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There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven yada yada....It works well with NWC's comments about the old LDS view on the pre-existence. I recall the wrestle I had reconciling what just happened after I witnessed my wife give birth to our youngest son-now 17. He was 12 lbs 7 oz at birth. That is large. It looked like a wet St Bernard coming through a doggie door. I can recall the anxiety/horror I was feeling when she was giving birth to him. Nobody knew he would be that big until after he crowned. It was too late then to have him untimely ripped. Folks came out of the woodwork and it being our 3rd delivery, one of which was twins, there were many more people in that delivery room than the other two and I was savy enough to realize things could really go south.
In that situation I did what anyone would do-I prayed. Very different than when the twins were delivered and I calmly excused myself to a latrine to call PAC only to learn Kyle had picked the U. Things turned out fine. My wife was sore for a while and our son spent a week in the NICU, but eventually things have worked out well. I remember how touched I was when we would go to the NICU and the OB-GYN was sitting in front our son. He had thought my wife measuring so large was due to massive amounts of water-as she was a sudden onset diabetic and that is often the case. He made a decision based upon his experience and years of medical practice- but it was wrong. I doubt I would have held ill will towards him had it not turned out well as I think he did the best he could but when our son was in the NICU he was genuinely concerned. In hindsight I wish I would have invited him to participate in the baby blessing but I didn't and the OB-GYN passed within a year of our son's birth.
I spent that whole first night reconciling why things turned out so well for me and would not have turned out well for me had I been in most places in this world. My wife was surrounded by the very best in medical experts and the very best in medical equipment. I don't know much-but I am convinced without all that expertise and state of the art equipment things likely don't turn out the way it did. I am not one who falls into a fetal position writhing in agony when some well meaning soul gives credit to God for seemingly meaningless things. But for me this experience was a bit of a dilemma. "There is a law irrevocably decreed upon which all blessings are predicated." I am one hell of a blessed or lucky individual. I am not sure why I have gotten the good luck/karma/blessings that I have. I know myself so I know the whole "blessing predication" ratio is seriously tipped to my favor. While I think God is just- I think He is also wonderfully benevolent and merciful-or at least I see where He has been to me. We just don't get to see it all now. That night I think I learned to accept that a bit more. I learned a similar lesson as Rudy's religious leader. I am convinced there is a God. I am convinced I have witnessed and felt manifestations of His love. I don't know why or how He chooses to manifest Himself. I believe lives are blessed when folks have faith in Him-but I recognize that for whatever reasons things seem to always turn out well for me so it might be harder for others to come to the same conclusion even though I am convinced faith is as much a temporal benefit as it is a spiritual/eternal one (mostly cuz I ain't died yet so my experience is pretty much exclusive to the moral realm). My conclusion is God loves us all but I have given up on trying to predict or understand when and how He does what He does. I give thanks when it works out my way-which admittedly seems to be the case almost exclusively, and when it doesn't seem to work out I work hard to maintain faith and in that I genuinely find comfort. I do believe the comfort is available to all.
But I admit at times I am tempted to tape the buns together of the fall on the floor in the fetal position agony writhers just because Sister Eliza Jesperson starts crying as she testiifies that she got a date to Homecoming after praying for one when God could have been out feeding dying babies or something.
In that situation I did what anyone would do-I prayed. Very different than when the twins were delivered and I calmly excused myself to a latrine to call PAC only to learn Kyle had picked the U. Things turned out fine. My wife was sore for a while and our son spent a week in the NICU, but eventually things have worked out well. I remember how touched I was when we would go to the NICU and the OB-GYN was sitting in front our son. He had thought my wife measuring so large was due to massive amounts of water-as she was a sudden onset diabetic and that is often the case. He made a decision based upon his experience and years of medical practice- but it was wrong. I doubt I would have held ill will towards him had it not turned out well as I think he did the best he could but when our son was in the NICU he was genuinely concerned. In hindsight I wish I would have invited him to participate in the baby blessing but I didn't and the OB-GYN passed within a year of our son's birth.
I spent that whole first night reconciling why things turned out so well for me and would not have turned out well for me had I been in most places in this world. My wife was surrounded by the very best in medical experts and the very best in medical equipment. I don't know much-but I am convinced without all that expertise and state of the art equipment things likely don't turn out the way it did. I am not one who falls into a fetal position writhing in agony when some well meaning soul gives credit to God for seemingly meaningless things. But for me this experience was a bit of a dilemma. "There is a law irrevocably decreed upon which all blessings are predicated." I am one hell of a blessed or lucky individual. I am not sure why I have gotten the good luck/karma/blessings that I have. I know myself so I know the whole "blessing predication" ratio is seriously tipped to my favor. While I think God is just- I think He is also wonderfully benevolent and merciful-or at least I see where He has been to me. We just don't get to see it all now. That night I think I learned to accept that a bit more. I learned a similar lesson as Rudy's religious leader. I am convinced there is a God. I am convinced I have witnessed and felt manifestations of His love. I don't know why or how He chooses to manifest Himself. I believe lives are blessed when folks have faith in Him-but I recognize that for whatever reasons things seem to always turn out well for me so it might be harder for others to come to the same conclusion even though I am convinced faith is as much a temporal benefit as it is a spiritual/eternal one (mostly cuz I ain't died yet so my experience is pretty much exclusive to the moral realm). My conclusion is God loves us all but I have given up on trying to predict or understand when and how He does what He does. I give thanks when it works out my way-which admittedly seems to be the case almost exclusively, and when it doesn't seem to work out I work hard to maintain faith and in that I genuinely find comfort. I do believe the comfort is available to all.
But I admit at times I am tempted to tape the buns together of the fall on the floor in the fetal position agony writhers just because Sister Eliza Jesperson starts crying as she testiifies that she got a date to Homecoming after praying for one when God could have been out feeding dying babies or something.
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