When Praying Doesn't Really Pay

This weekend my husband and I took a trip to Boise, Idaho. It's where I grew up, where my family lives, and only three short hours away from where we currently live.

My husband went fishing, so I was going to pick him up on my way out of town Thursday evening. I left around 5pm, in the blazing heat of the day. I packed my two cats into a carrier, and a duffel bag into the trunk, and headed out. (I'm one of those "cat" people. The kind that has a calendar, leash, and ultimate scratching post/cat tree.) My husband was about twenty miles away, and at around mile 17 my car went from 85 miles per hour, down to 75, down to 65 as I tried to gas it. I pulled over to the side of the road, and my car died.

I sat there, allowing the sun to creep into the windows, diminishing all traces of air conditioning. Cars sped past me, rocking my little car with their 85 MPH wind wake. I carefully got out, and took my panting cats out of the inferno-esque car. I didn't see this one coming. A cop pulled over and gave me the low down on how long I could leave my car abandoned on the side of the road. I sat in the small amount of shade my car provided on the side of the road. My enormously over-sized movie star glasses made my face drip with sweat. I promised that my car wouldn't be one of those with the bright orange sticker on it, and spray paint on the windows left for dead on the highway.

My husband drove his truck and came and got me. We drove a mile into American Falls with the A/C blasting and got a corn dogs and chocolate milk shakes. When we came back to my POS Neon, she started up again. We slowly made our way back to town, and my husband followed me - but not before the same cop could pull him over for swerving. (His steering is going out.) My car died at the off ramp stop light, and our cop friend came and pushed me. He finally said, "Looks like you two need a new car."

While my husband isn't Mr. Mechanic, he got a new Radiator and A/C relay. Whatever that means. We decided to leave the next morning (without our felines), assuming it was fixed, and said extra hard prayers to the effect of, "Please let us know if the car is going to die BEFORE we leave. Please don't let us get stranded. Please, please, PLEASE!!!"

170 miles later, my car died once again in the blazing heat of the day. 65 miles away from Boise. We were under a bridge. The only shade for 20 miles in both directions. If you're not from any state in the west, here's what to expect: Sagebrush on top of sagebrush for miles in all directions, pavement so hot it makes your tires melt, and wind that will tear your skin right off. While I was secretly appreciative for the shade, we both tried not to laugh, cry, or yell and stayed calm. What now? We waited a few minutes until it "cooled down" (assuming that was the problem) and continued to the next town. Consisting of a restaurant/convenience store and a Mocha Hut, the small village of Hammett was of no help. Other than the refuge we took in their air conditioning. We continued, and it died again on the freeway. We turned on the heat to cool the radiator, rolled down the windows, and tried to putt-putt our way there stopping for an oil change at Wal-Mart in Mountain Home. (40 miles from Boise.) And to wick away our sweat-drenched bodies.

At around 5:30pm we arrived. Seven and a half hours from the time we left at 10am. A trip that should have taken all of about 3 hours.

The weekend went great. My husband and brother gave my car an internal makeover, and we made it home today just fine.

Maybe praying DOESN'T work all the time? Maybe Heavenly Father has a different plan for us in the way of car repair. I guess if I had never payed attention to the problems NOW, I could have had this problem while driving to get my endowment, or driving to Boise again to get sealed. Now THAT would have been bad. Do we just make excuses for unanswered prayers? Does He always have a reason? I wouldn't be lying if I said I didn't think so.

Praying Pays In Little Ways

Scratch That: TITHING pays in BIG ways.

Just another small note. My husband and I hadn't paid our tithing...like...almost ever. Since we are going to get sealed in the temple here pretty soon (08/08/08!) we started about a month ago. I just transfer the money right over into a savings account, then write a check every two weeks or so.

By giving just ONE check thus far (and having a pile in savings), our monthly income has - get this - nearly tripled! This would be thanks to my husband's job. We sat down to lunch today and he said - "Honey, do you realized we have made over ___ thousand dollars this month?" I was like..."Uh, WHAT?"

We were so scared because we were barley scraping by before. But we sucked it up, and forked over a check, knowing that there are so many people who are far worse off than us - and that God would make sure we were okay. Well, Heavenly Father has definetly blessed us, and it even looks as though I will be making more commission at my job too! While I know things aren't always going to be this good, and they might get better, (both our jobs are basically commission based), I think Heavenly Father will keep a look out if we do what we are asked.

Woo hoo tithing!

Praying Pays in Little Ways

Yesterday my husband and I got in a fight. It was about money of course, and wasn't worth all the fuss. But of course I decided that I needed to pray right then and there for a little help. Help with money, help with marriage, or just help with a little feeling of peace. Reading the scriptures tends to give me peace, so that's what I decided to do. I took out my Bible/BoM/D&C/PoGP all in one version, closed my eyes, gave it a few twist and turns, then opened it and pointed to a place on the page.

This is what it said: Ezekiel 16:49

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."

Hmm. Perhaps this is why I'm not getting a "break" so to speak. I, along with many others I'm sure, have problems with all of these things. I buy, eat, and waste a lot of food. I rarely exercise or do things other than work, clean a little, partake in various hobbies, and sleep. And I haven't been tithing. Granted, we already have a chunk of change set aside for it this month, but we haven't actually handed over a check.

Any step in the right direction, is a good step. My husband called me after awhile apologized, and cooked dinner. Then, we started the Book of Mormon at the very beginning. Our goal is to have it finished by August 8th of this year. I will let you know why in the next post!

Praying Pays in Little Ways

Hey that rhymes. Which is why it's the title for a new weekly post at Normal Mormons. (We like rhyming here.)

This post will be dedicated to demonstrating how daily praying and scripture study directly contributes to...dare I say it...good fortune. I know that's not exactly how it all works. I also know that we shouldn't pray and study scriptures for this sole purpose. The point is to gain a deeper understanding of the gospel, and a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father. I have a firm belief however, that he'll throw us a bone every once in awhile too. Ahem, we refer to them as "blessings." E-mail your blessings to me at normalmormons@gmail.com if you would like them in one of the weekly posts. Here are mine for today.

1. I really hate my cell phone provider. I won't name names, but it starts with an "S" and ends with "print." They have the worst customer service and the phone I have never works. It is so bad that I have seriously contemplated paying the $300 to get out of my contract. Today I went into the store because my battery wasn't charging. By the end of the whole deal I got a new free battery, a cheaper plan without a contract, and a 25% discount per month. (Because of where I work.)

2. My husband has been helping his older brother run his road construction business during his spring break. 15 hour days for the last 10 days he's been doing hard labor. They weren't getting any help from other people in the company, so they took matters into their own hands and handled the situation. Because of this, my husband couldn't study for a big test. The impossibly strict professor that runs the class miraculously pushed back the test at my husbands request.

3. During this post, my husband called. He said after all the crazy things that happened in the situation above, the person who runs the company in our city quit. My husband stepped in and is now running the company and going to school full time!

We have been having difficulties financially, so all these really came at the perfect time. We always have prayed nightly together (which I strongly reccommend) but only recently have read the scriptures and had a "mini-lesson." I think this has helped lead us in the right direction.

E-mail your blessings to normalmormons@gmail.com and see them in next weeks post.