Guidance Received from the Lord
I recall vividly when I was presiding over a mission some years ago in Central and South America. I was interviewing a sister by the name of Sister Rodgers. As we were speaking in warm conversation, she looked at me and she said, "President, I just found out with whom I am going to the temple to be sealed."
I smiled and I said, "Sister Rodgers, is it logical, while you dedicate all of your time, your efforts, and all of your thoughts to the service of the Lord in the mission field, that the Lord would tell you here who you are going to marry?"
She said, "No, it isn't logical, but I know."
At the instant she said that there came to my mind, as clearly as can be, a face and a name.
I said, "Sister Rodgers, I believe you. What's more, I know who it is."
She looked at me in a very surprised manner and she said, "You do?"
I said, "Yes, the face just flashed before my mind and I know his name. Sister Rodgers, in this mission we have five countries. He is one of the missionaries." I hadn't mentioned his name. "And I don't recall your even working in the same country with him. So I don't understand how you would know him."
She said, "President, I haven't worked in the same country or the same city, but I was at one zone conference and I saw him at a distance and the Lord told me he was to be my eternal companion."
I said, "And his name is ______."
And she said, "Yes."
She smiled and shed some tears. We spoke on for a few minutes and then she told me about another experience she had had with someone in the field. Again, the impression clearly came to my mind of his face and his name, and I said, "I know who he is, also. It was _________."
She said, "Yes."
You can imagine the warm rapport we felt between the two of us, knowing that the Lord was blessing us, knowing that he is interested in every single missionary. That is to say, every single missionary whether he is in the field or out of the field.
I was pleased to note, in the not too distant future, even though she lived in California and he lived in Idaho, that I received an invitation to the temple marriage, because they met at BYU. I have visited them since. They live in Boise, Idaho. They have a beautiful, happy home, in which I have dined. They have four beautiful children. He's the bishop of the ward and a practicing lawyer.
Can you imagine the anchor they have because of that divine guidance they received from the Lord? It is the anchor to their marital life for eternity, knowing the Lord's will had been manifested to them as to who they were to marry. Such guidance is so essential to us all of the time.
Ted E. Brewerton shared this experience at a BYU Dev. March 25, 1984.