Save the Finger

Marina, California, 1979:

I had been working on my spirituality by daily praying and studying the scriptures, and by listening to Holy Ghost and acting on His promptings without questioning them. For instance, if I was walking out the door and the thought came in my head, "Your keys are not in your purse," in days past I would respond, "They are too in my purse. I just saw them there." Without checking my purse I would lock the door, close it, and then discover I was locked out of the house. So, I was working on just going along with the prompting rather than question it.

On this particular morning I had done everything to invite the Spirit. (It was a rare morning, but this time I got it right). I spent time in morning prayer and scripture study. Then, Amy age 5, Billy age 3, new baby Sarah, and I headed out to take a city bus to Salinas. I was in the Stake Relief Society Presidency and we were to visit one of the weekday Relief Society meetings at a Salinas Ward.

We arrived at the church building and I took the children to the bathroom before they were to go to the RS Nursery. I sent Billy into the Boys' Bathroom and took Amy and Sarah into the Girls'.

As Amy and I were exiting the Girls' bathroom, I could hear Billy yelling that he could not open the door. It was too heavy. I rushed off to help Billy. Amy was exiting the doorway behind me and accidentally put her finger in the door jam. The door closed on her finger, trapping her, and slicing her finger almost completely off!

I rushed back to rescue Amy and the thought came into my head, "Save the finger." I took a diaper out of my purse and shoved Amy's finger as much together as I could.

At that point I knew I needed to get Amy to a hospital, but I didn't even own a car. One of the women at the building volunteered to drive me. As we were driving she told me that she hadn't planned on coming to Relief Society that day, but decided she would come after all. She thought at first she would ride her bike, but then changed her mind and decided to drive her car. Then, she thought about needing gasoline, and decided to get gas before the meeting.

At the hospital, the doctor re-attached Amy's finger and said he had no way of predicting if it would heal. Tom gave her a blessing and after several weeks Amy's finger healed completely.

At first I blamed myself for Amy's injury. I should have held the door for her before rushing off to help Billy. As this woman spoke, however, I realized that she was totally prepared to help me out in my time of crisis.

Sometimes bad things happen, whether from our own negligence or bad choices by ourselves or others. Heavenly Father knows us. He knows our needs. He stands ready to help us and even prepares others to help us in our moments of distress.