This was written by Ilean and is her account of a very special blessing in the ST George Temple.
3 March 1987 Tuesday St. George, Utah
“Norene and I walked to the temple. We left home about 6:20
A.M. and the air was crisp but it was a beautiful morning. It was a lovely
session each time. First I did
initiatory session, then a sealing session as a child with Bro. Snowball, as
the Sealer. A strange thing puzzles me when I was so terribly sick after doing
two sealing sessions consistently two years or so ago. I distinctly remember
being unable to go to the usual restroom some distance away although on the
same floor. I had never noticed a small restroom set back and up a step or two
from the hall and near the sealing room. I was too dizzy to move well but
finally made it into the little restroom where I vomited so hard & clung to
the walls to keep from falling. I finally was able to sit on the step and it
was back enough no one could see me from the hall unless they passed there. I
couldn’t fold my temple robe etc. and had to sort of wad it into the bag. I lay
there so sick and so worried about how I’d get home especially how I could get
out of the temple without being trouble to someone. I prayed earnestly for help
and within minutes felt much better and was able to join the group and go down
to dress and walk home. Perhaps today is the first time I have been in the area
since then. At least it is the first time I thought of that tiny restroom so
close to the sealing rooms, so I looked for it. There’s no restroom there, only
the ones on the far side of the building. I was so puzzled, I walked back to
the area again but there is only the elevator. Inside the east room were double
doors. I didn’t open them. If the room is in there then it was open and I found
it without looking for it that day but today I didn’t try those doors. At any
rate I was blessed that day in a marvelous way to be so ill and overcome so
quickly and the restroom was there when I needed it when I did whether I’ll
ever find it again or not.”
8 March 1987
“ I awakened very early this morning and found in my July 9,
1985 entry in my journal a very detailed description of what happened the day
that I was so very ill after doing two sealing sessions in the temple. In part
I said ”I was getting dizzy and feeling awful. I experienced during the next
two minutes or there abouts such dizziness that I tried to walk and at times
couldn’t without danger of toppling over. I finally got into the bathroom – it
was only a few feet from the room but it seemed farther. Dry heaves and dysentery came and went
leaving me unable to do anything but sit there and pray for strength. I removed
my temple clothes and was totally unable to fold them, even when I sat on the
steps. I had to put them in my bag sort of wadded – something I didn’t want to
do. I got back to the steps and with my feet hanging down the steps I lay on
the landing until I heard them finish in the sealing room. My prayer was
answered although I was still shaky I was able to go with the others to the
dressing room and get dressed. All day I felt a little weak and shaky but a
thousand times better than I did for that brief but very difficult time in the
temple. I was so glad no one was around to see me staggering, crawling almost
and clinging desperately to whatever I could find – wall, railing, whatever. It
was not a good experience but I’m so grateful that my prayer for help was
answered. I didn’t want to create problems for anyone in the temple.”
Here it has taken me almost two years to realize how
remarkably the Lord blessed me that day, not only with healing but providing
the facilities needed so desperately in a way that until last Tuesday I didn’t
even realize there is no bathroom of any kind near the sealing room. One goes
to the other side of the temple on that floor. My “cup truly runneth over” as I
contemplate the miracle of my experience in the temple that day. I didn’t
deserve that blessing but I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that the
experience I described as being “not good” was a blessing beyond my ability to
comprehend. And now I ask myself how many times in my life have I failed to
recognize the blessing I have been given because I failed to recognize how
greatly I was being blessed. “Dear Father in Heaven help me never to take for
granted Thy blessings.”
