Gospel Story Finder

One of my favorite compassionate heroes is a man named Richard Kirkland. This is part of his story.

It was December 1862. The American Civil War had been raging for over a year and a half. Among other groups of Confederate soldiers, the 2nd South Carolina regiment was stationed near Fredericksburg, Virginia, determined to prevent Union forces from entering the state. Their post was a hilltop called Marye’s Heights, where, standing four men deep behind a stone wall, the men of the 2nd South Carolina poured volley after volley of cannon and small arms fire into the oncoming Union ranks. No Union soldier ever reached closer than 25 yards from the wall before being cut mercilessly down by enemy fire. The suffering cries of the wounded and dying were heart-rending.

On the morning of December 14th, the Union troops had been pinned in place for two nights and a day. Over 1,000 Union soldiers lay dead on the ground before Marye’s Heights; over 7,000 more lay wounded and freezing in no-man’s land, many unable to move. None of their friends could come to their aid without inviting almost certain death. "The Yankees were literally piled in our front," remembered one soldier, "dead and dying together, the living crying, ‘water, water!’"

One wounded Union soldier cried out in desperation, "If my friends cannot give me water, will my enemies give me some?"

Twenty-year-old Sgt. Richard Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina could not ignore the cries of the suffering. Kirkland approached his commanding officer, Gen. Joseph Kershaw, for permission to cross the barricade and take water to the suffering Union soldiers. Naturally, Kershaw discouraged him, saying, "Kirkland, don't you know that you would get a bullet through your head the moment you stepped over the wall?" "Yes, sir," the young man replied, "I know that; but if you will let me, I am willing to try it." Concerned for his soldier’s safety but recognizing his courage and greatness of spirit, Kershaw reluctantly gave Kirkland permission to go. Since only the commanding general could negotiate a truce, no white flag could be flown to call for a protective cease-fire. Kirkland remained determined despite the obvious risk.

Loaded with as many canteens as he could carry, Kirkland jumped over the wall that protected his fellow troops and dashed out onto the open plain. Bullets struck dangerously close. The firing ceased however, as Union soldiers realized what Kirkland was doing. Reaching the nearest soldier, Kirkland knelt down, opened a canteen, and gave the suffering man a drink. He then took the soldier's pack and placed it under his head and laid the man's coat across him for warmth. Having done what he could, Kirkland then hurried to the next wounded man—and the next, and the next.

Firing resumed when Kirkland returned to his lines to fill more canteens, but as soon as he came over the wall again, the bullets stopped. Some soldiers on each side even cheered his bravery. For an hour and a half, Kirkland continued his mission of mercy until he was unable to reach any more wounded.

We are all familiar with John 15:13, which reads, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In a truly heroic gesture of compassion, Sgt. Kirkland placed his life on the line not to save the life of a friend, but to minister to the needs of an enemy. I think Kirkland understood that Jesus Christ laid down His life for all who would accept His sacrifice, and in so doing, offered to everyone on every side of every battle the opportunity to be His friend—and deserving of compassion.

