Yesterday, I wrote about our van…
They're Fixing It!!
Since Abe is so new at his job, in order to fix the van, they needed our van title as
collateral, and they need Abe’s signature for the $2000 loan. Abe doesn’t return home until Monday!! I pleaded with them to work something else
out because if they waited until Monday to fix the van, then we wouldn’t have
the van for 2-3 days still after that.
Fixing the transmission is a 2-3 day job. They
called me back, told me to think positive thoughts, and decided to start work
on it immediately! I’m not sure
when we’ll have the van back, but I think it won’t be until Monday. I'm just so grateful that they are trusting us. I spent almost the entire day yesterday on the phone!!
I have been feeling confident in my family’s ability to ride
our bikes to where we would need to go.
My only concern was Sunday morning.
The closest member of our congregation lives 20-25 minutes away, and I
was certain they wouldn’t have room for their own family and all of us too. We were planning on riding our bikes to
church, and all the children knew that we would have to leave on our bikes by
7am to get there on time. It was doable,
and the pioneers did much more to get to church… we would just be pioneers.
Visiting Teacher with a Plan
Just this week I was assigned a visiting teacher. (A visiting teacher is a woman in the church
called to visit a few assigned sisters to check on their wellbeing. Ideally, every sister should be a visiting
teacher and every sister should have 2 visiting teachers who come visit her
each month.) The sister who had brought
us spices a few days ago happened to be the same one to become my new visiting teacher! She sent me a text to check on me; and since she was my visiting teacher, I felt confident to tell her we had car problems.
Last night she sent me a text to see when my car would be
done. I told her I wasn’t sure. (I figured it would be done on Monday, but I
didn’t want to let on that I needed help because I really didn’t want to put
anyone out.) Immediately, she called
me to tell me her husband is out of town, so they have an extra van that we can
borrow over the weekend!! I had
already accepted our situation that we would be riding to church for 12 miles
on bikes, so it took me a moment to realize that the worst of our weekend
transportation problems were being solved right then and there! I couldn't thank her enough.
Last night I felt so grateful we would have a car to get to
church.
However, I still wanted to get the kids to a Valentines
party going on this morning. I also had
to get to the bank, get some groceries, and return a movie that was 3 days
overdue… since we didn’t have a car. We
were planning a bike ride of a total around 25 miles today.
Earlier this week, while Abe was still here, the brakes on
my bike mysteriously froze up. He looked
at it and couldn’t figure it out. I
looked at it and couldn’t figure it out.
The brakes on Jackson’s bike had also frozen up this week.
Worst timing ever!!!! Two bikes and two cars out of
commission!!! Ugh!!!
Miracle of the Bike
We needed one of the two bikes to be working in order to get
the whole family where we needed to go today.
I tried really hard last night to figure it out.
Jackson and Tyson worked in the garage with me trying all
kinds of tools…. nothing worked.
This morning I called Abe to see if he had any ideas. He apologized that he had no idea how to fix
brakes, but he did suggest that maybe I wouldn’t need a tool… I hung up with Abe and knelt by my bike. I prayed "with all the energy of heart" like
the scripture I read yesterday in the book of Moroni 7:48. I
told Heavenly Father that my van was broken down- I had places I needed to go-
my bikes were all I had. I told my Heavenly Father how much I REALLY needed help fixing
my bike. I pleaded for help.
Wow!! I tremble now as I write… a true miracle took
place!! I opened my eyes and looked
directly over to the problem. It honestly felt as
if an angel had placed her hands on my cheeks and turned my face to the
problem. I fixed the problem with my
bare hands… no tools. It took a total of
about 30 seconds to fix, and my bike was moving smoothly again.
It was such a direct answer to prayer!! I knew it was not me who found the problem to
the bike!! I immediately knelt down and
sobbed as I thanked God with all my heart.
I ran into the house and announced to the children what
happened. The boys who had been trying
to help me with my bike the night before were extra excited. Tyson shouted out, “THAT IS A MIRACLE!!”
“I know! I
know!” I said. We all hugged… knowing God is taking care of
us.
We’ll ride our bikes today, borrow a van from my dear
visiting teacher/new friend for the rest of the weekend, and my van is
being worked on right now as I write. God
works in marvelous, mysterious ways.
My heart is filled with love, joy, and gratitude!!
Happy Valentines Day!! Jesus loves you.
