As he celebrated Thanksgiving, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reflected on recent miracles, including the recent recovery from health challenges of President Jeffrey R. Holland, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder Renlund had a “unique vantage point” to President Holland’s hospitalization this fall, as he accompanied the late President M. Russell Ballard, then Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, as he checked daily on then-Elder Holland. Each time they visited, President Ballard and Elder Renlund gave their sick colleague a blessing.
“By way of background, I have spent years visiting patients in hospitals,” wrote Elder Renlund on social media. “Many were critically ill, and I saw many die. The second time I accompanied President Ballard, President Holland was in critical condition. Adrenaline-like drugs were being used to support his circulation. He was virtually non-responsive. The physicians didn’t know exactly what was wrong and had informed his children that the prognosis was extremely poor. I felt a sense of foreboding.”
Elder Renlund told President Ballard that the only way President Holland would come back to meaningly fulfill his Apostolic calling was through divine intervention.
“Physicians, surgeons, and medicines were not going to do it. Only through God’s blessings would it happen. President Ballard nodded and said, ‘We will just have to keep praying and exercise our faith.’”
Elder Renlund wrote that the next time he accompanied President Ballard to the hospital, President Holland was “sitting in a chair, chatting with nurses, asking about breakfast.” He asked about Elder Renlund’s family.
“He was his usual self. It was a miracle. It was divine intervention. He was discharged from the hospital and gained strength by the day. When President Ballard’s health took a turn for the worse, President Holland reversed the roles and became an extraordinary ministering brother for the rest of President Ballard’s life.”
Now, President Holland has been set apart as the Acting President of his quorum, he said.
“God is in the details. President Holland has been preserved for such a time as this. How blessed I am because of him. How blessed my Quorum is because of him. How thrilled I am to learn from and take direction from him. God lives. This is His Church. He is directing it. This I know. And I am thankful for this knowledge.”
President Holland responded to Elder Renlund’s post, commenting, “Elder Renlund, the support I felt from you, our dear President Ballard, and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency during my recovery cannot be overstated. I thank you and I love you. I thank Heavenly Father for the health he has granted, allowing me to serve a little longer.”
