Notes for my talk: I don’t read my talks and usually I just make bullets but I was more writing down this time so I could share it with Ethan. He also spoke on Father’s Day.
I was asked to talk today on the topic of miracles. I will admit to being a little nervous as I have prepared. Two weeks ago I had just returned from spending 6 weeks in Utah with my daughter Sierra. I was, and am, so grateful for her miraculous recovery and I was so happy to be back home with Grace and with Rob and with you our ward family. It was Fast Sunday and I really wanted to show my gratitude and share my testimony. I was bursting inside with this desire and hopped up here first…and then the weirdest thing happened, I had a complete stupor of thought, in the middle of a sentence my mind was completely blank. I knew immediately that I wasn’t to share right then and right there… whatever I was going to say. So the last two weeks I have prayerfully prepared, and carefully pondered. I want to share the things I know that are true, and my testimony, and I want to hold sacred those things that need to remain private.
First off let me say that I know that miracles are real. I have always known that, always felt that. My family joined the church when I was little. Just 5 years old. My parents were all in immediately. That is in fact a miracle. My dad was raised a catholic in the Basque country of France. My mom was born in Shanghai, China and was raised a Russian Orthodox. Both had to leave the traditions of their families and completely change their lives in every way to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Like all converts they experienced a miraculous change in their hearts, they were one way, and now they are completely different. That lasting change is the result of having the gift of the Holy Ghost in their lives, it comes with baptism and it comes with the biggest of all God’s miracles, the forgiveness of sins as a result of the Atonement of Jesus Christ acting in their lives. I saw this when I was little and although I didn’t understand it all I felt the change and knew it was from God. Not long after this I had my own first little miracle. I was very sick. My feet swelled up and had sores on them and I couldn’t walk. I was probably 5-6 years old at this time so I only remember a few things about this, I remember being reallysick and unable to walk. I remember driving to the church and my dad carrying me across the parking lot inside. I remember getting a priesthood blessing and then I was better. Just like that with no fanfare. The end. I walked out and was so very happy. I felt fine; and I knew that Jesus loved me and had made me well. Those are the first miracles that I can remember but they are not the last. I think it is our job to look for, to recognize andto appreciate the Lord’s hand in our lives. That divine intervention, help, guidance, blessing, and presence is what a miracle is.
At general conference just 2 months ago we heard many wonderful talks, many of them spoke about miracles. Elder Rasband started his talk like this “On this Easter Sunday we commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer,1 the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.2 His Atonement, culminating with His Resurrection after three days in a borrowed tomb, stands as the greatest miracle in human history. “For behold,” He pronounced, “I am God; and I am a God of miracles.”3
“Have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God?”4 the prophet Mormon asks in the Book of Mormon. He answers, “Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.”5”
Following the Crucifixion, an angel of the Lord appeared to Mary and a few other women who had gone to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. The angel said:
“Why seek ye the living among the dead?”6
“He is not here: for he is risen.”7
The Book of Mormon prophet Abinadi proclaimed of that miracle:
“If Christ had not risen from the dead, … there could have been no resurrection.
“But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.”8
The miraculous acts of Jesus Christ caused the early disciples to exclaim: “What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.”9
As the early Apostles followed Jesus Christ and heard Him teach the gospel, they witnessed many miracles. They saw that “the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”10
Miracles, signs, and wonders abound among followers of Jesus Christ today, in your lives and in mine. Miracles are divine acts, manifestations and expressions of God’s limitless power, and an affirmation that He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”11Jesus Christ, who created the seas, can calm them; He who gave sight to the blind can lift our sights to heaven; He who cleansed the lepers can mend our infirmities; He who healed the impotent man can call for us to rise up with “Come, follow me.”
I believe in miracles and am so grateful that Heavenly Father didn’t leave us here on earth to muddle through alone, he didn’t leave us just to be victims of fate and circumstance, to bad luck or poor timing. Instead He is with us and has an active part in our lives. So this leaves us with some responsibilities, some things we need to do to more fully enjoy those blessings and recognize those miracles in our lives.
The past year and a half has had some challenges in it for everyone. My family is no exception. Besides COVID, which has hit all of us and turned our lives upside down, we have also had other challenges that were unforeseen and difficult. I want to share with you about two of those challenges and the blessings that we have seen, the miracles we have seen, as a result. Many of you know what in April our daughter Sierra and her boyfriend Chris were in a terrible car accident. They live in Utah and were leaving on a camping trip with some of Chris’ family. They had barely started their short drive when the trailer they were pulling became unstable. As it swayed on the road behind their car Chris realized he was losing control and told Sierra to prepare for a crash. Neither one of them remembers what happened next but the trailer did wobble enough that it caused the car to roll over down an embankment. Sierra, who wasn’t wearing her seat belt (always wear your seat belts) was ejected from the car on the first roll. The police report says she was thrown 172 feet, Rob and my brother in law and sons in law and others who went to the crash site say they walked off 90 feet. 90 or 172 it doesn’t matter, neither one is good. In fact neither one is typically survivable. That rolling car started a series of miracles that ended up with one great big miracle which is that Sierra is alive today.
