I am reading this book called 'Visions of Glory' by John Pontius. It is about a guy who had some near death experiences. What he learned in one near death experience is that God could actually turn around time. Meaning we could go back in time and repeat things, but it's not part of the plan on this earth. So we can't back track time. I was thinking about how that would be wierd if we actually could back track time.
That led to remembering a talk I'd heard awhile ago. It was by a lady named Stephanie Nielson who was in a small plane crash as of about 10 years ago. I believe it was early August of 2008 that the accident happened. She ended up having a near death experience as well, although she doesn't explain much on that in her book 'Heaven is Here.' But she was trapped in the plane while it was in flames. The people in the front had gotten out, so she was the only one trapped. She did have divine guidance in getting out of the plane or she'd be dead. But she got out and ended up seriously burned. After months in the burn center in Arizona and Salt Lake she's very functional now. But does look quite different from before due to skin grafts and such. She does a lot of going around and talking at firesides. This particular one I saw was recorded and put on youtube from a devotional at Utah Valley University. (UVU) Someone there asked that if she could repeat time would she get in the plane again knowing it would crash and burn? I expected her to say 'no way', but oddly enough she said 'yes.'
Anyway after remembering that and reading the book, I thought 'there is no way I'd want to repeat time.' But then I remembered if we could repeat time then I never would go back into that apartment I was in during 2017 with those really, really bad roommates. That would be nice to have that as something that never happened. But interesting enough I've realized this summer that I'm actually glad I lived in that bad apartment with the bad roommates and bad landlord. Because in Utah with mainly LDS people it's easy to be naive and assume everyone is good. (or you hope everyone is good) But I have thus realized from meeting those people that there is evil in Utah and even evil in the church. Not the church itself, but there are evil people who proclaim to be LDS and even go to church. I've become much more careful in the last 18 months. I have since made sure I have locks on my phone. If I meet someone I don't become tight with them super fast. I generally steer clear if I get bad vibes from them and don't think to myself 'okay I have to be friends with them to be a good LDS person.' I generally would think that before 2017 when meeting just about anyone. But you know what? It's actually okay to stay away from people who aren't a good influence or who will try and drag you down. Also I've thus realized from that incident that it really is good to call the police if your in a situation that calls for it. I previously thought it was better to stay away from the police. But technically they are trained to help people be safe. And some situations just aren't safe no matter how you try to get around it.
Most people who know about the bad roommate stuff from early 2017 will be surprised to hear that I'm glad now that I lived there. Because I majorly went off for a long time about how it was the most ridicules thing I had to live there. And I didn't understand why I had the impression to move there if it wasn't good to be there. But I really am glad I moved there because it's become a living reality that we have to be aware that there are evil influences in the world and not everyone is going to be as they proclaim to be. Unfortunately a lot of dishonesty happens and a lot of people in the world put on a fake face. Word from the wise: be careful as to who you associate with and don't trust everyone you meet just to prove your a good LDS person.
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