Challenge #33—Say a Little Prayer

Today’s challenge is one that I hold near and dear to my heart.  All about prayer!

When has God answered a specific prayer that you’ve had?

Now, maybe He didn’t answer it in the way you had hoped, or would’ve liked, but how did that change your attitude?  Was it something big you had prayed for over and over, or something small but significant?  It could’ve even been something that seemed silly, but important nonetheless. 

God answers prayers, and He answers them in the way that is best for us—and we don’t always know what is best for us.  Sometimes my kids ask for things they don’t need or that are not best for them at the moment.  I tell them no (or sometimes, it’s just a “not now” answer).  It’s not that I don’t love them, or want them to be unhappy.  I have lived a bit longer than them, and I know that some things just aren’t good for them right now.  That is exactly how Heavenly Father is.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows the future and what it holds for each one of us.  Sometimes we are meant to go through the refiner’s fire so that we can come out of it stronger than before.  Sometimes His answer is a right away “yes”…sometimes we have to wait patiently for that “yes”…sometimes we get a “not now” answer…and sometimes it’s a “no”.  No matter HOW He has answered, it’s still an answer!

My very favorite scripture is in Alma 37:37. 

It talks about prayer and how we need to counsel with the Lord in all that we do.  I’ve always taken this to mean that we counsel with him in important matters…not small everyday things like which plates to use at dinner.

You are more than welcome to print off this quote—I just ask that you please follow this blog.  It’s 8x10.  Chalkboard background from How To Nest For Less.  Fonts: Janda Stylish Script, Aargh, Sketch Rockwell.  Flourish: Adobe Photoshop.

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What I did:

This week to record my challenge I was going to make a scrapbook page, but didn’t have time yet, so here’s the story that will soon be put into one.  (And I will post it up on here when I get it done.)

There are many times in my life that God has answered prayers in my life—big prayers: where to attend college, whether or not to go on a mission, if I had chosen the right man to marry.  Littler prayers:  help on a test, comfort in times of trouble and need.  And of course prayers for my family and loved ones in their times of need.  There were also many times I prayed for things that seemed so silly, but it was still important to me. 

One of those times was about a year ago.  One morning I realized I couldn’t find my wedding and engagement rings.  I had never gotten them soldered together, so when I lost them, I panicked, because they could get lost from each other and make it that much harder to find! 

I had looked in my usual three spots that I put my rings.  (I don’t like wearing them to sleep in, and always take them off when putting lotion on my hands.)  They weren’t in any of those places.  I searched high and low—every drawer, countertop, closet, and all over the carpets.  I prayed and prayed that I would find them.  Though, I knew they were just rings and had no eternal value, it was still important to me because it signified two of the most special days in my life.  I knew I could replace them if I had to, but it was a sad thought. 

A week and a half went by and I still couldn’t find them.  I’d decided that they were gone for good.  I was doing laundry, and I rarely check my pockets in the laundry room, because I usually check them before I throw my clothes in the hamper.  But this day, I had this thought come to my mind to check my jacket pocket…and of course I found both of my rings!!!  It came back to my mind, clear as day, that I had put them in my pocket after bathing the kids so I wouldn’t get lotion on them.  I humbly said a prayer of gratitude, and learned the lesson to never give up!  I also realized that day, that even though losing my rings and praying for help to find them seemed trivial in the whole eternal scheme of things, Heavenly Father knew they were important to me.  He does care for us, and wants us to be happy.  And, He does answer prayers!

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Now I challenge you to record a story (or two) of a time when God answered your prayers!

(Re)Challenge #20—Miracles Never Cease

So when I gave my team members the topic for today’s challenge, I didn’t realize that I’d already given it, but it’s a great one for this time of year, so we’re going to do it again!  (The original challenge can be found here.)

What are some miracles that have happened in your life?

On the original challenge I wrote: You can list or write about a few of them—big or small.  (Sometimes it’s a miracle for that I didn’t kill a certain child, ha ha!)  You can focus on the details of one miracle that you’ll never forget and want to record.  You can start a miracle journal, where you write the little miracles that happen everyday.  The possibilities are endless!

Here are some ideas for you to record this challenge!

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What Robin did:

Here I am doing my SECOND challenge and I am still so excited to be here. Now, for those of you who read my last post/confession, I am truly sorry for the heaviness I brought about in that post. I didn’t mean to seem like such a “Debbie downer” or turn the post into something negative, it was never my intention and I am sorry to those of you who may have taken it that way.

Anyhow, on to this week’s challenge, which is: “What was a miracle that has happened in your life?”

This question here is a particularly loaded one for me, as I have witnessed many MANY miracles in my life, and while I have narrowed it down to just one miracle for this particular post, I still feel the need to mention how thankful I am for a couple of other miracles in my life. I nearly lost my brother in a snowboarding accident, where he punctured a lung, broke ribs, lacerated his spleen and ripped up his kidneys, and still lives to this day to tell the tale. I love him and am so grateful he is still in my life to this day.

