Faith Precedes the
Miracle
“Today was one of the
greatest days of my mission! I learned a
great lesson about the power of prayer and fasting. We witnessed a Miracle!”
These were
the words written in my journal entry dated Sept. 30, 1987, while serving as a
missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Los Angeles,
California.
(I need to further clarify these
remarks and writings today, with the statement that by sharing them, I am
absolutely and in no way
whatsoever seeking to promote myself of make any claim that I am anything
special. I am sharing these thoughts at
the request of my youngest son, Mason, who is currently serving as a missionary
for the Church in Wisconsin, and who finds himself in a similar situation as I
was all those years ago. But I feel
comfortable sharing them at the same time, because I am more than happy to
testify and share the love of God and His absolute power to provide divine
miracles in our behalf when it is according to His will)
At the time
I wrote these remarks, I was nearing the last few months of my missionary
labors, and was serving in a position in the mission offices which were located
on the temple ground behind the historic Los Angeles Temple.
As a result
of our office assignment, my companion and I lived in the mission home
apartments, and our days were usually filled during business hours fulfilling
various duties and office tasks, coordinating with other missionaries
throughout the mission, assisting the Mission President as he needed, and so
forth. This didn’t leave us much time
for actual missionary proselyting, except for a few random evenings and
weekends.
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| Me at my office desk in fall of 1987 |
Despite this
rather non-missionary schedule, we were still assigned to cover 3 local
congregations: The Wilshire Ward (which
included Beverly Hills and Bel Air), a small Spanish branch, and the UCLA
student ward.
At the end
of August, and going into the start of September that year, our mission president,
the late Elmo B. Shirts, made a spiritual challenge to all the missionaries
throughout the entire mission – That if we would sincerely and prayerfully
fast, that we would receive inspiration as to what number of convert baptisms
we should set as a goal for the month of September. And moved upon by the Spirit of the Holy
Ghost, and as his authorized servant, he promised us that if we then were
strictly diligent to the mission rules, and did everything that we could
possibly do to be obedient and faithful, that the Lord would fulfill helping us
meet that baptismal goal.
My
companion, Elder David Kono and I took that challenge to heart. We fasted and prayed individually and without
discussing it ahead of time, we both felt prompted with the same number to set
as our goal for the number of baptisms we would achieve that month. Considering our limited ability to go out
searching for investigators, we truly were at the mercy of the Lord and the
local members to provide us contacts of people we could begin teaching. And although we had previously been blessed
with success some occasional people to teach and who had made the spiritual
journey to the waters of baptism… the goal we felt prompted to set seemed
daunting and almost out of reach.
Nevertheless,
being young and full of commitment, and probably because we were just too naïve
to realize that logically, our goal was impossible… we moved ahead in
faith. We made our goal a focus of our
thoughts and prayers. We decided to fast
each and every Sunday throughout the month, not just for the sake of our goal,
but so that we would be inspired to know how to truly help anyone who might be
seeking for the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. We talked and discussed ways we could be more
faithful and diligent in keeping the mission rules, and sought to be as
obedient as possible to the guidance and promptings of the Spirit.
As the month
progressed, we were blessed to be introduced by some local members, to some
wonderful people to add to our teaching pool.
Their hearts were open to the message we had to share, and they began to
progress in their desires to know Jesus Christ better. And remarkably, as the weeks passed by, several
of them had entered the waters of baptism and things were lining up perfectly
for us to reach our goal. When a
wonderful lady named Denise Knight entered the waters of baptism on Thursday, September
24th, we were just one person away from reaching our goal, and
remarkably we had our final investigator scheduled to be baptized just a few
days later, on Saturday, the 26th.
We were simply ecstatic!
Then, on
Friday evening, as we were talking to the lady who was scheduled to be baptized
on Saturday, she informed us that she was suddenly no longer interested in
being baptized, and wanted to just take a break from things for a while and
asked that we not contact her anymore.
Suddenly,
thoughts of meeting our goal were snatched away from us. With absolutely no one else in our active
teaching pool, we were at a loss of what to do.
