Secure

Multiple experiences this last week (and actually couple of months) have reminded me of how very aware our Heavenly Father is of us.   He has a plan for each of us and is directing that plan in such a way that if we are faithful and willing to be led and directed that we will be blessed beyond measure.

Let me share a quick story.  This Christmas our family got cell phones.  (All except P but she inherited my 1 year old i-pod touch so that she wouldn't be completely out of the party.)  We've spent a lot of years getting by with the 2 very basic cell phones (pay by the minute plans) since that is what we could afford.  Without going into tons of detail, two situations caused us to realize that, in the best interest of our children and the safety of our family, it was time for us to join the world of the real cell phones.  Financially this was overwhelming.  We had to figure out how to purchase 4 phones and afford a monthly cell phone bill.  We spent a month researching, discussing, and even praying about if this was the right thing to do and how we could afford it.  We realized that the monthly bill was going to be do-able if we could figure out how to buy the phones outright.  We knew that we could pay for them out of our savings but it was kind of bummer to think about spending almost $2000 to do so.  The amazing moment for me was when we realized that we would be able to pay for our phones without technically dipping into savings.  Because of the way that we do our finances, we save each month for all of these different categories, in anticipation of needing a certain amount of money each year in those categories.  But, if we don't end up with the anticipated expenses then that money piles up independent of what we save for our "savings".  When we looked through our finances, we found so much excess in different categories that we were able to purchase all of the phones and accessories without having to touch our "savings".  We knew we were blessed.

This last week as I had quiet moments while reading my scriptures and the church magazines, or staring off into space while taking a break from my homework, I had such a sense of peace and calm. I reflected on many recent blessings (like the cell phones and others) and thought about recent conversations between R and I about our past, our current life, and our future plans.

As I thought about all of this today and tried to come up with words to describe what I was feeling I finally settled on the word "secure".  Sometimes, like when we were blessed to be able to buy our phones, or when we think about where our lives have taken us and are taking us, I am able to recognize Heavenly Father guiding our lives and I get this overwhelming feeling.  It is more than peace, more than love, and different than security.  It is being grounded, anchored, led, and knowing that we are doing the right things with our lives.   To me, it is one of the best and most precious feelings we get to experience in this life.  To me, there is nothing that compares to that feeling and it is a feeling that makes me feel so close and connected with our Heavenly Father - secure.

I am so thankful for being blessed to know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and guides us if we let him.  If we seek to live in accordance with His will, our lives will be so richly blessed that even though everything will not be easy and/or perfect we can still feel secure and that is the best feeling ever.