I nearly lost my daughter Allyson when she was 3 years old. She climbed the dresser in her bedroom, which had a TV on top of it, and it all came crashing down. She fractured her skull in 6 places, and was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Medical Center in SLC, Utah, where she was treated for a severe concussion and nothing more. She had a bleed in her brain that the doctors were worried about which is why she was life-flighted in the first place. I am so very thankful to my Heavenly Father for sparing her life, for allowing me to continue to take care of her on this earth in this life.

However, the biggest miracle of my life came about when I was about 10 years old. We were out at the lake jet skiing with my family and another family. It was getting late and dark and we were packing up to leave. My brother was still out on his jet ski, so my mom jumped on hers and headed out on the lake to find him. Just a few minutes later, my brother came riding up to the dock on his jet ski in a complete panic, just sobbing uncontrollably. We were finally able to figure out that my mom had been hit by another jet ski while on her own jet ski. The other rider had apparently (not purposely) used the front end of my mom’s jet ski as a ramp and hit her head full on with his own jet ski.

Thankfully my mom had her life jacket on, and I am even more thankful to the 3 teenage boys who were in a boat nearby that pulled my mom out of the water, saving her life, and bringing her to us. I remember that I could hear her cries of pain from the boat way before she even reached the dock. (Wow, I am crying even as I write this, every time I think up this memory, it still bring tears to my eyes, aches my heart, but always makes my heart swell with love and gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sparing my mother’s life.)

My father and the father of the family I came with carried my mom to our car. I remember being in a complete panic. I remember seeing my mom holding MY t-shirt that I had worn to the lake, up to her bloody face to help soak up blood and stop the bleeding. I can still hear her screams; I can still hear her crying. I can still see the police lights out the back window of our car that my dad ignored until the cop realized we were rushing to the hospital and raced ahead of us to clear an easy path to the emergency room.

I remember those first 2 weeks at home after my mom was released from the hospital. Her jaw had been busted and nearly every tooth had been knocked out. She had to have teeth implants and her jaw was wired shut for 6 weeks. I remember her having to drink meals from a straw; I remember my dad spoon feeding her soup. I remember lying next to her while she laid in bed, I remember holding her and hugging her.

I am so VERY VERY VERY thankful that my Heavenly Father spared her life, He must have known that I would need my mother. That she would be one of my best friends in this whole world. I would not be the mother I am today without her. I am so thankful for Heavenly Father’s hand in her life, and in mine.

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What I did:

Since I had written about a big miracle that happened to me awhile ago, but never scrapbooked it, I wanted to take the opportunity to get it done!  I’d completely forgotten about the miracle journal idea until I was re-reading the challenge from the original time.  It’s often so easy to forget or overlook those little miracles that happen everyday, and I want to remember them, so I’ve decided to add writing about everyday miracles in my journal at night (which I faithfully do already, so not a big change, just a change of thinking about what I write!).

Here’s a look at my scrapbooked page with the story I wrote about the first time I issued this challenge.

Supplies: Template, Scrapping With Liz.  Papers, Crystal Wilkerson.  Fonts, Scriptina, Sketch Rockwell, Century Gothic.

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Now I challenge you to record about some of the miracles in your life!

 

And….

Don’t forget about the very special December we’re going to have here on the TIMC—LDS. 

Anyone can send me a finished challenge of any kind, sharing how you and your family keep Christ as the focus of your Christmas!  This will be a great opportunity to help others start some new traditions in their homes!  (See details here.) 

Challenge #20—Miracles Never Cease!

This last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a women’s conference, and was it ever good!  It was a spiritual boost for me—something I really needed.  One of the speakers talked a little bit about miracles.  One of my favorite things he said was, “Normal people have miracles!”.  I immediately thought, “What a good challenge that would make!”.  So…

What are some miracles that have happened in your life?

You can list a bunch of them—big or small.  (Sometimes it’s a miracle for that I didn’t kill a certain child, ha ha!)  You can focus on the details of one miracle that you’ll never forget and want to record.  You can start a miracle journal, where you write the little miracles that happen everyday.  The possibilities are endless!

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What I did:

I decided to write the details of one miracle that happened to me that I will never forget.  I wanted to make it into a scrapbook page, but I couldn’t find the pictures, so it’s just written down for now, and when I find the pictures I’ll have to finish it.  I love that about the challenges…remember, it’s not how you record it that counts—it’s just getting it recorded that matters!  I’ve only shared this story with a handful of people, but I feel that I need to share it on here.

One Miraculous Moment

It is said that in some cases your life will flash before your eyes.  That thought never crossed my mind, but I did feel every beat of my heart and was acutely aware of 30 long seconds and my fingers gripping for dear life to the steering wheel.

