Monday, June 1, 2026
Impressions from the Spirit
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Story of Amanda Smith by President James E. Faust: The Shield of Faith
Faith intensifies and magnifies our gifts and abilities. There is no greater source of knowledge than the inspiration that comes from the Godhead, who have all understanding and knowledge of that which has been, is now, and will be in the future.
At Haun’s Mill, a heroic pioneer woman, Amanda Smith, learned by faith how to do something beyond her abilities and the scientific knowledge of her time. On that terrible day in 1838, as the firing ceased and the mobsters left, she returned to the mill and saw her eldest son, Willard, carrying his seven-year-old brother, Alma. She cried, “Oh! my Alma is dead!”
“No, mother,” he said, “I think Alma is not dead. But father and brother Sardius are [dead]!” But there was no time for tears now. Alma’s entire hipbone was shot away. Amanda later recalled:
“Flesh, hip bone, joint and all had been ploughed out. … We laid little Alma on a bed in our tent and I examined the wound. It was a ghastly sight. I knew not what to do. … Yet was I there, all that long, dreadful night, with my dead and my wounded, and none but God as our physician and help. ‘Oh my Heavenly Father,’ I cried, ‘what shall I do? Thou seest my poor wounded boy and knowest my inexperience. Oh, Heavenly Father, direct me what to do!’ And then I was directed as by a voice speaking to me.
“… Our fire was still smouldering. … I was directed to take … ashes and make a lye and put a cloth saturated with it right into the wound. … Again and again I saturated the cloth and put it into the hole … , and each time mashed flesh and splinters of bone came away with the cloth; and the wound became as white as chicken’s flesh.
“Having done as directed I again prayed to the Lord and was again instructed as distinctly as though a physician had been standing by speaking to me. Near by was a slippery-elm tree. From this I was told to make a … poultice and fill the wound with it. … The poultice was made, and the wound, which took fully a quarter of a yard of linen to cover, … was properly dressed. …
“I removed the wounded boy to a house … and dressed his hip; the Lord directing me as before. I was reminded that in my husband’s trunk there was a bottle of balsam. This I poured into the wound, greatly soothing Alma’s pain.
“‘Alma my child,’ I said, ‘you believe that the Lord made your hip?’
“‘Yes, mother.’
“‘Well, the Lord can make something there in the place of your hip, don’t you believe he can, Alma?’
“‘Do you think that the Lord can, mother?’ inquired the child, in his simplicity.
“‘Yes, my son,’ I replied, ‘he has showed it all to me in a vision.’
“Then I laid him comfortably on his face, and said: ‘Now you lay like that, and don’t move, and the Lord will make you another hip.’
“So Alma laid on his face for five weeks, until he was entirely recovered—a flexible gristle having grown in place of the missing joint and socket, which remains to this day a marvel to physicians. …
“It is now nearly forty years ago, but Alma has never been the least crippled during his life, and he has traveled quite a long period of the time as a missionary of the gospel and [is] a living miracle of the power of God.”12
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Spiritual Prompting: God Using Imperfect People
I had an insightful experience yesterday. I was helping my Great Uncle Paul Doxey Donaldson login to his Ancestry account. He is so thoughtful and kind and makes me feel so valued and loved. This is one of the more beautiful things about my extended Donaldson family that I've been missing so much. He told me how much I meant to my grandfather and how proud he was of my basketball skills and being kind etc. He also mentioned what a lovely and kind woman my grandma was. As I drove away, I started crying just missing my grandparents and that feeling of love. Those tears turned into tears of regret realizing how happy it would have made my grandpa if I had played basketball at BYU and wishing I had done it to make him proud. Then it turned into me thinking of all the ways I had disappointed myself and God. I had a couple of strong impressions. One was that although my grandpa would have loved me playing basketball in college, he wouldn't want me to feel bad about myself for not playing and that what was really important, striving to live the gospel and raise children to God and keeping covenants was much more important to him. I also had a strong impression from my Heavenly Father. It was if He was saying, "You think I can't use imperfect people? Believe me, I've used imperfect people. I'm all about using imperfect people." I then looked up a talk by Elder Marvin J. Ashton called, The Measure of Our Hearts.
Part of it says:
The prophet Joseph Smith "We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect." He was ahead of his time!
We also tend to evaluate other on the basis of physical, outward appearance; their "good looks," their social status, their family pedigrees, their degrees, or their economic situations.
The Lord, however, has a different standard which he measures a person. When it came time to choose a king to replace King Saul, the Lord gave this criteria to his prophet Samuel: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue;...for the Lord seeth not as a man teeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord locket on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7)
"For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts." (D&C 137:7,9)
A willing heart describes one who desire to please the Lord and to serve His cause first. He serves the Lord on the Lord's terms, not his own. There are no restrictions to where or how he will serve.
Serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Righteousness as a Protection
1 Nephi 22:26
And because of the righteousness of his people Satan has no power.
