A turtle made by my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bud, given to my Grandma Mary and handed down to me, because I love turtles. We filled it with stones over Lent. On each stone, we wrote down something we wanted to get rid of.
God is good. Sometimes it is hard to accept what he sends our way, but He is so, so good. I have been turning to Him a lot, lately. I have always turned to Him, but lately, more than ever. For issues big and small alike. I shared that being sick changed my perspective, and it did. I am more open to His answers and more grateful, too.A couple of weeks ago, our internet company, that we have been with since they started their business, informed me they were going to shut the tower we are connected to down. Their solution was to connect me to another tower, via a new satellite with wires streaming across the driveway from our power pole to the house, like back in the dark ages. I knew this would not work. One, it would look hideous. Two, the wires would get broken, no doubt, by a basketball, a dump truck, or ice would break them. So they gave me the other option - satellite internet. It cost more than double what my current service was, required a two year contract including hefty penalties if broken before the two years. It was half the data and didn't even have a plan for as much data as we use. In fact, Britt wouldn't be able to play any games on his device, which he is allowed to do for a half hour every day. He was devastated at the prospect. And on top of all this, we wouldn't have reliable service in the evening, and it would be iffy during the day. As someone who works from home, I use the internet and need it to be reliable. But wait! There's even more! If something went wrong, it would cost a minimum of $85.00 an hour to fix it, and this is after waiting for them to process a ticket and come at their convenience. As you can imagine, I was seriously upset by all of this, and worried sick. I lost sleep over it. I begrudgingly set up the appointment to have it installed, not knowing what other options there were. I posted on Facebook, asking what other folks in the country use, but not one person responded. And so I prayed. And stressed and fought acceptance and prayed some more. And in the middle of the night, it came to me - a solution. I thought, "Land Line." I told Brady what I had thought of, he checked it out, and guess what? They were able to run a line from our power pole underneath the ground in our land line pipe, and we were able to keep the same service with excellent internet for the same price. It felt like a miracle, and I know it was an answered prayer.
A few weeks before this, I was freaked out over Alvin. He always pees in his stall in the same place. And every day when I clean his stall, I say to him, "Alvin, you're the best horse in the world, but why do you pee in your stall? You need to pee outside your stall." Our horses have stalls they can go in and out of, with a paddock. Anyway, one day, I was cleaning his stall, and there was no pee. Ever since our mare, Maggie, died, I have been on high alert with regard to our horses. I felt panicked. Was Alvin okay? I didn't see pee anywhere in his paddock. So I prayed. I picked up the kids from school, and as we pulled into the driveway, which gives a direct line of vision to the barn, I saw Alvin standing outside his stall, peeing. I parked the car and ran out to make sure, and sure enough, he had just peed. I was so grateful! I hugged him and told him, "Good boy!" I was so relieved and grateful for that answered prayer. On another note, I told Brady that is how connected and in tune Alvin and I are with each other - he actually understood me and started peeing outside. But now he is back to peeing in his same spot in his stall, so what can we say? Still, it was an answered prayer.
This week, I feel I've been given more signs. In the midst of my worry, I saw rays of sunshine streaming through the clouds. I have been stuck behind the slowest moving cars in the world, every single day, and the thought came to me clear as a bell - SLOW DOWN. I need to slow down. Focus on what matters. Don't get caught up in the busy-busy-busy. And then another sign - one of the songs from the Sheldon Dance Team, which I would never have heard if Brailey hadn't decided to dance this year - Breathe. Just Breathe. (Not the Faith Hill version, a completely different song.) It popped right into my head, like an answer to a prayer.
And that's not all! On Monday, after dropping the kids off at school, I started feeling super blue. Almost near tears! I couldn't figure out why. This is not like me. It was kind of bizarre. I shared it with Brady and he was so sweet to me and worried about me. I picked up the kids from school, and it became crystal clear what was wrong - they had both had rough days. It is State Testing time, and they were both stressed and exhausted from them. The time I was feeling anxious was during the time they were taking their tests. And the blues went away just like that, because all of a sudden I knew what it was - I was feeling their vibes, even from afar. I was tuned in to their frequencies. Which is a really cool thing! Another prayer answered, in an unusual way. I will pay better attention to these feelings in the future.
There have been even more instances, just this year, but I won't bore you with all of them. In these crazy days of chaos we live in, I am beyond thankful for the answered prayers and the messages. They might be small and insignificant to others, but to me they the are bigger than life. God is good!
