Life...

So I have a new set-up and I'm so in hopes that all my tech problems are over.  I am below low-tech...I am no-tech.  I am at the mercy of computers and if a human is needed to answer questions in what to me is Computery- a foreign language- then I have to take advantage of my son and ask so many questions, that he finally just comes over and fixes whatever.  This time it involved buying a new outfit, and I don't mean clothes, an All in One (supposedly trouble free.  time will tell on that!)

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Today a friend's Mother unexpectedly died.  My heart goes out to her and her sweet little family.  I remember when my Daddy died (yes.  I called him Daddy all my life).  I was at the hospital and realizing that this was the first time I'd lost a family member and I was now in the Church.  I wondered if it would hold true.  If I would survive it.  How it would feel.  Would the Gospel really hold up and hold me up to be able to endure such a loss?  Yes...it did all I'd hoped and more.  I felt comforted and all of the scriptures and things I'd studied about death really held firm and I was thankful, so thankful for the Gospel.

One year in our life we had a family event just filled with heartache and tragedy.  It was one of those...how can I possible bear this?...situations.  Someone commented that it was a shame to have this happening during the Christmas season...to mar it.  I told them this was the best time to have heartache and sorrow because everywhere I look I see Christmas lights and I hear Christmas Carols and I see wonderful Christmas programs.  I feel the Spirit as I see these tangible items and driving by houses of strangers or walking through commercial stores...lights everywhere.  I am the Light of the world, He said.  He is my light and He is your light and He is Julianna's light and she has great faith that will sustain her through the days ahead.

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When my turn to leave this earth arrives...I hope my friends and family will remember...

Written by Henry Scott Holland-- (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918) He was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford

Have not seen this before....

"The 'Come Unto Me' bronze sculpture took more than a year to make its first appearance. Unveiled in the year 2000; today, the original life-sized bronze monument stands in the grand foyer of the Spilsbury Mortuary in St. George Utah,it has become a scenic attraction, in addition to a comfort to countless families at a most tender time of their lives. It portrays the spiritual journey from mortality to immortality. It is a portrayal of an aged woman's body, returning to its symbolic prime, and back to the arms of our Savior.

It is our prayer that it's divine destiny will be portrayed and preserved according to our Heavenly Father's mind and will; revealing to all mankind that we all live eternally; that death is not the end. We all, as 'Come Unto Me' portrays, "have an eternal destiny."

Farewell to a friend...

A long time friend passed away yesterday.  Even writing it makes me tear up.  I was so glad to have spoken to her a few hours before she exited life. 

Last week I'd called her, in North Carolina and she never answered and I thought maybe she was back in the hospital.  Then her daughter called me, a couple of days later, and said the end was coming.  She said she was not responding anymore.  I asked if she would put the phone to her ear so I could tell her goodbye.  She said she would.  She told me to go ahead and talk. 

I told my friend that I loved her, was so glad for our friendship, that I knew she was going to the other side, to be brave, and to come see me if she could... Just all the sorts of things that you would tell any friend that is going on a long journey and you won't see for many years.

Her daughter asked if I could hear her.  She made some mumbling sounds.  I said....I choose to believe that she is telling me she loves me and will see me later.

Our association goes way back to Anchorage when we were in the same Ward.  She was relatively new in the Church as was I.  Neither of us had much Church service experience but we loved serving in the Church.  She was the Ward Camp Director.  I'd taught Laurels for 9 months.  Then I got called as Stake YW President!  And I called her as my counselor.  The Lord had let me know that this calling would happen but I didn't have enough sense to know what to do to be prepared. 

So there we were in Stake positions with no experience at all!  oh, my!- did we have fun!  We still laughed a couple of weeks ago about those times!

We learned so much about the Gospel and the Church together.   I remember us learning that the veil is thin and that it's possible for those on the other side to visit and communicate with those on earth.  She'd tell me....if I go first then I'll come see you.  You do the same if you go first.  While Terry was in rehab a few months ago,  I was waiting for him to be done with his appointment, so I called her, we talked and she said...don't know if it's possible but I'll try to come see you.  By this time she knew she wasn't going to make it.

She lived her last years, after her husbands death, with their daughter who took such good care of her.

Her husband continued to watch over her and woke the daughter 3 times in one night, a day or so before her passing,  and told her...go check on your Mother.  She said each time something was needed.  Once her oxygen was off.  One time she was sort of half off the bed.  I don't remember the 3rd.

I was impressed and touched with the nearness of the spirit world and the care that goes beyond this life.  It seems natural doesn't it?  I was so terrified of death when I joined the Church but I'm not now.  It makes sense to have loved ones care and help out like he did.

My friend is very happy and busy, I'm sure.  I have no curiosity about her trying to "come see me".  Personally I see no need for it.  I know people come if needs be. 

How wonderful in the Gospel that we have no need of psychics, fortune tellers, tarot cards, tea leaves, Ouija boards, mediums and other sorts of  folks/methods of seeking communication beyond the veil.  If it needs be then it will happen- if there is a purpose to the visit.

