Seeing with new eyes: A Thanksgiving Miracle

Some people may not feel like I am an old lady at age 39 ½, by the way… when do you stop saying when you are ½ of a year older? I totally remember doing that when I was little.  Anyway, whether 39 ½ makes me old or not believe me after a long week of taking care of a sick toddler my body tells me I am. I have decided I am just having fun with what life has brought me in an unexpected hour. One thing I find humorous is that some of my friends have children in high school and even college, but I am changing diapers along with my nieces who have small children. Thanks to Cici, my husband’s first wife I do have one son going to college and another son who just graduated college. It is like living in two worlds at the same time.

Come to think of it, “living in two worlds at the same time,” isn’t that what we all do? I believe that along with the world we see and live in everyday I believe there is an unseen world that also influences us. Some unseen beings influence us for good and some for bad. Even within us there is a spirit that we don’t see with mortal eyes that allows us to live and be.  Often when I was down and thinking life was a little hard I would have a scripture come to mind, “You cannot behold with your natural eyes.” (See Doctrine and Covenants 58:3) and with this comes the purpose behind what I want to write today. Just like we have a physical set of eyes in which we view the world we also have spiritual eyes that can not only see the world, but see the connection the world has with God and his plan for us.

 Is there a way that we can have our spiritual eyes open? Is it possible that we don’t understand what is really going on around us? UM, YA! To help bring understanding to this idea I want to relate to you an experience I had many Thanksgivings ago. I was attending BYU and traveling back to college after the holiday break. Now most people know that driving long distances in the snow has its hazards. I had almost made it back to Provo from Idaho in terrible snow storm when my spiritual vision was going to become much clearer. All I could see with my physical eyes was the brake lights of the car in front of me and that was about it. Even the signs to let us know where drivers were and how far we had left on our journey were not visible. It was in essence, “driving blind”. Which I might add is not a good idea. I felt I really didn’t have a choice in the matter I needed to press on and make it home. One thing I knew for sure was that I had it with the car in front of me. I decided that I was going to pass it.

Ya, that is right. I had made the decision, with no visibility that it was better to risk crossing the snow drift that existed between the lanes than to patiently put up with the car I was following. Boy, were they brake happy. That car would not travel at a consistent speed, even a slow consistent speed. It was hitting the brakes randomly and often. I was confident in my driving. After all I wasn’t some Californian, I mean no offense I just know there is not a lot of snow in most of that state.  I was an experienced snow driver. In fact, where we come from driving during the winter was just another form of sledding.

 Reliant in my skills and poor vision I began to cross the deep slush that separated the lanes. Right then I felt and heard something. I felt a lot of love and heard, “get back into the right hand lane.” Now this was not the first time I had felt that feeling or had been guided. I recognized it because of my prior experiences. My spiritual eyes were not completely open, but they were open enough at this time to recognize the message from Heaven. When I received this first message I wasn’t quite ready to see what was happening. I had just crossed the drift that was between lanes at no small risk to my safety. I wasn’t going to make that move without completing what I had started out to do. I even felt justified in explaining to the angel by my side that I would move over into that lane as soon as I passed “Mr. Brake-Happy” in front of me. Again I heard the voice, “get back into the right hand lane.” Still there was reluctance on my part and then with great love the voice came again a third time and changed, “do you want to die?” Okay so now I was humbled. I felt the urgency and sincerity of the message it changed me. I began to move my car back into the right hand lane back behind the same car I was following before.

It was with some effort that I again crossed the slush which seemed to grab at my tires. Finally I was back in the right lane driving slowly and cautiously. No sooner had I got in the right lane that I was passed by a semi-truck that dumped snow and slush on my vehicle. I had never even seen him coming. The truck must have been in my “blind spot.” The passing of the truck was like I was like being buried by a title wave of snow and ice. I had a bit of difficulty regaining control of my car. The only reason I was able to gain control of my car was because in the right hand lane there was enough room for me to fish-tale and make my recovery without hitting another vehicle. I know that my life was spared and I decided that I wouldn’t be so hard to convince the next time I heard a heavenly whisper that I didn’t understand or agree with. My spiritual eyes were opened a little more that day.

I know that there are angels out there. I know there are angels even though I cannot always see them or feel them. I know that there are angels because I chose to believe the scriptures. I felt angelic help when I needed them and sometimes they came before I knew I needed them. I felt them with me as I sought to help others. These and other experiences have confirmed my faith and open my eyes to their reality.  Life is full of visibility issues and blind spots… but I know I am not alone. There is a God in heaven that loves me and you.  God has many angels to help us feel and know how much he cares.