I ditto Danithew. :)

annegb, I hope I never have to chew out a dead person…
I also hope that people who read these kinds of experiences don’t think that we LDS engage in ancestor-worship, because we don’t. Okay, some of us probably do- hahaha. But we certainly revere them, and once in a while we have experiences that make us wonder about their involvement.
With the experience I just related in my posting, I don’t really know if anyone on the other side was involved in such a small but personally significant favor, but I like to think so; you might call it an “endearing possibility,” or something like that. But when I receive a wildly improbable invitation to sacrament meeting like I just got, I’m pretty sure who was ultimately behind the invitation, so I gratefully accept.

Well, I sure don’t worship my mother-in-law. Maybe after you’ve lived twenty more years and you have more dead relatives, and you know they’re just right “over there,” you might talk to them.

I’ve chewed out other dead people, though. Oh my heck, the kvetching I do!

Maybe I’m a little Asian in my feelings of being close to the dead. They’re not, really. Dead, that is. They hear me, yes, they do.

I’ll probably get smacked really hard up the side of the head when I die :).

The thing about your story, Dan, is that someone on the other side cared about you and someone on this side listened to a prompting. I believe that’s one of the ways God works in our lives and that if we paid closer attention, we see these types of “coincidences” all around us.

You know, Dan, I’ve had sacrament meeting experiences like that too. On my Grand Italian Adventure after college I was looking for the branch on 2 consecutive Sundays (in Rome, then in…wherever Lake Como is), and first I ran into another member at the hostel where I was staying, and then I found a hotel worker who looked it up in the phone book. Going to church meant more then, probably because I had to put in a great effort to get there. Anyway, those were two very memorable experiences for me.

I think we’re supposed to thank Heavenly Father for all good things. It’s not in our theology that the dead actually do things directly to us or for us on their own, at least not with Heavenly Father’s direction or approval.

However, I think it correct that the dead can be messengers, as in a kind of angel, working under the direction of Heavenly Father. Which in that case, we are again to thank Heavenly Father.

Then, a dead person can, and is still supposed to, pray, right? So Anne’s mother-in-law prays to Heavenly Father to bless Anne for Bill’s sake, and so then Heavenly Father tells the Holy Ghost to influence Anne and soften her heart so she can cut Bill some slack.

Dan Ellsworth: These little coincidences that mount up to being a kind of evidence are cool, but, to me at least, they still don’t add up to the “God told me so” kind of personal revelation/testimony about the truthfulness of the gospel.

Yeah, at some point a string of coincidences stop being mere coincidences and establish an intelligent pattern. However, as much as I like to “boast in the Lord” (as Ammon), or “brag on God” for the wonderful things He’s done for me, I would not want to put forth the pattern of too-many-coincidences-to-be-just-coincidence as a reason to believe in the basice tenets of the restored gospel.

By the way, I have a feeling that the brother who left you the note already has an understanding of the uniqueness or special-circumstance of encountering you.

Sometimes the messenger is inspired of the Spirit to go/do/say something. Sometimes the recipient is the one who is inspired of the Spirit to go/do/say something. Sometimes both have to act on promptings to make the meet-up. And sometimes, Heavenly Father and the Spirit handle everything without any conscious input from either party.

I testify that the Spirit can put ideas, feelings, and desires into us in such a way that it seems like our own idea/feeling/desire, and not a spiritual prompting at all.

And, if Heavenly Father is willing to give out those little “tender mercies” (or “spiritual doggie treats” as I sometimes call them) when we don’t even ask, think of what more he could or would do just for the asking.

Dan, this is your sister. Shame on you for not sharing this with your FAMILY! Haha..I’m kidding. I’m so glad that you are being watched over. Of course you are. Did you notice my well wishes to you on my Enjoy Winter post on our blog?
I, too am thankful for all of the little miracles that continually add to the richness of my life and that of my family.

Bookslinger,

What would you say are ways that we can a) prepare for, b) be in the right place for, c) invite, and d) recognize, those kinds of experiences?

Honestly, I have no idea. I can say it’s not necessarily a matter of righteousness, because I’m not that righteous and I still have spiritual experiences from time to time. But I can also say that I notice that they happen more often when I’m out of my comfort zone, either in service or in the environment where I’m living. At home, I have so many fun things around me that maybe sometimes I don’t feel like I need anything more.
One of my favorite posts on this blog talks about our inability to predict or create these kinds of things.

If we don’t pay attention to the little kindnesses in our lives, we’ll miss out on lots of nice things. Not only does a kind Heavenly Father give us these little gifts from time to time, but also friends and family and even strangers can often be caught doing something nice. To recognise those kindnesses is to realize how blessed we are, how not alone we are. To ignor them is to live a sadder, lonlier life. It is one of the great blessings of gratitude that it warms the grateful person more than those thanked for their kindness.

I once tried to thank someone who had been extremely generous and kind to our family, and told him that I wanted to do something that would show that appreciation. He said, “That service is done. It’s in the past. Let’s just move on.” A mature man, he had done what he had done and was finished. I, on the other hand, treasure those considerations 20 years later in my heart, where they warm me still.

I once tried to thank someone who had been extremely generous and kind to our family, and told him that I wanted to do something that would show that appreciation. He said, “That service is done. It’s in the past. Let’s just move on.”

Could he have meant that your service to him preceeded his service to you? Or, the service to him was performed by someone else in his past, and he was “paying it forward” ?

I, on the other hand, treasure those considerations 20 years later in my heart, where they warm me still.

I have fond memories of an LDS family in Westboro MA that took me under their wing in December 1982 when I was there for a week of computer training with Data General Corp. While at their ward’s Christmas celebration, waiting for it to get started, another ward family’s daughter, about 3 years old, climbed on my lap, leaned into me and tucked her head under my chin for a minute before scampering off. That genuine expression of affection and trust created a very lasting impression.

Thanks Dan,
I appreciated this. These types of experiences do make a difference in many peoples lives when we share them.

Ellsworth –

So what happened?