Thursday, September 10, 2015

Trials, Lessons, & Faith

One time I was given a priesthood blessing at the beginning of a new calling-or responsibility- at church.  In it, I was blessed with a love for the scriptures, and that I would have a desire to learn what the scriptures have in store.  I remember as a young woman reading the required reading for seminary, and that's as far as it went.  Then after college, I had a job where I worked with many people with different beliefs than I had, and this desire to learn as much as I could, so I could figure out where I was and where I was going was born.  I'd read all the time, at my desk, when work was slow.  I was grateful for that time.  Anyways, I had this desire to read that was new to me.  So, fast forward to present day.  I love reading the scriptures, and with my current calling, I've been able to learn so much about the Old Testament, and now the New Testament. 

Two nights ago, I started reading the Book of Mormon, again.  I read in 1 Nephi 4:31 "And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur saying:  How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands?..."  This is just after an angel had spoken to them, and told them that the Lord would provide the way.  Every time I've read this verse, I always think, 'how dumb were they- they just had an angel tell them'.  This time it meant something different to me.  I'm like Laban & Lemuel.  I haven't had any angelic visitors, but I've received personal revelation- just for me - and then I say to myself shortly after, 'How the heck could that happen?'  I'm them.  Wow!  I need to work on that!

There's this difference between being faithful and having faith.  I'm faithful, but do I have faith?  I do in many aspects of my life, not in all.  This week has been one of those weeks of reflection.  Interesting!  I'm grateful for the scriptures, and that I have learned to relate those ancient books to my life. 

Monday, January 5, 2015

It's been a while...

Today I had some time to reflect on some "what ifs".  You know those experiences you have that ended in an unexpected way.  You ocassionally let yourself go there, and think about what might have  been.  Without going into much detail, I can say that I went to help an old friend, which ended up with us going out to dinner.  It was fun to catch up!  He's so fun to talk to, and I laughed a lot!  At the same time, I kept thinking back to how it was in the past, how I felt about things then and how I felt about them now.  I found myself grateful for the experience, and so grateful for where I am now.  I was able to say some things, that I would've been nervous to say back in the day.  My ''what ifs" were answered.
After that I had the chance to somewhat mend a friendship that had ended recently.  I've been feeling bad for the way I handled things, and had some courage to go up and just chat.  It felt really great!
I've been praying a lot for certain things in my life.  I have always been so grateful for the power of prayer.  I've seen so many answers to prayers in so many lives.  I've seen it in my callings.  I can't tell you how many times answers came when I was leading the MidSingles.  I've seen it in matters of health, family, friends, etc.  This last fall, I had an amazing experience with prayer.  I was searching for a new job, I checked KSL jobs daily!  I felt so held back by being at Home Depot.  The hours were ridiculous, and things just were not good!  As I told my boss on my last day, I have never worked somewhere with such low morale and low morals.  I saw this job for cabinet designer, and applied.  I found another Interior Design position, and applied there, as well.  They both called me, and scheduled interviews for the same day.  My prayers were that I would be able to get one of these jobs, and that even if they weren't going to be a job that would last for a long time, that I would be able to get out of Home Depot.  I went to my first interview in Brigham City, and as I walked in, was greeted by the owner with this welcome that sounded just like what I had every week when I went to the MidSingles religion class by Bro. Grant.  I immediately felt at home.  We talked, I got a tour, I met his wife, and a couple hours later, I left Brigham and headed to the other interview (which I was late for:)).  I got there, looked around, and waited and waited and waited.  The lady came down, and in her first two minutes, she informed me that they were very crude, and if I didn't enjoy that, then that was not the place for me.  I had already decided during my drive to Murray that I wanted the job in Brigham, I just knew.
Somehow my entire schedule opened up, and I had so much free time!  It was driving me insane!  I wanted to hear about this job so badly, and I wasn't.  I spent so much time on my knees.  Nearly every waking moment there was some thought about if/when I would hear, and oh, how I hoped that they would feel as strongly about me, as I felt about them.  I spent a lot of time in the temple, I mean a LOT of time!  The temple is where I go to find peace.  While I'm there, the worries and stress of the world leaves, and I feel rejuvenated, knowing I'll be okay in whatever is stressing me at the time.  One stress was that I was supposed to go to Atlanta for a week of training for Home Depot.  I did not want to go!  I don't know what the stress was, and why I wasn't supposed to go there, but for a few months, I knew I was not supposed to go.  Randy called me, and told me the next step in the interview process, and I told him I was going to Atlanta for training in five days.  He called me later that night, and offered me the job.
I am a project manager at Anvil Cabinets & Mill.  I work out of Salt Lake.  I get to design kitchens and anything else you can imagine that uses cabinets.  I love it!  I love what I do, and I love the people I work for!  I've never worked at such a happy place.  I'm so blessed to have this!  The biggest blessing that came from this process, was that my faith grew immensely!  I'm so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father!