Episode: Fifteen: Finding Inspiration in Life’s Miracles with Trina Boice
In this episode of Latter-day Miracles, hosts Haley Hatch Freeman and Misty Smith welcome Dr. Trina Boice, a bestselling author, professor, and film critic, to share her inspiring stories. Trina recounts her personal experiences tender miracles that demonstrate divine love and the presence of God in everyday life. The discussion touches on her professional background, the impact of keeping a spiritual journal, and the importance of looking for God's hand in our lives. They also highlight the power of connections through genealogy and the symbolism in miracles. Trina shares free offers for her books and provides movie recommendations about miracles.
Trina Boice
Some of Trina Boice’s books available on Amazon and her website
Contact Our Guest
You can find all 35 of Trina’s books on Amazon, in LDS bookstores, and at www.TrinaBoice.com
Please subscribe to Trina’s Movie Review Mom YouTube channel!
You can find Trina Boice on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, IMDB, and more places!
Transcript
Intro: Welcome to Latter-day Miracles, where we share true stories of angels and marvels. Get ready to enjoy accounts from everyday people that remind us of divine love, that we're never truly alone, and the power of faith in these latter days. I'm Haley Hatch Freeman. And I'm Misty Smith. Sit back, open your heart and prepare to be inspired.
Haley Freeman: Hi, welcome to Latter-day Miracles. Today we have Trina Boice, and we are so excited to share her amazing stories with you. This is kind of a small world story of how we met her. We had Tamara K. Anderson on a few episodes ago, and she referred us to Trina. And I'm like, I know her. I have been a long time follower for many years of her, um, movie reviews.
I have loved her for many, many years following her.
Trina Boice: Aw.
Haley Freeman: And then Misty brought up that we had [00:01:00] some new people in our ward with the last name of Boice and we've connected that her son and daughter-in-law are new in our ward. So small world. We made these awesome connections and we are so excited to bring her to you guys.
She is an awesome lady. So we're excited to have her. I'll go ahead and have Misty read her bio and then we'll turn the time over to Trina.
Misty Smith: Okay. All right. Dr. Trina Boyce is a number one bestselling author of 35 books and a professional author coach at From Book 2 Business. She was named the California Young Mother of a Year in 2004, an award which completely amuses her four sons.
She is a university professor at BYU Idaho, a popular conference speaker and is passionate about traveling all over the world. She has created online courses for professional development and personal enrichment at [00:02:00] lifelonglearningeducation.com. She's obsessed with movies and is a film critic at moviereviewmom.com.
Her daily podcast is called Daily Inspirational Quote, hosted by Trina Boice. Dr. Trina attended the University of Salamanca Is that, is that how you say it?
Trina Boice: Salamanca. Salamanca
Misty Smith: in Spain and later returned to serve a full-time LDS Mission there. Her doctoral degree is in management and leadership. She worked as a legislative assistant for a congressman in Washington, DC and was given the Points of Light Award and Presidential Volunteer Service Award for her domestic and international community service.
She worked as a political correspondent for KPBS in San Diego and as a legislative assistant for a congressman in Washington D.C. She also taught classes at the famous Le Cordon Blue [00:03:00] Culinary College, and says she has the weight gain to prove it.
She is an identical twin, has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and loves leading tour groups around the world. If she told you what she really did, she'd have to kill you. You, you're like, this is, this is a big, big resume.
Haley Freeman: We're so blessed to have you with us. Wow.
Trina Boice: Thank you for the invitation. And those of you who are watching don't know, I spent the last 20 minutes with these two beauties bragging about my kids, so that's the best accomplishment ever in my life.
I'm I, I've got awesome kids.
Misty Smith: I mean, we've only met one and his, his beautiful wife and they're incredible. So I believe you.
Trina Boice: It's true. Well, thanks for having me. I watched a bunch of your videos and I love what the good that you're putting out [00:04:00] there in the world and wow. We sure need some good in the world.
Especially lately we've been hit as a nation here in the United States of America with some pretty scary, uh, negative stuff and the things are happening. So thank you both for having an opportunity or giving us an opportunity, I should say, to focus on the good, the amazing things that are happening in this world.
And I love that you, are inviting people to share their big miracle stories. And so when you invited me, I was thinking, all right, what big miracles have happened in my life? And for example, Misty, I was just telling her I watched hers. And a lot of the stories are like life and death, and they're very
Misty Smith: yeah.
Trina Boice: Dramatic and amazing, and I'm crying the whole time. But today is gonna be, I think, a little bit different because I haven't had any near death experiences or you know, big earth [00:05:00] shattering miracles. But I've had a lot of little ones. And time and time again, they teach me that there is a God in heaven who loves us and who knows us, and He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ.
And so many times I feel their love in the very small miracles that happen in my life. Would you say that you two have had more smaller experiences than the big ones?
Haley Freeman: And that's more common, and I'm so thankful that you're gonna bring that to us today. Mm-hmm. Thank you.
Trina Boice: Aw, well good.
Well, so in fact, I pulled this out and then I put it back in my desk here. So, um. I started keeping this little journal and it's not a very big one, it's just one, you know, a little paper notebook. And my two older sisters were so great at keeping journals and I was like, oh, I don't know if I wanna write anything
'cause then people will read it and then they'll [00:06:00] judge me and oh, so I was never a good journal keeper and I thought, who wants, who cares about what's happening in my life anyway? But I thought, you know, I do wanna keep a spiritual journal. So on the pages of this little book are the spiritual experiences that you would also call miracles.
