A Miracle Story

I experienced a miracle this weekend I wanted to share with all those who read this.  A few months ago I was preparing to go the Temple and do my Endowment.  When I was preparing for this which was quite involved for me, I noticed I kept seeing visions of my mother who had passed on, and I kept feeling her presence.  Now was what was amazing was she looked different.  She looked like she had done a lot of healing and transforming since she had died.  She died about 16 years ago so I guess on the other side she had done a lot of work on herself.


 Before she had died she had been a very wounded person based on her child hood abuse and she had been a very negative destructive person.  I had cut her out of my life when I was 22.  I had given her the option of getting professional help for us to continue our relationship but she would not, so I told her I could not continue knowing her.  It was very sad for me, but at the same time I had to do this because she was just too abusive and dysfunctional to keep in my life. 


She occasionally tried to have contact with me over an eight year period and everytime she tried it was obvious she had become sicker and sicker and was always much worse than before.  This was also a great source of pain for me.  I kept hoping she would change, heal and transform.  But she did not, so I was always bitterly disappointed and deeply hurt when it was obvious she was even worse than before. 


She died with out me having contact with her for those 8 years.  The day she died I found out from my Aunt.  I cried not because she died but because she died in the state she was in.  I cried for her soul.  While I was sitting there crying for her, she came to me and said these words "make sure you leave a positive legacy behind, if you leave a negative one it's really painful after you die"  I could feel just a little bit of her pain.  It felt horrible!  That was a life defining moment for me.  I became very dedicated to being a loving positive person. 


So....as I said as I was preparing to go to the Temple and take out my Endowment I kept seeing a vision of her and I could tell she was transformed and she kept letting me know she was really wanting me to do her baptism.  In the Temple we do baptims for those who passed on to give them the chance to enter God's kingdom and to be reborn, if they want it.  It's still up to them to accept it.  Many of us in the Church have our loved ones who have passed on come tell us they want their baptism, or let us know that they have accepted the work done for them on this side. 


So I went to the Temple and did my Endowment months ago, on July 10th actually.  Then the next night I dreamt about her, and when I awoke I felt she was making sure I did not forget about her, that she was really wanting her baptism and was waiting.  Over the last couple of months I prepared everything and it all fell into place beautifully! 


On Saturday I went to the Temple with the plan to do her baptism, confirmation and the other 2 steps so she could have her endowment.  Now I don't like putting my head back in water.  I just don't.   I was very nervous about this.  I could have gotten a volunteer to do it for me.  I was torn between doing it myself, which I really wanted to do, or just getting someone else to do the actual baptism.  We stand in as proxy for the passed on person.  On Saturday a nice vision of her came to me and she said "don't stress about it, you are still getting me baptized that is the main thing, whether you do it or not is not important"  I felt better.  But still a bit torn. 


When I got there I got dressed in the baptism clothes, I told them I was unsure if I was going to do it myself or not.  I felt sooooo nervous and was praying the whole time.  Then a friend who came with me with her sweet, cheery voice said "come on Brianna, you can do it, it will be special, do it for your mom"  somehow her voice just made me feel I could do it.  It was still a bit hard, but I went in a did the baptism myself for her.  I am sooooo glad I did!


Then I really felt a sense of joy from her when I had her confirmed in Jesus's church.  She had always loved Jesus, and had been the one to introduce me to Him as a child.  So I felt like I was returning the favor. 


There are 2 other steps and in one of the steps they said "your sins are forgiven"  I felt deep relief and joy at this part.  She had done a lot of sins, so this felt like the miracle part.  That she was truly forgiven and released from all those sins, all that accumulated darkness. 


After it was over I sat in the Celestial room and it felt like Christmas day.  I could see a vision of her standing in a white robe looking totally peaceful and happy.  I then realized why the Temples are so important, why doing baptisms for our passed on loved ones are so important.  I could see and feel how she was now a new person in Christ.  She was clear, she was freed from all the darkness, all that pain.  She was completely free of her past.  No words can ever convey how amazing this experience was.  It is truly a miracle that we can ourselves get baptized and have this experience of freedom and newness, and it is even more a miracle that we can do this for our loved ones. 

Just like me she had been baptized a couple of times while alive. 


But because she was baptized like I was in churches where they were a mixture of scripture, the things of man, and even the adversary those were not the baptisms truly cleansed and freed her or I. 


Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Bapist.  He then gave the power and authority to baptize to the Apostles.  After they died God took the Priesthood authority from the earth because there was so much perscution and hard heartedness towards the Christians, and there was an apostacy.  Other churches developed but they were a mixture of scripture, the things and ideas of man, and even things of the adversary.  This I could feel when I was a child and adult trying to be in other churches. 

 Jesus's church was removed from the earth for a long time.  Then when it was the perfect timing God restored His church on the earth through Joseph Smith and through the early Latter-Day Saints.  Then the Apostles themselves came down to Joseph Smith and gave him the power and authority to once again baptize people into God's Kingdom, and into Jesus's church. 


I know when I got baptized in the Church, it was a very different experience than the other baptisms I had.  I could feel that I truly did enter into God's Kingdom and was a totally new person.  Now this has happened for my mother.  I didn't even realize how much pain I was carrying around in regards to her soul until this weekend.  Now I am freed from this pain.  She is free from her entire past.  I know she is well and she is living in the light, a new person, peaceful and happy.  All of this was truly a miracle! 

A friend of mine is getting baptized in December and I am giving the talk on Baptism.  Through this experience it has helped me understand it so much more.  It has helped me understand the importance, the gift, the grace, the beauty and the miracle of baptism.  It has helped me truly grasp that I too am a new person, living in God's Kingdom.  When we receive the Holy Spirit we do receive a spiritual clarity where we can clearly see the difference between the dark and the light, sin and virtue, what true happiness is and what it's not.  This then can enable us to see our pasts clearly as well.  I can totally understand now why people use and abuse substances, or have addictions.  As human beings we do accumulate darkness and pain in our souls everytime we do something wrong, intake negativity, partake in things of the dark.  We unknowingly hurt our spirits greatly.  I can see how much I did this in my past. 

To feel better there has to be some relief.  Most people do turn to the things of the world.  Unfortunately these are only bandaids.  Sometimes they even create more problems, and more pain and darkness if they are addictions.  The only cure and release from all the accumulated darkness is baptism, then repentance after we are baptised.  There truly is no other way. 

When we die we take all the accumulated darkness with us, infact the state of our souls is all we take with us.  All the buffers and denial is gone.  This is why it is so important to be baptized and why it so important we do use the gift of repentance after we are baptized to be free souls.  Truly all of this is a miracle.  We are not stuck with all our darkness, we can be forgiven, freed, and made new like a brand new baby!  This is the greatest miracle there is!  The fact we can do this not just for ourselves, but for our loved ones that have passed on, is even a greater miracle and really testifies of how loving our Father In Heaven is, that He allows us this opportunity and allows those souls who have passed on to still have this opportunity. 

That is true love in deed! 

In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen!