I Know my Prayers are Heard
I will never forget a relief Society lesson I taught 10 years ago. I was bearing testimony and I said, "I wish I could say that I know God lives." A lady raised her hand and actually challenged me right there in the middle of the lesson.
I still remember, it was Linda Perkins. She said, "You know that God lives." and I said, "No I really, truly do not know that God lives." I remember how that realization made me feel. I decided then and there, that I wanted to know God; I wanted to make that transition from believing to knowing.
It was during that same time that I started to feel Eathyn and Ryan's spirit close by. I knew I was suppose to have two more sons. My faith was challenged more than it ever had been before. I didn't feel like I could have more children because I was so tired. But for three years, those two little boys were close by and persistent.
Years later, I now realize they were my little guardian angels from heaven above. I've mentioned this experience often, throughout my blog. Feeling my two little boys for those years before they were born, was the beginning of a phase in my life when my faith was tried and tested, and has proven to be the miracle that brought me to knowing my Father in Heaven.
I left the easy life I had always known and my life became very very difficult. I was forced to rely heavily on my Father in Heaven. During those years, I had experiences in my life that I didn't believe I had the strength or the knowledge to get through.
I learned really quickly how to get on my knees and beg and plead for help. It didn't take very long before I knew that my Heavenly Father was truly there. With out a doubt, I knew He loved me and would guide me through anything I asked Him to help me with.
In the last ten years, I have written about most of the significant miracles in my life. But, as of most recently I have learned a priceless lesson about prayer that I never want to forget. I can't wait for the day that each of my children can feel the friendship that I have with my Father in Heaven.
I know that He is my Father, but I also know that he is my truest friend. The last couple months, Brett and I have faced one of, not the most, but one of the most trying times of our married life. I want to back up a little and give an overview of what the last year of my life has been like.
Almost exactly one year ago, there came a day that I no longer wanted to be in our big house which is located at 3906 antelope trail. It was too big to keep clean with my energy level, it was flooded with memories from the 3 1/2 years of raising Mariela and of the day Mariela passed away, there in the living room on the couch.
The way the house was set up; with an open floor plan, drove me crazy because the house felt dirty all the time because there weren't any walls that separated the rooms. I could see the whole house from anywhere I was, and it just felt like I could not go anywhere in the house and just feel peace because something was always out of place.
After moving across the street into our home that was located at 3907 antelope trail, I never thought I'd want to move again. As the year proceeded on, I realized we needed to change out the carpet if we were going to live in that house.
It had been a rental for six years and the carpet was awful. every time I thought about changing out the carpet, I felt an impression that the house is a rental not our home. This really bothered me because I love that home so much. That home was our first home, my kids all have fond memories there, my kids would often talk about bringing their children back home to this house where they had built so many happy memories.
After one year we had a rat infestation that stained the living room carpet and ate 3 holes near the wall in Rachel's room, in the carpet. We most definitely needed to change out the carpet Brett and I decided one day to go look at carpet. Getting the carpet that we wanted to live on for the next many many years was going to cost us a lot more money then we wanted to spend at this phase in our life. We did not feel good once again about changing out the carpet.
Two weeks before the rat infestation, I started feeling and urgency to move, I started to understand why and understanding started to come together of why I have never felt right about changing out the carpet. I remember over the year discussing with Brett and Marilyn Stoner who is a dear friend of mine, about how odd I thought it was that I could not convince myself to change out the carpet in this home I intended to live in for the rest of my life.
As the feelings of moving started intensify, it all started to make sense. We decided that maybe we should move closer to the office. We found a house and we prayed about it, we distinctly felt that we definitely should not move to Killeen. Brett and I were confused, we felt like we were supposed to move away, the only thing that made any sense was for us to move closer to the office, since him and I are there so much working.
It was just this year that I decided to take over the business side of the law firm, I am down there a lot. When we felt moving to Killeen was all wrong, we decided to just stay put until our feelings became more clear, and we felt better direction in our life.