Just the little things that, again, testify that God is real. And so I was reading it after I got the invitation from you. It made me laugh because so many times I wrote, I'll never forget this experience, and then I wanna tell the experience and I'm like, whoa, I totally didn't even remember that experience.
Yes. Right. Do you two do that? Do you go
Haley Freeman: Oh, all the time.
Misty Smith: Even, even I find that even with our bigger miracles, if I didn't write them down, I, every once in a while I'll pull out from my bigger miracles because I, I've had a few and when I read them again, I remember details. Mm-hmm. And they help me appreciate the [00:07:00] little details because God is in the little details that make the big miracle happen.
Haley Freeman: Yep.
Trina Boice: Absolutely. And, and then also another lesson I've learned as writing or while writing the experiences is sometimes they seem to come fast and furiously and I'm constantly writing down these stories. And then I'll go back and I'll look and there's kind of an alarmingly long period of nothing. And it could be that I wasn't experiencing anything amazing, like a miracle.
Or it could be that I wasn't writing 'em down, or it could be that I just forgot, you know? And that alone also taught me that if I'm not seeing God's hand in my life daily, I'm probably doing something wrong because He is there. And so it's forcing me to look and then also record because both of those are, uh, important parts of that process.
Love.
I love that.
I have had some amazing [00:08:00] experiences that are really sacred to me that I haven't shared. Really with very few people other than maybe my immediate family. So I'll just share some of the ones that I can share, and hopefully there'll be ones that don't cause me to just cry and blubber and look verbal on screen while we're filming.
Some of 'em are happy, serendipitous type of miracles that others choose to call coincidences. I don't believe in coincidences. Do you?
Haley Freeman: Right. No,
Misty Smith: no.
Trina Boice: Yeah, and I I love that you said God is in the details, so, all right, let's start with something really simple. Okay. So either of you do genealogy?
Misty Smith: Yeah. Yeah. I'm the first generation in all my history to be, uh, so my parents were converted, so they didn't know much of genealogy.
And so I have taken that and it has been work, work, work.
And it's never [00:09:00] ending because until you can research your family tree back to Adam, you're not done researching. Right. Well, and by the way, if you ever want to experience a miracle in your life, just start doing your genealogy. It is absolutely divine work.
And, and God wants us to connect to each other and He organizes these serendipitous experiences to help us do genealogy. And of course, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have a higher purpose for doing genealogy. Not just out of curiosity, but we do take it
to a more sacred level with what we do with it. I don't know how many of your viewers are LDS versus not. But anyway, it's all amazing. So one day I went to the big, huge famous genealogy library in Salt Lake City. This was before I lived here. I just moved to Utah last [00:10:00] month. Oh. And I had limited amount of time, and, and I told Heavenly Father, He knew it.
I had like one day and only a few hours within the day, and I'm like, I'm here. Help me find all these names. I wanna put these family names and link them together and all this kinda stuff. So please help me. That was my big prayer. So the clock was ticking. My twin sister was with me. She was on another floor of the big building and I'm running around trying to find details.
Now this is before the internet. I'm so old. And doing genealogy was a lot harder than it is now. Everything is online. It's amazing. But anyway, oh, by the way, she and I wrote a book together about how to do your genealogy with tons of language.
Haley Freeman: Oh, wow.
Trina Boice: Because there are so many amazing resources now, but that's beside the point.
Anyway, I am trying to find this ancestor and specifically trying to get this information and it was in a particular county called Boone County, Arkansas, [00:11:00] and I couldn't find the information I wanted and I was just like, oh, the clock is ticking and I'm praying to Heavenly Father, and I'm getting very impatient with Him and I'm like, you know, I don't have much more time.
I've gotta get this information 'cause I won't be back to Utah for another year or more anyway. And I could just hear Heavenly Father just laughing at me, like, calm down. So I'm, I'm looking on this bookshelf for Boone County and I can't find it. And all of a sudden, this person came and sat down right where I was looking and I was like, I didn't say anything, but inside I, oh, I don't have time, and now I've gotta be polite and try to share this tiny shelf.
Anyway, it makes me sound terrible. But anyway, and so I'm on my knees, literally while I'm looking on the shelves. And I'm begging Heavenly Father help me to find this information. And I'm still partially annoyed that there's this person blocking the shelf and then I am a friendly girl, and so I strike up a [00:12:00] conversation and so I said, oh, what are you looking for?
And she starts talking to me and I said, oh, I'm trying to find Boone County, but I can't find the dates that I need. And she's like, oh, I was just there three weeks ago. Oh, who goes to Boone County, Arkansas. Yeah. I apologize, but I've never even heard of the place. Yeah. She's like, I was just there. Did you know that in the year 18, blah, blah, blah, whatever the number, I can't remember what she said.
It used to be a part of Carroll County and I was like, oh. She's like, why don't you try researching that county under the dates that you need? And guess what? I found it within like 30 seconds of opening book for the county and I was just like, Heavenly Father's trying to help me. Meanwhile, I'm complaining and whining and everything.
Yes.
And that's kind of how miracles play out sometimes. Right.
A lot of times.
A certain vision for what we think a miracle would be or what we think we need, and Heavenly Father's got it all figured out. And if we could just calm down and let [00:13:00] Him work His magic, you know, things will unfold in beautiful ways.
Absolutely. You two had
a genealogy miracle experience.
Misty Smith: Mm-hmm.
