Prospering in the Land

My car leaks. I guess that is what you get with a beat up old Honda with 230,000 miles on it. I’m not sure where it leaks, though I think it is somewhere near the front of the trunk. I hadn’t noticed this problem living in Utah because it doesn’t rain too often and the snow is more likely to stick and later slide off of the car. The result, living here in Tennessee, with our torrential downpours, is that the back two seats in my car become soaked. Then it is so humid here, it is nearly impossible to keep them dry. This creates a very uncomfortable situation in the mornings where I have water on the inside of my windows. This creates an interesting dilemma. I have to either dry the windows off so I can see, which leaves my windows very dirty and really affects visibility when it is light out (I usually leave home before dawn) or I have to do my best to see while the heater slowly takes the water away. I usually choose the latter.

Back to the point, my car leaks. Because of this, when I am home and know it is supposed to be dry during the day, I leave all four doors and my trunk open. During nights when the weatherman says it will be dry, I usually leave two or three windows cracked. (I prefer not to leave the forth cracked because it’s messed up and takes way too much effort to roll back up—more fun with my car! You should see it when I pull up to the drive through window and must open my door.) The other day it was not supposed to rain. All day it was bright and sunny and I had left all four doors and the trunk open. That evening, I went out to close my doors and the trunk, then crack the windows for the night. It was also not supposed rain over night. Something told me not to leave me windows open. I hesitated as I went to unroll my window. I felt again that I should not leave them open. So I left my windows closed. As you would expect from this story, it certainly did rain, and rain quite hard that night.

I know, it might seem silly to some people, but this is a big deal for me. I’m in graduate school. It has not been easy on my family to go from two incomes to virtually no income. This old car with, I remind you again, 230,000 miles, must last me at least another year and a half. I recently read Alma 48:15: “And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land.” I feel like the Lord is prospering my family and I in the land as we do our best to keep his commandments. I am very thankful for this promise the Lord has given us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.