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| Photo used with permission from Microsoft |
A couple of weeks ago, I told you about Alisa and her
miracle. This coming Sunday, a lot of Christians will be praying and fasting for another
miracle. The miracle we all want involves
the upcoming United States Presidential election. We want Mitt Romney to win!
Mitt Romney is a miracle already, by just being born! His mother was told
after the birth of her 3rd child that she would never conceive or
bear another child. This was devastating
news for the family, but proved to highlight the miracle when Willard Mitt Romney
was born. The doctors couldn’t figure
out how he was conceived, carried or delivered under the extreme medical
circumstances. His parents prized and
loved him all through his childhood.
His father, George Romney, was active in politics
after a successful career in Detroit, Michigan in the auto industry. Facing stiff competition, he successfully
kept American Motor Company alive when other auto manufacturers were folding. When he ran for Governor of Michigan, the
Democratic controlled state seemed impossible for him to win over. But win he did, and Michigan citizens
respected him so much that they elected him twice. George
ran for President of the United States after that, but pulled out of the
contest when it became clear that Richard Nixon would win the Republican nomination. He served in Nixon’s cabinet as the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
That’s a lot of information about George Romney, but it’s
important because as a child Mitt was watching his father this whole time. He saw how his dad helped American Motors
stay afloat, then helped his state to success.
He worked on his father’s campaign, and later as an unpaid intern in the
Governor’s office. This must have been
good preparation for Mitt, the future Presidential candidate.
More importantly, Mitt learned the lessons of living
discipleship that he saw in his family and in his church. Mitt was raised a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His
life was centered on living the teachings of Jesus Christ. Like most Mormon youth, Mitt was baptized,
received the Priesthood and attended Seminary.
He served a 30 month mission to France in a low baptizing, difficult
mission. Marrying Anne and raising 5
boys, he served in many positions including service as a Bishop and later as a
Stake President. As one looks at Mitt’s
life, it’s clear that he has a strong testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ and lives it.
I met Mitt Romney when my husband Scott and I were living in
Boston from 1986-1991. Scott was a
student at MIT. We attended church in
the Cambridge congregation when Mitt was our Stake President. I remember him as kind and warm, genuinely
interested in our welfare. His family
modeled goodness; his marriage modeled fidelity and love. Now that Scott is a Stake President, I
understand better the rigors that the calling requires. Mitt met regularly with the members of the
church belonging to the many congregations in the area. Plus, administering the needs of the Stake requires
many hours a week of meetings simply involving the logistics like calendaring
and budgets. Ward and Stake Conferences,
Firesides, and Training sessions would have kept Mitt busy with a long list of
talks to prepare and deliver.
A few months ago I heard my husband recount the story of how
Mitt helped find Robert Gay’s 14 year old lost daughter. If there is any
doubt of Mitt’s dedication to helping others, this is the story to ‘Google.’ To summarize, Mitt closed down the company
and sent all of his employees out into the underworld of New York City to find
the girl. Mitt and his employees went into nasty places looking for her. It took several days, but they did find her
and brought her back to her parents. The
cost in money must have been pretty substantial—he diverted so many employees
from their normal money-making operations, flew them to New York, and they
spent days looking for her. But it
wasn’t about the money, it was about a lost child of a co-worker. No expense was too high to find her.
I have highlighted Mitt’s moral goodness in this letter, and
not really touched on his fiscal preparation.
After earning a Bachelors from BYU, Mitt earned a law degree and a business
degree simultaneously from Harvard.
He passed the Michigan Bar exam, but chose not to practice as a lawyer. Instead he co-founded Bain Capital, which
invested in businesses to perform ‘miracles.’
Bain did this by supporting struggling businesses in which they saw potential,
with money and expertise to help them become successful. This was great preparation for Mitt to take
over the bankrupt Salt Lake Olympics right before the games. He turned it around and helped them make a
profit, taking no fee for his service.
Bain also must have helped him in his term as Governor of Massachusetts,
where he turned a huge deficit into a profit for the state. Again Mitt took no salary from the state for
his service as Governor. His business
acumen is strong and his motives are good.
Mitt truly may be the best candidate for President of the
United States to emerge in the last 100 years!
He has the moral commitment to do what is right in the sight of God, he
loves America with a passion needed to defend her and it’s Constitution
properly, and he knows how to heal broken finances to tame our budget deficit and get
our economy going again. And yet,
surprisingly, the election is close and feelings are strongly partisan. It really may take a miracle for America to
elect him.
One of Mitts’ favorite quotes is, “The pursuit of the
difficult makes men strong.” Serving in
a hard mission in France, doing unpopular things to make businesses and
governments fiscally responsible and attempting to run for President in 2008
made him strong enough for this fight. Becoming
President of the United States may be the most difficult of all of his
pursuits. With just a week left before
the election, many Americans are still not convinced Mitt will be a better
President than Mr. Obama. I am praying
for this miracle now. America needs this
miracle!
The best one: http://www.biography.com/people/mitt-romney-241055
Mitt Romney at Wikipedia
Wow, Melanie! Wish I had read this before the election...it would have been great to share. Thank you for writing this.
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