Does the Lord Have Something to Say to Me?

By Delbert H. Strasser

Finally, at age 90, my mother received her patriarchal blessing.

Image

elderly woman

Photograph posed by model

My mother, Margaret, moved from Switzerland to the United States as a young woman. Not long after that, she had an appointment to receive her patriarchal blessing. But when she went to meet with the patriarch, he wasn’t there. For whatever reason, my mother felt like that was confirmation the Lord didn’t have anything to tell her, and she never rescheduled her appointment.

From time to time over the years, I would suggest to my mother that she reconsider receiving her blessing. She was one of the most faithful women I ever knew. However, she was so humble that she replied that she didn’t merit anything special from the Lord. She didn’t need a blessing, she said, because she was just a simple girl. And she was OK with that.

Finally, when she was 90, we convinced her to schedule an appointment with her patriarch. Ironically, there was a miscommunication with this patriarch as well, and when Mother showed up, the patriarch was out of town. “See?” she said. “I told you the Lord has nothing special to tell me.”

Fortunately, she and the patriarch were able to meet the next week. When the blessing was given, it was filled with gifts, promises, and details about her life that were so personal they could have come only from the Lord’s knowledge of her.

“I guess the Lord did have something to say to me, after all,” she said.

It is clear to me that the Lord knows us individually. And whether you’re at the beginning of your life or the end of it, He loves you so much that He has important counsel to give to you through your patriarch.

The author lives in Utah, USA.

Lifelong Blessings

By Christy Monson, Church Magazines

Here are some of the ways seniors I know have been strengthened because of their patriarchal blessings:

“Early in my life, I struggled with negative feelings of self-worth. But my blessing told me about specific characteristics Heavenly Father saw in me. I made a list of each quality. As I have studied this list through the years, I’ve come to see myself as God sees me.”
“My blessing promised me that my husband and I would live with mutual respect and love for each other. But my husband distanced himself from the family and developed an addiction. I told the Lord that I would do everything in my power to make the promise in my blessing come true. But I told Him that He would have to guide my footsteps. It has taken years, but my husband and I have overcome the problems, grown closer, and remained faithful. I know Heavenly Father gave me that promise in my blessing to help me to survive.”
Another man I know joined the Church when he was 89. His body was riddled with cancer. Yet his patriarchal blessing promised he would go to the temple. Over time, he became strong enough to sit in a wheelchair. He was endowed and sealed to his wife shortly before he died.

Patriarchal blessings come from God to instruct us and to give us comfort, peace, and guidance. As we grow older and look back, we can see the hand of the Lord in our lives through our patriarchal blessings.