From Robert L. Millet and his book “Talking With God”, chapter 11:
Answers to prayer usually come to mortals in quiet ways through the mediation of the Holy Spirit and through the intervention for other mortals. There are times however, when God chooses to do the unusual—to give visions or dreams, to send angels from the courts of glory, in short, to minister to our needs in truly spectacular ways. Nephi explained that on certain occasions God “hath heard my cry by day and hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime. And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him, yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto to me” (2 Nephi 4:23-24).
An intensely personal experience my family and I had some years ago demonstrates just how thin the veil is sometimes. One of our children had chosen to separate himself not only from Church activity but also from family association. He became heavily involved with addictive drugs and buried himself in a hellish world that held out little hope for a return to normal living. My wife and I prayed and wrestled and yearned for his recovery and return, but we heard nothing from him, and we were left to wonder whether our son was dead, imprisoned, or lost. No word had come in many months, and the burden of pain and awful anticipation of a notification of incarceration or drug overdose grew heavier every day. One night when my wife and I knelt in prayer, broken and torn emotionally and physically weak from worry, we went through our prayers and pleaded long and hard, once again for the Good Shepherd to lead his wandering sheep home. We went to bed and slept from sorrow.
Sometime during the night I found myself dreaming. My father, who had passed away years before, came to me in a dream, embraced me and then looked me in the eye. He said to me quite forcefully, “Son, I want you to pull yourself together. I’m going to help with those children of yours. Be patient.”
I awoke immediately sat up in bed.
I explained that I had seen Dad in a dream and he had told me he would help with our wanderer. We both wept as deep feelings of gratitude and reassurance flowed into our souls.
Days later the phone rang in the middle of the night. Our son said, “I just can’t live this way anymore. Can I come home?”
We were so thrilled to hear from him, so grateful to know that he was still alive, that we felt no need to set the terms or specify under what conditions he could return. We simply welcomed home with tender affection. ~~~Robert Millet, “Talking with God, Divine Conversations that Transform Daily Life” (Salt Lake City 2010) p. 66-68