I thought of George Washington being protected physically in battle. I want to keep God's laws and repent when I don't so that I can be protected from the "firey darts of the wicked one".
https://latterdaysaintmag.com/why-george-washington-could-not-be-felled-by-powder-and-ball/
The Bulletproof George Washington, a book summary by Mark Albright (warning, much of this material has been removed from American classrooms and may be unknown to your children):
On February 20th, 1755, General Braddock and his forces arrived in Virginia. This was the first substantial body of British regulars ever to land in America and the colonists were elated. They believed that all that was needed to drive the French from the country was the presence of the formidable and highly respected English army.
The campaign of General Braddock against Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War was the one in which the young George Washington, just 23, participated. When Braddock arrived in America, he heard numerous favorable reports about Colonel Washington, so in April 1755 he invited Washington to join him as his military aid. Young Washington was eager to study military tactics under a professional soldier of such high standing as Braddock. With the assistance of Benjamin Franklin, 150 wagons and 259 horses were soon located and the army was on their march for the camp. In the latter part of April, General Braddock set out from Alexandria Virginia to expel the French from Fort Duquesne.
Braddock’s army numbered almost 2,000 men, most of whom were British veterans who had served in the wars of Europe. Ahead of him were no roads on which to travel, so Braddock sent an advance party of 700 men to open a path for the army and wagons over the rugged, forested land. Braddock, while not deficient in courage or military skill, was totally unacquainted with the style of warfare necessary for the American woods.
As the British army continued its march toward Fort Duquesne, a band of Shawnee and Delaware Indians, allies of the British and Americans, appeared, wanting to help. But Braddock was confident in his own British soldiers and he saw no need for Indian warriors. Washington knew that the Indians would be invaluable in battle and strongly urged General Braddock to accept their offer. The General did so, but with such a cold indifference that he offended the Indian volunteers who soon left when they saw that Braddock neglected them.
Thoroughly skilled in the tactics of European warfare, he mistakenly believed that battles could be fought in America as they had long been found in Europe – that soldiers would march directly against their opponents on an open field of battle, just as if both were on a military parade ground before an arena of spectators.
Furthermore, Braddock – arrogant, proud, self-willed – generally held the suggestions of the Americans in contempt. Even Ben Franklin had tried to warn him about the Indian style of warfare. Braddock smiled at Franklin’s ignorance and replied, “These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the King’s regular and disciplined troops, it is impossible that they should make any impression.”
Braddock ignored Ben Franklin’s warning just as he had those of other Americans. In fact, when Colonel Washington repeated the same warning and pointed out the danger of ambushes and the need for scouting parties, Braddock flew into a rage saying that “the Indians may frighten Continental troops, but they can make no impression on the King’s regulars!”
Washington, who knew the terrain well, was recovering from a terrible case of dysentery as Braddock’s force reached the Monongahela River ten miles from Fort Duquesne. The day before the ambush occurred, Washington again warned Braddock of the Indian’s style of warfare, of laying ambushes, and of fighting from behind trees. He recommended that scouts be sent to reconnoiter the woods to uncover any waiting ambush. Braddock again scorned the idea.
The next day, in a wooded ravine on the far side of the river, Braddock’s leading force of 1,300 men was suddenly attacked and defeated by a smaller French and native force on July 9, 1755 at the Battle of Monongahela.
During the attack, most of the senior British officers, including Gen. Edward Braddock were killed or severely wounded. With panic in the air, George Washington quickly rode into the fray and helped to reestablish some amount of order. During the savage fight, Washington had two horses shot out from underneath him and his coat was pierced by four musket balls. Washington’s cool leadership helped many of the surviving soldiers to effectively escape the onslaught.
Despite the British loss of 977 killed or wounded, Washington was lauded as the “hero of Monongahela” by Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie and was given the rank of colonel in command of the 1,200 man Virginia Regiment.
The night before the battle, the French Commander of Fort Duquesne, with great difficulty, had persuaded the Indians to join in an ambush against the British. The next morning, the combined forces of 72 French regulars, 146 Canadian militiamen, and 637 Indians (a total force of 855) set out from the fort to harass and annoy the 1300 English soldiers, not intending to face them in a serious battle or actually defeat them.
Hidden in the trees and heavy forest, they showered a volley of shots and balls onto the first company. A storm of bullets, piercing flesh and shattering bones, swept the astounded ranks. To the British, it was like a supernatural attack from invisible spirits; not a musket was seen; the enemy was completely hidden. The blue smoke rising after every discharge revealed that the firing came from the trees, so the British soldiers wildly fired back into the woods but did a little more than sliver bark and cut saplings. The Indians, however, were skilled marksman, experienced in the art of ambush and guerrilla warfare, and they had clearly visible red targets at which to fire.
