Disappointed Patriarchal Blessing


Logan86
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Hello. I had my testimony a little shaken tonight and I could use some help. Due to recent events and a strong prompting from the spirit, I felt it was time to receive some guidance through a PB.

I prepared as best i could and was anxious for what would he shared.  Meeting the patriarch helped as he explained this would be a road map for my life and if I adhered to its guidance, blessings would easy my way back to heavenly father. I felt like this is what jireally needed and felt the spirit greatly during the blessing. I was surprised at the length of the blessing. The man talked for what my said was over 10-15mins. I was thrilled at what was shared and the spirit that we all felt...until it was over. The tape recorder had failed to capture any of it.

I was and still am crushed. The patriarch quickly started the blessing over which lasted a grand total of 4 mins. He was flustered to say the least. It was so generic and  bland that I felt as if someone had sucked the spirit right out of me. It was so bad ,The patriarch even forgot to detail what tribe I am apart of. I have never had my Hope's dashed so terribly before. I felt and still feel deeply torn and sad because of this. My testimony is shaken because if this is truly the word of god then what happened to the spiritual message and comfort this is supposed to bring me. All I feel is grief and the weakening of my testimony. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

1. This shouldn't weaken your testimony.  Remember the patriarch is just a regular guy, and mistakes happen.  Regular guys get nervous, and flustered.  Forgive him.

2. On occasion the church gives permission to have a blessing re-done.  Perhaps at the juncture where the patriarch realized his mistake, he should have re-scheduled with you rather than try to do it again while flustered.  Again, he's just a guy who makes mistakes.  Talk to him, or your bishop about having it re done.  

Patriarchal blessings are amazing, and I would encourage you not to be upset, or lose testimony over this.  What has changed?  You didn't have a blessing, you went to get one, a mistake was made, and you essentially don't have one now.  So what has changed?

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The older I get, the more I believe that many "coincidences" are not coincidental at all (except in the fact that they happen at the same time). For example, perhaps the patriarch's words were for your ears only, not to be kept on the Church's records. That seems a bit far-fetched, but I could believe it. Even if it was a simple mistake, so what? People make mistakes. No big deal. God still loves you. Get another patriarchal blessing, and even if it is not "the same", you heard what you heard.

I have a nephew who received a certain and quite magnificent patriarchal blessing. When he got it back, the blessing seemed to have been significantly changed, and instead of the great and sweeping promises that had been voiced about mission, eternal marriage, and family, contained many warnings, admonitions, and promises about repentance. Unbeknownst to anyone else, my nephew had decided to pursue a different course in his life, one that did not include adherence to gospel standards and teachings. His "reworded" patriarchal blessing contained information more in line with his actual life choices than the original. Take this for what you will, but to me it demonstrates that God talks to his children in their weakness, and that we have many possible paths before us and many possible different sets of counsel that might be useful to us.

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On 7/28/2018 at 7:37 PM, Logan86 said:

Hello. I had my testimony a little shaken tonight and I could use some help. Due to recent events and a strong prompting from the spirit, I felt it was time to receive some guidance through a PB.

I prepared as best i could and was anxious for what would he shared.  Meeting the patriarch helped as he explained this would be a road map for my life and if I adhered to its guidance, blessings would easy my way back to heavenly father. I felt like this is what jireally needed and felt the spirit greatly during the blessing. I was surprised at the length of the blessing. The man talked for what my said was over 10-15mins. I was thrilled at what was shared and the spirit that we all felt...until it was over. The tape recorder had failed to capture any of it.

I was and still am crushed. The patriarch quickly started the blessing over which lasted a grand total of 4 mins. He was flustered to say the least. It was so generic and  bland that I felt as if someone had sucked the spirit right out of me. It was so bad ,The patriarch even forgot to detail what tribe I am apart of. I have never had my Hope's dashed so terribly before. I felt and still feel deeply torn and sad because of this. My testimony is shaken because if this is truly the word of god then what happened to the spiritual message and comfort this is supposed to bring me. All I feel is grief and the weakening of my testimony. 

If I were you, I would write everything I could remember from the original down. Then pray and ask God to reveal what was lost to you (After all that is how we got a lot of the pearl of Great Price and the JSTs)

There is also something to be said about vague and short patriarchal blessings. I had a mission companion that showed me the length of his, 4 1/2 pages. I was at first jealous as mine was about 1 3/4 pages. But he told me that his patriarchal blessing was so incredibly detailed to the point that most of the blessings and guidance had timelines of some sort connected to them making it difficult for any interpretation. 

Ambiguity can sometimes be a major blessing and lead to great spiritual experiences.

i also love what @Vort said about “coincidences”. What a great opportunity to build your faith!

And hey... maybe under the circumstances you can request another blessing and be among the few that received 3 patriarchal blessings ;)

Edited by Fether
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