Physical Preservation and Strength during Dedication

At 86 years of age, Wilford Woodruff performed the strenuous duties of dedicating the temple, which included reading a lengthy 35-minute dedicatory prayer. Observers and the President himself noted that he was blessed with the strength and vigor of a man fifty years his junior. Furthermore, despite his advanced age, he was able to read the lengthy manuscript of the prayer without the need for his reading glasses. This physical preservation was seen by many as a miracle of the power of prayer and the sustaining grace of God, allowing him to fulfill his prophetic duty to dedicate the temple. The ease and clarity with which he performed these tasks served as a testament to the divine support provided to the leadership of the Church during the most significant events of the restoration, ensuring the dedication was completed as intended.

Fuller account of this event (from LaRene Gaunt, "The Power of God Was with Us," Ensign, Mar. 1993, 28–31):

After talks by all three members of the First Presidency, President Wilford Woodruff knelt on a "plush, covered stool" and offered the dedicatory prayer. "He offered the prayer seemingly with [the] strength of a man fifty years old," wrote David John of the 86-year-old prophet, who read the 35-minute dedicatory prayer "unhesitatingly without glasses." Nearly fifty years earlier, President Woodruff had dreamed that Brigham Young gave him the keys of the temple and told him to go and dedicate it. This event was the fulfillment of that dream.