Reading List

January 30, 2011

Divine Signatures by Gerald N. Lund

Mar gave me this book for Christmas. It was a splendid gift. I loved the book. Everyone shourd readit. It has some doctrine in it, but a lot of it is just stories of what Elder Lund calls "Devine Signatures". He says that Heavenly Father always wants to bless us, and he does bless us whenever he can. However, there are times when he wants us to really get it – to really know that he has blessed us. There are times when we can see whith great gratitude that he is watching over us. In this book, you want to keep reading to see all of the stories of times that God has put his signature into people's lives. It made me think, and I'm sure you would also think of times when you can definitely see His hand, not just as a simple blessing, but as a signature saying "I am here".

This is a story from my life of a Devine Signature:

It was a bleak time in my life. The company I was working for was failing and I was looking at possible unemployment in a hard market. Still, I had held on to my job longer than many in the company. So it was that I was sent to another city to teach a class. This class had good and bad aspects. First, it was in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, my parents and two brothers lived in Mesa, which was about 60 minutes from where I was working. However, the class was going over two weeks , so I was to spend a weekend in the Valley of the Sun. With family there that didn't seem too bad initially, but the depression I felt was heavy, and I decided not to spend every moment with family. In fact, the Sunday I was staying over I made an excuse to not go down to see them or go to church with them. The excuse was, "I am planning on going up to Prescott on Sunday."

Our family had spent two years living in Prescott. We had good friends there. I had served in a bishopric there. At the time I made the excuse, it seemed like a really good excuse. I thought I really did want to go and see Prescott. But as Sunday morning broke, I missed my family and I worried about work and I got more and more depressed. I just laid in the motel room and did nothing. I have to say it was really one of the lowest points of my life.

Then the signature happened. It was not an instant signature. It took the next four hours. But it started with a real prompting. I almost heard a voice in my head that said, "Well, if you are going to Prescott, get up and go NOW." It wasn't a still small voice. It was emphatic. So I did. I got dressed for Sunday and drove the 1 ½ hours up to Prescott. It was pretty late when I got to the church building. I decided I would just go in and see what was happening, and if it was convenient, I would stay for a while.

I found out that it was a ward conference – for the ward I used to be in. The bishop whom I served with was no longer bishop, he was the stake president. They were having Priesthood Meeting first and it was just starting, so I took a seat in the back. Now here is the signature (beyond the voice in the motel that got me there at just the right time to have this experience). When opening exercises for Priesthood Meeting were over, the stake president, my old bishop and old friend made his way straight to me. He had so much to do that day, but he came to me, and this is what he said. "Larry, I am so glad to see you. I was just thinking about you the other day. I thought, I wonder how the Stones's are doing. They were such good people."

Right then at that point of my life, Heavenly Father put me in a spot where he could have one of the most influential people in my life give me a message of encouragement and peace. It was a message I really needed. It was a message that got me through the next couple of months.

How does a divine signature work? Heavenly Father just makes things happen his way to deliver his message. And that message for me was, "I am here. And I am helping. And you are a good person." It was not just a message – it was a message just for me.