Trina Boice: And by the way, that is just one simple little story in this book that my sister and I wrote In every chapter, we have multiple stories, miracle stories of other people that sent us their stories about what happened when they were researching and how these crazy miracles happened to help them make a connection with the family members.
Pretty neat.
Misty Smith: Yeah. That's incredible. Oh, yeah. My mine. I think the only, when you just asked if we've had an experience, I think my only thing that I really feel with genealogy is a connection.
Yeah.
Is working through the temple and a lot of our viewers we hope, you know, are LDS, and then we hope there are some that are not, and that are listening and trying to understand, but genealogy really is about making the connections.
I truly do feel that this life is [00:14:00] more about helping one another grow in this life. And I think that through the veil we have family members that want to help us make those connections and also to tie one another together and grow. I don't know exactly how eternities work, but all I know is that people matter, connections matter.
So yeah,
Trina Boice: I love that. That was so well said. That was beautiful. And for those who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you might not have heard. Or recognize the term, the veil. We believe that there is sort of a veil of forgetfulness that we lived before we came here and to help us learn how to make choices.
There is that veil of forgetfulness. This life wouldn't be a test if we remembered. That we did live with our Heavenly Father before we came here. And so we refer to that as the veil. And speaking of that, I had another experience about that. Uh, I was sound asleep in the middle of the night and [00:15:00] I was awoken to a man calling my name.
And of course that's always stirred, but, but it was a loving, kind voice. Uh, and there was an urgency to it. And I opened my eyes. Fully expecting to see a man standing next to my bed. That's how audible and close that sound was. Um, but there was no physical man there.
But I knew, I heard him and I, he sounded like my stepfather's brother. His voice was so similar and I thought, well, that's interesting. Well, so to cut the long story short, uh, I raced over to my mother and my stepfather's home and he was slumped over in his chair and I immediately called 911. I called my husband.
He went over there so he could be with my stepdad, take him to the hospital, and while I stayed with my mother, um, who had Alzheimer's and needed 24 /7 care. Anyway, the doctor said that if I hadn't [00:16:00] had heard that voice and taken action, he would've died. And I just think that that's amazing.
And that's not the first time that that's happened before. That was crossing the veil, somebody really needing help. And uh, I think oftentimes the Lord does send us messages and we have to be listening in order to help them. There's a really great quote by, uh, president Spencer W. Kimball and he says, God does notice us and he does hear our prayers, but it is usually through another person that He answers their prayers.
Well, here's another example of a story. When I feel like I have some time and I can help, the Lord always has somebody who needs me. So this was before I had kids, so I had a lot more time and in my mind, I thought, well, I'm gonna go, I was working, you know, Monday through Friday, so on a Saturday I thought, well, I'm gonna go to the temple and just have a [00:17:00] leisurely, lovely day and it'll be great.
So I wake up and I start my slow leisure day, and then all of a sudden I felt this sense of urgency and I'm like, calm down Trina, what I've got all day. So, you know, I'm like, okay, fine, I'll get in the car. So I get in the car, I literally felt my foot pushing down on the accelerator. And again, I'm like, Trina, calm down.
What's the deal? You know, I've got plenty of time and I wasn't speeding, just so you know, but I was, I was kind of like, it was weird. I felt this urgency. Anyway, I get to the temple and the very first person who comes to the, you know, they have temple workers all dressed in white. They make you feel so loved and welcomed, and they help you if you're lost or confused or don't know what to do anyway.
And so the first thing they said wasn't, oh, welcome. It was, do you speak Spanish? And I was like. Yes, I had served a mission in Spain, and so I said, I do. And they were like, oh, we have somebody, a woman who'd come all the way from somewhere in South America, I can't remember, and she doesn't [00:18:00] speak English.
And she came to do her family history, temple work. Could you help us? And I said, of course. And I, I had this big smile on my face because I was like, okay, I get it. That was the urgency she was waiting for me. And I love that when, when it's so obvious to me that there's somebody who needs help. Heavenly Father knows you have whatever the skills or the time to help that person, and He knows how to put you together.
Misty Smith: Yes.
Trina Boice: Has that ever happened to either of you two? Yeah, sure.
Misty Smith: Our last, our last podcast actually, we were just, I don't know if you've taken the time to listen to that one, but it was literally my being in Costa Rica during a time when they needed a translator for several English speakers for Spanish.
Oh. It was a tender, tender time to remember our skills are important and our values and who we are in general. It's we're important.
Trina Boice: Yeah, I love that. [00:19:00] And then, I mean, if you make yourself available, Heavenly Father's got somebody who needs you for sure. But then sometimes I've had little, just little sweet,
we call them tender mercies, where the Lord just reminds you that He knows you and He's aware of you and your needs. And so, one day I was, I was at church and in, in the church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints, the, the women will have their own little meeting just us girls, where we're talking about being wives and mothers and sisters and friends and, you know, all that good stuff.
And then, um, the teenage girls are in a different classroom learning about teenage girl stuff. So I was serving with the teenage girls, the young women. And so I didn't get to hang out with the women as often, but for some reason on, on that Sunday, I needed to run into the Relief Society and do something.
I don't even remember, I didn't write down that detail in my journal and I had forgotten about this experience. But, [00:20:00] you know, tell, you don't have to admit this. But you probably would. Um, do you often wonder if what you're doing is doing any good at all? I think absolutely. We as women tend to, yes. You know, we, we are so busy meeting everybody else's needs and we wonder, we work so hard, we try so hard.
