We live in a death-denying society that employs the euphemism "passed away" while "scared to death," "dying to know" and "dead right" are part of everyday vocabulary.
So who would want to read the story of a young couple with eight years of marriage and five children to their credit when the father tragically drowns?Everyone who has or will experience the touch of death in their lives ought to read it.
"Guide Me to Eternity" is a truly vibrant book about dying and LDS doctrines of life after death. It is poignant, sometimes funny and wonderfully uplifting.
Author Christine Tuttle Monson's words reaffirm her belief that life continues after earthly existence, that the "personality" or spirit that inhabited a body does not cease to be at the moment of death.
Monson had premonitions that her husband Johnny would not live a long life. But that didn't make it any easier to watch him drown, knowing that if she tried to save him she'd die with him in the freezing waters of Yuba Lake, leaving her children orphans.
Monson prayed to know that there was a reason behind this seemingly senseless death and writes that she received communication and guidance from her husband - even to the extent of his helping her find insurance papers.
One-month pregnant when Johnny died, Monson found her family and small town rallying behind her as she faced this birth alone. As she sat rocking her baby son on Christmas Eve, she wrote: "And yet, I had my children. We had our home. We would go on, in spite of whatever came our way. Now that I knew there was a glorious purpose behind all things, I would wait, even in darkest times, for light to dawn. In faith I would expect it. For beyond our mortal view was a world of light and beauty enough for every darkened soul, peace and tranquility for every troubled mind, comfort for every tragedy, and love, magnificent, transcendent love, for every wounded heart."
There are some who are uncomfortable with sharing spiritual experiences. Yet scripture itself is a history of God's kindness in uplifting his children through these experiences. Monson's book is yet another chapter in these continuing stories of grace.