Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Promises Kept

The state of the economy has been hard on us as I'm sure it has on so many of you. We've been struggling to keep our heads above water and have seen so many little miracles in our lives lately I just wanted to share a little bit of the part of my testimony that has been growing so much lately. I know that tithing works! I don't want to say that paying our tithing is a burden, but when we've got so many places for money to go and not near enough money, it gets really hard for me to pay that 10%. We've focused on making sure our tithing is the first "bill" paid and what a difference it has made. The miracle is this, the numbers don't match. If you sit down and actually work the math it doesn't make sense. There's more going out than coming in, I know it. That's a tremendous blessing. Another miracle is a very generous secret Santa gift left on our porch. Other gifts have been given from family and ward members that have made this Christmas a very memorable one.

Another, Mommy has more patience. I've recently been thinking about a line from Evan Almighty (no, I don't usually get inspiration from Steve Carrell, but he makes me laugh really hard.) The movie said "When people pray for patience, are they given patience OR are they given the OPPORTUNITY to be patient?" Wow, that got me thinking. Every night I pray for more patience with my active, little guy and every morning I am granted the opportunity to see what Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I just need to always remember that he's right there beside me and that everything I do with Cougar can go one of two ways.

Another miracle happened just a few minutes ago and it's what got me wanting to share. It's such a small thing, but it meant a lot. A few years ago I made us stockings. Mark and Cougar's are made out of matching camo fabric. I realized that Phoenix didn't have one and didn't want him to be left out. (Not that he cares now, but in a few years he will care that Daddy and Cougar have stockings that match) Well, I was all prepared to go to the fabric store later to see if I could find something similar, I was scrounging up all the change I could find to pay for it, when I had the feeling to go look in a particular box in the garage. When I did, there was left over fabric with plenty to make a matching stocking for Chubs. Little things like this have been happening to us all the time lately. How grateful we are not only for the blessings, but for the ability to recognize them for what they truly are. One of the greatest blessings we've received is realizing how much more enjoyable the season is when we don't get caught up in the commercialism of it. I've made several presents for the family and can't wait to see the reaction. More so, than the gifts I did end up buying. I'm so excited! What an amazing Christmas season!

2 comments:

Carrie said...

Kristi, you are an amazing woman! For you to be able to see the blessings, no matter how small, is quite a gift. And that you are learning from hard times says so much about your character. Many people go through hard times and either can't find anything to be grateful for or don't learn anything. Thank you for setting such a wonderful example for me!

Mary said...

Thank you for that post Kristi. Heavenly Father really does bless us, and the small ways add up to big things, don't they? :)