To be honest, most of Saturday came and went with spiritual
justifications rattling around in my head.
“Well, at least we came close.”
“Well, I guess we did what we could, and it just wasn’t meant to be.”
…and so forth.
Then, as
Saturday evening approached, my companion and I were reading the scriptures and
talking together and the thought came to us, “Do you really believe that the
God you proclaim to worship and serve is a God of miracles?” We began discussing all of the miraculous
events portrayed in the scriptures, which simply couldn’t be rationally
explained away, and came to the conclusion that we had to either believe such
things were true and that God really did have power to perform miracles… or
that we didn’t believe in such things.
We could
have easily rationalized, as so many of us often do, that although we believe
in such things… we just don’t believe that happen in our day, or at least not
to us personally. But instead, we came
to the faithful conclusion that if God could create worlds and move mountains
and part seas… then surely if He desired to do so, He could also provide us the
miracle of finding a new investigator with only a few days left in the month,
and that person would be ready and prepared to be baptized.
Like I said
previously… you can call it being naïve, illogical or whatever you want… but in
that moment, in our simple, imperfect, but committed missionary hearts, it was
FAITH. And not a faith in ourselves or
that we had actually done anything worthy of thinking we could command God to
do anything against His will in our behalf… but unwavering faith in HIM, and
His all-powerful ability to provide miracles as He saw fit.
So we
dropped to our knees, and began fasting yet again. Fasting in gratitude for all the blessings He
has provided us. Fasting in praise that
we were blessed to be able to serve Him in the capacity of missionaries. Fasting that His will would be done, and not
ours… but that if it was actually His will, that He would perhaps see fit to
provide someone who was ready to accept Him and His gospel message.
Journal Entry, Sunday, Sept. 27, 1987 - “Today was one of the most
exciting yet stressful days of my mission.
It all began yesterday when we began a special fast so that we could
perhaps accomplish our goal of baptisms for this month. We didn’t give up faith in the Lord, even
though it is so late in the month and we had no one ready. We knew that He would bless us if we remained
faithful.”
Later that
morning, as we were attending the Sunday School class at the UCLA student ward,
the class dismissed and everyone began filtering out of the room. But there in the back of the room, shifting
nervously side to side on her feet, was a girl we had never met before. My companion and I looked at each other and
instantly knew that she was “the one”.
We
introduced ourselves and she said her name was Sherri, and before we could even
ask her if she was interesting in hearing more about the Church and the gospel
of Jesus Christ, she asked us if we could teach her so she could be baptized!
We both just
about fell over on the floor in shock, and perhaps I would have, except that
the Spirit overcame me and I felt overjoyed with gratitude – gratitude for the
love of the Savior in miraculously hearing and answering our fasting and
prayers, as well as gratitude for this young woman’s sincere desire to make a
commitment to follow Christ by being baptized a member of the Church.
She was
eager to learn, so we arranged to meet with her that same afternoon in the
company of some other members of the ward congregation. She soaked everything up like a sponge and
informed us that she had a boyfriend who was a member of the Church already,
and a returned missionary, who was away attending BYU on a baseball scholarship. He had given her a Book of Mormon before he
left, and she had read it, studied it, and prayed about it and felt she should
be baptized as soon as possible. She was
nothing short of the miracle we had been praying for.
She agreed
to be baptized that week! She was so
excited she wanted to call her boyfriend to share her good news with him. He was already a member of the Church, and
had served a mission himself, and although he was very happy about her
decision, he asked if she would be willing to wait for a few more weeks until October
11th, so that he could come back to California and perform her
baptism. She felt this would be a good
idea and so plans were made to that effect.
We were personally heartbroken, but supportive of her desires above our
own. (Obviously
we had mentioned nothing to her of our prayerfully set goal or her supposed
role in it, as we felt such a thing would be totally inappropriate to discuss
with her in her own personal progress).
She left
that evening happy about her decision, and we were happy for her, but once again,
the miracle seemed to have been snatched from our grasp. We once again sulked around for a few
minutes, with rationalizing statements and “nearly made it” pats on the back…
but then once again the question came silently to our minds, “Do
you really believe that the God you proclaim to worship and serve is a God of
miracles?”