Honestly I lost count of the number, there were too many to count, but a few of the miraculous things that happened was driving on the road behind Sierra and Chris were a firefighter and a nurse. They both pulled over as the accident was happening in front of them and ran to help. Sierra’s heart stopped, but thanks to the efforts of those first responders the blood kept flowing to her heart and her brain. Standing outside his house, and in view of the road, there was another firefighter. He was taking a break from doing some home maintenance chores and heard the crash and saw the car from a distance and immediately called 911. No time was lost in getting the needed help. A third firefighter we learned a few days later was not working that day. He was home with his children while his wife was at her job. About an hour before the accident his mom stopped by his home and asked to take the grandchildren to her house (as grandmas do) and he said yes. Then finding himself with some free time he decided to go say hi to his buddies at work. While he was there the station got the call to come to the accident scene. The driver of the firetruck wasn’t there…but guess who was, and who was qualified to drive the firetruck? Yep. That guy who stopped by to say hi. For a truly terrible event everything worked out perfectly for everyone who was needed to save Sierra to be where they needed to be. I call that a miracle!
Sierra spent 3 weeks in the hospital and the miracles never stopped. I don’t even know how to adequately outline how many things went well for her, how many things shocked and surprised her doctors and delighted and testified to us of God’s hand in her recovery. She should not have survived the crash. Her arm injury on her right side we were later told had less than a 50/50 chance of survival. She severed her radial artery and somehow did not bleed out. She had no spinal cord injury, no broken bones in her back or legs. All of these things are miracles. When we finally got to the hospital we didn’t know her prognosis. She was alive and it seemed like she would stay that way but would she have two arms? Would she wake up? Would she know who she was or who we were? She had a TBI and others who had a lot less trauma than Sierra experienced have suffered a lot more impairment than she has. She suffered shear trauma in her frontal lobe, this is the area that controls speech, personality, high order thinking, and judgement. The heads of the synapses in her brain were sheared from the backsand those will never recover. However we (Heavenly Father’s children) are fearfully and wonderfully made (psalms 139:14) and his works are wonderful. Our brains have the ability to make new connections. Her therapy was actually so interesting and actually kind of fun for me because I had no idea how many marvelous things our brains could do, or how many wonderful things we have learned that help brains heal. In my book modern medicine is a HUGE miracle and blessing from our loving Heavenly Father. Literally every single day Sierra surpassed expectations. She only spent 11 days in ICU and only 3 weeks total in the hospital and in inpatient rehab. 4-5-6 months would not have been unusual. Her hospital room literally became a sacred space. Dani, my oldest daughter, and I took turns being their 24/7. We could tangibly feel the prayers offered in her behalf. In our behalf. I don’t have the words to explain it but as real as the clothing on my body, or the bandages on Sierra’s, we could feel the power of the prayers being said. I learned some things about miracles, and the relationship between our Father in Heaven and his children, the relationships between a mother and her children that are sacred to me and that I will treasure up in my heart forever.
Undeniably these were miracles and blessings from our Heavenly Father and we are so so grateful for them and so happy for them. One important thing that I know about miracles though is that it’s not really about the outcome. In this case it was but it’s often not and the miracles are still there. A year ago today our family had an accident that didn’t end the way we wanted. There were many parallels in these two events. It was evening time a year ago when my sister Val called, screaming into the phone that Tanner (my nephew) was in an accident. She said “they were swimming and he was hit by a train” which didn’t make sense, she told me to call everyone and tell them to pray. She hung up and I started calling, I made some calls and we knelt to pray then I called some more (we have a big family) and it wasn’t very long until she called back and said he’s dead. Then I called again. We got a flight and the next morning landed in Utah. It was awful. Tanner and two friends, all returned missionaries, all 23 year olds were driving home from going swimming. Their car was hit by a train crossing the tracks. Tanner and Brielle died at the scene, Jake died 3 days later. No one got what they wanted. The circumstances were eerily similar 10 months later. My sister again called me early in the evening. Said there was an accident and I needed to come right away. The same police officer that was on the scene at Tanner’s accident was at Sierra’s. Val and Dani and other family members drove to the same hospital and were put into the same room to wait for news. I had the same back and forth phone calls and the same frantic crazy packing where both times I brought very random and useless things with me. Both times after an early morning flight I found myself hugging my sister. A year ago we were crying for Tanner, two months ago for Sierra. You would think that the similarities would end there. And in some really big ways they do. Tanner is now home with his Jesus. He is happy and has work to do. Sierra is here, facing a long recovery and a somewhat uncertain future and she is also walking with her Jesus. We are very sad and mourn the loss of Tanner from our day to day lives. We are very happy to have Sierra with us but the most important thing is the same. We both have had blessings and miracles poured out on us. Miracles aren’t about what happens in the end. They are about who is with us during the middle. It’s not about outcome it’s about what Jesus puts in. He walks with us and holds us andheals us and advocates for us and is in all ways our Redeemer. My sister and her family were lifted and they were able to endure their terrible loss because Jesus was there. He carried enough of the pain and the sorrow and the loneliness that they could move on day to day. They could and can feel joy. They know that they will see Tanner again and they each live their lives a little bit better than they did before. Those are huge miracles. I know that Jesus Christ was resurrected that and we will be too. So does my sister, my whole family. That we know is a miracle. That He was resurrected is a miracle. That we will be is a huge miracle. And that’s a miracle for all of us.
