A few months ago Chris and I had decided to go to Mexico City for his brother's wedding party. We had a deadline for getting the tickets. We needed to purchase them by March 31st in order to get the deal that we wanted through Alaska Air. Our deadline was approaching and each day I would ask Chris if he had purchased the tickets that day. He would say, "no, not yet." I would just nod my head and think about my reservations that I had with going. I could not quite pin point it. Sure, I had this and that going on but nothing that I could not work out for a trip to MEXICO where it's warm. Finally Chris and I talked about it when we realized we both had been putting it off for some reason. We decided to pray about it. We decided that we would take the weekend to pray and ponder it and make a decision on Monday. Monday came and we still felt unsure about our answer. We took that to be our answer and decided not to go.
The following Saturday we got a phone call from a member of the bishopric asking if they could meet with both Chris and I. "Sure." He came over to our home and asked Chris if he would lead the Venture crew in scouting. He explained that it would require a lot of time with the boys and going on many different high adventure activities. We both felt after that meeting that the reason we were not supposed to go to Mexico City was because of this new calling at church so that Chris would have the vacation days to use with the scouts. This may have been one of the reasons but recently got some new insight to our decision.
We were scheduled to fly out to Mexico City last Thursday and would have been returning tomorrow. Chris' brother and fiancee are there right now and called two days ago saying that they had been inside for two days, church had been cancelled and that they have not been able to do all the things they had been planning on doing. All because of the Swine Flu.
When we found this out we knew, beyond a doubt that Heavenly Father had heard our prayer. I'm grateful that we were both in tune to hear his answer and that we followed the prompting not to go. I don't believe we would have been in harms way with the flu but it sure would have been a waste of time and money to go and sit inside for several days. Time that Chris needs with the scouts.
This is a great example of not always knowing why we need to do something or not do something but following the prompting anyway. Sometimes we find out why, other times we do not. In this case we found out why. And it's a great way to talk to our children about how to listen for answers and that it isn't always what we want to hear....but there may be a reason.
7 comments:
Thanks for this post!! How can you be so sure you wouldn't have been in harms way as well? Just curious, but from the reports over here... they are cancelling most flights going to Mexico. There are already 3 reported cases of this in Germany. I'm not freaking out, but it is somehow scary to think about. I'm glad you aren't there - even if it you say it wasn't risky in the medical sense.
You are right of course. I don't know that we wouldn't be in harms way but with 21 million people in Mexico City there are probably more people that die from strep throat than the Swine Flu. If you look at the numbers it's difficult not to think it's being blown out of proportion by the media. Just my opinion.
Great post, Darilyn. Such a powerful testimony being shared here. Thank goodness for prayer and listening to answers.
wow! What a reassurance to prayer. They were just showing pictures of Mexico City on the news and the streets were empty, which is just bizarre. Maybe Merilee told you but they have closed two schools here in Chandler because kids were sick. They are also thinking about canceling primary this week because one of those schools is the school the most of the kids in our ward go to. craziness
Wow, what an experience. Thanks for sharing. It makes me wonder how many times we are being guided and given miracles in our lives that we never even find out about.
What a great post. Those boys are blessed to have Chris on board! He is going to be awesome in that calling! I haven't always had the best attitude about so many vacation days going to YM, but you are obviously more mature than me :0) And I have grown to look at it as Mike's special time to do boy things.
Wow----what an incredible experience! A great testimony of prayer and listening to the still small voice. Isn't it weird how many times we do not know why we have felt a certain way about something until later on....then it all makes sense. Great to know how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us. Have I told you how much I LOVE reading your blog???? :-)
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