Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 28:4, 6-7, 26-28, 30
"And when he had spoken unto them, he turned himself unto the three, and said unto them: What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father?
And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.
Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.
But behold, I have seen them, and they have ministered unto me.
And behold they will be among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles shall know them not.
They will also be among the Jews, and the Jews shall know them not.
And they are as the angels of God, and if they shall pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus they can show themselves unto whatsoever man it seemeth them good."
This is what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refer to as the Three Nephites. Three of the apostles that Jesus chose among the people of Nephi desired that which the apostle John did in the Holy Land. To never taste of death and serve the Father until the end of this earth. The story means something to me because my family and I believe we may have been ministered by them.
When I was six years old I traveled with my parents and four siblings from Queensbury, New York to Salt Lake City, Utah to be sealed as a family in the House of the Lord. On our way home through Nebraska we were involved in a terrible car accident. Our brakes went out in heavy traffic on the highway and we crashed into the car in front of us and then went into the median strip with two Greyhound buses following. When we arrived at the hospital my father went to the phone book and found the name and number of the local Bishop of the LDS Church. He and his counselor came immediately to our aid and gave us all priesthood blessings. They took us to a hotel and helped my parents shop for a good used car to take us back home. They were solicitous to our needs and asked all the time if we had enough money to get back home, which we did. Their loving care, so far from our home, meant so much to our family. As soon as we arrived home my parents wrote that dear Bishop a letter, thanking him and his counselor for all that they did for us. That letter was later returned to us stamped "No such person".
When my father traveled back to Nebraska for the lawsuit that followed he spent time there inquiring after this good Bishop and his counselor, no LDS or RLDS congregation in the area had ever heard of them. Yet, all of our family knew for a fact they did exist. It was not hard to imagine we had been helped by two of the three Nephites.
It was 28 years later when I was again in the hospital for a surgery that my heart was broken and concerned because I had no one to give me a blessing. While I sat alone I poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father that I had so wanted a priesthood blessing, and asked that he bless me as if I had, had one, for I could not face surgery without it. As they wheeled me to the surgery my gurney was left alone in the hallway outside the operating room. Two men came up to me and said they were there to give me a blessing. They laid their hands upon my head and gave me my longed for priesthood blessing. I remember looking up into their faces and realized I had seen them before as the men giving me a blessing as a small child. My heart had such peace and the surgery was a success. My healing was swift and complete. Today I could not tell you what they looked like.
As I pondered on this chapter of the three Nephites I realized that with John that makes four such "angels" on this earth. Would they not be like missionary companions. They all received their calls at the most within months of each other. Then again maybe there is not just four such men that walk the earth. If Christ had other sheep to visit could there not be more that desired the same as John? Their mission was not just to one group of people it was to the whole earth. The one thing I do know is we are never left alone. The Lord has provided men that hold the priesthood to bless me when I have needed it. They will always be ministering angels to me.
Day 381 Tami Fitzgerald Harris
No comments:
Post a Comment