The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

It has been said that one can not prove that there is a God, and as such, there is no God.  To this I say that it goes both ways, one can not prove that God does not exist either and therefore, there must be a God.  I see God in every miracle around me.  Having carried a child in my womb and given birth to them, twice, is just about the most miraculous miracle that there is.  I took a science class at the U of U in which we were taught about each step of the process from conception to birth and quite literally there is something that can go wrong at every step of the process.  It doesn’t though, and I don’t believe that this is just happenstance.  I believe that God our Heavenly Father provides those many tiny miracles so that we can bring his spirit children into this world through earthly bodies.

Let’s stop a moment and go back.  I believe in life after death, I believe in a life before we were born, I believe that there is a God in Heaven, and I believe that when our body is growing in the womb that a spirit from Heaven joins it, creating a fully aware human being.  Having taken two courses of religious study in college, I also believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the fullness of the gospel that was being practiced when Jesus Christ walked on the earth.  By fullness I mean, the most truth, the most light, and the most correct version of the doctrine that He taught all those years ago.  Aside from the Bible, we also have the writings of the people who lived on the American continent during Christs life and also revelations of our modern day prophets.  Yes, we believe that the Prophet can receive modern day revelations from Heavenly Father/God.

This said, I’d like to play Devil’s Advocate for a moment.  Let’s pretend that the first statement is true and that there is no God.  Let’s pretend that religion, all religion, is a bunch of bull crap, made up by some conspirator 11,000 years ago as part of the Neolithic Revolution and that somehow for all of these years millions of people have been fooled into thinking that there is a higher power, that something omnipotent created this earth.  I would still rather be one of the “fooled” ones then to live without hope, with the thought that I would never see a loved one who has died ever again, to think that just maybe there is no rhyme, reason, or purpose to this life, or to think that it has all been just happenstance or some big coincidence.  I worry enough as it is.  I fret, I see the bad in the world and wish it weren’t there, and if I did not have the insight that the gospel brings to me, the peace, the strength, the spirit, the knowledge of my self worth, I would be a depressed, sad, lonely, human being.

Thankfully, I do have the gospel in my life.  I do know that there is a God and that when my time on this earth is through I will join him and those who go before me in Heaven.  I have experienced miracles that I know only occurred with God’s mighty power.  My husband holds this priesthood power and it has been the key to some of the miracles I have seen.  A world without religion is not a world I would want to live in so thank goodness for religion.

Last night Lucas tossed the entire contents of his stomach and started dry heaving.  It was obvious that he was in distress and would not relax so that we could better assess what was going on.  I am blessed because in our tiny sons moment of distress I was able to ask Brandon to give him a priesthood blessing.  When he was done Lucas was still a little distraught so I sang I am a child of God.  This calmed him down almost immediately and by the time I finished singing it and started to sing I lived in Heaven, he had fallen asleep.  There is a power in the gospel that is sometimes almost so tangible.  I have a strong testimony of the power of a priesthood blessing and of the miracles that it can bring about.

So today our lesson in Relief Society was Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Leader, and Savior.  While we were talking someone asked, how could 1/3 of the spirits who were there and lived with Heavenly Father and Jesus, leave and follow Satan.  A conversation ensued and many theories and ideas were discussed when someone mentioned that Satan was GUARANTEEING our return to live with our Heavenly Father.  He was making the promise that it would happen no matter what.  I could see how that could be extremely enticing and persuasive.  Especially knowing my personality and how on this earth I like to know the outcome before stepping into the unknown.  There are many days when I wish I could just see how everything will turn out so that I can have the strength or faith to make it through another long day or hard moment.  Knowing this about my personality and that we have very similar personalities in Heaven to what we have here on earth I also had the calm insight to reassure me that I was not even swayed by Satan.  His false promises came to me by whatever means either from Satan himself or carried along through the grapevine and I saw right through them.  They did not tempt me to join him.  I know that despite my sometimes wavering faith and testimony here on earth that I had ABSOLUTE faith that my Brother, Jesus Christ would indeed atone for my sins.  He would go to earth and die on the cross for ME.  I KNOW that in Heaven my faith was so strong that I did not doubt that my brother would do this for me, not even for the briefest moment.  Heavenly Father and Jesus love us all so much that they provided us a way to return to live with them when our time here on the earth is over.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

In life we cross paths with many people of many types.  Sometimes we become friends with these people and with that comes wanting them to have a good life filled with the same kind of happiness or joy that you have.  Many people find happiness in life and are satisfied with that but I want more for them.  I want them to have the deep abiding joy that come from being eternally married to the love of their life.  The joy that comes from knowing that my family is linked together and will be together forever.  That I will see them again and be with them again in Heaven and that our time together is not just for this short span of our lives here on earth but for always.  As hard as it is for me to be away from Brandon or Aiden I can not imagine how much harder it would be if I ever lost them and didn’t know that they would be in Heaven waiting for me.  I am grateful for the temple covenants that I made.  I know that the joy, safety, strength, richness of life and peace that is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can not be matched fully anywhere by anything else (religious or otherwise).  It is God’s kingdom here on earth.  It is the church spoken of in the bible returned to earth for these the latter days.  If you are looking for more in your life, look no further simply get up the courage to ask someone about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  If you are open to it, I promise that you will find what you feel has been  missing from your life and haven’t been able to fill with anything else that you have tried.

This evening the beloved prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints passed away surrounded by family.  News reports state that his passing was due to complications of old age.  I find comfort in knowing that he was preceeded in death by his lovely wife Majorie Hinckley and that their reunion in Heaven was nothing less then a joyous event.  Ever since my return into full activity of the church in 1999 the only face I have ever known as “the face of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” has been that of the kind and wise President Hinckley.  I have grown to love and trust him and am sad to see him go, but I trust that the next prophet of the church will become as beloved as Pres. Hinckley was and will bring his own unique personality to the calling.  Brandon also feels a sense of loss and he remarked, “it seemed that he would be a permanent fixture of the church.”  Which leads him to have a sense of disbelief about the loss.