About OUR Patriarchcal Blessings

I would like you to know about these - not in detail of course, but from what we learned and keep learning from having them.

As you know Edith Annie Hall Smith Rosenberg learned about the Church when she was recovering from the injuries she suffered in the automobile accident that killed her husband, my Dad, John Charles Smith in July 1955. When she decided to get her blessing she asked that I go with her. I may have a copy somewhere, but I don't know at this writting just where it might be. I just wanted you to know something about the experience. She was nervous, I don't know why, but she was. I sat in the room with her, and was amazed at the length of her Blessing. She was in her 70's at the time. One of the things that was promised her was that she would live to see her family "come into the Church". I thought that was a bit strange. None of them had been exposed to the Gospel that I knew of, and they all lived in Ohio so would not have had the necessary
knowledge to make them pron to any interest. And then just when I thought the Patriach was about to close he said the most amazing thing. "When you are in the twilight of your life" I sort of thought she might have just reached that stage, but he went ahead and continued blessing her. She lived long enough to work 10 years as an Ordinance Worker in the Los Angeles Temple, and do a great job at teaching the 3 year olds in Sunday School. The thing that was outstanding is that the last of her family passed away during those last 13 years and she was able to submit there names and have the Ordinances and Sealings done for them and their families. Thus filling that blessing of "living to see her family come into the Church." I am sure there were many other things we could point to as being literally fulfilled, but this one stands out - mainly because it seemed so unlikely to happen.

Jay Ford Rosenberg was a reluctant soul. It took me months to get him to ask for a recommend to get his Blessing. May I quote part of the opening of the Blessing he received. The first paragraph tells him what a Blessing is and how it should be used. The second pargraph, second sentence: "The Lord is especially pleased that you have seen fit to apply for a blessing". More than my ears perked up at that! As unlikely as it seemed at the time May 1956, he was told: "the time shall come when you enter into the House of the Lord". He did on the 20th day of August of that same year. He had no thought or idea of doing so at the time that Blessing was given. He was told: "at present you are living far below your possibilities - extend yourself" He was admonished to "seek out his ancestors". That he did, and continued to do. This part is SPECIAL: "I perceive that your name is on the Lambs Book of Life - make sure that it is always there." and again: "stand with the light within yourself. Do not walk in darkness at noon time." Of course those who are named in the Lambs Book of Life are those who have earned the Celestial Kingdoms greatest blessings. I wondered for years what: "walking in darkness at noon time" ment. Through study and reading I have leaned that means, one does not stumble in darkness when the light of the Gospel has been restored. He had that light within himself, he just had to let it shine. Before closing he was promised: "You shall labor with your resurrected body, with assigned responsibilities." I am not sure that Jay ever really grasped the full meaning of his Blessing. He was a valiant spirit before he came here, and he was able to build but a portion of what his capabilities were while here. He did have the spirit of discernment. He was faithful to the calls he received. Serving a Mission was not something he would have done in his youth, but he was able to fill an honorable Mission as a Senior. He was an Ordinance Worker in the Los
Angeles Temple and filled his calling there with great success.

Eileen Charmaine Smith Rosenberg is one of a very few that have received two Blessings. The first in December of 1954 and the second in April 1967. My first Blessing was given about two months after I was baptized. It states: "This blessing given at this period of your life gives you opportunities to go forward with increased knowledge". When I think about how little I knew and understood at that time, I can see the LORD was certainly aware of me. The blessing however did not pronounce my lineage. Rather it stated: "Thou are of the seed within the house of Isreal, even of that which is glorious in the sight of our Heanvely Father, the lineage that is within you is a blessing unto mankind, and before this world enters into the Millennium shall be important in the work of our Father in Heaven." For years I struggled with this declaration. It could mean any number of the lines in Israel, but I felt I needed to know just which one. I wrote to the Partriach of the Church Eldridge Smith. He gave permission for me to receive another Blessing to receive my lineage. He suggested I just might be from Judah - because of the name Rosenberg, but we knew that was not probable. In the Second Blessing it reads: "Sister Rosenberg, you are of Ephraim and you will receive your inheritance through this lineage. Our Father in Heaven has directed that His faithful children be blessed through this lineage." I was further told: "You have a responsibillity to live as a Latter-day Saint and to bear your testimony continually of the labors of the Prophet Joseph Smith." This I have tried to do. I was further told I would labor in the House of the Lord - this call did not come for another 30 years. But I can now testify that this part of my Blessing was fulfilled: "You will have the opportunity of laboring among our Father's children in the Temple and you will receive much joy and satisfaction in so doing." My first blessing closes with this: "I seal you up with these blessings, to come forth in the morning of the First Resurrection when our LORD and Savior shall begin the Millennium, you shall be a part there of and assist in that important work, then go from that sphere of action into the Presence of your Heavenly Father."

None of this is shared to brag, but to humbly share with my family the great blessing of having the hands of a servant of the LORD laid upon ones' head and receive the "paragraphs of possibilities" that can be received if the Blessing is read and followed. These Blessings are given to help us discover who we really are, and what we can receive at the hand of a loving Heavenly Father. It is and has ever been His pleasure to give His children their needs. Some come from obedience, others from the trials we pass through in this portion of our lives. When trials come, we are not to set down and ask "why me", but rather seek to find out "what was I ment to learn?" We grow in stature as we age, we grow in spirit as we use every experience as a tool to make all the rest of our experiences valuable. My Dad always taught us that: "nothing happens that isn't for our good." Even the hard lessons, the trying lessons, those that are even cruel. The LORD, after hearing Joseph ask: "How Long Oh LORD?" answered: "the LORD has decended beneath all of these, art thou better than HE?" No matter how hard this life may seem, it could never compare with what our LORD and Savior did for us. Lament, we will, I am sure. However to fall is not the end of the race. It will never be won until we cross the finish line - better put - endure to the end. To all those who may come after - you are worth what ever it takes to get you to that finish line. Skinned knees, twisted ankles, brused, broken or torn, it will never show when you come forward in the renewed and resurrected body each of us has been promised. It would be a shame to take such a tabernacle anyplace but into the presence of our Heavenly Father, and not just to make a report, but to live within His presence forever. This is the wish I have for each of you. I too wish as did the Savior that none will chose to lose here what we can have with a sure faith in the Gospel, and service in His Kingdom, here and hereafter.
written this 11 day of January 2009