I Am A Child of God

I read my friend Carrie's post on one line in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and it reminded me of something I don't think I've recorded anywhere yet.  So here's the PERFECT opportunity!

My mom had told me for as long as I could remember that I would only be able to go to college if I got scholarships, because neither she nor my dad would ever be able to help me financially.  She also taught me that I should follow the Lord's counsel, as given through His holy prophets, and stay out of debt.  I think it went something like, "Marriage is hard enough without you placing your educational debts on your husband's back to have to pay off someday."  So, I did everything I could to get good grades, make myself a well-rounded individual through community service and school leadership opportunities, and then I applied to schools. 

The first year was completely paid for!  I don't remember even having to get a job that year. 

The second, however, was a different story.  I remember spending the summer before applying for every scholarship I could find.  And I worked three jobs -- one at a local laundry mat, one as a tutor in the Reading Lab, and one on the weekends in a hotel.  As the beginning of the school year neared, I was still short $1,500 -- and that was WITH me budgeting in work at two of the three jobs throughout the school year. 

About three weeks before school started, I was talking to my mom, telling her I didn't know what else I could do.  I had paid my tithing and done everything I could, but I was still short.  And I hadn't heard back from my school about a few scholarships I had applied for.  So she suggested I call them and see if they had made any decisions or could tell me when they might have a decision made on their scholarships and go from there. 

I did.  And after putting me on hold to look at my file, the woman came back and said, "I don't know what happened, but we have a leadership award for you for $1,500 that we've been waiting to hear back from you on whether you accept it or not.  I guess you didn't get the award letter yet.  I'll put another one in the mail today.  Be sure to send your acceptance back as soon as possible so we don't assume you don't want it and award it to someone else."  Wow!  A scholarship in the EXACT amount that I had been short.  And I knelt and said a prayer of thanks before I went and told my mom what had happened.  Heavenly Father knew who I was and what my situation and desires were, and He had responded accordingly. 

Fast forward eight years and many, many more experiences like this one.  After finishing my B.A. and M.A. single and entering the workforce, I realized that I had met the man of my dreams and decided (after two years of being friends and dating) to marry him.  We felt right about each other, right about our decision, and right about the date we had chosen -- December 15. 

There was just one glitch: He had been married before, and we needed clearance from the First Presidency to be sealed together for time and all eternity in a Temple of the Lord.  NOT getting married in the Temple was NOT an option.  It just wasn't.  So we did everything we needed to do and submitted our request in early October. 

And then we waited.  And our date neared.  And we waited.  And our families started to wonder if we were having a wedding or not.  And we waited.  And our invitations sat, stamped and addressed, but not quite ready to mail yet.  And we waited.  The holidays neared, and we began to wonder if the fairly new First Presidency would be meeting regularly or taking breaks that would detain them from receiving and responding to what I could only imagine were mass amounts of mail from members all over the world. 

So, we fasted and prayed the first weekend in November that the First Presidency would receive our appeal before Thanksgiving, before they might be separating for the holidays, and we would hear back in time to get everything pulled together for our wedding.

Through all of this, many people cast doubts in our way, telling us stories of couples that had waited six months to a year before they got clearance, of couples in our area that were still waiting.  Someone even told me that they had only heard of one case that was faster -- the nephew of one of the prophets had gotten clearance in a few months; but HE, of course, had connections. 

For a moment, I was discouraged.  But then the thought came clearly into my mind, "Melinda - who was HE and who are you?  He wasn't the nephew of a prophet; he was a son of God.  And YOU are a daughter of God.  The only person whose connections you need, you already have."  So I prayed again that Heavenly Father would put His hand in our situation and make sure our appeal reached the First Presideny's desks and whisper in the prophet's ears that we needed to get married December 15.  And if it wasn't too much trouble, I asked that He pull everything together before Thanksgiving.  Talk about specific . . . and BOLD!!! ;-D

I had a bridal shower after Thanksgiving, and we still had not heard anything from the First Presidency.  In fact, the night before my shower, Dave finally gave me my ring on a rose -- the closest thing to a proposal I got from him.  (He said he had been waiting for the letter, but he wanted me to have my ring for my bridal shower.) 

That evening as I was closing at work, Dave came and knocked on the glass door.  I was so surprised to see him!  He had been at Drill all day and had a night with the boys planned.  I opened the door, and he just waved an envelope in front of me.  I screamed, hugged him, and we opened it together, tears in our eyes (though he'd deny it to his DEATH), our hearts overflowing!  We said a prayer of thanks and then proceeded to call the Temple and schedule a date and call our families and friends and let them know we could move ahead with everything. 

Later, when I was looking at the letter and just feeling over and over again how thankful I was, I was struck by the date.  It had been signed two days before Thanksgiving.  It had just taken a little longer, with the holidays, to get TO us.  But our prayers had truly been answered in every detail!  And we were sealed for time and all eternity just two weeks later!

I am a daughter of God.  You are a child of God.  There is nothing more or less exceptional about me than that -- certainly nothing that would make me an exception in receiving specific and miraculous blessings from God that others could not also receive!

One of my favorite scriptures is found in Romans, Chapter 8: 16-17 --

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God: 

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ;

if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together."

I need to do better at remembering all of this!