The morning had started out with a beautiful sunrise as 17-year-old James Little and his father went about their morning chores. In 1869 there was always plenty of work to do on the farm. Horses, cows, and other animals needed to be fed, stalls cleaned, and the cows needed to be milked. But today, instead of going through the same old routine, James’s father had asked James to go out on the desert where their cattle grazed and round up an old steer that was ready to butcher. James eagerly packed a coat, a canteen of water, and a light lunch his mother had prepared for him.
A newly broken young horse paced in the corral. After several attempts at trying to catch him, James was finally able to slip a bridle around his head and saddle him. He wrapped his lasso around the saddle horn and set off to find the steer.
James traveled until mid-afternoon without stopping. He gazed across the barren, dusty landscape of southern Utah. Dry desert grasses and scrub-brush dotted the ground. James could see no sign of the old steer.
The horse was restless and tired, and James knew they both needed a rest and some food. About a mile away he could see a small grove of trees and decided that it would be a good place to stop.
The young horse loped over to the grove of trees, eager to be relieved of his burden. He pranced and shied as they neared a large tree. Suddenly a rabbit dashed out from behind the tree, spooking the horse. The frightened animal jerked to the right, smashing James’s knee against the trunk of the tree. He fought to control the horse as it reared and jumped, again battering James’s leg against the tree. James yelped in pain and surprise as the reins slipped from his grasp, and he fell to the hard ground. Freed of its rider, the horse took off at a dead run across the desert.
James lay in a daze. Then his leg started throbbing, bringing him back to consciousness. He realized his horse was long gone and with it the food in his saddlebag, the canteen of water, and his coat. Darkness was falling, bringing a chill that comes with desert nights.
James looked around him, trying to decide what to do. To his left, he saw a limb of a tree hanging within his reach. Carefully he grasped the branch and then slowly put some weight on his damaged leg and tried to stand. But the pain was instantly agonizing, and he collapsed on the ground. James looked at his injured foot, and realized that it was swelling rapidly. Taking his knife out of its scabbard, he carefully cut the boot off his swollen foot. His leg was bruised and misshapen, and with gentle probing, he knew that it was also badly injured.
James then did the only thing he knew he could do. He took his hat off, closed his eyes, and offered up a heartfelt prayer to his Heavenly Father for help.
No sooner had he finished his prayer and opened his eyes when he heard a horse approaching. A minute later, his horse was standing next to him. James stared in astonishment at the lasso that had somehow become unwrapped from the saddle-horn and was dangling within his reach.
Slowly and painfully, James grasped the lasso and began pulling himself up into the saddle. The newly broken young horse stood patiently until its rider was seated in the saddle and then set off for home.
Throughout his life, James never doubted that his Heavenly Father knew him and had heard his pleas for help one day in the desert. His story has touched me and strengthened my testimony. As I have gained experiences of my own during my teenage years and beyond, I have learned that my Heavenly Father is near and listens to me when I pray.

My mother was hospitalized with a stroke. It shocked us, and I wondered why God allowed this to happen.
Despite our worries, we didn’t lose faith. We knew that she would recover. She was OK until a few months later when she had another stroke. She couldn’t walk or speak and had a hard time eating. We continued to pray for help from God.
My mom fought this condition until she passed away. I know that God was not incapable of healing her, but it was His will that she return to Him. I know that if I live my life according to the Lord’s commandments, I can be reunited with her and my family. I know that because of the Atonement of our Savior, we will be resurrected. Death is not the end for us.

In April 2009 former Presiding Bishopric counselor Richard C. Edgley told the story of an exemplary quorum that mobilized to assist a fellow member who had lost his job:
“Phil’s Auto of Centerville, Utah, is a testament of what priesthood leadership and a quorum can accomplish. Phil was a member of an elders quorum and worked as a mechanic at a local automobile repair shop. Unfortunately, the repair shop where Phil worked experienced economic trouble and had to let Phil go from his job. He was devastated by this turn of events.
“On hearing about Phil’s job loss, his bishop, Leon Olsen, and his elders quorum presidency prayerfully considered ways they could help Phil get back on his feet. After all, he was a fellow quorum member, a brother, and he needed help. They concluded that Phil had the skills to run his own business. One of the quorum members offered that he had an old barn that perhaps could be used as a repair shop. Other quorum members could help gather needed tools and supplies to equip the new shop. Almost everyone in the quorum could at least help clean the old barn.
“They shared their ideas with Phil; then they shared their plan with the members of their quorum. The barn was cleaned and renovated, the tools gathered, and all was put in order. Phil’s Auto was a success and eventually moved to better and more permanent quarters—all because his quorum brothers offered help in a time of crisis.”8

What do you do when you’re not quite 16, but you desperately want to attend a dance at your school? Several girls from the Bountiful, Utah, area came up with a solution that worked well—they invited their dads.
Anissa Johnson, Shauna Howard, Cindee Olsen, Jill Stauffer, and Shari Salmon all found unique ways to invite their fathers and planned a dinner together before the dance. In accordance with the dance’s tradition, the fathers and daughters all wore matching shirts.
“It was a little strange when we first got to the dance and there were all our friends,” said Shari. “But the strange feeling only lasted a few minutes, and I didn’t think about it anymore; I was having too much fun!”
Cindee summed up one of the reasons she and her friends had such a great time with their fathers. “I didn’t have to impress him,” she said. “I already knew he liked me.”