Indeed, our deceased loved ones are greatly concerned about our well-being and happiness and can be appointed, when there is need, to bring messages of warning, reproof, or instruction to us. (See Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 436.)

President Young confirmed that the spirit world “Is on this earth.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 376.) In a recent general conference, President Ezra Taft Benson declared that “the spirit world is not far away. Sometimes the veil between this life and the life beyond becomes very thin. Our loved ones who have passed on are not far from us.” (Ensign,June 1971, p. 33.)

Here is an old 1977 article--The Spirit World, Our Next Home-- to read  here

My friend is free from suffering and pain.   She is at rest.  Filled with peace.  I'm thankful she endured to the end and was so valiant.  I will remember her and love her, always.

"....but how nice it would be, to be wrong."

I'd thought about doing a blog for quite some time but lacked courage, for one thing, to take it on.  Did I have anything to say, that would be worth anyone's while, to spend a bit reading?  I'd made a few decisions....5 blogs a week.  Mon-Fri.  posted at 1am, so no one had to wait to peek at a new posting.  Then I decided to read a lot of blogs to see what others blogged about. The majority were personal journaling blogs.   When you start reading blogs you can just keep on clicking and find more and more and more.  I read lots of blogs but early on I happened on a blog (and oh, my!  How I wish I knew which one it was) that was so stark that I copied two paragraphs to just mull over.   Here are those 2 paragraphs....

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the blogger Derek wrote...

What was at the end

I haven't gone to a better place, or a worse one. I haven't gone anyplace, because Derek doesn't exist anymore. As soon as my body stopped functioning, and the neurons in my brain ceased firing, I made a remarkable transformation: from a living organism to a corpse, like a flower or a mouse that didn't make it through a particularly frosty night. The evidence is clear that once I died, it was over.
So I was unafraid of death—of the moment itself—and of what came afterwards, which was (and is) nothing. As I did all along, I remained somewhat afraid of the process of dying, of increasing weakness and fatigue, of pain, of becoming less and less of myself as I got there. I was lucky that my mental faculties were mostly unaffected over the months and years before the end, and there was no sign of cancer in my brain—as far as I or anyone else knew.

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Here is what the reader wrote...

I never knew Derek personally, only through his postings and the odd comment on Twitter. My thoughts are with his Wife, children and family. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will miss his updates and views on life, but at least the pain and suffering is over. I too am not a religious man and my view on the afterlife are pretty much the same as Derek's, but how nice it would be, to be wrong. 

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 These 2 lines, from the blog, have stayed in my mind.

Derek the blogger-....So I was unafraid of death—of the moment itself—and of what came afterwards, which was (and is) nothing....

A reader of Derek's blog-.....I too am not a religious man and my view on the afterlife are pretty much the same as Derek's, but how nice it would be, to be wrong. ...

(I wish I'd sent a note to Derek's reader about our LDS belief about life after death and my testimony of that doctrine. And let him know he is wrong and there is hope. Maybe I could have helped Derek's wife and his children. I have no idea how to find that blog. At the time I read the blog I felt like I'd accidently opened up someone's private mail so responding was not uppermost in my mind.)

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In early July a wonderful young father, active member in the Church, sat down to watch TV and died. What a different scenario compared to the blog experience I read about. His RSP shared this with me....

Mark C. (he used to be on the high council, not sure if you know him, a lawyer working out of Sunnyside) was 'found unresponsive' at home last Thursday. An autopsy said he died from a brain aneurysm (at least that is what I heard yesterday). He was 34. His wife and 5 children (oldest is 11. the youngest turns 1 in a few weeks) were in UT visiting family, he had returned for work and was going back to drive home with them today. Such a shock to all of us here. In talking to his wife Brooke she has been so blessed with the spirit and really feels his presence comforting and guiding her. She has an amazing family and while this is difficult beyond words says, through her tears, that she knows it will all work out. The Lords plan is real, even when we can't see the bigger picture. Wow!

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As a girl, my previous faith, had no such teachings or information about life after death. I was afraid of my own death but most especially of my parents and sister dying. I left my Baptist Church, over them telling me- there are no families in Heaven therefore when one of us died it was over forever. Because of those teachings I lived in fear of dying and when I married and had children that fear grew into nightmares.  Can you even begin to imagine the feelings in my heart when I heard the Gospel message?????!!!!
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Within the Gospel I find solace and answers to all the basic questions of life.  Astounding to me is the amount of information we have about death and what happens after death.  I am strengthened by the fact we have an appointed time to die.  True we can hasten it by poor choices but President Kimball, a former Prophet, says we can seldom extend life.  I am strengthened by the fact there are scriptures that tell us where we go after death.  I am strengthened by the fact that we have scriptures that give us a glimpse into the Spirit world activity.  I believe all these things.  I take great comfort in all of this doctrine. 

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"We can shorten our lives, but I think we cannot lengthen them very much."
                                                           President Kimball  "Tragedy or Destiny" 1955

Treat yourself to a reading of Section 138 in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Amazing reading!!!

Don't miss reading Alma Chapter 40 in the Book of Mormon.

These references are just the tip of the iceberg!  There are beautiful conference talks about death and the Resurrection.  Check them out!!!