Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Hello, welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. John, it’s Easter here at followHIM. I thought I would share with you a story that I think will speak to what we all hope. We hope and expect that our loved ones who we have lost are interested in us. We will have those reunions one day. This story was told by our friend, Robert Millet, who has been on our podcast many times. He starts his story this way. He says, “Answers to prayer usually come in quiet ways to mortals through the mediation of the Holy Spirit and through the intervention of other mortals. There are times, however, when God chooses to do the unusual.” He says, “This is an intensely personal experience.” He was talking about he and his wife. They were praying for one of their children because this child, this son, had completely separated himself, not just from the church, but from his family entirely. He became addicted to drugs and buried himself in a hellish world that held out little hope for him. John, not just like religion, but life.

John Bytheway:               01:18                   To live, yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:20                   To have a happy life. He said they tried to reach out to him. Where is he? Is he in prison? Is he lost? He said we didn’t hear from him for months. Can you imagine, John? As a father and mother, the worry and the pain. Here’s what Bob says. One night, as Shauna and I knelt in prayer, broken and torn emotionally from worry, we wept through our prayers and pleaded long and hard once again for the Good Shepherd to lead his wandering sheep home. He says we went to bed and slept in sorrow. Sometime that night, I found myself dreaming. My father, who had passed away several years before, came to me in my dream, embraced me. Both you and I know Bob well. He is a careful teacher. He is not prone to hyperbole. When Bob told this story, I thought, “Wow.” He said, “My father came to me in the dream, embraced me, looked me in the eye and said quite forcefully, son, pull yourself together. I am going to help you with those children of yours. Be patient. I woke immediately and sat up in my bed. My movement awakened my wife Shauna. What’s wrong? What happened? I explained that I had seen dad in a dream and he had told me he would help with our son.

                                           02:47                   Days later, the phone rang in the middle of the night. Our son’s voice. I can’t live like this anymore. Can I come home? We were thrilled to hear from him and grateful that he was alive. We felt no need to set terms or specify conditions. We simply welcomed him home with tenderness. One evening, a few weeks later, he and I were sitting on the sofa in the living room and he turned to me and said hesitantly, Dad, I need to share something with you. I encouraged him to tell me. He continued, this is gonna sound strange. But one night, sometime back, I was on the verge of doing something that would’ve cost me my life. Dad,” I think he thinks it’s a little weird, John. “He says, Dad, I heard Grandpa Millet. I heard his voice say, don’t you do that. You have been taught better. Now, get up and go home.” This is back to the son. “Dad, I know that sounds weird. Could that possibly be true? With some emotion, I answered it was not weird and added, I have a story to tell you. I then told him of my dream. We both felt the Spirit resting upon us and sensed that the entire experience was true and from God.”

                                           04:16                   Is that beautiful, John? When we think of Easter, we think of our loved ones who have passed on. And Bob’s story is yet another testament that they’re interested in us.

John Bytheway:               04:27                   They’re gone physically, but they’re not gone. It reminds me of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s statement, “Do not underestimate your family on the other side of the veil.”

Hank Smith:                      04:39                   Wow.

John Bytheway:               04:40                   They’re interested.

Hank Smith:                      04:41                   They’re interested and working.

John Bytheway:               04:43                   On our behalf.

Hank Smith:                      04:45                   Well, we hope everyone listening will have a happy, wonderful Easter. We have a treat this week. If you’ll come over to our full podcast, we’re with the director of The Chosen. His name is Dallas Jenkins. Not a member of our church, but a faithful believer in Christ.

John Bytheway:               04:59                   Absolutely.

Hank Smith:                      05:00                   You are gonna love what he has to say, not only about his show, but about the Easter season. And then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.