With in a week or two Austin came home from EFY, the first week in July. He announced he would never go back to Temple high school again. He did not like the environment, he did not like the locker room, or the weight room where he spent so much of his time. He decided he'd rather give up football altogether then put himself in this environment where so much evil was rampant.
He checked into Temple College where he proceeded to sign up for 12 credit hours. At the time he had two very good jobs and he planned on paying for 100% of his schooling at Temple College for his junior and senior year of high school.
As he was praying about this decision he felt a little unsure about the idea of never touching a football again. Brett said, "what do you think about us checking into Academy high school?" He was intrigued with this idea. This is where our next series of miracles really begin.
During that same week Brett and I decided it was time to let go of our office manager Melissa and our attorney Mike who was Brett's only associate. During that same week decided to change phone systems and data systems.
And if that was not enough, to open a brand-new office up in Gatesville Texas. We felt the hand of the Lord , As much as any other time in our life when miracles were occurring quicker then we could even record them. We asked Austin if you wanted to go out to Academy. We called the football coach and asked him if Austin could play football when school started in a week. He said they would love to have him on his team.
I still remember, it was Linda Perkins. She said, "You know that God lives." and I said, "No I really, truly do not know that God lives." I remember how that realization made me feel. I decided then and there, that I wanted to know God; I wanted to make that transition from believing to knowing.
It was during that same time that I started to feel Eathyn and Ryan's spirit close by. I knew I was suppose to have two more sons. My faith was challenged more than it ever had been before. I didn't feel like I could have more children because I was so tired. But for three years, those two little boys were close by and persistent.
Years later, I now realize they were my little guardian angels from heaven above. I've mentioned this experience often, throughout my blog. Feeling my two little boys for those years before they were born, was the beginning of a phase in my life when my faith was tried and tested, and has proven to be the miracle that brought me to knowing my Father in Heaven.
I left the easy life I had always known and my life became very very difficult. I was forced to rely heavily on my Father in Heaven. During those years, I had experiences in my life that I didn't believe I had the strength or the knowledge to get through.
I learned really quickly how to get on my knees and beg and plead for help. It didn't take very long before I knew that my Heavenly Father was truly there. With out a doubt, I knew He loved me and would guide me through anything I asked Him to help me with.
In the last ten years, I have written about most of the significant miracles in my life. But, as of most recently I have learned a priceless lesson about prayer that I never want to forget. I can't wait for the day that each of my children can feel the friendship that I have with my Father in Heaven.
I know that He is my Father, but I also know that he is my truest friend. The last couple months, Brett and I have faced one of, not the most, but one of the most trying times of our married life. I want to back up a little and give an overview of what the last year of my life has been like.
Almost exactly one year ago, there came a day that I no longer wanted to be in our big house which is located at 3906 antelope trail. It was too big to keep clean with my energy level, it was flooded with memories from the 3 1/2 years of raising Mariela and of the day Mariela passed away, there in the living room on the couch.
The way the house was set up; with an open floor plan, drove me crazy because the house felt dirty all the time because there weren't any walls that separated the rooms. I could see the whole house from anywhere I was, and it just felt like I could not go anywhere in the house and just feel peace because something was always out of place.
After moving across the street into our home that was located at 3907 antelope trail, I never thought I'd want to move again. As the year proceeded on, I realized we needed to change out the carpet if we were going to live in that house.
It had been a rental for six years and the carpet was awful. every time I thought about changing out the carpet, I felt an impression that the house is a rental not our home. This really bothered me because I love that home so much. That home was our first home, my kids all have fond memories there, my kids would often talk about bringing their children back home to this house where they had built so many happy memories.
After one year we had a rat infestation that stained the living room carpet and ate 3 holes near the wall in Rachel's room, in the carpet. We most definitely needed to change out the carpet Brett and I decided one day to go look at carpet. Getting the carpet that we wanted to live on for the next many many years was going to cost us a lot more money then we wanted to spend at this phase in our life. We did not feel good once again about changing out the carpet.
