There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this small anecdotal story:
Guardian Angels Protecting Us-
“I feel moved to share an experience I had a few years ago. Don’t know why, but I feel like it’s important to share.
Maybe someone needs to hear it. Maybe I just need to hear it again. I am a veterinarian. One morning I was pregnancy checking a herd of holsteins. The cows were all locked up at the feed bunk lined up in a row and I was checking each one to see which were pregnant. In the corral was a holstein bull (several actually). This particular bull had often been very vocal and used aggressive body language during my visits. He would usually stand in the corral and bellow at me and paw at the earth expressing his displeasure with my presence. We always kept an eye on him. On this particular morning, this bull was much bolder than usual, following me closely and being a problem. Suddenly, I had a very strong prompting from the Spirit. “Your life is in danger. Get out of the corral.“ I had only about five cows left to do so I explained to the Spirit that there were only five cows left and that I really needed to finish… I know… dumb. The dairyman then said to me, “Patrick, I think you should get out of the corral. Your life is in danger.“ Oddly he used exactly the same wording. I told him I only had five more cows… I know… dumber! At that point, I checked a cow with a big calf. Since they were bull bred, we had no breeding dates. I can tell how close a large calf is to being born by “bumping“ the calf while pushing on the cow’s side. I had the dairyman let one of the cows go so I could get between the cows and bump this calf. So now I am crouched down between two locked up cows with my back to the lock-ups and up comes the bull. He bellows bloody murder and hits me. Instead of driving me straight back into the lock-ups, (which likely would have killed me), he came up from below with a vertical thrust. I was thrown straight up into the air several feet above the backs of the cows. I landed on my feet and he hit me again. Again I flew into the air high above the cows. I landed on my feet again, and he hit me again. This happened several times. It was surreal, like slow motion. Each time I flew into the air I knew that if I didn’t land on my feet he’d plow me into the concrete and lock-ups, and that would be it. I don’t know how many times he threw me into the air. It must’ve been four or five.
The last time I landed on my feet, the bull charged toward me again then suddenly stopped. A look of real terror came into his eyes and he abruptly backed away. The dairy man grabbed me by my collar and literally yanked me out of the corral (big guy… lots of adrenaline). He was sobbing and feeling my legs and arms to see how much of me was broken. I was OK. Miraculously, there were no broken bones. The next morning I had some pretty exciting bruises but only from my knees down. As I sat in sacrament meeting that morning, taking the sacrament on the bench with my wife and children, (I think we had about 12 at that time), I said a prayer of gratitude that we were just having sacrament meeting and not a funeral.
As I prayed, the voice of the Spirit came to me, filling my entire being, and said, “It is only because of the prayers of your little ones each day that ‘daddy come home, safe’ that I was able to violate your agency and preserve your life. Your great grandfather, Joseph Wilcox was sent and exercised his priesthood to save you that your children might not be fatherless.“ I then remembered Joseph Smith’s statement about temple work when he said, concerning our ancestors, “Without us, they cannot be saved, and without them, we cannot be saved”. The spirit confirmed strongly that this statement did not relate only to salvation in a spiritual sense, but also in a literal, physical sense.
My great grandfather, Joseph Wilcox died at about my age in a farming accident, leaving a widow and large number of children. He was a returned missionary and faithful priesthood holder. What if he had not been? What if he had not had priesthood to “exercise” in my behalf to save me in my moment of need? There are several take-home messages for me from this experience.
1. Most obviously: Don’t explain to the Holy Ghost why you can’t obey. Just obey.
2. The prayers of loved ones can enable God to intervene in the lives of people in spite of their own choices. (see Mosiah 27:14 for another example of this).
3. Our righteous dead are aware of us and can use their priesthood through the veil to bless and protect us.
I’ve since had several experiences in the temple, (which I won’t go into here) with those for whom I was officiating which have confirmed and expanded my understanding of #3. It strikes me that one of the most powerful things that we can do to protect ourselves, and our loved ones in the coming times of great peril is to be sure our ancestors have received the priesthood so that they can bless us. Do your family history and attend the Temple. You may be creating an army of angels to minister to you in times of need.
Wow. Thank you for sharing this!
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