One Step at a Time

It started with just a simple phone call to a college financial aid office.  I needed to know if there was a reason we didn't receive an anticipated tax form, and I was hoping to learn that I could still use the tuition amount for a tax credit.  What happened was truly miraculous!

To really appreciate this miracle, I'll need to share with you that it's been a really tough few months.  I suppose I had foolishly thought that I had survived my "big test," or "big tests" depending on how one looks at it, and it would be a matter of enduring well and becoming more like Him.  Even as I type that last phrase I think, "How foolish that I didn't assume there would be many more really tough times."  But, I didn't.

This morning I was feeling the pressure of looming deadlines and as my whirlwind of thoughts caught up to me, I felt like I was out of things to do to help.  So I followed the best advice I know, "When life gets too hard to stand, kneel."  And, that's just what I did.  I prayed.  I really plead with the Lord. 

Perhaps you've had moments like that in your life, too, when you have really plead with the Lord.  Perhaps, too, he has answered your prayers, as he did mine today.  Do you ever stop being amazed by His power, His love, and His mercy?  I'm embarrassed to say that I have had moments when I have wondered if He was listening, and moments when I really didn't understand His plan, and even some when I doubted that He had a plan.  Perhaps that is why I am so amazed that He still hears me and answers me when I come to Him.

Today it might have been enough to have just given me an affirmative answer that I can use the tuition as a tax credit.  Instead this gentle, fatherly voice walked me through finding exactly what I needed for my taxes, and then asked me a few, obviously inspired questions.  We then had a conversation that was a miraculous answer to my morning prayers.  While I still don't have all the answers I need, he gave me a message of hope and reminded me that Heavenly Father always seems to give me the next step.  He always lights the way, sometimes it is just one step at a time.