Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Family, Parenting and Religion
God knows and speaks to individuals

God knows and speaks to individuals

Last updated on: December 30, 2023 at 3:35 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

God knows and speaks to individuals 2023-12-30T15:35:40-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Moroni buries the plates of the Book of Mormon in a hill near modern-day Palmyra, New York
(Tom Lovell, LDS.org)

I would like to commend two recent blog entries by the redoubtable Jeff Lindsay to your attention. It seems particularly fitting to do so as we’re about to enter a new year for the “Come, Follow Me” curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a curriculum that will be focused on the Book of Mormon:

“Nephi’s Three-day Journey into the Wilderness: The Natural vs. the Naturalistic Reading”

“The Glue of Forgiveness and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (the People of Ammon)”

Angelic heralds, as depicted in the long-running annual but now terminated Hill Cumorah Pageant near Palmyra, New York

(Wikimedia Commons public domain)

A few days before Christmas, somebody in Modesto, California — I don’t know who it was — sent me a copy of a small and very accessible book that I have been reading since its arrival: Hadley Vlahos, The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments (New York: Ballantine Books, 2023). Ms. Vlahos is a still-young R.N., born and raised in Florida (I think) and still based there, and specifically a hospice nurse who attends to people who are fatally ill and in the last stages of their lives. Despite what the title might seem to suggest, it isn’t primarily about encounters with the spirit world, although she relates a few brief experiences that certainly seem to suggest such encounters. And, although it’s chiefly focused on her patients, it’s also quietly autobiographical, telling about her somewhat unlikely path to a rather unusual career that she now regards as very much her calling.

Although she had attended church faithfully in her earlier life, Hadley had pretty much lost her faith and her interest in religion by the time she went off to college. Coming home after her freshman year, she found that she was pregnant. She was devastated. She had expected to fall in love with somebody in college, graduate, get married, have a couple of children, and eventually settle down in a nice little house near the beach with a white picket fence. She had intended to become a writer.

Now, she thought, she would get an abortion. Nobody really needed to know and, that way, she might still be able to have the life of her dreams.

The next morning was Sunday and, rather on a whim and not wanting to be alone with her dismal thoughts, she asked her recently-divorced mother if she could tag along with her to church. It was a church that Hadley had never attended.

We found a seat near the back and sang along to the hymns. I was distracted, bored, and wondered why I had come.

Finally the priest, Father Tom, an older man wearing silky robes, raised his hands to the sky, holding a Bible in one hand and a notebook in the other. After a few moments, he placed both down on the podium in front of him.

He stared down at the open books in complete silence, then finally closed the notebook and began speaking. “I had a sermon planned for today. I spent an entire day writing it, but God is telling me I have someone here to speak to.”

I rolled my eyes, thinking this was just a cheap way to keep people’s attention.

“God’s plan can sometimes feel confusing,” he began. “Many times we might find ourselves saying, Why me, God? Or, Why couldn’t you have given me their life instead? It looks so much easier.”

Well, that does apply to me, I thought, but I’m sure it applies to half the people in this room as well.

“On my way inside, I was stopped by a couple with two children,” he continued. “They asked me to take their picture, and as I was taking it I was spoken to. Someone in here yearns for this couple’s life. They want the white picket fence — to graduate college and get married, have two kids, and live happily ever after. But that’s not what God needs them for.”

I watched my mom out of the corner of my eye as he spoke, but she never took her eyes off of Father Tom. I began picking at my chipped fingernail polish.

“You’re going to have to give up your ideal life in order to lives the life planned for you. You’re going to have to give up your sorority, your college life, and this path you’re currently on.”

I blatantly looked at my mom this time, only to see that her mouth was hanging open in shock. I was shocked, too, because now this was very specific to my situation. But as I glanced around the room, I saw many girls my age.

“You need to have this baby,” he continued. All right, what is going on?! I wondered. This was way too close to home. I glared at my mom, thinking she had somehow orchestrated this, but she swears to this day that she never said a word to anyone in the church and did not have a clue that I would come with her that morning.

“Life is not going to be easy at first, but this is the life planned for you and it will be worth it,” Father Tom finished.

As my mom and I walked out of the church, I felt more confused than ever. We rode home in silence, and I spent every waking moment between then and Monday agonizing over my choice.

On Monday morning, I held the phone number of the abortion clinic in my hands, but I couldn’t bring myself to call. What if Father Tom was right? What if this was the path for me? I knew life wouldn’t be easy if I kept the baby — and it certainly wouldn’t be the life I had imagined.

The days turned into weeks, and I never called the clinic. My mom and I didn’t talk about it until one day when she told me I needed to make a doctor’s appointment. I was starting to show, and the window for me to decide was rapidly closing.

As I called the ob-gyn for a prenatal appointment, my fate seemed sealed. In that moment, I felt like everything was going to be okay. Somehow, in the place I least expected it, I had found comfort. (59-61)

Now, I should frankly state my belief that divine inspiration is possible and that it is a reality. I’ve experienced it myself on a few notable and distinct occasions, as have others that I know. With that question settled, though, another question (for Latter-day Saints) is whether those outside of the Church can receive it. To me, the teaching of the scriptures is absolutely clear on this point: Yes, they can. In fact, the entire missionary approach of the Church seems to me to be premised upon the expectation that they can. And the story above, if Hadley Vlahos has related it accurately, appears to illustrate such an occurrence, in which inspiration was received by a clergyman of a different Christian denomination. I’m entirely comfortable with that.

Family, Parenting and Religion

Home and Religion

Previous Post

December 30, 2023

An attempt at a reminder

Next Post

December 31, 2023 Toward Lives Well-Lived

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I have cpnsidered in my mond if the 4 volume Saints could be made into ..."

John Pack Lambert

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Another class of memories are of individuals who previously lived. Some of these remembered individuals ..."

PlasmaMiasma

Accounts of Premortality?

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I brought my husband food and wine, preventing a massacre and later became a queen. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bathsheba Ahinoam Abigail Michal