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“Impossible” situations can sometimes open doors to beautiful experiences. The illusion of “impossible” can prevent us from exercising the faith to “move mountains” but believing that God can do anything, and that he WILL do something, is a recipe for a miracle.

Stuck on The Roof

Several years ago, my husband and daughter were out of town for the weekend, leaving me alone in the house. Before she left, my daughter asked me to water her plants while she was gone. At that time, we lived in Monterrey Mexico where everyone has flat roofs. People their use their roofs as a place for parties, gardens or extra floor space. My daughter planted an herb garden on our roof, so Saturday, I dutifully got the watering can, climbed to the roof and began to water her plants. Suddenly, a big wind came up, and whoosh, the door into the house slammed shut and locked.   The door had no way for me to open it from the roof side. I was STUCK up there!

I looked at all options.  There was no possible way for me to safely get down, because it was 25+ feet above the ground.  I had no cell phone with me.  All my numbers were in my phone in the house. I had no keys to the house, and no extra keys anywhere except inside the house.  Since it was Saturday, it was very unlikely that anyone would pass by on this little used street.  Besides that, neither neighbor seemed home, so no one would hear me if I called. All doors seemed slammed shut to me figuratively and literally.

That night was the Saturday Night session of our Stake Conference. I was the Stake Choir Director and had been working with this choir for 4 weeks. All the music for the performances was locked in my house. How could I get to it?  I had to be there to direct it by 6:00 pm that night for a rehearsal.   How was I going to get down from the roof to do it?  If it were any other day, I would have just resigned to waiting in a corner of the roof for 13 + hours until my husband came home about midnight, but I couldn’t consider waiting because of my music responsibilities. Something had to be done! But what?

Impossible

After surmising my situation, I determined that there was NOTHING I could physically do to solve this problem.  It was an IMPOSSIBLE situation!

I began praying, and asked the Lord to help me, KNOWING that somehow he would. If I just didn’t show for the Saturday night session of Conference, the choir would have no sheet music and no director, and would be very confused as to what to do that night and wouldn’t know how to plan for Sunday morning where we were singing 2 more songs in Conference. After praying, (with all the spiritual energy I could muster), I felt very peaceful.

Rescue

A minute or two later, a man walked up on my neighbor’s roof. Turns out, it was my neighbor, who I’d never met. I was astounded to see him, because they were rarely home. In the 6 months they’d lived there, I’d never actually seen him or his wife, except at a distance. I began to talk to him, from my roof to his, and after hearing my problem, he said, “I know a locksmith nearby that can be trusted.”  (A locksmith hadn’t even entered my mind). He immediately set out to fetch him.  Ten minutes later the locksmith came.  It only took him about 30 seconds to unlock my front door, come up the stairs, open the door onto the roof where I was, and set me free.

I felt SO blessed to have had such a quick answer to prayer.  It was an impossible situation, but within 30 minutes from the time I prayed, I was back in the house, marveling at the whole thing.  Some people may call this a series of coincidences, but to me, it was a miracle!

Impossible Is Only An Illusion

We all have desires for “impossible” things to happen, but Impossible is only an illusion that we create in our minds.  For God, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!   When we exert faith in the Lord that He WILL help us, we open a spiritual door so that God can work in and for us.

We don’t generally know what the result will be in our faith and prayers but trusting Him enough to know that He WILL help us is enough for a miracle, as long as we maintain that connection and focus.

To fully open doors to us, the Lord often also requires sacrifice.

Cruzeiro Miracle

Elder Neil L. Andersen tells this story:

“A month ago in Brazil, I met Aroldo Cavalcante. He was baptized at age 21, the first member of the Church in his family. His faith burned brightly, and he immediately began preparing to serve a mission. Sadly, Aroldo’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Three months later, only days before she died, she spoke to Aroldo of her greatest concern: There were no relatives to help. Aroldo would need to take full responsibility for his two younger sisters and his younger brother. He solemnly made this promise to his dying mother.”

“By day he worked in a bank, and at night he attended the university. He continued to keep his baptismal covenants, but his hopes for a full-time mission were gone. His mission would be caring for his family.”