Humbled and
chastened by our doubts, we once again talked together and decided that if God
miraculously could provide someone in one day, like he had earlier, then why
couldn’t He provide someone else who was ready the next day! Once again we were on our knees and began a
new fast yet again, thanking the Lord for His tender mercies by guiding Sherri
into our path, and asking and literally completely trusting, that if it was His
desire to do so, He could do it again!
We got ready
for bed that night, and I finished my journal entry for that day with the
following, “I know that the will of the Lord will be done in the end if we have
faith and follow his counsel and promptings.
No one could ever convince me that it wasn’t the hand of the Lord that
made it all possible. Who else could do
such a great and yet simple thing in the way it all came about. No one can tell me it was a coincidence, for
I know that it was a Godly answer to our sincere prayers and fasting! I glorify His name for it! In the end I pray that His will be fulfilled
and that it will work out best for all.”
Despite it
all, I slept well that night, confident that all would be right.
Monday,
September 28th, came and went full of our normal office labors and
duties and nothing out of the ordinary happened. But I still felt calm and assured that all
would work out for the best, as we continued our fast throughout that day. The same was true all throughout Tuesday the
29th, with no new contacts or investigators. Just a normalcy, but filled with peace and
confidence that God’s will, not ours, would be done.
Finally, we
come back to the beginning of this story, with the journal entry I began with
in this writing.
As we were going
about our early morning labors on Wednesday, Sept. 30th, the final
day of the month, we received a phone call.
It was Sherri, the girl we had met on Sunday. (Now you must remember that she knew
absolutely nothing about our goal, prayers or fasting). She said, “I
have wrestled with the Spirit all night long!
I don’t know why, but I have become completely convinced that I should
not wait even another day, but that it is the Lord’s will that I should be
baptized today! I called my boyfriend
and told him what has happened and he told me that if that is what the Lord was
telling me, then I should do it.”
Our hearts
soared with joy and brimmed over with gratitude to the Lord for His
miracle. We had no idea how it would
come, but had fully believed and trusted that if it was His will it would
happen, and He delivered! We spent the
rest of the day happily scrambling around to get the necessary interviews
completed, the font scheduled and a meeting put together.
At 8:30 that
night, just a few hours before the end of the month, I was privileged to enter
the waters of baptism with Sherri Nicole Gottlieb, and baptized her. I still remember as I lifted her out of the
water she had the most wonderful smile and such a happy, peaceful look on her
face.
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| Me, Sherri Gottlieb, and my companion Elder David Kono in front of the baptismal font on Sept. 30th, 1987 |
Soon after, my companion Elder Kono,
confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. IT WAS A MIRACLE!
My journal
entry, with which we began at the start, concluded with these words, “I no
longer doubt that the Lord can deliver unto us the righteous desires of our
hearts if we but have faith! I give all
the glory to Him for bringing this miracle to pass and acknowledge His hand in
every good thing I do! I am grateful for
His Spirit which has led and guided me each day and changed my life, little by
little, for the better! I only pray that
I can continue to humbly learn and grow and endure to the end!”
Again, I
want to say that in sharing this remembrance with you, I am not claiming that
my experience was any more unique or special, than any of the countless
miracles, both great and small, that God bestows upon His children throughout
the world each day. But I share it as a
witness that God indeed truly does love us, and desires to bless us, even through
miraculous ways far beyond coincidence or chance!
A true
miracle, can never be forced and will never happen because of our own
desires. It will only happen if it is
God’s will and if our will is in alignment with His.
In reality,
miracles have very little to do with our paltry offerings of faith, and
literally everything to do with His love and tender mercies in our behalf, but
there is a vital reason why we must have Faith to unlock those miracles in our
life – and that is not because He has to prove his power and love to us, but
that it is through our Faith in Him that we become convinced of His miraculous
love and power in our behalf. Faith does
nothing to change God, who is already perfect in every way, but Faith has the
power to change us because of our belief in Him.
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