And is it matter? Is it making a difference? Are we truly helping? Anyway, for some reason I was feeling that way that day and so I just said a little prayer. I'm like, you know, am I doing any good in this world today? Anyway, so I went into Relief Society and I quietly opened the door in the back of the room and I didn't say anything 'cause they were having a lesson and all the ladies were talking and I can't remember, I, maybe I had to pass out some handout or something.
And so I kind of was in the very back of the room. And meanwhile, uh, one of the ladies who was in the class was sharing an experience about how she was having a really terrible day. She went to the mailbox and she pulled out this beautiful [00:21:00] little gift that it was exactly what she needed and was signed
A sister who cares Love Anonymous or something like that. And she just started crying and just said, how did Heavenly Father time that so perfectly? And I was like, wow, that's amazing. Because I was the one that put that thing,
Misty Smith: no way.
Trina Boice: And I was like, wow, that that was a fast answer to prayer. And then another lady in the ward was like, or in the class, you know, she was like, oh, the same thing happened to me and it was signed anonymous.
And I was like, 'cause that was me also. But could you make it even more obvious, Heavenly Father, you know, I get it. I'll stop whining and complaining. Notice of a theme here today that I whine and complain a lot while I'm in the middle miracle and experiencing God's love.
Misty Smith: I love that so much. I love the timing on that because you needed to find out your value and he brought you in right when you needed it.
Yeah, [00:22:00] it's supposed to show the goodness and timing and God, and He knows you. He knows you so much. It's incredible. I love that.
Trina Boice: Yeah. And a similar experience happened in the temple. Oftentimes as members of the church, we think we're gonna have this great revelation in the temple session or in the celestial room or you know, the really special, remarkable places in the temple.
And that does happen. I have had experiences like that in those places too. But again, one day I'm feeling sad. I'm looking in the mirror, I'm just like, oh, I'm so ugly. You know, with good reason. Of course. Like I was complaining to these girls before we started. I'm having a really awful hair day today.
You great
if
Misty Smith: that
Trina Boice: awful.
It used to be really long and pretty and I cut it. Now it's not. It's beautiful. But anyway, so I was having a moment and again. All of us girls feel that [00:23:00] way, right from time to time. And so I was just thinking, oh, I'm just so unatractive what can I do? Anyway, I was just whining and complaining again.
And so in the locker room, two complete strangers were chatting and they both walked up to me and one of them said, I just wanted you to know, I think you are so beautiful. Mm-hmm. And I was like, okay, what? And the other one said, it's true. You're so pretty. And I'm just like, that's crazy. I didn't say that to them, but inside I'm just like, okay, I get it.
Heavenly Father, I, you know, I disagree 'cause I still was feeling ugly, but I just thought, that's so amazing. When we have a prompting to do something or to say something or to compliment someone, we always talk ourselves out of it.
Oh no, they're too busy, or, oh no, I couldn't possibly do that thing. Right. And it literally could be the answer to someone's [00:24:00] prayer.
Misty Smith: Yes. So have you had
Trina Boice: an experience like that before where you hesitated, but then you really did do that thing and then you found out later that was exactly the blessing that that person needed in their life?
Misty Smith: Yes. Yes, absolutely. I mean, I have, um, done it to some, but I've just had it returned to me just this past weekend and it was exactly what I needed. So, and, and it's just, like you said, it's not in the celestial rooms or whatever, and like you said, they're all very sacred areas, but. They're in the hallways.
They're in, in the passing by and the coming and goings. That's when you hear God most of the time because it's not certain locations, certain places it's, it's the moments that we're moving and we're acting and we're busy and then we're told to stop and hold on and react and listen. Yeah.
Trina Boice: Yeah. One of my favorite scriptures is be still and know that I am God, and [00:25:00] that applies so much to today, and the busyness and the noise that we have that competes for our attention in the world, it's hard to be still.
Yes. Especially with our cell phones because. This was hilarious. I was actually in, um, a, a class at church two weeks ago and the lesson was about we've got to get a handle and take control over our cellular devices because they are dragging our attention. We're being distracted. We need to control them, not the other way around.
And during this lesson, there was a man who was looking at his cell phone, you know, and now he could have been reading scriptures. I don't know, I don't mean to judge, but I was watching his eyes and he would look at it and then you could tell he fell guilty and then he would turn his eyes and then, no, no, [00:26:00] I'm not even joking 'cause I counted by seconds.
Three seconds later he went. You know, has anything else new popped up that's more interesting than this lesson right now? You know, throughout the whole time he kept going like that and it's hard to put those cell phones down and to focus and to feel the Lord's promptings. That's the biggest challenge I think that we face today, is being still and not being so distracted by so much that's going on.
Right. Okay. Here's another little story. So this is outside of the temple, outside of church. We're at Disneyland. My sisters, there are kids, you know, the siblings all big group. There were 22 of us or something like that. So what generally happens, you lose a kid, right? Yes. So sure enough, uh, my husband went to go get some food.
I'm trying to find the table. I got the other kids with me. My sisters, their kids, [00:27:00] everybody's there,
I was trying to keep everybody together. And then I noticed my husband comes walking back with the trays of food and I assumed that one of my sons was with him.
He assumed that son was with me. We lost the son panic. Have you experienced that? Yes. The best parents ever. Still lose their kids. It's embarrassing and it's terrifying. And to think that this child is somewhere in Disneyland. And so we take off in opposite directions, racing through the park, yelling, you know, our son's name.
