Obedience Brings Blessings

Ben and I are taking a self reliance class through our church right now, for Starting or Growing your own Business. Since Ben has a business and I am in the beginning stages of my business, we figured it would be a great class for us. We were right, we've loved it. It focuses on business but also incorporates spiritual principles that go along with what we're learning. We go to a two hour class once a week and then have homework assignments throughout the week and have an accountability partner with someone else in the class to talk with about actually doing the homework.

This week, we were challenged to think about how obedience brings blessings and how that relates to our business. We were then asked to think about some blessings we want in our life and what gospel principle we must be obedient to in order to receive those blessings. We were then challenged to be obedient in those areas.

I wanted to just share mine this week.

Patience - Read the Book of Mormon 

One blessing I've been earnestly seeking for of late is more patience with the kids. On the obedience side, I put down read in the Book of Mormon each day. Sometime last year, I was praying to become a better mother and I came across this quote from Ezra Taft Benson:

“There is a power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book."

I wasn't reading in my scriptures at the time. As I read the words, I felt the the Spirit so strongly and so distinctly telling me that if I began to read each day, the Lord would help me be a more patient mother.

I put it to the test and began reading that day. As I did, I found the promise to be true. Then we moved and I was sick with morning sickness and life was crazy. I stopped reading in the scriptures and found myself being the kind of mother I didn't want to be. I was impatient, not understanding, and easily angered. I felt powerless against it.

Then I realized, I wasn't reading my scriptures. I began to daily, even when I wasn't feeling well. It was as if I was a different person. For me, I have found that in order to have the Lord help me be the kind of mother that I want to be--nurturing, kind, patient, loving, understanding (not perfect, just a a good mother)--I have to do my part and the part that He's asked of me is to read in my scriptures.

A simple act that brings a very real power into my life.

Pay off our house quickly - Pay tithing 

I have a strong testimony of tithing. Growing up, tithing never seemed hard to pay and I was taught to pay it first thing. Benjamin was the same. When we got married, we continued our habit of paying our tithing first, but it honestly took a lot more faith to do that as newlyweds than at any other time in my life. That's because we had no money.

We were making less than $20,000 a year, we were both in school (I had a partial scholarship my second semester and we were able to get some financial aid for Ben, but it still cost a lot) and I was pregnant with Ashtyn, meaning we were making payments each month to the birthing center. It was very tight and we weren't budgeting. We weren't crazy, going out and just buying stuff or anything and we didn't use credit cards, we just didn't have a written budget.

Because of this, we would often get to the beginning of the new month (Ben got paid on the seventh or something) and have rent due by fifth. Almost every month for a while there, we would say, "I don't know how we're going to pay rent this month." And something would happen. Every single month. We'd visit his parents and they'd give him "work" to do to pay him for and then his dad would come out as we were driving away and push an extra hundred into my hands. One month, Ben's boss called because they needed to send out checks a few days early that month (meaning we got it just in time to pay rent). One month, we were able to sell my car, one month we got tax returns bigger than we were expecting. One month we got a check in the mail for a time we'd gotten rear ended months before and had been told we probably wouldn't get. Literally, something always happened and it always happened right as we needed a little extra for rent. To me, it was God's way of saying, you paid your tithing, I want you to know these are your blessings.

We got through that and soon after starting making more and budgeting, which helped so we never worried if we'd have enough for rent. We still pay our tithing, though, and I know that even though our blessings aren't always as obvious as when our budget was stretched, we're still blessed for it.

Ben and I have a goal to pay off our house in three years. We want to make the last payment January 2021. It's definitely a high goal and is going to stretch us. We have a monthly budget that stays about the same each month, so we did the math on how much we need to make in order to achieve our goal and it's quite a bit more than we're currently making. We also have plans to bring our income up and we're going to do all we can to reach it, but I know we'd never make it if we weren't paying tithing.

I know that just because we pay our tithing doesn't mean we'll reach it, but I do know that as we pay our tithing, we will be blessed in more ways than we even know. And if we fall short and pay it off in, say, four years, well .... that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. ;)

A Balanced Life - Keep the Sabbath Day Holy 

This blessing is a little more general--to have a balanced life. I want to work hard, put God first, spend lots of time with my kids and husbands, work on my personal and business goals, be healthy, help my family be healthy, keep our house fairly clean, and run the household well. Life is busy and there's a lot I (same as everyone) want to do with it. But I don't want to burn out trying to do it or get so caught up in everything that I forget what's most important. I want to live a happy life while I progress and work on my goals.

I believe that one reason God has designated a day for us to rest is so that we can have time to ponder about our lives and really look at the big picture of what we're doing. It allows us to breath, make new goals, feel rejuvenated, and spend a lot of time with family. Keeping the Sabbath day holy allows me to stay centered in my life as I look back at the past week at what I could have done better and look forward to the next week at what I want to accomplish. It helps motivate me to be better and to reconnect with God and those I love.

I know as we are obedient, we are blessed. Sometimes those blessings are obvious, sometimes they're not. Sometimes we can't see the blessings right away. Sometimes it appears those who aren't obedient are the ones blessed. I know, though, that if we trust in God and do our best to follow Him, we will be see the fruits of our labors eventually and that in the moment, even if we have no other blessings, we will have the peace that comes from choosing right.