Blessings in Disguise

Well, I'm writing this blog post at home sweet home. And it's so true, there really is no place like home (two clichés in a row. Boom.) But let me clarify: there's no place like your ORIGINAL home, cause honestly I have three homes now. One in Idaho, one in Utah, and one here in Washington. And I love each one for their own different but equally wonderful reasons. (I'll go into detail about those reasons in later posts.) But needless to say, my sisters are my best friends and I'm so glad to spend time with them these next two weeks.

So in this post, I want to write about some of the "little" things that happened this week. And I say "little" because when compared to other blessings they may seem less miraculous. But that is not true at all. No matter how "small" they may be, they are miracles nonetheless and I am just as grateful for them.

I spent this last week and a half with Jordan and his family in Salt Lake City. Holy cow I loved it and learned quite a bit about myself and my life while I was there. Since Jordan had to work sometimes during my visit, I got a glimpse into what married life consists of, with me hanging out waiting for him to come home from work. Honestly, I hate being separated from him. But those days made me appreciate all of his hard work and more importantly, his willingness to work (something I personally struggle with) and prepare for our future . That is a blessing. It also helped me gain a little more patience (I still have a long way to go) as well as give me a more realistic perspective--rather than a rose colored "we-will-spend-every-second-of-every-day-together-doing-whatever-we-want" perspective--on what marriage is going to be like. That patience was truly a "little" blessing. I also need to add that I was able to spend time with his Mom and Sister while he was at work and I think that strengthened my relationships with them, as well as create long-lasting memories that I consider blessings. Seriously, I love his family and couldn't feel more blessed.

And then other little blessings came when we were able to spend time together and make memories. Like, having the money to eat at restaurants together.

 Or good weather that let us go throw a baseball around in a park. Or good friends who lived close enough that we could spend an evening and go stargazing until the sprinklers came on unexpectedly haha. Good times. Or clean, funny movies/TV shows that we could watch together and add to the list of movies we want to own in the future. And he may not agree, but I also considered it a "little" blessing when he cut his head at work and was sent home two hours early from work, giving us two extra hours on our last night together. Don't worry he's fine :) When I look back, we really didn't do anything huge like travel to another country or climb a mountain (even though we did take a small hike in the mountains...) but you get the point. It really is the little things.

And then there were other blessings. Like one of Jordan's neighbors bumping into my car and scratching it. Honestly, the scratches were barely noticeable and didn't make much of a difference. But I accepted the neighbor's offer of $300 in cash and now I can use that money to help pay for school expenses that have been a big worry to my parents. So that was definitely a blessing in disguise. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways and we can't even imagine what He has in store for each of us. (See, you can't even tell there are scratches on the car. Blessing.)

And here's another miracle: I made it home safely to Washington after driving 9 hours from SLC by myself on Saturday. Trust me, that is a HUGE blessing when you ask my Mom. The fact that the car functioned perfectly, that other drivers weren't that big of idiots (although I had plenty who made me question their intelligence and brain capacity), that I stayed awake even when my eyelids felt heavy, that the weather was cooperative and finally, that my sisters were actually happy to see me home! Haha well, at least I personally consider that a miracle.

We may not always recognize these situations as miracles or blessings, cause I don't think many of us wake up thinking that something tragic like a car accident could happen to us personally... those are accidents that happen to other people and we only hear about them. At least that's how my mindset is. But just the fact that we live through each day and wake up every morning is a blessing we sometimes take for granted. So pulling up to my house yesterday alive and well is a "little" blessing I am extremely grateful for.

Okay one more. So last night my body kind of went into stress overload and I got sick (I must have been subconsciously stressed out from my first long roadtrip by myself. That's the only thing I can think of. Or maybe I ate too many starbursts... that is also a possibility haha. But I also consider it a blessing that I didn't get sick on the trip. That would have been bad.) Anyway, I didn't feel well at all and it didn't go away when I woke up this morning. But then somehow I was healed enough to where I could go to church and enjoy the meetings without any discomfort or worry. I was even able to fast without any complications. Those are huge blessings in my book. Or blog. Whatever you want to call it.

So there ya go. Those are the "little" miracles and blessings from this week. It's amazing how many I have been able to recognize now that I am actually looking for them. Imagine how many more there are that I still haven't figured out! And when I focus on the positive, the negative just doesn't affect me as much as it used to. Trust me, I still get discouraged and upset with frustrating things (just ask Jordan. He's such a good guy to put up with my bipolar emotions and help me figure everything out. He's a keeper, no doubt about it). But it's much easier to move forward when I understand that there ARE good things in the world. That things DO work out. That overall, life IS good. There are too many blessings (many of which we don't always see) to waste life sitting around discouraged and upset over things we can't change. This is a concept I have struggled with and am still working on. But I'm getting there. And trying to find the "little" things has made a huge difference.