Two weeks before the rat infestation, I started feeling and urgency to move, I started to understand why and understanding started to come together of why I have never felt right about changing out the carpet. I remember over the year discussing with Brett and Marilyn Stoner who is a dear friend of mine, about how odd I thought it was that I could not convince myself to change out the carpet in this home I intended to live in for the rest of my life.
As the feelings of moving started intensify, it all started to make sense. We decided that maybe we should move closer to the office. We found a house and we prayed about it, we distinctly felt that we definitely should not move to Killeen. Brett and I were confused, we felt like we were supposed to move away, the only thing that made any sense was for us to move closer to the office, since him and I are there so much working.
It was just this year that I decided to take over the business side of the law firm, I am down there a lot. When we felt moving to Killeen was all wrong, we decided to just stay put until our feelings became more clear, and we felt better direction in our life.
With in a week or two Austin came home from EFY, the first week in July. He announced he would never go back to Temple high school again. He did not like the environment, he did not like the locker room, or the weight room where he spent so much of his time. He decided he'd rather give up football altogether then put himself in this environment where so much evil was rampant.
He checked into Temple College where he proceeded to sign up for 12 credit hours. At the time he had two very good jobs and he planned on paying for 100% of his schooling at Temple College for his junior and senior year of high school.
As he was praying about this decision he felt a little unsure about the idea of never touching a football again. Brett said, "what do you think about us checking into Academy high school?" He was intrigued with this idea. This is where our next series of miracles really begin.
During that same week Brett and I decided it was time to let go of our office manager Melissa and our attorney Mike who was Brett's only associate. During that same week decided to change phone systems and data systems.
And if that was not enough, to open a brand-new office up in Gatesville Texas. We felt the hand of the Lord , As much as any other time in our life when miracles were occurring quicker then we could even record them. We asked Austin if you wanted to go out to Academy. We called the football coach and asked him if Austin could play football when school started in a week. He said they would love to have him on his team.
The next day Brett and Austin drove out to academy to me the football coach on their way out to the school they saw a little house for rent one block from the high school. It was the only house for rent in the entire town. We called the landlord and ask her if we could come look at the house, She said she was going to show it at 11 o'clock that morning, we asked her if we could come look at it at 10 o'clock that morning. The landlord agreed to rent the house to us, after she had shown it to the other inquiry and liked us better. We went home put our house up for rent on craigslist and within five minutes I got a call from a lady who was coming in from Houston, she had been up in Bell County three days previous and had found no houses that suited her, to rent. She said she woke up that morning and got a feeling she was supposed to head back to Bell County and look for a house to rent. She said when she pulled up cregslist there was only one house she had not seen and it was our house. She came and looked at it later that afternoon and rented it on the spot. The hand of the Lord was clearly in our life, and in the life of the sweet little family coming in from Houston Texas. An understanding was starting to fall together in our minds of why we did not feel good about putting carpet in our house this whole last year. Our house was going to be come a rental again. Just as soon as we had made the decision to move to Academy, Austin's two jobs fell through, he no longer had a job. One of the jobs; he worked with a man who smoked and had terrible terrible language and he could not tolerate even one more day of that job. The other job; his boss was one of our good friends and his business was going bankrupt and he could no longer afford to pay Austin to work for him every day. But what's miraculous is that Austin was now signed up at Temple College for 12 credit hours and he would not be transferring to Academy high school from Temple High School, he would be transferring from Temple College. Because of that one little detail, the UIL rules would not apply to him, he would be able to start on the varsity team, as the varsity quarter back, even though he was moving to a new high school. Austin got to see first hand what it felt like to have the hand of the Lord working in his life. It really was a priceless experience for Austin, Brett and I. Rachel was not very happy with our decision to move to Academy. She was very upset that I was taking her away from her friends at school. But as we sat with the renters in our living room, who were looking at our house and she listen to the miracles that led them to our house within five minutes of being on craigslist, I know she felt the hand of the Lord working in our lives too.
