I’ve been thinking a lot about miracles lately, especially the miracles that have occurred in my life. But first I need to answer the question, “What is a miracle?” Many people consider all the marvelous and miraculous technology of our days, TV, radio, satellite transmissions, smartphones, etc. miracles, and I agree. But there are many more miracles.
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| Matthew Cowley |
A definition that I like is found in Mighty Miracles, a book about Elder Matthew Cowley’s miracles: “Miracles are difficult to define. Some say a miracle must defy the laws of nature; others define it more loosely. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism includes a simple definition: “A miracle is a beneficial event brought about through divine power that mortals do not understand and of themselves cannot duplicate.”[i]
I also remember a wonderful song from Fiddler on the Roof about miracles:
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-
Stood by his and side and- miracle of miracles-
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-
I was afraid that God would frown,
But like he did so long ago, at Jericho,
God just made a wall fall down!
When Moses softened Pharaoh's heart, that was a miracle.
When God made the waters of the red sea part, that was a miracle too!
But of all God's miracles large and small,
The most miraculous one of all
Is that out of a worthless lump of clay,
God has made a man today. . . .
When David slew Goliath (yes!), that was a miracle.
When God gave us manna in the wilderness, that was a miracle too.
But of all God's miracles large and small,
The most miraculous one of all
Is the one I thought could never be:
God has given you to me.
[ii]
This song celebrates the fact that the singer was able to win his love’s hand and the approval from her father, when she was promised to another.
There are several types of miracles in the book, Mighty Miracles, which Olaveson mentions:
“Matthew saw the miracles in his life for what they were. . . . He saw grown men give up long-held addictions. He saw grown men give up long–held addictions. He blessed people who were near death to live, he healed villages of typhoid fever.[iii]”
President Spencer W. Kimball said of miracles, “What kind of miracles to we have? All kinds
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| Spencer W. Kimball |
—revelation, visions, tongues, healings, special guidance and direction, evil spirits cast out. Where are they recorded? In the records of the Church, in journals, in news and magazine articles and in the minds and memories of many people.[iv]”
One experience in my mother’s life was a classic miracle. Jennie Hansen, my own mother, was sick following her first mastectomy in 1953. My father told me the story how my mother had asthma and went into a coma following the surgery because of complications. In fact, Mrs. Mann, the next door neighbor that was sitting with mother said that she saw my mother die and turn cold and blue. Mrs. Mann rang for the nurses. Dad said a general authority came in the room right then; he said he had been in the hospital, had felt that someone needed a blessing in mother’s room, and so he gave her one. Mrs. Mann saw the color (and life) come back into mother’s face after his blessing. This story is one I remember; I asked my father about it before he died, and he confirmed the facts as I have related.
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| Jennie hansen |
My mother related to me that she had an experience after her first mastectomy that I am not sure if it is related to the previous experience. Mother said was very ill after her own first mastectomy and saw her mother appear. Mother thought she was dying and her mother had come to take her to heaven. However, Grandmother Hendrickson told mother that it wasn’t her time to go; that she still had another child to be born.
Another experience was when my mother's sister, Ingeborg was dying of cancer. We were living about l2 miles out of Monticello, Utah at the time on a dry farm without a phone, electricity or running water. Mother was very concerned that it would take a lot of time for the notification of Ingeborg's death to come all the way out to their farm, so Mother prayed that she would know when Ingeborg died so that she would be ready for the long drive to Brigham City.
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| Ingeborg Hendrickson Frye |
Mother said that Ingeborg appeared to her and told her that she'd passed on, and Mother immediately got up, packed and had everything ready to leave by the time official notification came out to the farm.
My brother Gary told me that when mother was dying, and it looked hopeless, Dad asked Gary to give her a blessing of healing. Gary said he gave her a blessing, but rather than telling her she would live longer, he basically “released” her from her painful and suffering she was going through. He also mentioned that her deceased sisters were there and waiting for her to join them. Afterwards, Mother was looking fixedly at a corner of the room, and told Gary she could see her sisters there. It was only a few more days later she passed away.
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| Fay Hansen |
One of the earliest experiences that I recall my mother telling me about was how she knew that she was to marry my father. She was living in Corrine, Utah and boarding with her family was Alma and Eulala Hansen. One day Eulala showed Jennie the photo of Alma's younger brother, Fay, and Jennie said, "That's the man I'm going to marry." And of course she did.
Are these miracles? I think they are and prove how the Lord blesses us through miracles that strengthen us through the trials of life.
[i] Olaveston,
Breanna,
Mighty Miracles, Covenant Communications (2015). page xi.
[iii] Olaveston, page xii
[iv] The teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Ed. Edward L. Kimball (1982), page 499.