The British ranks were in confusion. One of the greatest difficulties was that the advancing soldiers, just like the retreating ones, were unable to see whom they were fighting. In fact, in the Court of Inquiry held by the British authorities after the battle, none of the English involved in the fight could say that they had even seen much of the enemy, and many of the officers who were in the heat of the battle were not sure that they had seen even one enemy.
During the battle, the Indians targeted the officers intentionally, and as the battle continued, nearly every member of Braddock’s staff, including his secretary and two of his military aides, were shot down. Washington, Braddock’s only uninjured staff member, rode over every part of the field carrying the general’s orders. Significantly following the battle, Indians confirm that they had specifically singled out Washington and repeatedly shot at him but without effect. They, therefore, became convinced that he was protected by an invisible power and that no bullet could harm him. Indeed even though hundreds of victims fell all around him, shielded by God’s hand, Washington escaped without a scratch, untouched by bullet or bayonet, arrow or tomahawk. He later credited this miracle to divine providence.
Braddock was eventually shot because the Indians knew that if they could shoot down the officers they could scatter the remaining troops and easily destroy them. Consequently, every mounted officer, except Washington, had been slain before Braddock fell. One famous Indian warrior, who was a leader in the attack, was often heard to testify, “Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet! I had 17 fair shots at him with my rifle, and after all that, I could not bring him to the ground.”
When one considers that a rifle aimed by an experienced marksman rarely misses its target, his utterance seems to have been prophetic and confirms that an invisible hand from Heaven had indeed turned aside the bullets. Another witness who had spoken with Red Hawk, an Indian chief, after the victory, said he had shot 11 different times at Washington without hitting him and because his gun had never before missed its mark, Red Hawk ceased firing at him, convinced that the Great Spirit protected Washington.
Washington’s survival was so obviously miraculous that special mention of it was made in a famous sermon preached by the Reverend Samuel Davies only weeks after the battle. Davies, considered one of the greatest pulpit preachers in America, was an active leader in the American revival known as the Great Awakening and later became the president of Princeton University. In his 1755 sermon, Davies commended the military qualities that the Virginia soldiers had displayed during the fight and then added: “I may point out here to the public that the heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.”
In 1770, 15 years after the crushing defeat of the British, Washington and Dr. James Craik (Washington’s close friend and personal physician) were traveling toward the western territories to explore uninhabited regions. A company of Indians led by an old respected chief arrived at the camp and asked to speak with General Washington. The council fire was kindled and the chief said this through an interpreter to Washington, “It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forest (the Battle where Braddock was killed) that I first beheld this chief, George Washington. I called to my young men and I said ‘Mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe. He has an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do. Himself is alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain. Our rifles were leveled- rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss. It was all in vain; a power mightier far than we shielded you. Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and soon will be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shade, but before I go there is something that bids me speak in the voice of prophecy. The Great Spirit protects that man, George Washington, and guides his destiny. He will become the chief of Nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of heaven and who can never die in battle.”
True to these predictions and because of God’s divine protection of him, Washington did not die in 1755 but he was not even wounded in that or in any of the numerous subsequent battles in which he fought thereafter.
Nearly two centuries later President Calvin Coolidge tried to explain the impact of George Washington in the various battles of the great Revolutionary War. He said “Washington was the directing spirit, without which there would have been no independence, no Union, no constitution, and no Republic.… We cannot yet estimate him. We can only indicate a reverence for him and thank the divine providence which kept him to serve and inspire his fellow man.”
Washington was indispensable to the American Revolution and to the first years of our fledgling Republic. Instance after instance was attested to by him and others of what they recognized as divine intervention to protect him for a purpose: the creation of a new nation and a godly society.
In a letter to his wife Martha, written after the Continental Congress selected him to lead the Continental Army, he said, “I shall rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you.”
Throughout his extensive military career, Washington was never wounded in battle.He wrote to his brother John as follows: “By the miraculous care of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.”
As to religion, consider this statement Washington made in 1783: “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would…most graciously be pleas’d to dispose us all to do Justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves, with that Charity, humility & pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion & without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”—Washington’s Circular Letter to the States, June 8, 1783.
The Bulletproof George Washington, by David Barton, 1990
Sunday, September 4, 2022
A Few Favorite J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Courage is found in unlikely places.
Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.
There is good in the world, and it's worth fighting for.
No half-heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly.
And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Gettysburg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWE4OzQdjPk
Colonel Chamberlain's Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-5uyp44WA
Little Round Top
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X1yPoAaKL0
Soundtrack
Happy Organ Player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HdrywerGE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HdrywerGE
Runners
Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was only a few meters from the finish line, but got confused by the signs and stopped, thinking he had finished. The Spaniard, Ivan Fernandez, was running right behind him and, realizing what was happening, began yelling to the Kenyan to keep running. Mutai did not know Spanish and did not understand.
Chariots of Fire
https://youtu.be/ile5PD34SS0
When I run, I feel God's pleasure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyltmUR3MU