I NEEDED THAT

One evening while serving as missionary in the Church’s Addiction Recovery Program I had an amazing experience that touched me deeply, it changed me.  Another missionary, who was assigned to this meeting with Elder Mitchell, had a conflict arise.  I told him I would take his place.  During our subsequent planning meeting another missionary offered to cover the meeting with Elder Mitchell because my wife and I are so busy with our coordinator responsibilities.  I initially yielded and said he could.  Then I noticed that we were supervising a Church survey regarding the Addiction Recovery Program at that location that evening.  The brother offering to cover for me wasn’t trained in administering the survey so I felt constrained to reclaim that assignment, which I did.  As a result, I attended that meeting with Elder Mitchell as my companion.  We had a good group and most were making noticeable progress in their recovery.  However, as one young man walked into the meeting, it seemed to me as if there was a dark cloud surrounding him.  As he shared later in the meeting, the Spirit whispered to me to give him a blessing.  I realized then why it was important for me to be at this meeting.  Church policy requires missionaries to give blessings only if asked and then only if there isn’t another option available in the person’s life.  However, being in charge, I wasn’t deterred by policy.  I knew what the Lord wanted me to do and I felt comfortable overriding the policy’s restraints.  As soon as the meeting concluded I approached him, shook his hand, looked into his eyes and asked him if he would like a blessing.  He hesitated at first but then nodded and said he would.  We finished all the after meeting business and once the room was clear, Elder Mitchell and I laid our hands upon his head and pronounced a blessing the Lord wanted him to have.  I had closed the meeting with my testimony but hadn’t felt the same inspiration and power that I usually do.  I was a bit worried about being voice for this blessing because I surmised that I must not be in tune with the Spirit.  I quickly realized that while I may not have been attuned during my testimony, whatever had impeded me then was powerfully overridden the moment I laid my hands on that young man’s head.  It was hard to maintain my composure as the Spirit of God’s love for him overwhelmed me, indeed overwhelmed all of us.  He received a powerful and promising blessing that touched him deeply.  At the conclusion of the blessing he stood with tears in his eyes and embraced us both.  We stood in silence for a few moments because words seemed woefully inadequate.  The Spirit we all felt lingered strongly.  At last, after he had composed himself somewhat, he looked at us with gratitude in his heart and simply said, “I needed that”.  We hear many, many individuals who express frustrations and struggles with their recovery.  But this night, the Lord knew he needed the lift a blessing would provide and in so doing poured out His pure love upon him.  Truly, the Lord is in the details of our lives.  Though this story focused on this young man and how the Lord reached out to him, having experienced feeling the Lord’s love for this young man was astounding to me.  I had never felt it so profoundly before.  It staggered me emotionally and even a bit physically.  I had a hard time composing myself afterward.  It was pure joy and love, expressed in a way I had never imagined.  It was my turn to close the building which was the Institute at the SLCC South Campus.  It’s a large building with three levels, lots of doors to close and lights to turn off and exterior doors to lock.  I had to stop several times and compose myself, this feeling I had been allowed to experience was so powerful that functioning normally was impossible.  As I arrived at the last door that needed to be locked I just leaned up against the wall and let it wash over me before I left.  When I got in my truck to leave, the feeling was still so pronounced that I had to wait 15 minutes before I felt capable to drive.  I was so amazed at the power of the Lord’s love for each of us, regardless of the state of our personal life.  I’m certain He wants us to let Him take our burdens, whatever they might be.  He wants to heal us from all our earthly ills and make us whole.  If only we will let Him, I believe we can have opened to us things beyond our imagination.