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VIEW PERSONAL BELIEFS
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POSTED BY:
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jeycat
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DATE:
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17.02.2010 |
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SUBJECT:
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Baptism for my son who died |
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LOCATION:
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Boston, United States
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Since both my husband & I were Converts to the church neither of us ever pushed any of our kids to get Baptised right at age 8yrs old. Our oldest3 children were Baptised when they asked to be. We made them take all the lessons from the Missionaries...just like we had to as adult converts. We talked about how proud we were for respecting their "free agency' & how we weren't like our own parents who "forced" their religion on us when we were kids. We always felt in our hearts that each of our children would eventually request to be Baptised & become Active members & that it would mean more to them if it was their own decision. Not that we didn't work on this in subtle ways...like having the Missionaries over the house a couple times a month for dinners, or getting the kids to ALL the Youth Activities. Having a Ward meMember teach our oldest a little bit about playing guitar...subtle pushes in the right direction.
Unfortunately Life doesn't always work out the way we expect it too. Things get complicated. We became "inactive". My 3rd son was only 7yrs old when this happened.He was NEVER Baptised! He commited suicide at age 13 yrs old (oct 16, 2008). He was being bullied by a couple of older boys & never told anyone. We found out afterward. It wasn't much more then most teenagers go thru in todays world there are MANY cases of children being bullied by their peers which end up becoming this type of tradgedy. It's just something you NEVER expect to happen as a parent.
My husband & I have been besides ourselves with gulit over this situation. For over 12months my former neighbor, best friend & (also) inactive member talked, emailed, & facebooked thru the grief. Her son had been best friends with my son. He volunteered to go to Temple Classes & be Baptised for his friend (my son). Unfortunately 13 yr olds have a differnet concept of time, lot's of other things on their mind on a daily basis (like girls & sports lol) They don't live close to a Temple either so they would have had to make it a weekend type family trip.
Finally this past Dec. I called our local Bishop. He was here at my house within 3days. I was back at church SOON after. We are Blessed to live less than 15 minutes from the Boston Temple. We planned to have my husband get his Temple Recommend & be Baptised for our son within the next few months.
My son (Graham) didn't want to wait. He came to me in a dream which my Bishop called a Revelation. My son was waiting to be Baptised & wanted us to work to do it asap. Our Bishop found another formally "inactive" who had recently come back to church after 13 yrs. He had just earned his Temple Recommend & was thrilled to be able to do his VERY first Temple Baptism for my son
On Tuesday Feb. 9th. I was sitting in my living room with my oldest son (age 25 & as he puts it "not ready to become active again...yet). We were talking about his brother & how the Baptism was happening that evening. I was lamenting not being able to have my Temple Recommend yet as I'm still struggling with smoking....started after my son died. (NASTY addiction to fight thru). All of the sudden I got this overwhelming ENTIRE body feeling of joy. Inside my chest I also felt a strong sense of peace.
I looked at my son (with tears in my eyes) & asked him what time it was. We looked at the dvd clock on the tv. It was just changing from 8:06-8:07PM. I heard myself say "Your borothers Baptism was just done & he accepted it...he's so thankful & happy. He's at peace now". Around 9:pm my Bishop called me to tell me the Baptism was done. I told him I already knew. When I related how I knew he asked if I knew what time I felt this. When I told him he got VERY quiet & passed his phone to the Brother who was baptised for my son. I related my feeling to hi. He kind of gasped. The time was EXACT!
I KNOW this church is True. I know that Temple work is Powerful & a Blessing from our Heavenly Father. I KNOW my son was waiting for his Baptism. He wanted us to go back to church so we could do this for him...& so that we can do the rest of our Temple work for the rest of our family. While it is sad that He's not here with us on Earth anymore., I know he is in Heaven waiting for us...watching us. He's still our son...we're still connected. We will ALL be together again with him someday. Families truely are forever! Heavenly Father, Jesus, & of course Joseph Smith have provided the way & instructions for not just our family BIT all families to be together for ALL Time & Eternity. I am SO Thankful!
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