Mysterious Ways

Think for a moment about sex. (If you're like most people, you were already thinking about sex, so I'm not asking much.) Sex can be a bad thing. If a man rapes a woman, it's bad. If a teenage girl who isn't ready to raise a child gets pregnant, it's bad. If a guy has a porn addiction, it's bad. If a woman uses sex to manipulate her lover, it's bad. But sex can also be a good thing. Sex can strengthen the intimacy between a married couple. Sex can create bodies to bring spirits into the world. And, I hear, sex can be a lot of fun.

The more I think about it, the more I think mutant powers are like sex. If you use them to hurt people, or to gain fame and glory for yourself, then they are bad. But if you use them to help people and you give the glory to God, maybe they can be good. I mean, God made me, mutant power and all, and God doesn't make bad things. If I hadn't used my power to fly myself, Chenry, and Tara out of that explosion on Christmas Eve, we'd all three be dead. And if Jan hadn't used her power to heal us, we could just as easily be dead, or crippled, or scarred for life. No matter how I look at it, I cannot see how using our powers that day was a bad thing. Our mortal existence is a precious gift from our Heavenly Father, and I believe he wants us to do whatever we can to make the most of it.

I've been thinking about the blessing I gave Lucy back in November, and the one her father gave her not long after that. We both promised her that she would be healed. On the one hand I could look at where Lucy is now, literally on her deathbed, and say, "Boy, were we wrong. I guess priesthood blessings don't work." Or, I could trust that God inspired us to make that promise, and ask how he plans to fulfill it. Sometimes a blessing promises that you'll be healed, and then bam, you're healed--as if by magic. Other times, a doctor is inspired to prescribe the right medication or do the right test, and that's how God heals you, through the "magic" of modern science. And maybe sometimes, God heals you through his sons or daughters who happen to have mutant powers--powers that he gave them. Maybe sometimes, through a random chain of events that involve your home teacher coming out to you as a mutant and later introducing you to his mutant girlfriend, God puts the one person in your life who has the power to fulfill his promise to heal you.

Now I just need to convince Jan that she is that person.