A Vision of Comfort While Driving

Gary L. Browning, a Latter-day Saint scholar and Church leader, experienced a profound spiritual manifestation during a period of intense personal and ecclesiastical stress. While serving in a foreign land where he was assigned to administer a significant Church entity, Browning carried a heavy burden of responsibility for the spiritual well-being of numerous Latter-day Saint members. Compounding this ecclesiastical weight was a deep, tormenting worry concerning an adult member of his immediate family who remained in the United States. Seeking divine assistance, Browning offered frequent and sincere prayers for the wisdom and strength necessary to address the needs of those relying on him. For a considerable time, these earnest petitions seemed to go unanswered, leaving him to wrestle with his overwhelming challenges. However, a miraculous blessing eventually came. Early one morning, while driving to his office and pondering his heavy responsibilities, Browning suddenly experienced what he described as being akin to a vision. Though the manifestation lasted only a few seconds, allowing him to safely continue driving in traffic without an accident, the experience provided a powerful spiritual witness. This sudden perception or vision served as a direct answer to his persistent prayers, anchoring his faith and providing the divine comfort and guidance he had been seeking. Browning later shared this account as a testament to the reality of spiritual gifts and the necessity of walking by faith, illustrating how God intervenes to support His servants during times of profound need and anxiety.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I had found myself assigned to administer a rather significant church entity in a foreign land where I was responsible for the spiritual well being of a considerable number of Latter-day Saint (Mormon) members. My almost numbing concern for them was combined with a tormenting worry about an adult member of my own immediate family whom I had left behind in the USA. My prayers for greater wisdom and strength to appropriately address the needs of those who had a claim on me for guidance were sincere and frequent—and, it seemed for a considerable time, unanswered. And yet, a blessing did come. Early one morning as I was driving to my office while again pondering my seemingly overwhelming challenges, I suddenly “saw” or perceived what I assume was akin to a vision. It must have lasted only a few seconds, if that, for I continued to drive in traffic without accident. As it were, I saw clearly in the sky above my head two long, slightly wavy, but (at least at the beginning) distinct lines of people standing one behind another. I immediately recognized in the front of their respective lines my deceased grandparents, uncles, and a cousin. I sensed that the lines stretching, it appeared, into infinity were made up of my departed relatives, beginning with the more recently deceased and extending back through ages of time. I perceived that these people all were looking at me with warmth, compassion, and encouragement, as though assuring me of their pledge of support. This glimpse into eternity provided me with a feeling of greatly needed reassurance, peace, and confidence.