A few years ago, my family was struggling as we dealt with two of our children having a genetic mental illness that left our family so vulnerable. The illness was like a light switch. When the lights were on, everything was good. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the light would be switched off and my children would attempt to take their lives. Our family was close and my children expressed how they would find comfort in our home. It was their place of refuge. As their mother, I walked with anxiety constantly not knowing when the light would be turned off again. I felt helpless.

It was during this time that I turned to genealogy. It was a way for me to concentrate on something and it had a rhythm about it that brought me peace. One day, I was working on finding a relative from Germany. I was trying to figure out her family. Did she have a child that passed away? Was she married twice and had children from different husbands? I couldn’t leave her record until I figured out her details. It was late, but I figured out her family situation and submitted it to FamilySearch. She was ready for temple work. I went to bed late.

The next morning, my daughter, one of my children who was struggling, came downstairs. She said, “I had the strangest dream. I met a lady from Germany. She spoke to me in German. I don’t know German, but I understood what she said. I felt that I knew her, and she told me everything was going to be okay.”

As I heard her say that a lady from Germany came to her, I started to cry. I knew it was this lady that came to help me as I had helped her. I remembered the scripture, Malachi 4:6 – “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers (mothers) to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (mothers).” I know that this sweet lady, who I helped prepare her family for the temple, came to my daughter and to me in time of need to let us know everything was going to be okay.

-Melissa Schaefer, Patron, Granite Family History Center