I was excited.  It was time to go back to college—my sophomore year at Utah State.  I had loaded up my car and my parent’s car for the 2 hour journey.  My dad and brother were riding in my parents car, and the backseat was packed to the brim.   My car trunk was packed, and my mom was riding in the passenger seat,  with my three sisters in the back seat.  Before we left, we said family prayer.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now I do believe that was the key to this miracle.

All was fine for the first 20 minutes of the journey.  I was following my dad in the left lane—much too close, and somewhere between 10600 and 9000 south exits in Sandy I saw my dad swerve.  Since I was so close behind him, I didn’t have time to think, just react, when I saw a couch cushion laying in the middle of the lane.  I panicked and swerved too far to the left, then over-corrected to my right.  The car spun around as it crossed the freeway and all we could do was scream. 

It was at that moment that time seemed to stand still for me.  30 seconds seemed to turn into 30 minutes as we spun around, facing traffic coming toward us at high speeds.  My fingers gripped the steering wheel in fear. I don’t remember thinking much other than I was going to die and kill half of my family too. 

All of the sudden the car stopped.  And we were in the dirt on the right side of the freeway, facing the wrong way.  The cars zoomed past by us, like nothing had ever happened.  Miraculously there had been a break in traffic just big enough for us to get through.

I sat there while my mom and sisters jumped out of the car.  My mom ran around to me and opened the door with tears of gratitude in her eyes.  She pried my trembling fingers away from the steering wheel and embraced me. 

A few cars had stopped to see if we were okay.  Someone called the police.  I was suddenly surrounded by a lot of people whom I’d never met, but were happy that we were okay.  One man told me, “That was the best driving I’ve ever seen!”  But I know I wasn’t the one holding the wheel.

My dad had seen me swerve in his review mirror, and had to make his way over to the right side of the freeway. When he got over, he and my brother ran back to find us.  They weren’t sure what the end result was, and were much relieved to find we’d walked away unscathed. 

A few men walked around and looked at my car, just to make sure it could be driven, they were all astonished that it was in perfect working order.  The alignment was the only thing that had been affected in anyway.  I had my mom drive the rest of the way to Logan, because I was not emotionally capable. 

To this day I cannot tailgate, and my heart skips a beat anytime I see something in the road.  I will forever be grateful for the tender mercies of Heavenly Father that day.  Had just one thing been different that day, I would not be here today. 

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Now I challenge you to record about your miracles!

Challenge #11—Count Your Many Blessings

Since it’s the beginning of November, the month of Thanksgiving in the US, I thought this week’s challenge could be all about remembering your blessings. 

What are your many blessings?

There are hundreds of ways to do this challenge.  Make a gratitude journal and record the things you are grateful for each day.  Similar to that is that you can write in your regular journal each day and record seeing the hand of God in your life (Bonus Challenge #1).  Take on the gratitude challenge (Bonus Challenge #3).  Make a tree and add leaves of blessings throughout the month, or do it with a turkey and feathers.  Have your family write their blessings on a poster board or large piece of paper (see here).  Write your blessings on slips of paper, put them in a box and read them as a family on Thanksgiving.  Make a scrapbook layout showcasing your top blessings.  Post one of your blessings each day on your blog or Facebook/Twitter.  And there are tons more of ideas floating all around cyber-space right now!

A number of years ago, for Family Home Evening, my husband and I set a timer for 5 minutes and wrote the whole time all the blessings we could think of.  At first we wrote things down quickly, like family, a home, the Gospel, etc.  Then we both started to slow down.  We really had to start thinking about the little blessings in life that we don’t normally think about. 

When the timer went off, we shared our lists with each other (our oldest was only a baby at the time so he didn’t have much to add).  We complied the list into 100 things that we were grateful for and named it “Our Top 100 Blessings”.   Yes, there are some things that I was more grateful for than my husband and vice-versa, but it’s fun to see other’s favorite blessings on there too! 

I typed it up, organized it in alphabetical order and printed it off.  We still have it hanging up today on our hallway bulletin board. 

This is a closer look—I had to patch it together so it looks like it’s 3 papers, but it’s really just one.  You just couldn’t read it unless I did this.   Also, you can see the wear and tear on it, but that’s what makes it special!

Last year around this time we had our then 5 and 4 year olds help us make a new list.  (We had to add in things like toys.)  It’s always a good reminder for our family to see it—it helps us remember what really is important in life and that we truly are very blessed! 

Now I challenge you to record your blessings!

Bonus Challenge #3—Gratitude

I came across an awesome challenge for the month of November—a gratitude challenge!  How awesome is this? 

Crystal Wilkerson is doing a gratitude challenge, with prompts everyday to help you remember to be grateful!

I am going to be taking the challenge, and I hope you will be too!  As part of the challenge, you can download the 30 designed quotes for $5—all of which will be going to the Norton family.  Check out the story here, and please take the challenge with me!