By Design

In February of 2019, our oldest son was sitting in a sacrament meeting in Australia where he was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A sister stood to speak and began to share a story about a man who had had not attended church for many years when he received a letter from his stake president inviting him to come back to church and to faith.  He didn’t respond to the invitation but mulled it over in his mind for more than a year.  

Anticipating a trip to Virginia to visit his daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren and knowing that they would be going to church, he determined that whatever meetings they went to, he would also attend. 

As my son listened, he recognized the story being related.  It was the story of my Grandpa Frischknecht, an article published in the Ensign in 1975 from a talk he had given at a stake conference the previous year.  My son pondered the chances that a woman in this chapel on this day would choose a story published 44 years ago to share Grandpa’s words and testimony with his great grandson who was half a world away from home trying to share his own testimony.   

“What may appear to be a random chance is, in fact, overseen by a loving Father in Heaven, who can number the hairs of every head. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s notice. The Lord is in the small details of our lives, and those incidents and opportunities are to prepare us to lift our families and others as we build the kingdom of God on earth. Remember, as the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.’

Grandpa Frischknecht and Rebekah 1974

“The Lord’s hand is guiding you. By “divine design,” He is in the small details of your life as well as the major milestones. As it says in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; … and he shall direct thy paths.”  I testify that He will bless you, sustain you, and bring you peace.” (Elder Ronald A. Rasband, October 2017)

From a stake president’s letter, to a quiet decision, and down through years and generations, the Lord is weaving the tapestry of our lives.  No moment goes unseen, no prayer goes unheard and occasionally we get a glimpse and see His hand as He walks with us on our mortal journey.  Each glimpse testifies that we can be at peace, His hand is over us.

2 thoughts on “By Design

  1. Rosalie Springer Davis

    So beautiful! I don’t believe in coincidences. I see the Lord’s hand in everything. And you were a gorgeous baby! Love you!❤️

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