Dreams

The Church couldn’t get past all the government red tape—until a well-connected local woman had a remarkably specific dream.

This excerpt originally ran on LDS Living in December 2019 and is being shared again in honor of Joseph Smith's birthday.

In an article in the September Ensign, Sister Aburto testifies of the power of healing found in the temple and shares how that power provided healing in her own life.

Dreams given to members of Joseph Smith’s family helped prepare them for the challenges and trials that they would face in coming years. An anticipation of the gospel was planted in their hearts by inspired dreams which made the Restoration that much more precious to them. When young Joseph shared his visions and revelations, his family members were ready to believe and sustain him.

In the scriptures, the Savior affirms that we “shall see my face and know that I am” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:1). It should come as no surprise, then, that the Savior would appear to men and women in dreams. The children of God in all nations have His promise that He can manifest Himself to them. The Book of Mormon teaches, “He manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith” (2 Nephi 26:13). Certainly, the Lord is no respecter of persons when it comes to whom He will manifest Himself unto. . . .

Like birth, death is a necessary and essential part of the plan of salvation (see Moses 6:59–62)—which Jacob and Alma both called the “great plan of happiness” (2 Nephi 9:6; Alma 42:8). Facing death can be one of the most fearful experiences of mortality. For the righteous, though, death can be sweet and need not be feared (see Alma 27:28). Indeed, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that “those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:46). On the other hand, for people who die not in Christ, death can be a bitter experience (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:47), and the thought of an approaching death can create foreboding, trepidation, and fear. Dreams regarding death can serve as a powerful reminder that this life is the time for us to prepare to meet God (see Alma 12:24; 34:32). . . .

We’ve all heard stories of people claiming to have received messages from God through their dreams. Is that really possible? Does the Lord communicate with us through dreams, and if so, how does it work? On this week’s episode of All In, Ken Alford, co-author of Dreams as Revelation, dives into what we know about these nighttime revelations.

Many years ago in my native home of Mexico, my uncle became very ill, and it was clear that he would soon pass away. Relatives gathered at his bedside, crying and mourning his passing. I was only a child at the time, but I felt very sad about my uncle.

Learn how newly called General Authority Seventy Elder Rubén V. Alliaud found the gospel as a teenager and later found his wife after receiving revelation through a dream.

Kim White is a Latter-day Saint woman who has been battling stage 4 cancer for nearly five years—something doctors told her at the time of her diagnosis that she would be lucky to do.

Have you ever visited a place where everyone spoke a different language than you? Even if a place is beautiful, not being able to communicate makes it very difficult to enjoy being there.

A number of years ago I had a wonderful dream. In most of my dreams I am frantically trying to find a class at school and I can’t remember where it is, my books are in my locker, and I can’t remember my combination. Or I am moving in terribly slow motion, running from something or toward something and making no progress whatsoever. Do you have those sorts of dreams? I call them school nightmares. But this was a lovely dream. The kind sent to us by God, not drawn from our own subconscious fears and aspirations.

This article is republished with permission from Book of Mormon Central. For more inspiring and instructive content on the Book of Mormon visit Book of Mormon Central, subscribe to our mailing list, see our YouTube videos, and follow us on Facebook.

The following is an excerpt from theChurch's new groundbreaking history, Saints: The Standard of Truth. Read it for free through the Gospel Library app and at saints.lds.org or buy a hard copy to own at Deseret Book. Get more insights into Church history with theSaints podcast.

Emotionally and physically exhausted, President Heber J. Grant worried over his 7-year-old son— who lay seriously ill and in excruciating pain. President Grant was terrified at the idea of losing another child, having already lost one son, but then an other-worldly dream comforted his breaking heart, preparing him for the pain which was to come.

That our Heavenly Father communicates with us through vivid dreams is a living reality among early converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana.

Answers to prayer usually come in quiet ways to mortals through the mediation of the Holy Spirit and through the intervention of other mortals. There are times, however, when God chooses to do the unusual—to give visions or dreams, to send angels from the courts of glory, in short, to minister to our needs in truly spectacular ways. Nephi explained that on certain occasions God “hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime. And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me” (2 Nephi 4:23–24).

As an apostle of the Lord and now our living prophet, President Russell M. Nelson has had many sacred experiences receiving revelation to guide the Church and to bless individual lives. One beautiful story of a dream he had can give us unique insight into how this revelation is sometimes received.

Many Latter-day Saints have had sacred experiences through dreams. In fact, as Elder Richard G. Scott revealed, dreams are one of the ways our Heavenly Father communicates with His children:

Sister Reyna I. Aburto was just 9 years old when a horrific earthquake changed her life.

For most of the thirty-nine years Samuel King [president of the Sudoeste District of the Uruguay-Paraguay Mission] spent as an administrator of a large meat-packing plant [in Montevideo, Uruguay], he was a staunch member of the Church of England. . . .

One evening when I was serving as stake president in Manti, Utah, Brother Roscoe Eardley of Salt Lake City, a member of the Church Welfare Committee, stayed at our home. He related the following memorable story to us:

Wendell Bradford Terry (known to his friends as Mike) and Beverly Ann Dodge married while Terry was on leave during his training to become a B-17 bomber pilot. Beverly and Wendell were allowed to live together during much of Lieutenant Terry's training, but when Wendell left for the European theater, Beverly moved back to Utah to be with her family.

"Mom, look! They've got cows!"

The people of Connecticut in those days thought it wicked to believe in any religion, or belong to any church, except the Presbyterian. They did not believe in having any prophets, apostles, or revelations, as they had in the days of Jesus, and as we now have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While traveling through Arkansas, President Wilford Woodruff and the elders traveling with him decided to pay a visit to a Mormon family living in the area.

What do you do when you have a dream that someone you know on the other side of the world gets cancer, dies, and you attend the funeral? That’s exactly what happened to me a few years ago. I awoke from the dream thinking, "even if this person were to die from cancer, who would notify me of such an event?"

When he was just 9 years old, Lorenzo Young, Brigham Young's younger brother, had a dream about his older brother's destiny that would prove prophetic. Here is what Lorenzo Young had to say about his dream:

Shortly after my mother committed suicide by setting our home on fire, my father, younger brothers, and I temporarily moved with my aunt and her family.

Headstone still fresh on his grave, my eldest son showed up in the middle of the night with the key to the meaning of life. In this dream where Parker appeared, I was guiding my three surviving children through a city I knew well. It was evening, I was sad and wrung out and felt pressed to get to my car, to get back home.

While dealing with her son's violent tantrum, one LDS mother's desperate prayer was answered by a strange prompting and an even more bizarre but comforting dream of whipped cream.

How can we find answers to difficult questions or receive inspiration, even while we sleep? Dr. Judith Orloff offers some interesting insight and suggestions.