My Time with God

When I was born, Father in Heaven sent a ministering angel to my mother who told my mother to name me "Donald Norman Hester."Who am I, that God should intervene in my life? I am nobody! I am like the one talked about in the scripture, the one who is the least of all His servants. When I die, my name will die with me. But God has been cognizant of me and my sojourn in this life. When I had suffered and suffered for my sins to the point that my spirit was all but extinct, broken, and I...
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When I was born, Father in Heaven sent a ministering angel to my mother who told my mother to name me "Donald Norman Hester."Who am I, that God should intervene in my life? I am nobody! I am like the one talked about in the scripture, the one who is the least of all His servants. When I die, my name will die with me. But God has been cognizant of me and my sojourn in this life. When I had suffered and suffered for my sins to the point that my spirit was all but extinct, broken, and I literally could endure no more, God showed mercy on me by blessing me with a "change in heart." He gave me peace in this life---a blessing that changed my life and my destiny forever, for which I am eternally grateful.My earliest memories of religion began with me sitting on a wooden pew, beside my father in the Southern Baptist Church and singing the old gospel hymns. I was baptized a member of the Baptist Church around the age of eight years. Had I never encountered the Mormon Church, I rather doubt that I would have remained a member of the Baptist faith, because I was sexually abused by the youth leader of that congregation. My Father was converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ in 1951, and I was baptized on May 4, 1952, shortly after my eleventh birthday. I am different than other men, and I am okay with that; I like the way I am.As a youth, I rarely had the opportunity to attend the LDS Church, because there was no church around, none within a hundred miles. I did not attend Primary, Seminary, Boy Scouts, or the MIA program. I attended 15 grade schools and 8 different high schools. In the 9th grade at Gallina, New Mexico, the whole school called me the "Deacon" because I was the only boy in high school who had not had sexual relations with a girl. In the fall of 1959, I was at Ft. Ord. The serviceman's Ward made it a practice of giving each new recruit a pocket-sized copy of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and The Principles of the Gospel. I stuck my copy of the Book of Mormon into my left shirt pocket, and for the next six months, I meticulously read it from cover to cover. I served a mission to Great Britain in 1961-63.I have lived a most unusual life, encountering trials galore. I have lived through 3rd world poverty, extreme hardships, and complete heartbreak. I have experienced both success and failure. God has molded me into the person I am today. God has always been mindful of me. One of the great blessings of my life was when I was contemplating death at age 54, from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer. Having cancer turned out to be a blessing from a loving Father in Heaven. Instead of dying, I experienced incredible spiritual growth. I also survived heart attack, back surgery, brain surgery and vertigo. The brain surgery sent me back to pre-school, but now I am a professional writer.I have personally witnessed many miracles in my life. God sent a ministering angel to protect and preserve my own life, when I should have died. I have received countless personal revelations from God. I have been blessed to hear a voice through the veil on many different occasions in my life, declaring messages to me from the other side. I endured great pains and sorrow for my sins and transgressions, and yet I have been strengthened by God and have overcome the adversary. Through the process of repentance, the Savior has blotted out my sins and made me as white as the driven snow. He has removed the anguish and guilt from my penitent and remorseful heart. He made me whole, and He has given me peace and my last years, are years living in the peace of eye of the storm with turmoil all around me.My life is a testimony of the love that Father in Heaven has for me personally, and I know that He loves me. Through obedience to the laws of God, the acceptance of Jesus Christ as the redeemer of mankind, I am made a partaker of the atonement of the Savior. I am made pure in the eyes of my Father in Heaven