Gerald. N. Lund [Lund - Divine Signatures

Lund, Gerald N.

Divine signatures : the confirming hand of God / Gerald N. Lund.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: Explanation of the differences between faith and testimony, and introduction of the idea of a divine signature, blessings or answers given by God in dramatic, unusual, or precisely timed ways that make the answer seem signed by God.

ISBN 978-1-60641-927-4 (hardbound : alk. paper)

1. Faith. 2. God (Christianity)Knowableness. 3. Witness bearing (Christianity) 4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsDoctrines. I. Title.

BT771.3.L855 2010

248'.5dc22 2010037972

Printed in the United States of America

Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, Utah

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Other titles by Gerald N. Lund

FICTION

The Alliance

Fire of the Covenant

Freedom Factor

Leverage Point

One in Thine Hand

The Undaunted: The Miracle of the Hole-in-the-Rock Pioneers

NON-FICTION

The Coming of the Lord

Hearing the Voice of the Lord: Principles and Patterns of Personal Revelation

Jesus Christ: Key to the Plan of Salvation

Personal Revelation: Receiving and Responding to the Voice of the Lord (talk on cd)

Selected Writings of Gerald N. Lund

SERIES

The Kingdom and the Crown

Fishers of Men

Come unto Me

Behold the Man

The Work and the Glory

Pillar of Light

Like a Fire Is Burning

Truth Will Prevail

Thy Gold to Refine

A Season of Joy

Praise to the Man

No Unhallowed Hand

So Great a Cause

All Is Well

To Lynn

My companion of forty-seven years; my partner in navigating through the reefs and shoals of mortal life; who frequently receives quiet inspiration and promptings that bless me and our family; whose faith and testimony have created divine signatures of her own; and who has greatly strengthened my faith and deepened my testimony. My debt to you is an eternal one, as is our relationship.

Thank you.

Preface

This book is not meant to be a doctrinal exposition. It is more an exploration of how to take a simple gospel principle and actually make it work in our lives.

Much of this book contains my own personal reflections. I suppose there is something in us as we grow older that wants to share with others the lessons we have learned. To do that, I will include some of my own experiences in learning about God. In a way, I hesitate to do so, but these were defining experiences for me because of what they taught me about my Heavenly Father. My hope is that they will clarify the principles I am trying to teach.

I will also share numerous stories that I have either read or heard from individuals, which also became defining experiences for them. I do so to show that such moments are not rare experiences, that they happened to people who are very much like anyone else. They also provide other powerful illustrations of how God helps strengthen our faith and deepen our testimony.

All of the stories in the book are true. They are real-life stories from everyday people. Some come from the lives of early Saints in the Church. Others come from Saints who are alive today. Some of these stories have occurred even as I have been writing this book. I did not get them secondhand. With the exception of those accounts from published sources, I heard them directly from the individuals who experienced them. Wherever possible, I have presented them in their own words.

Some of the experiences I share in this book happened many years ago. It is possible that the person involved has left the Church or turned away from God, though in most cases I know that this is not the case. But if it happens to be so, it in no way lessens the reality of the experience that individual had, nor the feelings that those experiences generated at the time.

It is my deepest hope that these real experiences from the lives of real people will help you either find that testimony you seek, or strengthen and deepen it even more.

This then is what this book is about. It is about strengthening faith and deepening testimony.

We are at a point where it is critical to our eternal salvation that we do so.

A Note from the Author

Here are just a few housekeeping items that may be helpful to the reader.

The inclusion of so many stories and examples in the book necessitated a slightly unusual format. Sometimes a story or example is included within one of the chapters where it illustrates or supports a point of the book. Many, however, are additional examples not tied directly to any particular text. I have therefore included them in additional sections between chapters.

I frequently refer to God throughout the book. I also use the more specific names and titles such as the Lord, Heavenly Father, Jesus or Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Redeemer, His Beloved Son, and so on. There are some cases where the use of such titles refers to the individual member of the Godhead. However, in most cases, when I refer to God, what I mean is the Father and the Son, with the accompanying influence of the Holy Spirit. It becomes ponderous to specify that plurality again and again, so I do not. But it is important to remember that when we speak of either the Father or the Son, what we say of one almost always applies equally well to the other. They act as one. They are one.

On a more mundane matter: I often emphasize key words or phrases in scriptural passages or quotations with italics. Rather than tediously indicating each time that the emphasis is mine, I have only specified when the emphasis was in the original.

Acknowledgments

While I may be the writer of this book, it will soon be clear that there were many other contributors. I wish to acknowledge my deep appreciation for their part in what you are about to read. In many cases, I am able to give credit by name to the individual whose story I am telling, and I am very pleased to do so. But that isnt always the case. Some of these stories I heard from people who didnt give me their name. Some introduced themselves to me, but at the time, I had no reason to think I would someday want to share their stories, and so I did not write down their names, and thus cannot give them the credit they deserve. But I thank all of the individuals, past and present, whose experiences will, I hope, help others find the strength they need to cope in a perilous world.

In addition, I would also like to acknowledge my debt to my family. Our children are now all grown and have busy lives of their own. I asked them if they would be willing to review the manuscript before I put it into its final form. Some of my children were in the midst of changing occupations or other demanding circumstances and could not, but several of my children did read the entire manuscript in first draft form. The fact that there are numerous differences between the first draft of the manuscript and this finished book is due in part to their insights and their honesty in pointing out places they felt could be improved. A reader of that caliber is a treasure for an author, and I am delighted that I have several of them in my family.