I’m not complaining

I have a dear friend whose is a recent empty nester and whose husband is away working at a distant job site. Her experience touched me very deeply about how she is relying on and exercising faith in God to help her at this trying time in her life. With her permission, I want to share her letter–

“This morning, in the pitch dark, I trucked down to the bottom of my driveway, —-and wouldn’t you know it…another 5 inches of snow on top of the car! I had to park at the bottom last night because we got about 8 inches of snow yesterday and I can’t get up my driveway. I have been shoveling the fluffy snow we’ve had, but the snow yesterday was super wet and heavy. Having vowed not to complain while my husband is gone about the snow, the driveway, the cold, the house, etc. etc., I grabbed the broom (which I keep in the car!) and started clearing off the snow from the car. It was raining, and snowing and just WET. I lifted up the driver side windshield wiper to get all the snow off the windshield, and it fell off into my hand! I nearly cried.

I struggled with it for a minute, and decided to say a silent prayer. It is funny how prayerful I have become just to GET BY. I’m not talking about a survival situation, but just day to day getting-by stuff! Simple things! I felt a little stupid asking Heavenly Father to please not let it snow, or rain, until I can get the wiper on—so I decided to ask that I would ‘manage’ without it. I decided to drive with faith.

As I got out to the main road, I could see that the roads were flooded with water. At many different spots on my 20 minute drive into town, I have to stop because the oncoming car (and my own car) has enveloped me in water and I can’t see anything. As I drove, I was picking out spots where I could maybe stop and ask someone to help – the loggers have a big spot nearby. I thought I could pull over there, but as I drove by, no one was there (so weird!), but I was fine so far. As I came up to the Coast Guard base entrance, I thought I could stop there and see if someone could help me, but again, I was fine.

Next, I was coming up onto a really bad spot by the Lake, and I could see a road grader coming, and the road is always flooded with water there. I gripped the wheel tight, and guess what, the grader was going SO SLOW it didn’t even throw water onto my windshield! Of course, my eyes were tearing up, because I KNEW that I was being watched over. I could see the rain and snow coming down in my headlights, but it wasn’t hitting my windshield! I made it to work, grabbed the wiper and went into my office. My co worker was there, he being the only other person at work. He looked at me and said, “Now what did you do?” I said, “I drove to town without the driver side wiper.” He just smiled and said, “you are a crazy lady!”

At church, I teach a Sunday school class about Prophets, and sometimes we learn that even Prophets don’t always know what to do—but when they don’t, they ask God. It’s times like this morning’s struggle that are testimony builders to me. I’m in need. I’m asking my Heavenly Father for the tiny little things that I would never have to ask for help with because my husband does it for me, or he fixes it, or he takes care of it. Seriously, I have asked Heavenly Father to let the snow be fluffy so I can manage to take care of it! I’ve asked to stay strong in order to shovel it! I am so grateful for prayer and for knowing that my Heavenly Father is there and waiting to help me.”

Rene Whipple is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. [email protected]