“You be good and mind your aunt and uncle,” Dad said.
Sammy gave his dad a big hug and then gave his mom an even bigger one. “I will,” he promised, waving good-bye as his parents left for a weekend out of town. Sammy was happy to be spending Saturday and Sunday at his cousin Joey’s house. There were so many fun things to do. There were board games and video games. There was a swing set, a trampoline, and a barn with a loft. Playing in the loft was Sammy’s favorite thing.
Sammy had a great time. He and Joey played catch in the morning. After lunch they bounced high on the trampoline and soared even higher on the swing set. Later in the afternoon they played hide-and-seek in the barn. For dinner they had sloppy joes, Sammy’s favorite. After dinner, Joey and Sammy watched one of their favorite movies and then fell asleep in the family room.
The next morning, Sammy enjoyed going to Primary with Joey. Brother Clark, the CTR 5 teacher, was kind. Sammy liked hearing the stories in the lesson.
After church the boys changed their clothes. “What should we do now?” Sammy asked.
Joey thought for a minute. “What if we play at the park? Or we could watch a movie or take turns riding my bike. Or we could play video games. What would you like to do?”
Sammy wondered what to say. None of those activities seemed like the best ones for Sunday. Sammy’s parents had taught him that the Sabbath was a special day that should be different from other days. But his parents weren’t here, and he didn’t want to offend Joey. Maybe it would be OK. Joey’s mom and dad must think so.
Sammy decided to tell Joey that all the ideas sounded fun. He started to form the words, but he just couldn’t say them. He knew it wasn’t right. “What if we color the pictures we got in Primary today?” he asked instead. “Then maybe we could draw pictures and send them to Uncle Nick on his mission in Chile.”
“Yeah, I guess that sounds pretty fun,” Joey agreed. “Let’s go get my crayons, and we can color at the kitchen table.”
Sammy gave a silent sigh of relief. He knew that Mom and Dad would be pleased, and he was glad that Joey wasn’t upset. But most important, he knew that Heavenly Father was happy with his choice. That was what really counted.

I come from a small city in eastern Colombia. It was there that I was taught about the Church and was baptized, and it was also there that the desire to go on a mission was born. I was the only member of my family to accept the gospel.
I remember going out with the missionaries almost every night to help them in the work and at the same time to gain experience in the field. When the missionaries asked me where I wanted to serve my mission, I told them, “Anywhere but Venezuela.” My response was such because this was a time of great tension between my country and Venezuela, and I had little love or appreciation for the Venezuelan people.
Time passed, and I had my interview with the mission president. One of his questions was, “Brother, will you go where the Lord calls you?”
I responded without hesitation, “Yes, President.”
He then leaned forward, looked me in the eyes, and said, “And if the Lord calls you to Venezuela?” I knew then that the president knew my thoughts. After a short time I was able to tell him that I would go where the Lord sent me, but still inside of me I felt as if I could not accept those people.
Finally the day arrived when the mailman brought the large white envelope containing my mission call. I opened it. I was called to serve in the Venezuela Mission. That night I knelt and asked the Lord not to make me go to that country. After talking to him for some time, I said that I needed his help. I got up, turned on the light, and began to leaf through the Doctrine and Covenants. I stopped in the 53rd section. There was the answer from the Lord to me:
“Behold … I have heard your prayers; and you have called upon me that it should be made known unto you, of the Lord your God, concerning your calling. …
“Take upon you my ordination, even that of an elder, to preach faith and repentance and remission of sins, according to my word, and the reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands;
“And also to be an agent unto this Church in the place which shall be appointed by the bishop. …
“And again, I would that ye should learn that he only is saved who endureth unto the end.” (D&C 53:1, 3–4, 7.)
I closed the book and knelt once again, this time in the spirit of humility. The tears burned my cheeks, and in my prayer I asked the Lord to forgive me for telling him his will.
Now I was ready to head for Venezuela, this time in a white shirt and tie. I met many people who needed to be saved, and I had to fight for them. I learned to love them with all my heart, persons who today have gone to the temple, who are the leaders of the Church in Venezuela, and others who are missionaries themselves.
I received a great deal of love and satisfaction from the Venezuelan people, and I came to learn why I was sent to that part of the Lord’s vineyard. My greatest blessing came shortly after being released as a missionary when I saw my own mother enter into the waters of baptism. I know the joy that the Lord promises to those who bring others into his kingdom. I know that this is the work of Jesus Christ because I have felt his direction. I know that it is for us to bring the message of the restoration to the millions who are waiting. And I know that one of the best ways to do this is to serve a full-time mission wherever the Lord would have us go.

