Seeing God’s Hand in My Life
I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I struggle to feel God’s love for me. Cognitively, I know He loves me, but I don’t always feel it in my heart.
The Lord says he will speak to us unto our understanding, plainly. One way that I can notice the Lord speaking to me is through His tender mercies toward me, seeing His hand in my life. The challenge is to recognize that.
Earlier this month, my wife and I went on a tour of Church history sites. We were supposed to fly out of Salt Lake City on Labor Day (9/3), through Chicago, to our destination in Rochester, NY to join the tour group. We would meet the tour bus at the hotel Tuesday morning at 9:00am and then leave for the sites near Palmyra. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Early Monday morning we had taxied out to the runway and were about to take off, when the captain’s voice came on, telling us we needed to return to the terminal because of an issue with a fuel pump. He said it might take about 40 minutes to fix. We taxied back and waited. Soon, the captain came back on and told us we’d need to deplane. We went back inside the terminal and waited. After about 90 minutes we were allowed to board again. By this time we knew we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago. As we neared Chicago we could see storm clouds. Because of the storm we were in a holding pattern for about 40 minutes before we could land. The runway was drenched and I was worried we might hydroplane as we touched down. (We later learned that the severe thunderstorm had caused flash flooding, downed trees, multiple funnels, and a brief tornado. See the accompanying photo from www.weather.gov.)
So we were stuck in Chicago with no incoming or outgoing flights for awhile. The airline had re-booked us on a later flight, but it was cancelled, as well as an even later flight which was also cancelled. The next available flight would leave Tuesday afternoon with a layover in Charlotte, NC, arriving in Rochester on Wednesday afternoon. At that point the tour group would be in Scranton, PA and we would have missed the first two days of sites.
We were discouraged and becoming desperate. We finally said a prayer together, in the middle of a noisy, crowded airport terminal. “God, if you want us to make this trip, we really need your help. If not, we’ll be OK with that, too. But we’d really like to do this. We’ve felt good about it since last spring, and we still really want this. Thy will be done.”
I emailed our children and their spouses and asked for their prayers. We had both called the airline and talked with agents about our situation. But since it was “weather related” we were out of luck; there was nothing they could do for us. It was getting dark and we faced the possibility of spending the next two nights in the airport.
I was becoming frustrated. Why was this happening to us? Hadn’t we felt calm and at peace when we had prayed about this months earlier? And now it was slipping away.
Then the thought came to me: The adversary knows that this trip will be a blessing for you and he doesn’t want it to happen. He’ll do all he can to prevent you from getting to Palmyra.
“God, we’re utterly dependent on you. If we’re gonna make this tour, you’ve got to step in and help. Please deliver us.”
While I was praying, my wife went to talk again with an agent at the service desk. This time she somehow got someone who could help us. When he discovered that our situation wasn’t just weather related—that our plane had had a mechanical malfunction at 6:30am that morning in SLC—he took a different approach. He booked us on a flight for early Tuesday morning on another airline, gave us meal vouchers, and a hotel voucher. Actually, that man wasn’t supposed to be there. He had stayed past his shift. She was the last one he helped.
We grabbed some food and took the shuttle to the hotel. The moment we walked into the hotel lobby, the power went off. Not just to the hotel, but to that section of the city. It was weather related. We were able to check in by flashlight. At our room, the key card actually opened the door.
We showered and got ready for bed by cell phone flashlight. (This was really fortunate, because at the airport we had plugged in our devices and charged them. Most of the outlets in the terminal were dead, but we happened to find the one with power.)
The new flight would depart early the next morning and arrive in Rochester after the tour bus had already left. How would we get from the airport to catch up with the group? Then my wife remembered that her old visiting teacher—I mean ministering sister—and her husband were serving a temple mission at the Palmyra Temple. She texted Sis. Ricks explaining our situation and asking if she knew of someone who lived in that area, maybe in their ward, who we could pay to pick us up at the airport and drive us—maybe an Uber driver? It was very late, so we didn’t expect a response.
We slept a bit. The power came on around midnight. We woke up and took a 4:30am shuttle to the airport. We caught the 6:30am flight and arrived in Rochester at about 9:30am. Bro. and Sis. Ricks were at the airport waiting to meet us. (It just happened to be their preparation day, otherwise they would have had their temple assignment and wouldn’t have been able to help us.) They drove us to the Hill Cumorah. We had about 15 minutes there before the bus left for the Grandin Print Shop in Palmyra. We ran to the top of the hill, shot some photos, ran back down, and boarded the bus. We didn’t miss any of the tour sites.
For ten days we visited some of the most significant locations of the early church: Palmyra; the Hill Cumorah; the Sacred Grove; Harmony, PA; Susquehanna; Kirtland; Independence; Liberty Jail; Far West; Adam-ondi-Ahman; Nauvoo; Carthage; and others. We left with some great friends and some great memories, and with strengthened convictions of the restoration, the prophets, and the scriptures. (See the accompanying photo of me at the location of the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, OH.)
I don’t believe in coincidences. As I look back, it’s obvious to me that the Lord’s hand was manifest several times. I can’t deny it. There were numerous occasions on the tour when I felt the significance of those holy places. All of these are evidence of His love. He spoke His love to me through His tender mercies at the beginning of the trip and throughout. Glory be to God!
To be continued . . . with Part 43
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