, and I have heard of great experiences orhers have had at the temple where the "veil" was so thin that they knew of others who had passed on were present. I resented it a bit that although I have (pardon the phrase) religiously attended the temple but have had no such manifestation. I honestly figured that it was simply a matter of doing work for others who had no need and if I found one who did I would feel their appreciation. That has never been my motivation, though. One time, a gentleman told a story about an experience that he had that shook me up and my conclusions were that he must be sucha special manto be entrusted with that sort of experience! I thought, "this is the most current referrence I have that if true, God truly does exist and visit his temples, and genuinely love and care for all of his children."
So, next pondering follows that if I had not had such an experience it was because I had not been sufficiently prepared. I have a short anecdote to share. A bishop's wife in Gallatin, TN told of a super cool experience that she had, I believe it was while she attended BYU. I'm not sure. I only recall that it was in an apartment complex. She told me the story close to 20 years ago. She told me that There had been a challenge issued to pray for missionary experiences or something, whichshe sort of had exempted herself from previously, but she decided that if there really was truth to it, then she would give it a serious try. mind you, she did not really expect anything to come of it. Still, she put the effort into it. she prepared and prayed, but nothing seemed to be God at work in her life; however, there was this one dude at a party that she liked, seemed totally unrelated, and as they grew closer their conversations deepened to cover things like faith, and she gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, um from what I know about Utah it seems less likely that this would have taken place at BYU housing, because this guy was not familiar with Mormonism. When she gave the book she prayed quite hard because this could really be the missionary opportunity that she was seeking. Story ends that he joined the church and they get married and years later he is my bishop!
So, perhaps, I am missing all of the incredible spritiual events that I could be feasting on but am oblivious to because I am waiting for the proverbial frying pan to smack me in the face! I have a pretty remarkable experience to tell of, actually, they flood in, but I have not the time to record them all!
our visiting teacher bore testimony at church and to us personally, that he believes one rerason that his daughter (non communicative Autism)cannot speak is because if she was able to tell us the things that she sees that we do not we would no longer need faith. He spoke of situations where it was obvious that she was beholding spirits that could not be seen, particularly of deceased progenitors. This same daughter and other non verbal children always get so excited and come give me hugs, which one could easily just say they are such loving individuals! and think it is likely rare they find someone who is perfectly accepting of such communication, but in lieu of what her farther said, maybe there is more that I do not "behold" because I am not sufficiently prepared for such. It is worth thinking about more...
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