Our bishop has asked us to write our special experiences during this year, so that he could include them in the ward history. I have diligently written ALL about 2020, including many spiritual experiences, which I should probably share, but for now, I will give you this excerpt that happened yesterday--Saturday, 12-5-20.
"As days passed, I felt strongly the need to be with my 90-yr. old mother. She had been by herself—basically a shut-in, the entire time because she doesn’t know how to use social media the way we do and no one checks on her from the family the way they do for Mike's mom. Fortunately, she has had the bishop come to give her the sacrament every week since she fainted of heat exhaustion and went by ambulance to the emergency room in July.
When we called up to tell her we wanted to come, she asked, “Do you think I am going to die?” (Yep. That's my mom.) We prayed about when to go, and although I felt prompted to go, I also saw in my mind’s eye, the airport being too crowded for social distancing. In trying to reconcile the two promptings, we chose to go after the Thanksgiving rush, and come back before the Christmas rush. We also chose to go First Class, with alternate empty rows, and to leave the first flight in the morning. Coming back, it will be later, but it was the best we could do.
When I fly, I have to take my portable oxygen concentrator with me…and by law, if I travel with one, I have to have a spare battery to show at check-in. An interesting coincidence happened 2 days before we left. I had been walking around the lake with Mike the day before and my battery started beeping because it needed to be recharged. We came home and plugged the cord in my concentrator to recharge, thinking all was well. Saturday, I grabbed my concentrator to walk around the lake again, and it was still beeping. I looked at the battery and it was on zero. How could that be? Turned out that the cord had been unplugged from the wall, so my battery had not been recharging. No problem, we plugged it in and now could recharge it.
However, Mike said, “Let’s just get the backup battery for now, so we can go for a walk around the lake.” Well, I went to where I always kept the battery and it wasn’t there. Panic ensued—if I couldn’t find the battery, I couldn’t fly. We searched and searched, under any bed or piece of furniture. We emptied bookcases. Went through drawers and suitcases. Went through closets, and book cases. I called my daughter, who’s daughter Olivia goes through everything in my house, hence knows where everything is, since many times she puts it there, however, she did not answer. Mike called his mother to see if we left it in San Antonio at her house. Nothing.
Mike said, "We needed to say a prayer, because the deadline for ordering a new one is looming, since we leave Tuesday at 5 a.m.
I prayed. I poured out my heart, and in the end, I added, “Bless us to find this before we order a new one.”
I distinctly remember that, because it seemed an odd thing to say. But after many more unsuccessful minutes, Mike said, “I’m going to order another one. They’re $300, but that’s the only way we can fly.”
He left to go to his office, and started filling in the
order online. I answered, “Go ahead.”
But...something about my agreeing to order it kept niggling in the back of my mind. I kept thinking, “What kind of faith do I have if I pray for us to find it before we order another one and I tell Mike it’s OK to order another one?”
I thought about the trip we had taken to San Antonio and how it hadn’t been in a suitcase, then I glanced at a large purse I had taken to San Antonio. I picked it up and saw the battery in it and yelled, “I found it!”…just seconds before Mike would have pressed the ‘Complete Purchase” button.
What
a tender mercy! I do not count it a coincidence that Mike had unplugged the recharger
cord from the wall to plug in another item, so that we would have the need to
find the second battery. I do not count it a coincidence that the words coming
from my mouth in a prayer (“Bless us to find it before we order another
one.”) I do not count it a coincidence that I was able to find the battery right
before Mike would press the ‘Purchase’ button.
Just another example of the hand of the Lord in our life this year.
