"It's about the strivin' not the arrivin'! "

Today I completed my application to serve a full-time mission.  It was a long process and it is not over yet.  The Bishop has a part, the Stake President has a part, and then - the mission depart in Salt Lake City reviews everything to be certain all necessary information has been provided.  Whew!  So I will still be waiting for awhile but it feels good to have completed this part.  When I hit the submit button this popped up and I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, sing, shout... so I did it all.

And then I remembered the words of a sweet sister in the Corbin, Kentucky Ward relief society last Sunday.  I can't remember the exact topic but she said from the back row:  "It's about the strivin' not the arrivin'!" She had a little southern drawl and her words were just right.

For an athlete - singer - dancer - any type of performer the arriving is wonderful but what's even more important is the striving which prepares a person to perform.  September is probably when I will be leaving for my mission.  Is that my arrival?  Or is it when I move to the apartment that will be mine while I serve?  Will it be my first Sacrament Meeting when I wear my missionary name tag?  Arriving can mean "whew, I'm done"  whereas striving goes on and on.  And each year I understand more that it is about the striving.

I am also reminded that for some of us striving means we have to stay busy doing good things.  Heavenly Father knows me very well.  I have been called as stake Camp Director and we will be camping the last week in June.  Perfect timing to keep my mind and time occupied while I wait to receive my call.  (Some of the adult leaders had a meeting last night - woah!  if camp is half as much fun as the meeting we will have the best time ever.)

I AM LOVEABLE & CAPABLE

 We are focusing on the young women values ofL

Divine Nature:  I have inherited divine qualities, which I will strive to develop. 

Individual Worth: I am of infinite worth with my own divine mission which I will strive to fulfill.

Good Works: I will help others and build the kingdom through righteous service.

So I will do what this sister said keep on striving.  Don't you think camp is the perfect place for that?

 AHHHH!  CAMP BLANTON - SEE YOU IN JUNE!

Sunday Will Come

President Henry B. Eyring is a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He recommended keeping a daily record of the little miracles that occur in our lives.  "Tonight, and tomorrow night," he suggested, "you might pray and ponder, asking the questions:

Did I see His hand in my life...? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him."

August 9 ,  2010:
Tanya's birthday - almost two years had passed since her death, approximately 18 months since my mother died, six months  since my second husband TC died.  My heart was literally broken as I went through the motions of my life:  working as a social worker at Hospice (great job and wonderful colleagues who are also friends!);  serving in the church as a teacher (so many wonderful members who are also friends); my own sisters and friends to talk to on the phone (when I answered it!) but I was not doing well.  Add to this my continued difficulty managing money magnified by the death of TC which increased my expenses dramatically and I was emotionally hiding from life.  So I went to talk to my bishop - who else, really, would be willing to listen to me and still treat me with love and respect.  Boosted by his words to me along with support from my home teachers I thought I would set a goal regarding my financial issues.  I didn't know what I planned to do but I knew that I needed a minimum of $500 a month to be able to meet my financial obligations.

That's when I began to recognize messages from God - just for me.

•  A colleague asked if I would co-teach at the KY NASW conference.  Sure - why not?

September 2010-May 2011:

• Same colleague found out that the University of KY College of Social Work needed adjunct instructors starting in January 2011.  I was hired.
• A group home where I had worked off  and on over the years needed someone to audit charts prior to the state audit.  I was asked and I accepted!
• Hospice sent me to a train the trainer class so that I became qualified to teach a continuing education class that all social work supervisors need every three years.
• I was then hired to teach four of these classes.

May 2011:

• Bilateral knee replacement surgery meant no extra work for a couple of months.  I will still short each month.    
• Surprised to discover that my short term disability (which I had been paying for eight years and never used) would begin sending checks after a few weeks IN ADDITION to my regular paycheck?  Really?  Some catch?  No!

It continues to fascinate me that as I recognized these messages from God for what they were I found my broken heart beginning to heal although I know that the holes left there by those who have died will never be completely filled.   I again began to feel the peace that I had struggled to find during the illness and following the death of my first husband Roger.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.   I want to share a link to a talk I first heard in October 2006.  It has never left my mind and often when I am feeling those emotions that take me in a direction that isn't healthy for me, I say these words out loud - SUNDAY WILL COME.

Jason with his Hensley Grandparents
August 9, 1992

When Jason, our son, came home from his first year of college he was planning to leave on a two year proselyting mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon).  Roger was in a nursing home by this time.  We had a very limited income.  Although the Elders' quorum in our ward was going to fund his mission we needed to come up with money to pay for his clothes, dental and physical check ups, and other requirements that I have since forgotten.   He planned to get a summer job but insisted he would not work on Sundays because he wanted to be able to attend church.  I, the one of little faith, said he would never find a job if he wasn't willing to work on Sundays.  Wrong!  First job interview - Long John Silvers - got the job - no Sundays.

Together we were able buy and pay for everything that he needed and we were sure he was ready to go.  Until the dental exam.  And of course that would not be a problem since he had been seeing the dentist since he was a child.  He hadn't needed braces and had very few cavities.  Imagine our surprise when it was discovered that he had some kind of bacteria issue under his gums or something (very technical).  We didn't understand the clinical part of it but we did understand the cost which was going to be about a $1000 cash.   He wasn't stressing - I , again the one of little faith, stressed enough for both of us.  No extra money . . . no idea how to come up with that kind of money . . . what to do, what to do, what to do (my mantra) all of the time praying that a miracle would occur and we would find a way to get the money.

Within the week we received a letter with no return address.  Upon opening it, there was a card with a the picture of a young man walking away down a road.  I began to cry.  It wasn't signed just said that it was from people that loved us.  Inside the card was a cashiers check for $1005 with a note saying the money was to help Jason prepare for his mission.  Who?  We don't know.  Which is sort of great because to this day I imagine who might have sent it and smile as I remember the many possibilities.  So many possible people...  Why?  Heavenly Father often meets our needs by inspiring others to take action on our behalf.  It was indeed a mission miracle. 

This is my second blog and the focus is going to be on the tender mercies the Lord has and continues to show me as I prepare to serve my own "senior mission" for our church.  It won't be a proselyting mission.  I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing yet.  But I do know as a result of a few mission miracles I have already experienced that this is what I need to be doing at this time in my life.