When my son Elard Manuel was baptized in 1990, he had a job in a grocery store where working Sundays and holidays was mandatory. The economic situation in Peru is quite difficult. There are few jobs, and many people are out of work. It seemed virtually impossible for my son to change his employment.
“I’m going to pay my tithing,” he said. “I have faith in the Lord, and somehow I’m going to get a job with Sundays off.”
During these years my son continued to try to find a job that wouldn’t require him to work on Sunday. Our whole family prayed and fasted and asked the Lord to help him find a new job so that he could hold a Church calling.
Finally my son decided to work for one more month and then quit his job—whether he had a new one or not. We were quite worried because people everywhere were losing their jobs. But my son said, “I have faith in the Lord, and I know He is going to help me find a job with Sundays off.”
The grocery store he worked for has a huge warehouse where all the merchandise is brought before being distributed to the stores. It is quite far away, but the employees there have Sundays off. To our joy and surprise, my son was able to transfer to that warehouse. Our Heavenly Father had heard our prayers. And my son did receive a Church calling—as a counselor in the bishopric.
When we asked the Lord with faithful hearts and with fasting and prayer, He answered us with blessings.

I didn’t know yet if the gospel was true when I was about seven and a half years old. I thought that if it was good enough for my parents, then it was good enough for me. One night, as I was pondering my life, my mind focused on thoughts of religion. I wondered if I was in the right one. I remembered Joseph Smith and that he had had the same thoughts. Thinking about this, I decided to follow his example. I got out of bed and began to pray. At first, I had a hard time concentrating on praying because it was pretty cold that night and I wanted to get back into my warm bed. After I finished my prayer, I listened for the Holy Ghost to tell me what to do. Finally, just as I was about to give up, I felt an amazing feeling. It was as if my heart was about to explode with joy! When I am in doubt of the scriptures and am not sure if Heavenly Father is really there, I look back at this time and remember that wonderful night when I first felt the Spirit for myself.

The Lord often used parables relating to the land in teaching accountability and stewardship. When I was a small boy, I would visit my grandparents at their ranch during the summer. There was no electrical power, running water, or indoor plumbing. There was, however, a spring of water next to their small ranch house. The spring created a little pond of clear, pure water, where several times a day I would help my grandmother carry water to the house for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing clothes. My grandparents loved this life-giving spring and took special precautions to protect it.
Many years later my grandfather was in his early 90s and did not live on the property; he was unable to maintain or oversee it. I drove him to see the ranch which he loved. His high expectations at seeing the ranch turned to disappointment when he realized the fences that protected the spring had fallen into disrepair and cows had damaged the spring and the precious, pure springwater had been significantly polluted. He was upset with the damage and the pollution. To him, it was a violation of a trust he had observed all his working life. He felt somehow he had not protected that life-sustaining spring which had meant so much to him.
Just as the pure spring was polluted when not protected, we live in a time when virtue and chastity are not safeguarded.7 The eternal significance of personal morality is not respected. A loving Father in Heaven has provided us with the means to bring His spirit children into this world to fulfill the full measure of their creation. He has instructed us that the wellsprings of life are to be kept pure, just as the beautiful spring on the ranch required protection in order to sustain life. This is one of the reasons why virtue and chastity are so important in our Father in Heaven’s plan.
Because of my grandfather’s reaction to the polluted spring, improvements and protections were undertaken which returned the spring to its original beauty and purity.

