The Lord has been blessing me with many moments like this one, where tender mercies are extended to answer my prayers. I feel like I need to start writing these down before I forget.
Last Saturday our new congregation welcomed us into the ward with a large service project to help us clean the property and scrub the home. We met many friends and the many hands made light work. I felt especially blessed by the brave souls who volunteered to tackle the messiest or most difficult jobs. They saved me weeks of work! (A new post about this project will follow shortly- as soon as I can upload the pictures.)
Brother O offered to tackle the largest pile of trash in the pasture. This particular pile was as tall as Sarah. This man carried the debris by hand across the property, and he did the entire project while smiling and joking with those around him.
Sister W in my new ward cheerfully stayed an extra hour so she could scrub out all of the kitchen cabinets. Goodness gracious, I'm so thankful for that service! The kitchen is the most important part of the home to me, and I really dreaded cleaning out the webs and grime from all those nooks and crannies.
Sister S has volunteered to come help me scrub the house a few times. The last time she came, she was prompted by the Spirit to bring her leaf blower and garden cart. Those two tools have proven to be much-needed and very valuable. I'm so thankful for her thoughtfulness. The Lord worked through her to help avert some minor emergencies.
Sister H has helped me many days to prepare my current home for the real estate market. She helped me pack boxes, deep clean, stage the house, and landscape the front yard. Friends like this are better than earthly treasures. The Lord has been reminding me repeatedly of our blessings- and true friends are such a priceless blessing!
We were notified by the county that we had made a mistake in where our friends relocated the trash pile. Even though it was still on our property, we were going to be fined by the county for 'illegal dumping' unless we could clean it up immediately. Boy, were we stressed about this! The F family let us take their vehicle and trailer for the day so we could haul away the trash. Nathan took the afternoon off work and we worked together all day to remove this monstrosity. The Lord blessed us with health and strength to get through the long job. I was so very thankful.
I have been a bit worried about providing for our new baby. I haven't had time to hunt thrift stores for baby clothing or basic supplies. I figured if we just had a car seat (so we can take him home from the hospital), we could make do without the other accessories. The Lord knows I have been thinking about this and has blessed me abundantly. I've been given a car seat, baby swing, baby carriers, and a crib. I'm so thankful to have friends who ask if I'd like to inherit their old baby supplies.
Our family has been blessed with health so we could work hard and prepare our new home to receive our family.
It's temptingly easy to be negative--- I'm 8 months pregnant and trying to fix up a new house, sell our old house, and pack everything. I'm so tired all the time. But this experience has been a fantastic time of personal growth for me.
As I've read the scriptures in my daily study, the Spirit keeps whispering the same lessons lately:
1- Express sincere gratitude to the Lord for our blessings, for they are many. Appreciate the little things.
2- Be cheerful and not down-trodden. Even if everything else fails, I can always have deep joy through our Savior and His gift of the Atonement.
3- Trust in the Lord and exercise more faith.
1 comment:
Renae- You seriously inspire me!! I have only been doing half of what you have been doing in preparation for our move (and I'm not pregnant) and i sure have let the negativity and stress over come me more than once. Thank you so much for reminding me to look for the tender mercies and thank the Lord for our blessings every day.
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