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In general conference of 1985, Elder Thomas S. Monson shared a story of a friend named Stan, a man who had been taken ill and rendered partially paralyzed by the disease. Though the man had once been healthy and athletic, he was now left unable to walk or stand. Prayers of faith had been offered in the man's behalf, yet he lingered in the confinement of hospital bed and wheelchair. One day, late in the afternoon, I was at the Deseret Gymnasium, gazing at the ceiling, backstroking length after length of the pool, and I felt a communication from a heavenly source. I felt within my heart the message, "Here you are, swimming almost effortlessly, length after length of this pool, while your friend Stan languishes in his hospital bed at the university Hospital. Get out of that pool and up to his side, and give him a priesthood blessing." Tom hurriedly dressed and traveled to Stan's room at the hospital. Being told that Stan was at the pool preparing for therapy, Tom found him there alone at the edge of the deep end of the pool. After a greeting, he wheeled Stan to his room, where a priesthood blessing was provided. Eventually, feeling came to his feet and his legs. Then he could stand. Then he could walk with a cane. Then he could walk without a cane. Today, if you could see Stan, you would not know how perilously close to death he had lain that day in the hospital. He frequently speaks in sacrament meetings and bears testimony of the goodness of God to him. To some, he reveals the dark thought that was in his mind that special day as he sat dejectedly in that hated wheelchair looking into the depths of the deep side of the pool. He was contemplating an alternative to life, but at that precise moment, I happened to open the door, wave my greeting. You know the outcome. That day, Stan literally learned that we do not walk alone. That day I learned a very important lesson: never, never, never postpone a prompting.

Preparation of Thomas S. Monson: Always Follow the Promptings of the Spirit

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As a young Bishop, Thomas Monson is prompted to visit a friend suffering in the hospital.
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