Mormon Monday: Doing the Best with What We Have

Yesterday in church, one of the teachers shared a pretty neat video. I was able to find it this morning, because I wanted to share it with you.

This video is about a girl who doesn't have very much money, but she has to buy some things that she needs. However, if she buys the necessities, she won't have enough money for fare to church the next day. After praying, she feels that she should go ahead and purchase the things that she needs and it will be okay. Acting on faith, she decides to do just that, and miracles follow.

One thing that I really liked about this video is the fact that the girl isn't just purchasing things that she wants. She is buying absolute necessities, and because she is doing her best with what she has, the Lord provides.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, we are going on vacation soon. We very prayerfully considered when we should leave, and how we should get to our destination. We live in Utah (big surprise, right?) and we are traveling to Virginia. We found out that driving would be about $500, while flying is about $1000 round trip. Even so, we've struggled to have enough money for this trip.

However, whenever I've worried about having enough, I've been comforted and things have worked out. I wanted to give you some examples.

One thing that really concerned us, was the fact that Grig's glasses were broken by Kevin. We knew we needed to get glasses before our trip if we wanted Grig to be able to drive at night. However, when we went to Sam's Club to get his eyes checked out, we found out that our insurance wouldn't cover it. It was still fairly inexpensive, so we decided to go ahead and get him an eye doctor appointment.

His appointment was on last Thursday, the 29th. It was the earliest appointment we could get. We had been told that it would take 7-10 days to get the glasses in, and if it wasn't within 7 days, we wouldn't have Grig's glasses for the trip. However, we felt like things were going to work out if we prayed for it.

To our astonishment, Saturday morning, two days later, we received a phone call. Grig's glasses were already in!

That was a wonderful miracle and blessing.

The other incredible blessing that we've had is that Grig has gotten a bunch of extra hours the last two weeks. Due to that, we've made our goal for the trip and we should have plenty of money.

When we try our best, we aren't perfect, but the Lord makes up for what we lack. I know this is true. When we were talking about the glasses, I assured Grig that he would get them in time, but he told me, "Not if we don't pray about it." Sometimes the Lord has blessings for us, but they are conditional upon us asking for them.

The girl in the video above prayed very sincerely for help, and then she acted, doing the best with what she had. The Lord answered her prayer and gave her enough for her needs. The Lord has done the same for us, and we've had enough to buy all the things we needed before the trip.

I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father loves all His children and wants what is best for them. Sometimes our prayers aren't answered right away, but usually that's because the Lord's timing is perfect and it isn't right for us to have what we want right at that moment.

I've grown in faith as I've had to wait for my prayers to be answered. I've learned to trust in the Lord and as my prayers have been answered, I come to understand a little better the mind of my Father in Heaven. I know God exists and loves us. Each of us is special to Him. As we do our best with the talents and abilities that we've been given, His grace helps us to be capable of so much more.

Broken Glasses and Root Canals

Yesterday, we had an exciting day. In the morning we had pest control come to spray for cockroaches (we haven't seen many lately, but they were doing our whole building, so that was great!) I was frantically trying to finish cleaning before they got here, and finished just in time.

Then, we had cousins come over to play with Kevin. He loves his cousins so much, but after a busy morning with a picnic and playing on the playground, he was worn out, so he fell asleep while they were still here. We had a lot of fun though.

Then, Grig had to go straight from work to the dentist. Poor guy. That was a long day for him. He started work at 4:00 a.m., went straight to the dentist at 3:40 p.m., got home about 5:15, and then had another couple of meetings at 6:00 p.m.. At the dentist, they performed a root canal and numbed up his tongue and jaw.

I felt pretty bad for him, but I was grateful to have him home.

Tonight, he has an eye doctor appointment, and I'm going to take my glasses in to get them repaired as well. On Saturday, we were tired, and so Grig and I took a nap on the floor of Kevin's room while he played. I still had my glasses on from the morning (I usually wear contacts), and I foolishly played them somewhere where he could reach them. When I woke up, I couldn't find them, and being blind I had to ask Grig to locate them.

When he found them, it wasn't good. A screw was missing and they were horribly bent out of shape. He couldn't find one of the lenses. Well, I went and put my contacts back in, and cleaned Kevin's room and located the missing lens, but not the screw.

The after-effects of the carnage

I wasn't mad at him, I just wished that I hadn't left my glasses where he could reach them.

Live and learn, I guess.


This last week, I also shaved the dog. Previously, I've clipped her, but this time I went to an 1/8 of an inch. This is what Dakota looks like with no hair:

She's much happier and much cooler. She doesn't pant hardly at all now, and she is far more relaxed. She doesn't look too bad either, if I do say so myself.

Summer is almost here, and our apartment is growing warmer by the day.

I love summer, but with no air-conditioning, the house can get pretty warm. I'm probably going to cut Kevin's hair again before we leave too.