Blessings

My life has truly been blessed:

I have good parents that taught me how to work and take care of my family.

I have a wonderful husband who takes care of me and is always there for me.

I have a sweet little boy who is such a joy.

I have a nice little apartment, full of furniture and other treasures.

I have clothes on my back.

I have food in my belly.

And I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and blesses me each and every day.

Something happened today that really got me thinking and I decided I needed to share my experience publicly. A couple of weeks ago, I logged into my bank account to do my normal check and I was stunned to see how much money we had already spent that month, and it wasn't even the end of the month. At first I panicked. I sent Lance a text telling him that we would be making a big change and were really going to have to cut back if we wanted to stay out of debt.

When we had Will, we knew that Lance would not be able to make enough money each month to pay our bills while going to school at the same time. If we were smart, we would only dip into our savings account a little and we could stretch it until next summer, at least. But I realized that if we continued spending at the rate we were, our savings would be wiped clean in just a few short months. So I came up with a plan on how we would start budgeting better and am determined to make this work.

As I've been thinking about it and while talking to a friend last night, I suddenly realized something. Last month alone, we spent nearly $1000 more than what we made for that month. A thousand dollars in the hole! In a single month! Now you see why I panicked. After a closer look into our account though, I realized that I had actually deposited money into our savings account. What? I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either. As I looked over the past few months, there have been several months where our output is way more than our input, yet I have not only NOT had to touch our savings account, but I have added a little bit to it each month. The Lord is surely watching out for our little family and I get emotional just thinking about it. I have so many flaws and there are so many ways that I could be better, yet the Lord still chose to pour out his blessings upon me.

Then while I was at the grocery store today, I feel as if I was given a test. After a really long trip with an unhappy baby, I was more than ready to go home. I had the car started, Will was in the back seat, and I had just finished loading the last of my groceries into the car. Then I noticed that in one of my bags was a box with several packages of batteries. There had to have been at least 5-8 packages of batteries. I had no idea where they came from because I was fairly certain I didn't buy them. And there was no one in front of me in line. I pulled out me receipt and checked....not batteries. I'm ashamed to say that I hesitated for half a second...I really didn't want to pull Will back out of the car and have to go back into the store to return the batteries. But I knew that it was the right thing to do and the only way I could feel good about myself. So I hauled Will and the batteries back into the store and returned them to the clerk. They thanked me for my honesty and I left feeling good.

Obviously I can't say for sure, but I'd like to think maybe it was God's way of testing me to make sure I was keeping the commandments and doing my part to be deserving of the blessings he has given me with.

I know this is a really long post, but I want to share part of my testimony. I have never been the one to get up in church because its really hard for me to share it with others. I sit there for all of fast and testimony meeting planning what I should say and how to do it, then suddenly the meeting is over and I never budged. So here goes:

I have a testimony that God lives and that he loves each and every one of us. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I know that this church is true. I know that we have prophets on the earth today and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to listen to his servants just last week over general conference. I know that God blesses each of us in many ways. I know the scriptures are true. I am so grateful for the atonement and the chance that we have to be forgiven. I am grateful for temples and the blessings of being with my family for eternity. I love my savior and I am grateful for all that he has done for me.