Who We Really Are - An Epiphany

Scripture: “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” –Article of Faith 1

 I Know Who Bob Really Is

One of life’s great questions is, “Who am I?”  At the end of the summer of 1978, I had a remarkable experience that gave me my first glimmer of an answer to that question. My studies made me more aware of the nature of God, how he works or in other words, “His Ways,” and how this knowledge affects me as His daughter. This experience was literally an epiphany.

The American Heritage Dictionary says that an epiphany is: a revelatory manifestation of a divine being; a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something; a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would forever change the way I viewed myself.”- Frank Maier.

          While talking with Bob, whom I’d never met, on our second phone call in the summer of 1978, the Holy Ghost descended upon me, enabling me to see or know Bob as God knows him. I beheld his eternal nature. I was humbled that this great soul would select me to be his eternal companion…and yes, at that moment I knew that he would indeed ask me to marry him, and we would be sealed together in the temple for time and all eternity. 

As a member of the church I’d received the gift of the Holy Ghost after I was baptized in 1965. But I’d never experienced anything but the subtle influences of that still small voice, until this epiphany. It took place in time for over an hour as I talked on the phone with Bob. This occurred simultaneously; now I realize that this was the way God perceives, everything all at once.

Scripture: “…but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all.” –Moses 1:6

Needless to say, I didn’t apply this vision to myself for many years. I just knew how great Bob was, and that I was honored that he wanted me for his eternal companion for not only time, but for eternity. As a Latter Day Saint I believe that we are spiritual sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and literally that our spirits were born to heavenly parents. As His children, we lived for many hundreds of thousands of years with them, brothers and sisters in what is called the Pre-existence.

In my epiphany I’d seen Bob in the pre-existence, and I saw how he agreed to the circumstances of the life he was to live here upon earth, and then I was privileged to see him in the eternities as God saw him. 

This has certain parallels with Abraham’s experience as recounted in the Book of Abraham 3:22-26

Scripture: “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these were many of the noble and great ones;

            “And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.”

            Everyone who ever has lived upon this earth was with God as spirit children in the pre-existence and when there was a Grand Council held where God told us that we could progress only if we obtained a body and came to an earth just as He once had, we had to decide which plan presented in this council we would follow. Christ presented a plan and Satan presented a plan. The resulting action is often referred to as the war in heaven.

Scripture: “And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;

            “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;”

            This scripture is actually quoted in my patriarchal blessing.  I have made it a focal point in my life to be found doing what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing. Thus this blog.

          Here is a photo of Bob at about five years old and one a little older.