A Year Of Lessons

This has probably been the most challenging year of my life. But with each challenge the Lord seemed to prepare me. I have learned to have gratitude and faith.

The lessons learned actually started in 2006. We sold our cabin on the lake and invested the money with 3 different companies. With the profits from these investments, we were making almost 3 times the money we were making before. We took the kids on trips, we bought a nice car, and I found two great ladies who cleaned my house for me. We bought 3 lots at the lake and built another cabin on one of them. We got season tickets to the Jazz games with great seats. We were living large and life was easy.

In the summer of 2007 the money from one investment had stopped coming. A few months later, income from another investment had stopped coming. We not only lost the monthly income we were making from these investments, but the investments themselves were gone. We don't know if we will see any of it.

September of 2007 was the first of many miracles. We shut off the water to the cabin we had just finished building (we had a "for sale" sign in the window), but somehow a pipe broke and water began gushing into the cabin. A man who happened to be walking by the cabin walked up to the door. He could hear water running. He peeked into the window and saw water coming from behind the refrigerator. He called the number on the "for sale" sign and reached Nathan. He told Nathan what was happening. Nathan told him how to get into the cabin and the man got in and turned off the water. Nathan, the plumber and I took the 3 hour trip to the cabin and found this man still there cleaning up with a shop vacuum that we had left there. I believe this man, we only know by the name of Richard, was sent by the Lord to bless our lives. We assessed the damage that day and found that the carpets were going to need replacing, and all the wood doors on the main floor were so warped that they needed to be replaced. Walls were damaged and baseboards were damaged. We found a company to get the water out of the carpet so they didn't need to be replaced. The next trip to the cabin we found the doors were working perfectly, the base boards fit and were not warped and the walls were just fine. The only lasting damamge was a hole in the wall behind the refrigerator where the water blew through and a rug had bled through and stained some of the tile on the bathroom floor.

2008 brought much humility. We stopped using the housekeepers; the children stopped extra activities that were costing money; and we ate out less often. We started using coupons and buying only essential things that were on sale. I stopped going to Lia Sophia, Pampered Chef and other parties. The children stopped asking for things and became more concerned about our families' welfare. We wanted our children to know that everything would be just fine and to have faith. We began to look at the things that we did have, and became more grateful for those things. Nathan continued to have work and we were able to keep paying the bills.

During one particularly expensive month this past year, I didn't know how we were going to make it. After much prayer and fasting, I got a phone call from the guy who helped us build our cabin. He told me that he had gone through the numbers on the cabin and said he owed us money and he would be sending a check. That check kept us going for another 3 months. Many prayers of thanks were offered at that time.

2008 brought 3 serious injuries to Nathan's hands. Never in the 19 years that Nathan had been working was he ever injured, and this year he had 3. Instead of being angry, we had learned how important these blessings were. He could still work and he still had full use of his hands.

This past year has been humbling, and a test of faith. We have experienced so many small miracles that I can't even name them all. I am grateful that I can clean my own toilets, that my children are healthy, that Nathan has his hands, and that we have an abudance of blessings. These blessings have come from remembering our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives and by trying to live in a way to be worthy of those blessings.

Hope for 2009. I have learned so much from this past year. I have learned how important it is to pay tithing, to spend less than we make, and to save as much as possible. I no longer take for granite our ability to work, the opportunity to share with those less fortunate that us, and how easy it is to have our lives turn up-side-down. We can prepare for those difficult times by putting our hearts on the things of the Lord. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and will always be with us if we do our part. I will do more of my part this year.

May this year bring you joy, hope and more gratitude.