I was terrified and it had been a while. I'd circled the entire park and that, you know, that and I'm running. And anyway, come back to the table. Did anybody find him? Is he here? No, he is not here. And I just heartbroken. And so my family, my sisters, the cousins, everybody, they said, we're gonna say a prayer.
And so I'm like, that'd be awesome. I mean, I was praying the whole time anyway. Um, but you know, we [00:28:00] had our official family prayer, and I'm not even kidding, the minute we all said, amen. We looked up and there's my son walking towards us.
Misty Smith: Oh, thank goodness.
Trina Boice: It's, it's like, again, that timing, it's like, Heaven Father is just showing off, just trying at a point to get our attention, or maybe He just has to do that to me, you know?
Um, but it just made me laugh like, okay, you got me again. I've gotta be paying attention to you more because I was so distracted by all of these other things. So something like that happened to you two?
Haley Freeman: Oh, I mean, all the time.
Trina Boice: Yeah. I won't make any of us admit how many times we lost our kids.
Haley Freeman: I mean, maybe not specifically the losing the kid, but, saying a prayer then, you find that object just instantly, or you know, just things like that. It's Heaven Father showing that He hears you and answers and just showing His power.
Trina Boice: Yeah. And then [00:29:00] another type of instant. Um, and this has happened to be multiple times as well, is when you're willing to do your part and you're asking specifically for a miracle, miracles can happen. So many years ago, my uh, older sister wanted me to join her on a Baltic cruise. She invited me to go and I was like, I would love to go. But you know, we had bills. Everybody always has bills and we had to prioritize where money was going. And I was like, oh, you know, I can't quite afford that right now. Um, but I sure would love to let me see what I can do.
And so I was talking to Heavenly Father one day and just saying, that would be so cool. I would love to, 'cause I love to travel, um, but I can't afford it. But I am willing to work if you can give me some extra work. I am all over that. That would be amazing. And every time I open my mouth and pray, I can just hear Him laughing and rolling His eyes because He's just like, okay, fine, whatever.[00:30:00]
So anyway, so I get an email, from, an, uh, an old acquaintance whom I had done work for prior to that. Uh, she had a website and she needed a bunch of content. And I had done a bunch of work for her years ago on that.
And she was calling me again and needed some specific stuff. And I said, I would love to help you with that. You know, what, how much do you need? And, you know, make me an offer. And I'm not kidding. It was the exact dollar amount I needed to go on this cruise. And I just thought, that's amazing. I mean, a cruise seems very frivolous compared to all the other important things happening in the world.
But Heavenly Father wanted me to go.
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Trina Boice: And, and I just thought that was so nice of him. But it turns out my sister, her husband had passed away from cancer. So this was a second husband and I didn't even know she hadn't told anybody, but they were [00:31:00] on the brink of divorce.
Misty Smith: And I
Trina Boice: didn't know until I got there.
And then she's like, I gotta tell you what's going on. And I felt like, okay, that's why Heavenly Father made that cruise happen, because I got some really good one-on-one time with her. I even sat and had really good one-on-one time with him. And apart from those two, I was able to talk to my nephew who was experiencing all of this drama and upheaval that was going on.
And I thought that's why He needed me there. And I was just so amazed that he would make that happen.
So I'll tell you another story. But this one happened to my husband. My husband was not a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but his best friend was, and of course his best friend invited him to seminary graduation party and dances and other church activities.
And you know, my husband was mildly interested but busy with his life and he [00:32:00] started going to college. They both graduated from high school, so he started college. His best friend was at BYU and getting ready to serve a mission. And my husband's best friend wanted to go to New Zealand and so he prayed.
Let me go to New Zealand. And that doesn't always work. You don't always get to go where you wanna go. But in this case, I think this is so funny and as a mother, I can relate to this now, but so that son. My husband's best friend. There's gonna be a test on this later. No to catch all these threads. Anyway, he comes home and there's a big sign in their front yard that says New Zealand.
The mom opened the mission call. Oh, I was like, I would never do that. But actually I did do that once, but I didn't do sign. He didn't know that I saw the call. 'cause this was back when you would get it in the mail. But, so he actually got called to go to [00:33:00] New Zealand and so surprisingly though, his visa didn't come in.
Mm-hmm. So they sent him a half an hour away from where he lived. Now this never happens. When you're waiting for your visa, they'll send you to another state, not to. Yeah. You know, your neighborhood where you practically grew up.
Misty Smith: Right.
Trina Boice: But turns out it was in the area where my husband was going to college.
So his friend calls him and says, I'm not in New Zealand. I'm really close to where you're going to school. Do you have any idea why that might be? And my husband's like, no. And he is like, can you think of any unfinished business I have here before I can go to New Zealand? And my husband's like, no.
And he is like. You need to get baptized back here until you get baptized. And my husband's like, wait, what? And you know, he read the Book of Mormon, he'd studied the scriptures, you know, and all of that. He just, you know, hadn't taken the dive. And so his friend says, look, [00:34:00] you need to get on a high mountain and do some serious praying.
I wanna go to New Zealand. And so, my husband is a really good friend, and he's like, okay, I'll do it. And so he gets up on the, you know, goes up to the highest mountain he could find. This is in Southern California, and got an answer to his prayer. And so friend calls my brother in the dorm, and this was again before cell phones. And so some guy, this, in fact, they didn't have phones in their rooms. It was a phone that was a shared phone in the hall.