In our last conference President Nelson gave a powerful talk called Christ is Risen, Faith in Him will move Mountains. I read that talk many times while sitting quietly in the hospital room waiting for Sierra’s brain to heal. His talk was technically about faith but I heard miracle. And miracles are wrought by faith…and having faith in a crazy world where Satan doesn’t even hide his attempts to stop us from progressing on the covenant path is truly a miracle. He taught us:
To do anything well requires effort. Becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ is no exception. Increasing your faith and trust in Him takes effort. May I offer five suggestions to help you develop that faith.
First, study. Become an engaged learner. Immerse yourself in the scriptures to understand better Christ’s mission and ministry. Know the doctrine of Christ so that you understand its power for your life. Internalize the truth that the Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to you. He took upon Himself your misery, yourmistakes, your weakness, and your sins. He paid the compensatory price and provided the power for you to move every mountain you will ever face. (MIRACLE) You obtain that power with your faith, trust, and willingness to follow Him.
Moving your mountains may require a miracle. Learn about miracles. Miracles come according to your faith in the Lord. Central to that faith is trusting His will and timetable—how and when He will bless you with the miraculous help you desire. Only your unbelief will keep God from blessing you with miracles to move the mountains in your life.10
The more you learn about the Savior, the easier it will be to trust in His mercy, His infinite love, and His strengthening, healing, and redeeming power. The Savior is never closer to you than when you are facing or climbing a mountain with faith.
I can testify that learning about Jesus, reading about His life, thinking about Him and what He is like and how to be like Him really does increase our faith.
Talk about the Peter Parallel
President Nelson said that:
Truly, faith is the power that enables the unlikely to accomplish the impossible. MIRACLE
I love that! I feel like I am the unlikely and that sometimes there are impossible and wonderful things that happen in my life. I know this is a direct result of the work of the Lord in my life and I know it’s in all our lives. He loves each of us.
He then said:
Do not minimize the faith you already have. It takes faith to join the Church and remain faithful. It takes faith to follow prophets rather than pundits and popular opinion. It takes faith to serve a mission during a pandemic. It takes faith to live a chaste life when the world shouts that God’s law of chastity is now outmoded. It takes faith to teach the gospel to children in a secular world. It takes faith to plead for the life of a loved one and even more faith to accept a disappointing answer.
The mountains in our lives do not always move how or when we would like. But our faith will always propel us forward. Faith always increases our access to godly power.
Please know this: if everything and everyone else in the world whom you trust should fail, Jesus Christ and His Church will never fail you. The Lord never slumbers, nor does He sleep.16 He “is the same yesterday, today, and [tomorrow].”17 He will not forsake His covenants,18 His promises, or His love for His people. He works miracles today, and He will work miracles tomorrow.19
Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe.20
I know all things are possible. I have seen it, and felt it and lived it. I have seen it when things go how I’d like, and also when they haven’t. God’s love is not manifest to us by everything going great it’s by his saving us when it’s not and the promise He made with us that someday all that he has will be ours if we are faithful and obedient.
Just now I got this fun text, speaking of Elder Utzinger
“Sis Utzinger— you don’t know me but our sons serve together. This is Shaunda Burns. I was college roommates with Sandy Howard and she gave me your phone number. I hope that’s ok.
Josh (Elder Burns) has loved serving in SLC with your son. He is going to his original assignment (Guatemala) this week. He’s excited, but I know he will miss Utah and Elder Utzinger. What a blessing it has been for him to have the opportunity to serve in two places and meet so many people.
We met Elder Utzinger at our daughter’s wedding last month. What a joy it was to see Josh and him. I don’t know how many missionaries can say they went to a temple wedding/sealing while on their mission.
Thank you for raising such a wonderful son. Elder Utzinger wrote a sweet note to Josh today that he shared with us. I know the Josh has enjoyed serving with him and has learned from him as well. I know they will miss each other, but I hope they will keep in touch.”
I love hearing from people who meet Ethan! He’s doing great and our weekly pday calls are my favorite!
What a powerful witness and testimony, Lana. Thanks for sharing!
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