I saw these gorgeous irises on my walk home from church and choir practice today. I’m so grateful for beauty all around me! So much beauty in nature abounds!

This week in the Come Follow Christ study, we read from the book of Joshua. I love the verse from Joshua 3:5:

“And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

One of the questions to ponder in the study guide is “How has the Lord done wonders in your life?”

I just love that question! Here’s how I saw the Lord work a wonder among me today and this past week.

First, a story from today. Just this morning in sacrament meeting (church congregational meeting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) I was asked to report on my missionary son, if there was a time at the end after the two scheduled speakers. This was a big surprise! I had been previously asked to do it next week on Sunday 5/31. I was prepared though by the Holy Spirit for this. Early Saturday morning, I woke up around 4 AM and didn’t fall back to sleep right away. As I lay there between full wakefulness and full sleepful-ness, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me an outline for my sacrament meeting talk that I thought was going to be in two Sundays. So in the 7 minutes or so I had after I was invited to speak, I fleshed out my outline in my journal/notebook/planner that I always bring to church. Turns out, there was about four minutes left for me to squeeze in my talk.

The Lord had prepared me for this opportunity. That’s a wonder! I didn’t know I would be asked to speak but the Lord did. That’s why He gave me an outline in my sleep. I felt such peace when I got the outline and knew it would be perfect.

Interestingly enough, the Holy Spirit gave me that scripture from Joshua above for my talk today as the first point in my outline. Here it is again:

“And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Joshua 3:5.

One of the wonders in my life is that my son is on a mission.

So here’s basically the rest of the talk I gave today. I added some parts I didn’t have time to include this morning.

As I pondered the question “How have you seen the Lord work wonders among you?”, referring to Joshua 3:5 in the Come Follow Christ study guide, I thought of my missionary son. Almost every day I marvel at the miracle that he is on a mission.

It was four years ago that he told us he wasn’t going on a mission. This broke my heart. A month or two after that he moved out of our home, to live his last year of homeschool high school at my brother’s home, because he didn’t like living by our family rules. I agreed to this, even though I wasn’t happy about it, because I felt the Holy Spirit telling me it was OK, to let him go. The Lord sent me comfort in the form of the Holy Spirit and a ministering brother.

During this time I prayed my heart out, every day, that my son (affectionately nicknamed “Cowboy” on this blog) would have a change of heart and turn towards Jesus.

Three years ago this coming month of June, Cowboy was living in Texas, having gone there to sell pest control for the spring and summer. I thought this was a totally bad, bad idea, back in February 2023 when he told us his plans, especially because he was going to go with a friend who was only 16. I thought the two of them living/working together was a recipe for disaster. I couldn’t do anything about keeping my son from going as he was 18, but I so wanted to tell my friend, the mom of my son’s friend, not to let her son go. But when I prayed about this God told me to be OK with all of it. So didn’t protest my friend’s decision to let her son go with my son and be roommates and co-workers in TX.

What a big surprise Cowboy gave us when he announced over the phone, from TX, in June 2023 “I’ve decided to go on a mission!”

Cowboy had been talking to a friend at church that day as the friend gave him a ride home. The friend was a returned missionary who told my son that going on a mission was the best thing he had ever done so far in his life. He encouraged my son to go on a mission too. Cowboy took this to heart as this RM had a similar background to my son. He prayed about it and felt God telling him to go. So he began preparing. Almost two years later my son left to go on his mission, to one of the states of the USA. English-speaking. This is truly a wonder and a miracle!

For months I had been praying that somehow my son would have a voice he respected and admired reach out to him and encourage him to go on a mission. My mother’s prayer was answered!

In Cowboy’s first area, he was asked to learn and speak Haitian Creole. This was a big surprise. He wasn’t asked to speak this when he got his mission call. Enough immigrants in his area were speaking Haitian Creole that the mission leaders extended this call to him and his companion. This lasted for a few months and then the mission leadership changed on July 1. The new mission leaders decided against this for various reasons so this call was rescinded.

My son was called to transfer to a small town after that, several hours to the south. He was in this small town for five transfers. (For the uninitiated, a transfer in LDS missionary lingo is about 6 weeks. Usually missionaires change locations at every transfer.) My son felt like he had been forgotten by the mission leader when he was left to languish in the same town for 5 transfers (30 weeks so almost 8 months). But he kept working hard, knocking doors and contacting people, preaching about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He also gave away many copies of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. One bright spot is that a member of the branch where he served gave him and his companion some really nice gym equipment, to stay in the elders’ apartment. Cowboy loves weightlifting. He even did it competitively before his mission, so this was a huge blessing to allow him to resume his passion during a trying time.