And so some guy answered the phone and said, oh, Tom, the phone's for you. So he goes, and he walks over there and, uh, Tom is my husband. Tom says, it's true. I know it's true. I I wanna get baptized. And so of course his friend is like, yay, that's awesome. And he's like, okay, well when can you do it? And he's like, let's do it on whatever day.
And so they're all excited. [00:35:00] They both hang up the phone a split second later the phone rings and the friend picks it up and it's the mission president saying, guess what? Your visa just came through. Wow. Isn't that sweet?
Misty Smith: Yeah. That's incredible. That's amazing.
Trina Boice: My husband tells the story much, much better.
But another example of timing and how the Lord is so aware of of us and our needs and our desires. And not to say that we always get everything we want, because we all know that's not true.
Misty Smith: Yes.
Trina Boice: But He knows what's best for us. And so I think that just put some fire under my husband's feet so that, you know, he would finally take action.
And he's been a faithful member of the church ever since. And in fact, he ended up going on a mission later.
Misty Smith: Wow.
Trina Boice: But anyway. Okay. So because I'm obsessed with movies, I was thinking about movies about miracles that I wanted to share with you and your viewers and [00:36:00] listeners. And so here are just a few, and again, there are a million of them.
Um, but I made a list of some, let me see. Well, maybe these aren't even that recent, but these are the first ones that came to my mind. Um, the first one is a 2016 movie called Miracles from Heaven. Have either of you seen that one?
I think I have.
I have.
Yeah. So sweet. And what I love is there's no specific religion attached to some of these movies.
Oftentimes it's Christianity in general. But I mean, there are miracle movies of every religion for sure. But that one was a really sweet one. And another one came out in 2014 called Heaven is For Real. Yes. And of course it reminds us that heaven is real. God is real. But it's through a telling of several miracles that took place.
And so if you're like, miracles aren't real, watch some of these movies. These are true stories. Movies based on real life. [00:37:00] Another one came out in 2019, also true story called Breakthrough. Did you ever see that one? Um, and then there's the, in 2015, wow, I really should have gotten some more recent ones. Uh, but these again, were the first ones that came to my mind.
This one is called the 33
Oh,
and again, a sequence of miracles that occurred. And oftentimes, I think miracles are for us and to bless our lives because we need that miracle, like in some of the experiences I told you. But sometimes I think Heavenly Father has these miracles occur to teach all of us that He's there, and that He orchestrates things in such a way that it grabs our attention when we're so busy with daily life
we forget that these things are happening all around us. And then I thought that this was really sweet. Um, do you remember, this is a very [00:38:00] old one. The, it's a Disney movie called The Prince of Egypt. Do you remember that one?
Misty Smith: Yes.
Trina Boice: A little animated musical. Mm-hmm. So sweet, uh, about the story of the Exodus.
And I loved that because whether you are Christian or Jewish or Muslim, all of those three major religions can look at that miracle or sequence of miracles and have renewed faith in God. I love the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, and there's so much symbolism there. I mean, if you just look at it at face value, wow, he parted an ocean.
That's amazing. Just to simply help the children of Israel escape from the, the Pharaoh and his soldiers that were gonna kill him. Right. But there's something more symbolic about that and maybe this will be one of my final thoughts as we finish up here, and that is. It is a symbol of a [00:39:00] covenant, uh, in Hebrew, and my next book comes out in November, and it is specifically written for Christians Latter-day Saints, even more specifically to teach us the amazing meaning behind certain Hebrew words and concepts, especially ones that we see in the Old Testament because the Old Testament was written predominantly in Hebrew, and oftentimes with translations we lose
the power behind the words that were selected in the original writings. Um, and so the Hebrew word for covenant, um, speaks to a cutting that you don't make a covenant. You cut a covenant. And if you've read the Old Testament, you know that there was a lot of, uh, sacrificing of animals going on where they would cut an animal in half and the priest would walk through the parts, the two parts of the bodies, [00:40:00] you know, if you cut an animal in half.
Uh, and that's what Moses did with the ocean as a covenant to bring the Israelites away from slavery and for them to choose to cut a covenant with God to become better people, covenant people. Right? And I thought that that's amazing and that these miracles give us an opportunity daily. To make or renew our covenants with God to say, I'm still on your side team God, all the way.
I'm on the Jesus team. You know, give us an opportunity to renew those covenants we make, either at baptism or in the temple or when we partake of the sacrament or when we experience a little miracle in our lives for us to say, yes, I'm still here. I'm still on the team God. Yeah, that's probably sounds disrespectful, but you know what I mean, right?
Know. [00:41:00]
Misty Smith: Yeah,
Trina Boice: yeah, yeah.
Misty Smith: I understand.
Trina Boice: Yeah. So when you have an experience like that, any big miracle or little miracle, think of it as an opportunity to renew your covenants. Kind of.
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Trina Boice: Um, because that's what that particular miracle was all about. Um, but anyway. Okay, so I want you two to share. I've been doing way too much talking.
Haley Freeman: No, we're just loving this. Thank you. You're great telling your story. You're a beautiful storyteller, so we're loving it. Yeah. Yeah.
Misty Smith: Oh, well thank you. I feel, I think I feel really good with, like, the discussions we've had today have just led me to think and remember the small details and the small things and how obviously you've accomplished so much in, in your life.
