Miracles of My Mother

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

[ii] hhttp://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/f/fiddlerontherooflyrics/miracleofmiracleslyrics.html

[iii] Olaveston, page xii

[iv] The teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Ed. Edward L. Kimball (1982), page 499.

The Priesthood Blessing I Didn't Want to Hear

Our Family after Ed retired from the military in 1988,
Bryan being held by his older brother; Ed is
behind us; I am on the right.

Sometimes I wonder if I “Shop Around” for people to give me priesthood blessings, depending on the answer I want to hear. I don’t know if it is conscious, but I know it happened one time 25 years ago. My husband Ed had retired from the military after over 20 years of military service, and more than 32 years of full-time employment. We had five children, with three over 18 years old and on their own; one daughter, 14 years at home, our youngest son Bryan, four years old.

Ed had continued to work after retirement, and although I had worked for a while after he retired, I wasn’t working when I got a very good job offer out of the blue. I had been blessed to be a stay-at-home mother for all of our children’s lives, and I really didn’t want to work. Ed and I talked about it at length and it would be good in many ways because Ed wasn’t earning much and was very unhappy in his job. He joked, “I worked the first 28 years of our marriage; why don’t you work the next 25 years.”

I was torn and conflicted. I think I felt assurance from the Lord that this was something I should do, and I was fighting with all my heart against it because I really preferred to stay home. We fasted and prayed on Sunday, and I knew I needed a priesthood blessing to come to a decision.

I considered asking Ed for a priesthood blessing but I felt I knew what he’d say—he would bless me that I should take the job. Even if he was inspired to say that I was supposed to go back to work, I would never believe that was the Lord’s will because Ed wanted me to work and knew I didn’t want to go to work.

So I thought of a way to get around it! My father lived close by and was a

My Father

faithful priesthood holder who I could ask for a priesthood blessing! Besides which he did not believe in women working outside the home if they had small children, and I had a four-year-old. My father was of an earlier generation that had earlier in his life felt women did not even need an education—only men needed one to provide for the family. (That attitude did not prevent two of his daughters—my sister and I--from gaining bachelor’s degrees and my sister from getting her master’s degree, and another sister to have almost have completed her bachelor’s degree.) If he could bless me to go to work, I would know it was from the Lord. My daughter Diana, Bryan and I went to my father’s home for a blessing after our fast.

Here is my journal entry explaining the experience:

         “He began to give me the blessing, and after a bit said, ‘I feel . . .’ then paused for a long time. When he started again, he blessed me in vague ways that didn't mean much. A little later in the blessing, he said again, ‘I feel . . .’ and paused longer. Finally he said, ‘I feel . . .’ again and blessed me in a way that made it seemed like I should go to work. Diana reminded me afterwards that he never once said, ‘go to work’ but we all felt so strongly that that's what he meant. That's when I really began to cry and shake my head because I knew then what I was supposed to do—take that job.

        “Dad blessed me with health and strength to overcome the challenges that would come my way. I recall he also blessed my family through me and that they would be blessed if I went to work.

      “There was no doubt that the blessing was a confirmation that I needed to work at this time. After the blessing was over, Dad was shaking and we had all really felt the spirit! Dad said that every time he started to say that he felt that I should stay home, or continue my schooling, it was like a stupor came over him and he couldn't continue! He had to stop until he said the other--‘that for now I'd have to face the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that came my way.’”

While Ed was lab manager at the elementary
school, he grew a beard; at Christmas
he dyed it green and red. He allowed
the students who typed the fasted to cut
it off during an assembly.

So I accepted the job, and worked full-time for the next 20 years. I enjoyed several job, including being on the editorial staff of the Liahona for several years, a dream of mine. I didn’t quite make it to the 25 years working Ed had suggested—I reached 65 years of age before then.

When I accepted the job, Ed quit working and became Bryan’s primary care-taker; when Bryan was in Kindergarten, Ed volunteered to be a volunteer when Bryan’s class went to the computer lab. Later that year the computer teacher quit and the school asked Ed to take her place He worked for 15 hours a week as computer teacher in Bryan’s Elementary School while Bryan went to school there. 

After all the time Ed missed being away from the older kids while they were growing up because he was away on assignments or flying (he was a pilot) or working long, demanding hours, he was able to be Bryan’s primary care-taker and work in Bryan’s school with him. 

My father’s priesthood blessing really came true!!!!! My working in this case was a blessing and an opportunity for our whole family.

Junior High-aged Bryan and Ed, buddies forever.