One woman came up to me in tears after Relief Society one day and said, “I’m about ready to give up on him. I thought a year would bring some changes, but he’s not more ready to become active than he was last year. I feel like the Lord has failed me. Why should I keep trying if he’ll never change?”
After listening and searching for understanding, I asked, “You say you are still trying. Have you been devoting yourself to your own spiritual nourishment lately, as you were a year ago when you felt such promise for the relationship?”
“No,” she answered, “I haven’t felt like praying, and with moving to another home, I haven’t felt like I’ve had time for studying.”
“Well,” I confided, “I know that when I begin to lose faith in my husband and in our relationship, or when I start to become critical, I find that I have been starving my own spirit. But as I begin to restore a sweet spirit within me, I see my husband with new faith and love.”
A few weeks later, this woman called to tell me that through recommitting herself to a program of spiritual feedings, she once again had hope in her husband and in their marriage. She said, “I was wrong. There has been a change in him. It is so slight that I had overlooked it before.”

Last spring, our golden retriever, Duchess, had seven brand-new puppies. One day, when the puppies were about five weeks old, I brought the puppies to the Tanner Building so the secretaries could see them.

While I was here on campus, I took them out on the east side of the Tanner Building and let them run around on the patio area which leads down to Helaman Halls. It was a neat experience to watch these mature, scholarly students as they would stop to play with the puppies. Everyone who stopped got down on their hands and knees and played with the puppies, allowing the little dogs to kiss them.

It was great to see these college students “reach out and touch” and extend love to little warm puppies. Surely the Peanuts character, Charlie Brown, was right when he said, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”

Now it’s Ben Griffiths’s turn, and he shares a story with a different twist.
“I was living in a basement apartment—my own room, my own kitchen, a pretty sweet deal. But I wasn’t surrounded by those people that keep you on the right path. It’s tough and you start feeling like you are alone. You come to a point where you have to decide for yourself what you want to do.
“I wasn’t going to church and I wasn’t paying attention to the things I should have. Then my sister invited me to an institute class she was going to. It was about feasting on the words of Christ. The teacher challenged us to study the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes a day. I would pray and ask the Lord to help me. Then I would read and write down the thoughts that came to me. Then I would thank the Lord for what he had given me.
“Pretty soon, it changed my life. It put everything back in perspective. We’re trying to get to the celestial kingdom. That’s the reason we’re here. All these things happening around us aren’t going to make much difference in the long run. But the gospel gives you a goal in life, a place to point to. I started going to church again. I started doing the things I should have been doing, because I knew they were right.
“College can either be a place where you just play around, or it can be a place where you straighten out your priorities. You have to learn that the things that matter most are the things that will stay with you always, and that’s the gospel and your family. Stay close to them and you’ll be happy.”

One woman who came to this realization wrote:
“Right after my divorce, I determined that I was going to give my children the best of everything. … I would provide well for them. … I would substitute in every way for their father. I would take them on picnics, build them a tree house, and play baseball with them. I would not allow them to suffer because of our divorce.
“I baked, sewed, ran, played, wrestled. I cleaned, I ironed. I was busy being both mother and father for them.
“One evening I put the three of them in the bathtub together while I finished a chore. Then I came back, soaped the youngest, rinsed him, lifted him from the tub, and stood him on a bath mat while I wrapped a towel around him. Then I carried him off to the bedroom to put his pajamas on and tuck him into bed. I repeated the process with his brother and then his sister.
“As I bent down to kiss them goodnight, my older son said, ‘Sing us a song, please.’
“‘Which one?’ I asked.
“‘“Rudolph”!’ said the youngest immediately.
“‘No, “Johnny Appleseed,”’ said his brother.
“Then their sister said, ‘Sing, “Stay Awake.”’
“‘I can see if I stay to sing one song, I’ll be singing for an hour, and I don’t have an hour to spare. So goodnight.’ I turned off the lights.
“‘Please sing just one song, mommy. You can choose the song.’
“‘What about our prayers?’
“Firmly, I replied, ‘I said goodnight and I mean goodnight.’
“As I walked back to the bathroom to tidy up, I thought of how grateful they would be someday when they were old enough to understand how much I had done for them!
“As I entered the room I stopped short. There on the bath mat were three perfect sets of damp footprints. For one brief moment I thought I saw standing in the footprints the spirits of those precious children I had just tucked into bed. In that instant I saw the foolishness of my ways. I had been so busy providing for the physical needs of their mortal bodies that I was neglecting their spirits. I knew then that I had a sacred obligation to nourish both. If I were to clothe them in the latest fashions and give them all that money could buy and fail to tend to their spiritual needs, I could not justifiably account for my awesome responsibility as their mother.
“Humbled, I went back to their bedroom. We knelt together in prayer. We all four climbed up on the boys’ big bed and sang song after song until I was the only one awake to sing.”

