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Seeing the Savior

My brethren and sisters, when the day comes that we will seek to justify ourselves for our neglect, our carelessness, our indifference, because we do not keep fully the commandments of the Lord, we will be ashamed of our excuses. On the other hand, the joy and the privileges of the righteous will be beyond the power of expression to tell you. It is not a myth. I know that these revelations of the Lord are true. I know the glory that awaits the redeemed and sanctified. The Lord in his great mercy and kindness has given me some little foretaste of that which is to come.

“I had an experience a few months ago, while laboring on the Indian reservation, in Northern Montana, among my Lamanite brethren and sisters, and we had some new problems, and calling upon the Lord and seeking him very earnestly to know if we were doing the right thing, and what to do, and desirous of receiving strength and light from him, I received to me a most glorious manifestation from the Lord. I was carried away in the dreams of the night to this glorious building that stands on this block, and received what fully satisfied my heart and soul in blessings and privileges that came to me there. And when I was about to leave I was informed that there was one other privilege which should be mine, and I was taken into the most splendid room in that building.

Seated on a raised platform was one of the most beautiful and exalted beings I had ever beheld, and I was informed that I might be introduced to him, and I came forward, and as I did so he arose and descended to meet me, and the smile he extended towards me I shall never forget through all the ages that are to come, and as he took me in his arms and kissed me and hugged me to his bosom and gave me a blessing that made the marrow in my bones to melt, and as I kissed his feet. I saw the prints of the nails. The feeling that came to me then was one that I cannot describe other than to say that I felt unworthy of that privilege. I felt, oh, how little I have done to receive such distinguished privileges as these. If the day will ever come that I may have that privilege I would be willing to give all that I ever may and ever hope to be. I f I can only obtain that which I have felt and know as the joy and the privilege of faithful Latter-day Saints. It is no myth. I know it as I live, and it is worth giving everything for. These days when your faith may be tried, waver not, be true and faithful towards the word of the Lord.

I testify to you that it is true, and every promise and blessing that has been sealed upon your heads you will realize. When you do, it will be beyond anything you have contemplated in this life.”

(Melvin J. Ballard CR Oct 1917, p. 103.)