Thine Angels Have Charge Over Them

There are great and wonderful blessings to be had in Temple worship. If you've found this blog and are taking the time to read it, most likely you already share that same feeling and knowledge. In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph spoke these words found in D&C 109:22:

"We ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them."

I've underlined four separate parts, but I only want to discuss the last six words of the verse, "Thine angels have charge over them." There are different ways this can be understood, one of those ways is that his angels will literally look after and protect us and those around us until our mission is finished. I want to share a journal entry about an amazing story from a Sister in Florida. This isn't to sensationalize the promise, but to illustrate one facet of its literal interpretation.

This account was shared in a testimony meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the story as written in my journal:

This sister is a worker in the Orlando Temple and as the sisters in the Temple were having there prayer meeting, Sister Hessi (another temple worker) recounted a story from her life that goes something like this:

One day Sister Hessi was doing names in the Temple. She was finishing up her session and was going to go home, however, she felt prompted to stay and do another name.  She hesitated because she had a baby sitter at home and gave the babysitter the time in which she would return.  But, she decided to stay and follow the prompting. She did the name for one more sister.

As she was driving home she noticed the emergency response vehicles in the area and realized they were at her house.  As she walked in the front door the babysitter said “I’m so sorry, I only turned away for a second”.  Her child had been swept away in the stream behind the house and had been swept under the culvert, they still hadn’t found the body.  She was going to go help look for her daughter when she felt like she should look in her room.  As she opened the door to her room, there was her daughter  all wet and dirty.  Sister Hessi asked her daughter how she got to her room and her duaghter didn't remember how she got out of the river, only that a nice lady brought her back to the room.  Sister Hessi asked what the nice lady's name was and it was the same name that she had just done in the Temple prior to going home that day."

There are MANY incredible blessings to be had with sincere and frequent temple worship. In addition, to this wonderful story of a mother in Orlando, it's my witness that when we attend to this great work, his angels WILL have charge over us - I know that to be true. I would encourage all of us to consider our temple worship. Is it just another ritual or is it something much deeper for you and I individually?