Seeing His Hand

I found a little notebook today and shared a few memories in it with Melodie and Ethan on their missions. In Aug 2012 I had listened to President Eyring's October 2007 General Conference talk about writing down how you've seen the hand of the Lord in your life. I started to write them down. I have still have some pages to fill so I think I'll pick it up again. But here are the two entries I shared with them:

Thurs 6 Sep 2012

Sophia turned 1 year old today. Corey gave me a blessing before she was born that I would see the hand of the Lord during the delivery, so I prepped myself mentally for something to go bad/wrong during or after her birth, which the Lord would use as His way to show us his hand by healing her or me miraculously. Instead, everything went so over the top perfectly well with the delivery and my recovery that I was left scratching my head a little, asking and wondering "So, was that his hand?" I knew it was. So often we see his hand in our trials, but do we still see it in the prosperity and blessing he gives us freely without suffering? I hope I can, cause it seems like a much easier road to travel, to have faith and see his blessings without having to be "steamrolled over" by afflictions (see the book Triumph of Zion, pg 256-57) I think if you insert "gratitude" in the pride cycle after "Blessings & Prosperity" then it would just go right back to "Humility & Repentance" and we could just skip the whole Pride & Wickedness and Suffering & Destruction part of the cycle. Gratitude is key

Sunday 5 May 2013

We are home from our trip to California. This morning we attended the Valle Verde Ward, where a small miracle occurred. Before we went, Ethan was upset that he had to wear a dirty shirt that had some poop on the arm from when he held baby Sophia after she had a little accident last Sunday. He didn't want to come to church. We talked about the importance of going to Church as we drove. Ethan was crying. It was fast and testimony meeting. The counselor conducting shared his testimony of a time when he was on vacation in Vernal UT and felt obliged to attend church with his friend, but he only had jeans that he'd already been wearing for 3 days and his white shirt had some food stains on it. The only place to sit when they got there was up on the stand and he felt very embarrassed, but learned and knew he was where he should be and he testified of the importance of attending church. Attending church during less-than-ideal circumstances was a recurring theme in the testimonies through the meeting. It was cool, a lesson for all of us, a little tender mercy letting us know we'd made the right choice.