At the end-of-the-year basketball banquet, Frankie, Mark, and Jason, seized another opportunity to share their religion. They presented their coach with a gift, a Book of Mormon.
“We hope you’ll hold on to this book like you would hold on to a basketball,” read the inscription from the three boys.
The coach did more than that. Not only did he hold on to the book; he read it and believed it. Not long after he received his gift, he and his family were baptized.

Several years ago I was assigned to reorganize a stake presidency. At the Sunday session of the conference, the wife of the newly called stake president related this story. She stated that she had been raised in a good Christian home. Her parents gathered their family together every day to read and study the Bible. As they read about the prophets of old, she asked her parents why there were no prophets on the earth today. They didn’t have an answer that satisfied her, nor did her teachers or her religious leaders.

One day, as a university student, she noticed two young men wearing white shirts and ties. She could read the name “Jesus Christ” on the black name tags they wore. She spoke to them and asked if they were ministers. “Yes, we are! We are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

“Then may I ask you a question?” she said. “Does the Lord love the people today as much as He loved the people of olden times?”

“Yes, He does!” was their reply.

“Then why do we not have prophets on the earth today?”

Can you imagine the excitement of two young missionaries being asked a question like that? They said, We do. We do have prophets on the earth today. Can we tell you about them?”

Our message to the world is the same: We do have prophets on the earth today. This very afternoon, we will raise our hands to sustain President Gordon B. Hinckley, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve as prophets, seers, and revelators. They are special witnesses of the name of Jesus Christ. In the document “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” they state: “We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. … He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.” Brothers and sisters, if God loves us enough to send us prophets, then we need to love Him enough to follow them. Following the prophets will help protect us against the storms of life and lead us to Christ.

A short while ago, a pair of doves began building a nest in a tree in my garden. I watched as they gathered small branches to create what would eventually become their home.
A few days later, I saw empty eggshells on the grass. Two beautiful chicks had hatched. They grew so fast that soon they were almost as big as their mother.
One morning I watched as one of the chicks, standing at the edge of the nest, made several attempts to fly. Finally, the baby dove took off, flying to the roof of our home. Within a few days, this brave dove was taking flight with its mother.
The other chick, meanwhile, would watch from the nest. Perhaps thinking that one day it would join them. I had my doubts. This baby dove didn’t seem to have a desire to fly.
To my surprise, however, a few days later I found the chick walking in the grass below the nest. Apparently, it had tried to fly. For several days afterward, the chick made many clumsy attempts to fly. Finally, it succeeded, flying back to the nest and from there into the sky.

As time passed and we both matured, we started to talk to each other about school, teachers, friends, and all the other things that concerned us. Tommy and I actually became friends. In high school, Tommy was a senior when I was a sophomore, and it was nice to receive advice from an experienced student. We were both in the marching band, and even though we had our own friends, Tommy was always willing to talk to me or help me in any way. He had developed a real sense of humor, and I enjoyed spending time with him.
I remember nights when we would be the only ones up, doing our homework, and Tommy would serve us both some ice cream. We would talk late into the night. Tommy was a wonderful example to me, and I was always learning something from him. He chose good friends, and I never saw him hesitate to choose the right. I especially respected him for how well he treated my parents. Whenever we came home from school, Tommy would go into the kitchen to get something to eat, and we would sit down and chat with Mama about the day. Somehow, the conversation always drifted to things deeper than school. I will always cherish those times.

A few years ago when we were presiding over the Sydney Mission, I was earnestly seeking a blessing from the Lord. The mission had done well but was pausing on a plateau, and we needed to move ahead once again.
On one particular day I was fasting and praying that the Lord would lead us to a new level of achievement. In the midst of my prayers came the clear impression to seek out my son and give him a blessing. I followed the prompting and found my son, whom I am close to, in another part of the house, attending to his high school studies.
I said, “How are things going?”
He answered, in typical teenage fashion, “Why?”
Not knowing what else to say, I asked, “Do you want a blessing?”
He looked at me in stunned silence for a few seconds and then said, “Yes.”
The inspiration that followed from that blessing proved to be of great importance to both my son and me. It was an experience that neither of us will forget.
Yet this would have been lost had I stopped to question why the Lord was turning me to my first responsibility, my family, when I was seeking a blessing for the mission.

