I am the choir director in our Ward and we had planned to sing "For the Beauty of the Earth" today in church. Just after the sacrament was passed the daughter of our accompanist (piano player) came over and said "my mom is leaving for a family issue and can't play for the choir". To make a long story short, I became the accompanist and a young woman in our ward lead the song. I was nervous because I had only played through the song once or maybe twice at home a few weeks ago and knew that it would be mostly sight-reading. I said a silent prayer and the show went on. I goofed up the introduction but stopped and told the leader that I needed to try that again. This time I played it nearly perfect and was able to play through the song without many errors including two key changes!
Later in primary during sharing time, our primary president was discussing spiritual gifts and mentioned that angels are a spiritual gift and are there to help and attend to us. It became very clear to me that I had an angel with me at the piano and that it was my deceased daughter, Savannah who had helped me play the song. She was a gifted pianist while on the earth and so when I had those thoughts I knew that I had been blessed by her presence and talent when I needed help. I'm thankful for prayers that are heard and answered and the knowledge that we are attended by Angels.
We had just been talking about Angels and reading about them in the LDS Living magazine. Our family has always felt that we have been blessed and protected with the help of Angels. In the scriptures, Angel or Angels are mentioned 506 times and have been mentioned in General Conference 7,304 times since 1851. The Angel Moroni statue is seen on all but 8 of our Temples out of 141 currently operating.
In a world where there is much turmoil and trouble, I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who cares for each of us and will not leave us alone and who has angels to surround us when we need it.
