August 24th
Inconvenient things can lead to miracles and tender mercies.
After coming off my break one day, I walked all the way back to the main building only to realize that I left my phone in my room. I was so irritated with myself for forgetting, but I let an AC (assistant coordinator) know and turned around to go back to get my phone.
In order to get into our dorms, we had to have a key/swipe card.
One of my counselor friends forgot her keycard that morning and was stressed about getting back into the dorms to take her break. When she went to her AC to explain her dilemma, her AC sent her my way, explaining that I was going back to the dorms and could open the door for her.
It was a tender mercy that I followed a prompting to tell *that* AC that I was going back to get my phone rather than someone else because she was able to direct the counselor to catch up to me.
After we walked back to the building and I opened the door for both of us, we parted ways and both went to our rooms. I grabbed my phone and headed back.
When I got back to the main building, there was a mom in the parking lot in front of the building, panicking and not sure where to go. She called out to me, “You might be just the person I’ve been looking for!”
I replied, “why yes I am!”
She then explained that she was dropping something off to her daughter but didn’t know how to get it to her. I held out my hands and took the item from her.
She was so extremely thankful and expressed her gratitude many times.
My inconvenience in forgetting my phone, my flawed human brain, created two opportunities for me to serve others. For me to answer prayers that hadn’t been spoken yet.
God works through our imperfections and flaws. He creates beautiful things from inconveniences.
At training for FSY, I decided to participate in the musical program. At one point, we had to practice, go to dinner, and come straight back to get ready to perform.
Because I knew I was coming right back, I left my stuff there and headed off to dinner.
Halfway to the dining hall, I started panicking because I realized I did not my my key card with me to get into dinner. I prayed and prayed that it was just in my backpack (it was) with my stuff back in the conference building because I wasn’t sure if I accidentally dropped it somewhere around campus. (We did a lot of walking.)
When we got to the dining hall (I walked with some other counselor friends who were doing the musical program too), we waited in the very long line to get in. When I got to the front, I explained my situation, hoping they’d see my FSY name tag and let me in.
They didn’t.
But they did point me to the housing department (luckily it was just across the hall in the same building) to get my ID number for them to manually enter it into the system so they could let me in to eat.
It was inconvenient. I had to leave the long line I had just waited in to go get my “ID number” to get into the dining hall.
I walked over, got my number, got back into the line, and was finally able to get in.
My first week of FSY (the week right after training), I told all my girls to remember to get all their stuff: their bags, key cards, handbooks, writing utensils, and so on as we left the dorms to head to breakfast.
When we got there, one of my girls started tearing up, about to break down into sobs.
“Kyra, I know you said to get all our stuff, but I forgot my keycard” she whimpered.
I immediately comforted her, “it’s okay my friend. This happened to me last week, so I know EXACTLY what to do.”
She nodded.
We walked right over to the housing department, got her ID number, got in line, and entered the dining hall without a drop of sweat.
My inconvenience the week before was an answer to her unspoken prayer. The prayer she hadn’t even sent up to heaven yet.
And suddenly, I was grateful I left my keycard the week before. It’s almost like God knows … or something. 😉
I almost named this blog post, “Spiritually Minded” but decided on “Consistently Striving.”
That week, we talked about being spiritually minded, always turning our thoughts back to Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Romans 8:6 says “ … spiritually minded is life and peace.”
I made a commitment to be “consistently striving” to be spiritually minded.
“Consistently striving” to be better.
To be kinder.
To be more humble.
To be more faithful.
To be more patient.
To be more like Jesus Christ.
And …
to continue to be curious
as well as ..
continue to ask questions.
The session director said, “The quality of the life you live is the quality of the questions you ask.”
I want to consistently strive to find answers and to grow in knowledge. To grow in wisdom. To grow my faith.
He also quoted Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Inquiry is the birthplace of testimony. Some might feel embarrassed or unworthy because they have searching questions regarding the gospel.
“But they needn’t feel that way. Asking questions isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a precursor of growth. God commands us to seek answers to our questions [see James 1:5–6] and asks only that we seek ‘with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ’ [Moroni 10:4]. When we do so, the truth of all things can be manifested to us ‘by the power of the Holy Ghost’ [Moroni 10:5]. Fear not. Ask questions. Be curious, but doubt not. … Always hold fast to faith and to the light you have already received” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Reflection in the Water” [Church Educational System fireside for young adults, Nov. 1, 2009], lds.org/media-library).
I know as I’m consistently striving to grow my testimony, I can use my questions to nurture my faith and find answers.
~~~~~
To my “Press Forward” kids:
I love you. I think about you a lot and am so grateful to have been your counselor.
I hope you know how much you are loved and known.
I hope you know that Heavenly Father sees your efforts and is proud of you.
I hope you know that God answers our prayers and cares about our wishes and desires.
I hope you always remember to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
I hope you are consistently striving to learn who you are and then to love who you are.
I’m going to continue to consistently strive to remember you. Your smiles and laughter. Your names and faces.
But if I happen to forget (I hope I never do), know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you, they know you, and they will never forget you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The dedication to your kids, the way you explored inconvenience leading to miracles, just wow. I loved it all!!!
What a great outlook to have on “inconveniences”… I could definitely use the reminder to have a better view of life when something doesn’t go my way!
I also remember the session director talking about how the quality of life comes from the quality questions we ask. It’s so true! You are so wise Kyra, you’ve taught me so much. Ily!
What a beautiful perspective…!!! I love everything about this post…the vulnerability you demonstrate… the gratitude and thanks you give to the Lord… it touches my soul. I know the Lord is there for us… if we look for a Miracle or tender mercy… we will have one of those experiences everyday!! I know it. It’s learning to give the Lord credit for preparing you in an inconvenient way to answer an “ unspoken prayer “. Thank you so much!!
This really is a companion to my believes that everything happens for a reason. I feel much less frustrated with a inconvenience situation when I stop and realize that they happen because they are suppose to happen; to help someone else or for my own growth.