And I'm sure you're able to touch many people because of that. And I think the little miracles have made it so you have become who you are, correct. Mm-hmm. [00:42:00]
Trina Boice: Well, what a kind thing to say that. That's so sweet. I, I think, you know, as women especially, we, we wanna help. We really do. We care and we wanna give, and sometimes we just don't even know what to do.
Yeah. You know? Um, and I've said before. When I have woken up in the morning and said, Heavenly Father, I'm available today.
Misty Smith: Yes.
Trina Boice: Who needs me? One morning I did that and within minutes I got a phone call from the Relief Society president saying, oh, so and so needs a ride to the doctor, or, you know, whatever.
And I was like, man, God works fast sometimes. Yeah. That, that was a test was I just offering lip service and saying, oh, I'm available and I wanna serve, or was I really going to serve? You know, and if I didn't like that person, would I still serve? You know what I mean? Or, yeah. I mean, that's, that's terrible.
But [00:43:00] sometimes it's easier to serve people we like, we're, we're friends, we know them. It's true. Yeah. But to serve a stranger or to serve someone, maybe we, we don't like, you know, and Heavenly Father is constantly testing us. But also rewarding and blessing us, and He's so patient as we try to develop these Christ-like attributes, you know?
Misty Smith: Yeah,
Trina Boice: yeah. Um, I, think of, uh, I, I wrote a book that came out this last Easter called Via Dolorosa. It's Via, which means a path or away.
Oh, okay.
Dolorosa, which means painful path. The painful path, the sorrow path.
And it's literally a path in Jerusalem where Jesus walked from condemnation, you know, uh, with Pilot at the preautirim and where He walked carrying that cross to where He was crucified. And in Jerusalem they've identified certain areas. Uh, [00:44:00] some might be legitimate, some are scriptural, some are more tradition from Catholic, uh, predominantly Catholic tradition.
But it's this path that you can walk in Jerusalem and it's the last really few hours of Christ's life and how, you know, we watched Him perform so many amazing miracles, blessing people. And He was also tested every single day. Of course, He came through with flying colors, you know, um, but that it was still hard.
Uh, and the miracles were hard. I think about when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, which happened before the Via Dolorosa started, and, you know, He was praying and bleeding from every pore and we all know about that part of the atoning sacrifice that He made. And it was hard. And an angel came [00:45:00] to comfort Him. The scriptures tell us, and the angel came to comfort Him.
What's so interesting is He asked His disciples three times to stay up with Him. You know, just stay up, stay awake with me. You know, this is hard for me. He was suffering physically and spiritually, and they kept falling asleep. And I've often wondered, what the heck, disciples, come on, you couldn't stay away.
Um, but it was so symbolic too because, in the garden of Gethsemane, there are just tons of olive trees. It was an olive grove. That's where they pressed olive to make olive oil. Um, and I've been there. The Olive grove is still there now it's a tourist destination. They don't actively produce olive oil, but there are three presses in the production of olive oil.
Um, the first best press is the oil that is donated to the temple for temple [00:46:00] usage. And also for the sacrifices and the things that they do in the temple. And the second one is for, um, nourishment. They use it for food, you know, and cooking and stuff like that.
And then the third press is used in the little lamps that they would hold in their hand and, you know, put the wick in and use that as a little handheld lamp. And I thought Heavenly Father's trying to teach us something. With that, those three presses, how are we using the gifts that Heavenly father gives us and the challenges and trials
that He gives us, uh, are we being sanctified like the oil that was used in the temple and using it for higher holier purposes. The second one are, are we using our gifts and talents and trials to bless and nourish other people physically or spiritually? And then the third one, are we using our gifts and talents to be a blessing or a miracle?
Uh, you know, it like to be a light [00:47:00] that light, that oil that was used for the light and just, ugh, everywhere we look, everything testifies of Jesus Christ. It's amazing. So I guess my little final thought is let's, as a reminder, always look for those miracles. Look for Christ in those miracles. And I love that mission presidents or mission leaders around the world have really been talking about that message.
Mm-hmm. For, I would say the last maybe five years, I, I, or maybe 10 years, I get letters from missionaries. You know, I'm, I'm always like, put me on your list. 'cause I wanna read about their miracles that they experience, right? Mm-hmm. And they always say, oh, my mission president and his wife, they always tell us, look for the miracles, and guess what?
I found some. And then they proceed to write about the miracles. So here's a challenge, get a little notebook and just start writing down those [00:48:00] simple little things, and you will be astonished at all of the miracles that you see unfold in your life.
Well, thank you so much, Trina. I definitely can echo that, but anytime I need to remember the big miracles or the miracles, um, the first thing I need to do is, or I do, is write them down so I can remember during, especially during the hard times when things are.
Foggy, there's noise. It's just busy. It's nice to hold still within God in your memories and remembrance of when he touched you in difficult times. So thank you so much Trina. I love the bits of the olive, um, trees in the grove.
I've never really thought about that. So I'm gonna take that. That is my learning.
Haley Freeman: Yeah. And I especially loved how you said like when there's a gap in your journal, he's never gonna stop reaching down to you. Is it us that has stopped reaching up to him? Is it us that has stopped looking for the miracles?
Is it us that has stopped, asking or looking and [00:49:00] seeing those miracles? 'cause he's not gonna stop reaching down to us. And so I loved that. That's one of my takeaways. I love that we're doing the takeaways this time. You already beautifully presented all of yours, so...
Trina Boice: well, good. I'm so glad. Uh, and then before we go, I have a little gift for your audience.
