What Kids Remember About the Pre-existence

[MorningStar]

I just had a really cool experience. My mom sent over a lady today to clean my apartment as it is really difficult for me to do having been contracting for at least two months. She was awesome! She doesn't just clean - she takes your stuff and tries to make everything beautiful. When she saw our big bathroom mirror, she asked if I had anything to decorate it with like ivy, some kind of fabric, etc., and I told her we have leaf garlands in storage, so she said, "Let's go down there and find them!" She beautified my bathroom! She said the creative stuff is her favorite part and she charges $200 no matter how long it takes her. She even started doing my laundry. I love her.

Anyway, I don't know how we got on the subject - we were talking about washing cats, oh yeah, she said it's been so hot her cats like being sprayed with cold water. I mentioned how I was a dog washer when I lived in Provo and she asked, "Oh, are you Mormon?" I said, "Yes, I am."

It has been quite a while since I have had a face to face conversation like this, so I was a little nervous at first, but she was very nice about it and said, "OH! Here I am drinking coffee in your house!" I said, "That's absolutely fine. No problem." We both worked together on getting things arranged better in here to prepare for the baby to come and she asked questions off and on, mentioning our church off of I-90. I said, "Oh, you mean the temple." Then I explained the difference between our regular chapels and temples and she was really cool about it. Later when I was explaining something, I said, "Sorry, that must be confusing. We also believe in life before birth - that we lived with God before we were born." She said, "I totally believe that! My church doesn't teach it, but I have always believed it." She said her son said things when he was little that made her think he remembered something from before he was born. This is not the first time someone has told me that. It was so awesome and I felt the Spirit so strong. It really made my day. I told her about some experiences with my kids, including the ones where I knew I had another one coming. She said she wants to e-mail me and hear more stories.

So my place is looking awesome (WAY better than it was before) and I got to share the gospel with someone today. It's been a good day.

I was wondering if you have any stories about children remembering things. My friend's daughter talked about how she remembers being with Jesus asking if she could be born yet because her mom was so sad. It took about 5 years for her to get pregnant and she said it was really hard to see her mom crying, but Jesus told her she had to wait a while. When her daughter told her these things, that's when she decided to come back to church.

[funkymonkey]

Originally Posted by MorningStar

My friend's daughter talked about how she remembers being with Jesus asking if she could be born yet because her mom was so sad. It took about 5 years for her to get pregnant and she said it was really hard to see her mom crying, but Jesus told her she had to wait a while. When her daughter told her these things, that's when she decided to come back to church.

Thanks for sharing this neat story. I don't have any stories but just wanted to say thanks!

[pam]

I posted this story a long time ago. But here it is again.

When my son Bryan was about 5 months old I was holding him during RS in the RS room. Had him up in the "burp" position. You know the one..Towel over the shoulder thing. He was looking behind me. We were in the last row so really not much for him to see. Anyway...he had been really fussy but all of a sudden he got really quiet. I looked at him and he had this big smile on his face. I'm thinking okay...what is making him smile as there is no one behind us. I turn around to see and there was a picture of Christ on the wall. He was looking at the picture and smiling. I knew right then and there without a doubt that we lived before we came here and we knew Christ. I knew that my son Bryan knew Christ and remembered him and smiled to see his picture.

[jimuk]

Hi, I have always had this theory about babies, you know how they appear to be smiling at nothing and laughing for no reason. Well my thoughts are that maybe they can still see into the spirit world from whence they came and the veil of forgetfulness comes down slowly as they take in more and more knowlege, of their mortal surroundings. The view and remembrance gets pushed further and further back, until it is gone, the veil has come down.

But As we get older and do good for others and maybe join the church, we get some of this back through the power of the Holy spirit, which in turn makes our own spirit stronger and this is how we felt before we came here. (maybe just maybe) just my thoughts.

[breeb]

I had a similar experience as Pam. I was not active when my son was born. We tried church in the begining but he had reflux so bad that he literally cried all day. It made church really difficult so we just didnt go. When he was about 12 months old I noticed he'd get excited every time he saw a picture of Christ. We never showed him one or even told him about Christ. It was something he just took to on his own. After I saw how excited he'd get I went to my scripture case on took out the picture of Christ I had been using as a book mark. He got so excited. We had shown him pictures of us and grandma and grandpa but he didnt really care about those, but he carried that picture of Christ everywhere. He'd get so excited. Jesus was actually his 3rd word. Right after momma and dadda. There's a Baptist church down the road from us and they have this big billboard of Christ out front. He'd get excited and yell, "Momma, Jesus!"

[rameumptom]

David J Larson's blog on Heavenly Ascents includes this blog about premortal remembrances and how Sarah Hinze has done some wonderful studies on it.

[Hemidakota]

MorningStar - there are countless stories of accounts of pre-mortal remembrance by children and by adults that could be shared but some are held as sacred and may not be printed without the original person consent.

[unixknight]

This is yet another example of the sort of thing that attracted me to the Church. It just makes logical sense when you think about it and read Scripture with an open mind.

I recently commented to my wife that the great thing about the Church is that it's simply logical. If one ever asks "What does the Mormon Church teach about..." The answer is usually whatever makes the most sense.

I've been reading some of the stories on the Sarah Hinze site and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes dry. My wife and I have a 4 month old baby girl and she exhibits some of the behaviors described there, in that she frequently looks around as if her eyes are tracking moving things that we cannot see, and smiles at empty air in exactly the same way she smiles when she looks at a face. There is no doubt in my mind that she sees things that are hidden from us, and I can't wait until she starts learning to talk so she can share some of it with us before t eh memories fade.

[Honor]

I used to drive between Salt Lake and Pocatello (for a boy! lol). I started buying books on tape (yes tape deck in my '82 Volvo) to listen to as I drove. One of them was called "One Tattered Angel: A Touching True Story of the Power of Love" by Blaine Yorgason.
It's about a baby that Blaine and his wife Kathy adopted in 1988. She was born with hydraencephaly -- only a brain stem and cerebrospinal fluid -- but with the love of this couple and their 6 children, she started responding to her environment and outlived her doctors best predictions and progressed beyond belief.
One part that I remember in particular told of how the spirit that the family kept in their home had a huge impact on the happiness of this dear little child. When there was contention and even sin in the home, she would have negative reactions and when they tried to bring the spirit into their home, she made progress like they never could have imagined.
I've thought about this story a lot over the years - thinking about how the condition of our spirit impacts our physical body. It will be amazing when we are finally able to understand all these things that our mortal minds can't comprehend or don't understand. Not exactly along the lines of infants and their connection to the heavens, but it reminded me of it.

[MorningStar]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments! Pam, that is so cool about your baby looking at Jesus. My son used to do that too. We were at my in-laws and at first I thought he was wanting my husband's candy wrapper, but then he moved out of the way and was smiling like crazy at the pictures of Jesus on their wall. It's so fascinating!