God Has REALLY Good Hearing

As in, sometimes he hears things you've only thought about and not yet verbalized. :-)

So, obviously, it's been awhile since I've posted anything here. A brief recap of the downward spiral that was my personal life: In mid-November a sleepy driver crashed into and totaled both my car and my husband's. A week later I came down with H1N1. Ten days after that, my husband came down with it, too. Two weeks later we flew to Ecuador to visit my parents, and - while we had a great time - my poor spouse picked up a weird intestinal bug. Once back in the US and beginning a new year, we had to buy cars. STRESS! At the beginning of February my dearest darling had his first (and hopefully only) experience with a kidney stone. A few weeks later he had a wisdom tooth pulled. Meanwhile, life at school was getting progressively more tense as we neared the beginning of state standardized testing (grrrr......) All of which culminated in my Heavenly Father speaking to me through my best friend (another post) and me going to the doctor and trying out antidepressants.

(Note: as a Type 1 diabetic since the age of 3 1/2 I firmly and fully believe that modern medicine is a gift from God and that he gives us the tools we need to fight - and WIN - our personal battles. It's our choice which to pick up and use, just as David had the choice to use the stones when he went up against Goliath.)

ANYWAY.....life is very, very good, and I am richly blessed. I've been thinking recently that I want to be more involved in serving others in general and also in our congregation, but I hadn't said anything about my thoughts.

Well, last week the Bishop came over to visit, (and I'm clueless enough that I really thought he was just visiting. Doh.) and he extended a new calling to me. I accepted, and spent the rest of the week musing. On Sunday morning I thought to myself "I should probably pray for personal confirmation about this", but really, I didn't need it. When I started to pray I told Heavenly Father I felt like I should seek confirmation, because, you know, it's just what you do, and then I said "But I don't need further confirmation, because I KNOW the ponderings of my heart were heard and that Thou gave me this calling because it's what I need right now."

Since I'm not sure this makes any sense, let me sum it up: Heavenly Father knows you, fully and intimately, and He knows what you want and what you need. And He provides.

Grateful for Knowledge

A little girl from my school passed away on Sunday. She was a student in the grade I teach. Last year her teacher noticed she couldn't hold a pencil and was having difficulty with other motor skills - both fine and gross. The teacher brought this to the parents' attention, and when they took her into the doctor they discovered a brain tumor. She had surgery and chemotherapy, and continued to keep in touch with her class. (The teacher looped with her students, so they all stayed together for another year.) This little girl joined us on Halloween for our costume parade, and came to school the last Friday before Christmas break to decorate Christmas cookies with her classmates. Then, on Sunday, she died.

Our principal requested that each teacher discuss her death in class today. It was exceptionally odd to have a discussion regarding death without the framework of faith to support comprehension. How do you answer questions like: "How did she get cancer?"; "WHY did she get cancer?"; "Can I get cancer?" and "Where is she now?"

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge it gives me of who I am, where I came from, why I'm here, and, especially today, what happens to me when I die.

Alma 40:11-14

11 Now, concerning the ^astate of the soul between^bdeath and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are^ctaken ^dhome to that God who gave them life.

12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of ^ahappiness, which is called ^bparadise, a state of rest, a state of ^cpeace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

13 And then shall it come to pass, that the ^aspirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the ^bdevil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer^cdarkness; there shall be ^dweeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.