Oh, wonderful. So I offer one of my books almost every single weekend for free. And you can, uh, you can just go on to Amazon, really. I mean, they're in bookstores, but there are, almost all of 'em are on Amazon. Um, but for when this podcast goes live and the YouTube video, another book that I wrote with my twin sister is called What The Mirror Doesn't Tell You The Miracle That Is You.
And what that refers to is again, we women are so hard on ourselves. We look in the mirror and all we see is yuck. You know, [00:50:00] all of the flaws and what is happening inside your body. This incredible machine is remarkable. And we often don't remember how amazing and what a miracle our body is.
And so some of the chapters go through and talk about the different body systems and how to feel better about yourself and appreciate this walking miracle that you are. And there's some really cool stories, uh, people that we know, real life, true stories of people who had miracles. Uh, both my twin sister and I have taught at nursing colleges, so a lot of the stories come from our nursing students where they were learning about
walking miracle human body that we have. And um, just really interesting stories that I think will really inspire you so you can get that for free. Look up What the Mirror Doesn't Tell You, [00:51:00] and you can snag a copy of that for free on Amazon.
Haley Freeman: Oh, awesome. That is right up my alley. This is the kind of some stuff I present about because I had a near death experience from an eating disorder.
And so that is what I speak about. I talk a lot about body image and learning to love and accept yourself because that is one of the big triggers of eating disorder is your self-esteem. So I love that that is right up my alley.
Trina Boice: Think after on negative self-talk. And why on earth do we leave all the garbage?
The biggest challenge is to tell all of those bad negative voices to shut up and sit down because absolutely, most of the time they're not true. Why do we give them so much credibility? Those thought thoughts,
Haley Freeman: and I've learned it's really not our, our voice, it's not our inner dialogue. It's really Satan, you know.
Trina Boice: Exactly. It's true. That's absolutely. And for crying out loud, you're gorgeous. Come on. Oh, thank you. [00:52:00] She really is. She really is.
Haley Freeman: You're so sweet. Thank you.
Trina Boice: It's so true. Um, and then, let's see, I was gonna tell you, oh, there another book of mine that just came out and it'll go for free. Like I said, I offer them for free all of the time, is another one that shares some really cool stories about miracles.
The book isn't about miracles, it's called Life Lessons. And they are true stories of faith and growth. And many of them, there are little miraculous coincidences. Serendipity, uh, happens in many of the stories, but of course we know that they're miracles. Um, but the focus is on increasing your faith every time something like that happens.
And the lessons that we can learn from all of those things. So that might be another book that your listeners might want. Absolutely. It'll be up for free soon 'cause it always comes up.
Misty Smith: How do people know about what you have to offer?
Is it your [00:53:00] website or do you post something?
Trina Boice: Yes. Oh, I always post it all over social media and I'm all over all the social media platforms. You can also, um, join my newsletter. You can find that at trinaboice.com or trinasbooks.com, which everyone's easier to remember. And, I have several YouTube channels, but the, the one that I am the most obsessed with is the movie Review Mom one.
So you can also reach out to me there and say, when's your next free book coming out? And I'll let you know. Um, yeah.
Haley Freeman: Perfect. And yes. And the Movie Review Mom is also a page on Facebook, because that's where I have been following you for many years. I love your reviews.
Trina Boice: And to be fair, I have not, I posted a movie review yesterday, I think it was, but it had been several weeks, uh, because I just moved out of state. So yeah, there's been a little bit of a gap, which is crazy because for several [00:54:00] years I was posting movie reviews every single day.
Wow. And then just nothing because I'm like, I don't have time. I didn't even
Haley Freeman: know. Yeah, moving is a big deal. That's okay. Anyway. But yeah, I still love it. But I do love your reviews because you have the same values
Trina Boice: I started that channel.
Honestly, it was because, well, years ago when I first started teaching for BYU Idaho, I had students, um, that were international students and they were learning English. And the class, the first class that I started teaching for BYU, they had to write down, uh, how they were learning and practicing English.
And they would write these little assignments and say, oh, I watched this movie, and it was like some horrible rated R movie. And I'm like, oh, you shouldn't watch that movie. And then again and again, they were watching these terrible garbage movies and I'm like, okay. They just don't know because ratings and countries are different from one another.
And so I'm like, okay, I need to tell them. And so I started doing reviews really for them to help them steer away [00:55:00] from some of those, you know, junk out there. Yeah. So my goal was to help kind of give, especially parents the heads up on content that, you know, yeah. Sometimes the movie can be so great. And then there's.
Just one too many f-bombs. Well, one is right for me personally, you know, but, or, or there's just some one scene I'm like, oh, you didn't need that. Otherwise the movie would've been perfect and family friendly even, you know? So I try to give parents the heads up on all of that.
Haley Freeman: Yeah, I appreciate that.
Trina Boice: Thanks for watching. Subscribe!.
Haley Freeman: Thank you so much for spending your time with us. We really appreciated all your wisdom and insights and the spirit that you brought today.
Trina Boice: Well, thank you so much. And I didn't cry. Yay. It's kind of a big deal for me. 'cause I usually. Thank you.
Haley Freeman: Oh, thank you again.
Outro: Thank you for joining us on [00:56:00] Latter-day Miracles. If you have a miracle story that you feel inspired to share, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us on our website at latterdaymiracles.net or message us on social media. Until next time, keep your heart open to the miraculous and may you feel the presence of angels in your everyday life.