The Sacrifice

“Months later while preparing a sacrament meeting talk, Aroldo studied the words that Samuel reprovingly spoke to King Saul: ‘To obey,’ he read, ‘is better than [to] sacrifice.’ Aroldo received the seemingly impossible impression that he needed to obey the prophet’s call to serve a mission. Undaunted by the obstacles before him, he moved forward with enormous faith.”

The Faith and its Miracle                                                                                                 “Aroldo saved every Brazilian cruzeiro he could. At age 23, he received his mission call. He told his brother how much to withdraw each month from his account for the family. Aroldo still did not have enough money to pay the full cost of his mission and the living expenses for his brother and sisters, but with faith he entered the MTC. A week later he received the first of many blessings. The bank that had employed Elder Cavalcante unexpectedly doubled the money he was to receive as he concluded his work. This miracle, along with others, provided the needed income for his mission and his family during his absence.” (Neil L. Andersen, October Conference 2015)

He opened the door of faith with his obedience, sacrifice, and steady positive feelings.

Doubt and Fear Create Illusion

In Lectures on faith it states:

“For doubt and faith do not exist in the same person at the same time; so that persons whose minds are under doubts and fears cannot have unshaken confidence; and where unshaken confidence is not there faith is weak.”   (Lectures on Faith 6)

Fear and doubt are negative emotions that will never help us tie into faith. They create the illusion of impossible. Faith is a mental and spiritual exertion that always has to STAY POSITIVE, or it will no longer be faith. Can we employ our faith to trust the Lord to do the impossible in our life?

Doing the Impossible

Elder F. Enzio Busche tells the marvelous story when he was a Branch President in Dortmund, Germany. His branch met in humble circumstances, and it was their dream to build a Chapel. They had several promising leads fall through, because it was next to impossible to get land or a permit to build there. And to make it worse, the government official who could have helped him refused, saying that as long as he was alive, the “Mormons” would not get permission to build in the city of Dortmund. Elder Busche continues:

“…Then the following happened: President Burton challenged the members of the branch to bring a special sacrifice to the Lord and show how serious we were in our desire to secure a piece of land. He challenged us to do 100 percent home teaching for several consecutive months and promised that the Lord would provide a miracle.”

It was a tremendously difficult thing for them to do because of the large number of less-active members on the roll. It meant that ALL the active priesthood, (numbering only about twelve) had to make an immense sacrifice of time. In one month, Brother Busche had to visit twenty-eight households, but this sacrifice brought forth a miracle.

The Miracle

About this time something very unexpected happened. Brother Busche was introduced to a man named Kurt Kauper. After this man discovered that Brother Busche was a member of the Church, he told him that in World War II he had been in a prison camp in Florida. The Captain of the camp was LDS and had had a tremendous influence on him. He attributed everything positive that he had achieved later in his life to this prison camp leader. When he discovered that there was a congregation of the Church in Dortmund, he felt he needed to ask what he could do for them. In answer to that shocking question, Elder Busche said, “We need a building lot so we can erect our chapel.” With a smile, Mr. Kauper replied, ‘That’s easy. I am the head of the real estate department of the city.’”

Mr. Kauper went out on a limb for the members there, even though it was extremely difficult, even for him to do. But in the end, he helped them acquire and build on a choice piece of real estate in one of the best parts of town. He was their miracle! (F. Enzio Busche Yearning for The Living God, 2004, p. 114-119)

Elder Busche and his Branch members humbly realized that through their faith, they had created the climate for God’s miracles to be made manifest. If God is no respecter of persons, what can we do to create this climate for miracles in our lives?

Four Things to Ask Ourselves When Praying for A Miracle

  1. Do I believe God can do the Impossible to help me?
  2. Can I allow God to solve this problem His way?
  3. What sacrifice am I offering? (Broken heart, fasting, obedience etc.)
  4. Am I focusing on light, beauty and God’s will? Or am I allowing doubt and fear to creep in? God only works in POSITIVE outcomes. When we keep focused on Him, we will be given peace through the crises and we will see the hand of the Lord manifested in our lives. It may not be what we envision at first, but ultimately the Lord will give us exactly what we need, filling our hearts with joy.

“Impossible” situations often open doors to beautiful experiences. There are mountains that CAN be moved and doors that CAN be opened with a combination of our faith and God’s will. Believing that God can do anything, and that he WILL do SOMETHING, is a recipe for a miracle.

What door can the Lord open for you?

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