The Third Person I'll Meet in Heaven

I remember a few years ago I came across the Mitch Albom story, "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". I was immediately fascinated by how the five people he met were not necessarily the people he associated with the most. Instead they were all people that he had influenced, or who had influenced him- some of which he had never met before.

Although I'm not sure this is how heaven works, it got me thinking. What 5 people will I meet when I get to Heaven?

... Well, the first one is a no-brainer; God. The second is equally as simple; My Savior Jesus Christ. Number 3 is where things get tricky, but after a lot of thought and careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion of who it would be. The answer? The Prophet Joseph Smith. 

Now lets take a journey back in time to when I was 12 years old......

I was given an assignment from one of the leaders of my youth group to read Joseph Smith's account of the vision he saw of God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ and how he came to be a Prophet of God (Click here to read it or Click here to watch it) and then pray to know if it was true. She wanted me to share my experience the next week at church in front of all the 12-18 year old girls.   

This was a story that I had heard many times in my life, but I decided I needed to test it. I was going to read the account, and I was going to pray. So I did. 

Before I read the passage I prayed that I would know the truth. I tried to read as intently as a twelve-year-old girl can. After I finished reading I prayed again and I asked God if it was true... could this really happen?

Nothing. I didn't feel anything. No big warm feeling overcame me. No angels appeared in my room. No thoughts came to my head. No voice told me it was true. 

I was a little disappointed. I fully intended to read it and have some BIG revelation that it was true. I got nothing. What was worse was that I had to tell everyone about my experience, and I had nothing good to tell. The next few days I stressed about it and prayed about it again and again. Still nothing.

Pretty soon we were back at church and I was standing in front of all my peers, my older sisters and their friends, my mom, and many others whom I loved and respected. I was about to open my mouth and tell them how I had prayed, but in that exact moment an overwhelming feeling came over me. It was peaceful, calm, and reassuring. My mind went back to my 10th birthday when my family was in Palmyra, New York and we visited the Sacred Grove... the same place where Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I remembered the feeling I had standing there, just 10 years old and knowing it was a special place. Then my mind jumped to the previous year (11 years old) and I read the Book of Mormon for the first time on my own, cover-to-cover. Then I had prayed to know of it's truth, and I remembered how I had an overwhelming feeling that I had always known it was true. I had never doubted the that the Book of Mormon was the word of God, and I knew that the Book of Mormon came to be by the Power of God, THROUGH the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

That was when it hit me- I didn't need a big feeling or a miraculous experience to know that it was true, because I already knew it was true. I had already done the searching and the asking before and God had freely given me an answer then... an answer that I could not deny. An answer I knew would never change. God also brought these thoughts and feelings back to my remembrance in a time when I started to again question the truth I had already found to remind me. 

Since that time I have asked a lot more questions. I have searched and studied and learned more and more about God and Prophets, and about who I am as a daughter of God and what that really means. The answers always come, although they rarely come the way we expect them to. 

You know how there are some people you just connect to when you meet them, like you have known one another forever? Well, that is the way I feel about Joseph Smith. The more I learn about him and his life and the legacy that he has left, the more I know that he and I were once great friends, and I can't wait until I get to see him again and thank him for all that he has done for me and mankind in bringing the fulness of Jesus Christ's church back to the earth. My heart breaks a little thinking of all the pain and trials that he endured because he knew this was true and how badly we needed to know it too. I am coming to know, but I want all those I love to come to know that too!