Dear Rachel, Thank you so much for your incredible perspective on your daily experiences. You are such an inspiration and example of looking for Gods hand in everything in our lives, even our trials. With each new road block that comes your way, you seem to square up your shoulders and face it with such grace and determination without much grumbling. I've been in a spiritual slump lately. Fortunately I am in the habit of family prayer and a family inspirational message each night (usually found in For the Strength of Youth) and even though my calling forces me to delve into the scriptures and ensign often I know it's not enough for my spiritual growth. I was on a walk this morning with my sister in law and she was sharing with me a program that she is using to help her read the Book of Mormon each day. As she was talking I realized that I need this program (which I'm starting today) but I also realized how much I depend on your Daily Miracles to lift me up. So I'd like to thank you for the time and energy that you put into your posts and your willingness to share your testimony with all the world, exactly what we all should be doing. I know I sometimes get bogged down with what life is throwing my way and I especially get frustrated with the financial roadblocks that we keep encountering, but I know how much we are blessed and we have enough to provide for our needs. I need to remember that when I am faced with different trials that I too need to square up my shoulders and face them with grace and determination with little grumbling instead of the other way around. Thank you thank you thank you for your love, your joy and your testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Thank you for your example of trust and faith. Thank you for being such a beautiful, kind person. With Hugs and Love, Becky
ReplyDeleteBecky… I am deeply touched and humbled by your kind words. I am especially so grateful that my testimony has been a strength to you. Your words and comments have strengthened me many times when I have felt weak. Thank YOU!!
DeleteI would love to hear more about your reading program and how you are feeling strengthened by it. I want to do it too! :-) I think it is ALWAYS a good idea to give ourselves a boost in our study program. I have felt in slumps (or plateaus) many times, and it's usually precisely what you are doing now that pulls me out. I always think that the sluggish plateaus in my mind come as God's way of saying, "You're doing great; let's step it up a notch where it matters most." I am confident you will feel rejuvenated, and I will be praying for you.
Thank you again for taking the time to send so much love my way. I love you. God loves you.
It's so funny that you say sometimes you think that Heavenly Father is saying "You're doing great; lets step it up a notch where it matters most." My sister in law told me something similar to that today.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to the temple tonight with my husband and hope that maybe that is what I'm missing. We go a lot with the youth of our ward to do temple baptisms but don't always make the time to attend a session, which is really sad when we have a temple just twenty minutes away from our home.
I appreciate your prayers. I'm doing all that I can to stay strong and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and will help me. I am so grateful for the gospel and the perspective it gives me.
The program that I am following is found on instagram. It's called BoM365 - most people began the reading program on January 1 but since I came late I decided I was going to just pick up where they were at. Each day a scripture reading assignment is given. It's just short enough to not feel overwhelming. The part I really like is that they post a question to think about while reading. A lot of people write responses to the questions that are posted, some of the comments are inspiring. I really like pondering the question that is asked. It reminds me to dig deep and find an answer to the question from my scripture study. It's working for me.
Have a wonderful day. ~Becky
I will definitely check out the program- thank you! I read your comment yesterday afternoon from my cell phone and said a prayer for you in that very moment. I pray your experience in the temple was uplifting and strengthening.
DeleteI was thinking about it some more. I ALWAYS need to do better, but I also think that sometimes we are just in a fog that will clear up soon. You're already stepping it up where it matters most… your iron rod… your scriptures will carry you through the fog/slump. I've felt the fog at the most unexpected times, and I just hold on tight to the scriptures to make it through. It does clear. I'm sure you've felt it before.
I really do feel so much love in my heart for you!! God bless you!!
Prayers truly can be felt and I appreciate your prayer for me. Today I woke up with such a clear mind, I think the temple was exactly what I needed. We landed up doing initiatories and the spirit was so strong as I was going through for each person. It was such an incredible experience and was the spiritual food that I needed to push away the fog that I've been in.
DeleteToday I expressed gratitude to our Heavenly Father for technology that allows us to connect to people from all over. I belong to a missionary mom site for missionaries serving in my sons mission. I had a question because my son was transferred to an area that is 1300 miles away from Madrid (he's now in the Canary Islands) and I wanted to know how I send mail and packages now that he is so far away from the mission home. A lovely sister from Utah responded because her son was just transferred back to Madrid from the islands. She was such a wealth of information and even gave me her number in case I had other questions. After I read her kind words, I read what you wrote. Without technology I would not be able to connect with such wonderful people. We are so lucky to be able to live at this time.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. <3
Beautiful! :-) I need to find your son's blog again to read his missionary experiences in the Canary Islands. :-)
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