Service for the Savior

I was really impressed with my Activity Day girls today. They are always SO thoughtful! They love to do service, so tonight, in honor of Christmas, the girls made no-sew fleece blankets. And not from a kit, either - they actually cut and tied the fabric themselves. Then they wrote letters to military servicemen and signed cards to accompany the blankets (they'll be donated to hospitals). They are such wonderful young ladies. And I'm blessed to work with them.

I also have to share a couple of experiences where something - some may call it Serendipity, I call it Providence - stepped in and made itself known to me. The first is from today. I'd been gone all morning as I had a commitment, and had lessons in the afternoon as well. I'd also committed to bring some things for our ward Christmas baskets and had to make a trip to the store and bake 3 dozen cookies! On top of my already full day, Helena was absolutely crazy - cranky, unwilling to sleep, crying, getting into everything (including things I forgot we had) - you moms know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I actually started to cry, I was so upset - Helena wouldn't go down for her nap and I had students coming in, like, 20 minutes, and I knew lessons were going to be SO HARD, plus she hadn't napped all day. My frustration level was at the MAX. Then my sister Andrea called. I pulled it together to answer the phone, but as soon as she said hello the tears started busting out all over the place. It turns out that her schedule today at work was very flexible, and she offered to come over and watch Helena during my lessons. Thank goodness! Helena loved seeing her and they had great fun...what a relief. My second worry of the day was that these kids were coming for their last lesson ever (I'm giving it up) and I didn't have their Christmas gift - a bag of cookies - ready. They were expecting it, but I hadn't had time to bake anything. So, out of the clear blue sky, my sister Caity showed up at the back door! She said she was making cookies anyway, so she'd bring a dozen over and I could divide them up for my students. Amazing. Heavenly Father knows my needs and he fills them through the service of my sisters.

Here's the other experience, from our trip to Florida this September. We drove down, and the first night we stopped at a hotel to spend the night. When we got there, and we were signing in, we discovered that we were given a discount of nearly $20 less than what we expected to spend! We were happy, but tired, so didn't think too much about it. The next day, we were in Georgia somewhere when we saw a man pulled off on the side of the exit ramp we were on. I said "Dan, pull over" (I have a soft spot for troubled motorists, as I so often am one) and we did. He was driving a dilapidated car and didn't look too healthy. Turns out he'd used up all his gas money on a car repair, but was trying to get home (I've forgotten where home was, I think Louisville?) and had no more gas in the car. Dan went over with him, checked out his story (there really wasn't any gas) and offered to go to a gas station and get him some gas. We left him with the car, bought a gas can and filled it, then gave him a $10 bill we had in cash and went on our way. That night we arrived in Florida at our hotel. While we were signing in, the man said "Sign here if the price and everything is okay." Dan, being more bold than I, said, "Well, can the price be any lower?" The concierge said "Let me check" and knocked the price down by another $25. As we were talking later that night, Dan and I concluded that we saved almost twice the amount on hotels that we gave that man on the exit ramp. Who knows if they were related at all, but you know, I think that the Lord wants to bless us for our good acts. I'm not bragging - we only helped that guy because we'd hope someone would help us if we needed it - and we saved some money in the process.

My point in writing this extraordinarily long email is twofold: One, so I can remember the spiritual experiences I have, and two, so that other people can see that the Lord blesses us in so many ways - but we have to be ready to see them for what they are. It's not just a coincidence that Andrea called when she did, or that Caity stopped by to borrow something when she did, or that we pulled off the road when we did. The Lord could do everything he wanted to by himself but he chooses to give us the opportunity to serve. I hope I can be better about looking for, then taking those opportunities.