We got a letter from a member of this branch just a week ago. (Can you imagine, a hand-written letter? Hardly anybody does that these days!) Brother A. took the time to write and send this. He is a counselor in the branch presidency. He said that he was said that Cowboy had been transferred. He said he would miss his bright shining light, and that Cowboy was a hard worker. He also said that the little town where Cowboy served is a “hard row to hoe” in terms of doing missionary work for the Church, as most people are Southern Baptist. Yet despite the hardship, Cowboy persisted. Brother A. told us that his own grandson is about to go on a mission and he hopes that his grandson will be just a good a missionary as Elder Shumway.

Of course this just brought tears to my eyes. To think that four years ago he was dead set against going on a mission, and now he’s not only on a mission, but is working hard and warranting a glowing report, worthy of emulation!

Right now Cowboy is in a new area (he finally got transferred) where it is easier to preach. The people are more educated, have better jobs, and are more open to learning about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He got word that one of the people he found in the previous area where he had labored for so long has come to church and is now on date for baptism. So a seed he planted is bearing fruit!

That is how the Lord has worked a wonder in my life and in the life of my son.

We can all have wonders in our lives as we engage in the work of salvation and act on the invitations given to us in the scriptures and by the Holy Spirit. The ongoing restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly a work and a wonder for all of us. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

OK here are a few more wonders from my life this past month.

A new granddaughter! As I blogged last month here, she was born early Easter morning! A baby sister for her older brother, who I visited two years ago, when I saw the total eclipse. A week ago, I was in Dallas, soaking up all the newborn feels I could. I got to be there for her baby blessing, given by her father, my son. She wore the same dress my two daughters each wore when they were each blessed. As it is whenever I hold a new baby, I marvel at the tiny soul with the tiny eyes, tiny nose, tiny lips and chin. She moved her tiny little hands and gazed at the ceiling with those deep eyes of blue that speak of eternity. Occasionally I could get her to look at me. With new babies, I always wonder what the baby is thinking, and how amazing that a new soul is on the earth. And to think that every second new babies are being born. Life truly is a miracle and a wonder.

-I found two amazing songbooks at the Provo Deseret Industries, when I went thrifting for baby girl clothes for my new grandbaby.

First, this one.

This book has 15 new-to-me songs about heroes from the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. All by master songwriter Janice Kapp Perry! (I will do a full thrift haul report later this week. May was a very good month for thrifting!) I have been playing these on the piano and love them. I wish all my kiddos still lived at home and I could have them sing these songs with me.

Second, this one.

Oh, my!!!! This book is oh so, so, so fun! I went to D.I. to look for girl baby clothes, tis true, but of course I had to look at books too. I have a small space of emptiness on one of my shelves that is waiting to be filled. I remember thinking, “Oh it would be so delightful to find another Reader’s Digest songbook. I hope I do!” In the past two years or so, I have found four: the Children’s, the Popular Classics, the Great Music’s Greatest Hits, and the Family Songbook (the green one below), to add to the Christmas one I got for my 16th birthday. They are all so fun!

At first I didn’t find any. I kept looking..

and then…I found one! This was the Lord working a wonder in my life for sure!

It is similar to the green one I already have, that I also found thrifting, shown below.

They do overlap with some songs. Most of the songs though I’ve never seen before. I feel like doing a YouTube channel just to play the music in this book on the piano and share it with y’all. But I don’t want to deal with getting copyright permission and all that legal jazz so this summary below will have to do.

This book has so many oldies but goodies. All songs about faith in God. I love the vintage illustrations, so 70s! I have been playing one or two after every session of exercise. They totally motivate me. Here are some of the titles:

-“Somebody Bigger Than You and I”

-“Day By Day”

-“Happy Trails”

-“If I can Help Somebody”

-“In the Garden”

-“I Heard a Forest Praying”

-“Make Someone Happy”

-“My Cathedral”

-“I Found the Answer”

-“Daddy Sang Bass,” see versions above and below. Yeah, I love me some good Johnny Cash! What a sweet song about family music creating rich memories and building faith in God and heaven.

In short, I feel extremely blessed to find these two books. They just add a lot of delight and dazzle to my everyday life. I play a song in the morning to wake people up, a song after an exercise session, and then a song at night. I fantasize about getting my whole family around the piano to sing these. As they have left the nest it’s harder to make that happen so alas, I will be patient for that.

So those are some wonders in my life lately. My cup runneth o’er! I’m dealing with lots of hard stuff too so these wonders are indeed tender mercies to help me get through, praise the Lord. I’d love to hear some of yours!