The principle of prior assurance and personal revelation lead me to a story that I feel impressed to share. I want to be very clear that this is a personal story, and just because it happened this way for me and my family does not mean that you will have the same experience. Rather, I hope the principles taught can be helpful to you in your life.

When we were engaged to be married, Bethany received a father's blessing. During that blessing, she felt a spiritual impression that she would have twins someday. She shared that experience with me, and I was excited at the thought. We both worked hard to align our wills with the Lord's and make use of the Atonement so that we would be worthy to receive this promised blessing. With our first pregnancy, I would not have been surprised if they said that we were going to have twins. We did not get twins but instead a healthy, beautiful girl: Lila (who is here with us today). Later, when Bethany was pregnant again, we wondered about twins. No twins. This time we had a beautiful, healthy boy: Ezra. During this pregnancy, Bethany started having some health complications. At this point, we were very happy with the family that we had; however, my wife and I knew that we would have twins someday. I couldn't help but wonder when that would be. When we found out we were expecting again, we thought for sure this would be twins. We went to the doctor and expected him to tell us that there were two babies that would come to us. This was not the case, but we did have another beautiful daughter: Madelyn, who taught me that powerful lesson about prayer. With increasingly difficult pregnancies, we wondered when or if these twins would be able to come to our family. In our fourth pregnancy, we thought surely this must be the twins coming. We went to the doctor again, somewhat anxious about what we would find out. As it turns out, we were again blessed with a beautiful baby girl: Sophia. I want to be clear that we were not disappointed in any of our pregnancies when we found out that it was only going to be one baby at a time. We were grateful and had powerful spiritual experiences with each pregnancy that the Lord wanted us to have these children at that specific time. It was very clear, and we did not doubt those experiences. However, my wife and I pondered about the impression about having twins. We talked and prayed many times to see, hear, or understand what the Lord would teach us. Up to this point, we didn't feel anything, except that we were on the Lord's path and were doing what He wanted us to do.

In May of last year, Bethany and I attended the Rexburg Temple. We both felt a powerful feeling from God that our family was not complete, and a longing and desire to have more children. We truly felt aligned with God's will, and we were willing to do whatever He wanted us to do. As we pondered and discussed what that meant, we both felt the impression that we should pray for the twins to come. We acted in faith and prayed many times and thought often about that impression. In September of last year, Bethany was pregnant, and we went to our first doctor appointment. As we sat in the office, the ultrasound tech said the heartbeat was good and things looked very normal. After a minute or two, she gasped and said, "I have to tell you something--there are two babies in there." Bethany and I looked at each other with such a feeling of love, comfort, and peace. God had sent us twins. Bethany had a very difficult pregnancy, including being on bedrest for several months. This was a hard time for both of us, but we felt so blessed by the Lord. I won't go into all the details here, but I will say that many miracles occurred as these special spirits came into our family. On a routine doctor visit, we had to go immediately to the hospital to deliver the twins. Of all the close calls and possible problems that could have happened, they came safely.

While they did have to spend a few weeks in the hospital, they are very healthy and happy girls. Penelope is shown on the left and Clementine on the right.

I don't mean to say that they were healthy because of something we did. That was a tender mercy. Of course it was completely out of our hands. Through the entire pregnancy, birth, and extended hospital stay, it was evident that we were not in control at all. This was what God wanted to happen, and we have learned that if we are willing to align ourselves with His will, then all will be well. That does not mean that everything will be easy, but it will be right. It will be just the right circumstances that our Heavenly Father will allow us to have so we can learn how to become like Him.

As you can tell from this photo, Bethany and I have a large family. We had six kids in six years. Having a large and young family has its challenges, to say the least, but Bethany and I have the children we do today because we followed what the Lord wanted us to do. And because we have done that, we are so very happy with the incredible blessings that we have been given.