A Surprising Twist

This could be considered part 5 of a series about our current struggle with Grig's job. If you want part four with links to the other three parts, follow this link to "Enduring Faith."

A few days ago, as I was struggling with my faith, I was reading the scriptures. I was reading a story in Alma, where a group of righteous people had been enslaved by the Lamanites. They hadn't done anything wrong, and they cried out to the Lord for Him to save them.

At first, the Lord just told them, in Mosiah 24:13 

And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

However, for a while they had to continue to suffer in bondage. The Lord made their burdens light, so they couldn't feel them, and then after a while, it says, in Mosiah 24:16:

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

As I read that, I was floored by the word patience (which is why I bolded it). I hadn't noticed that word before. It wasn't just their faith that was great. They also had great patience to wait on the Lord's time.

I felt like that was my answer. The Lord was telling me that if I would wait in faith and patience, we would receive all the blessings we had been promised.

Yesterday, at church, we received some surprising news. We had been in contact with the seller of the Norwegian Elkhound that we had been looking at purchasing. We had felt good about telling him that we were going to come and get the puppy on Monday. We had also explained why we had been waiting so long, so he knew that if Grig didn't get the job that day, that we'd have to wait a little longer, but that we were definitely interested in getting the puppy.

However, yesterday morning, as we walked into church, Grig received a text that told us that the seller had sold the puppy the day before, and someone had just come to pick her up. She was gone.

For the first little while after that, we were baffled. When Grig showed me the text, the impression I got was, "This isn't the end; it's not over," and I felt a lot of peace. He also felt strangely peaceful about it. That didn't stop the barrage of questions and confusion that followed during Sacrament Meeting though.

From LDS.org, link to source

However, as I listened to the speakers, who spoke about Christ's love for us, I focused on what I did know, and made a list. It went something like this:

Faith

• The Lord doesn't lie
• He told Grig in the temple that we were going to get the job and the puppy
• I was told to trust in Grg. 
• I was told the Lord would deliver us if we had faith and patience.
• I felt good about Monday.
• Perhaps, we were told to wait so that we would get the right puppy from someone else, and if we weren't still open to it, we  would have missed the opportunity.

Grig looked at my list, and added:

• This may be another test for us and the owner of the puppies. Do we really want to be faithful, hopeful, and charitable?  

After church ended, I was feeling better, but I still didn't fully understand. I did feel however, that if we continued to have patience and faith that things would work out.

I told Grig's brother Allopex about what had happened. He told me he'd had a similar experience before, and he related it to me. He had received an answer that involved someone else, but because of the other person's choices, it hadn't happened. Afterward, he was confused, but the answer he'd received was something like: "Revelation doesn't change, but people can make their own choices."

I was grateful to him for sharing that. It eased my confusion. It is true that the Lord never forces people to do something. He always lets them make their own choices.

It's quite possible that we were meant to have this puppy, but because the seller reneged on our deal and sold it to someone else, that we aren't going to get this particular puppy. However, that doesn't invalidate the Lord's promise to us. The Lord doesn't lie, and I know that we will be guided to know what to do next.

We're just going to wait and see what happens in the next few days.

It should be exciting.