Just Some Thoughts

Went for a *brief* run tonight and got caught in a downpour while I was out! Before I left, it looked like the rain was going to hold off, but alas, it didn't. It turned out to be a pretty fun run...I took my earphones out and enjoyed listening to the rain (my earphones actually wouldn't even stay in my ears because I was so wet!). On the news tonight, they said that so far this month, we've had rain 12 of the 17 days! Will summer ever come??

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Just wanted to jot down some thoughts that I had yesterday afternoon. After work, I headed over to Katie's place to make some strawberry jam (it turned out really good!). I was supposed to meet my visiting teaching companion at 6:00 so we could go try and catch one of the girls that we visit teach, but just kind of (for a couple different reasons) wanted to cancel our appointment. I don't think I've ever cancelled a visiting teaching appointment, and thought that I'd feel really bad about cancelling it, but I didn't. Katie was kind enough to let me have 2 jars of jam (THANKS!) and while I was on my way home, decided that it'd be a good idea to get some Great Harvest bread.

As I was driving to Great Harvest, I looked at the time and realized that I probably didn't really have time to stop and should probably just go straight home so I could make it to Institute. I changed lanes and started on my way home and didn't think too much of it. As Great Harvest got closer, I felt like getting some bread was a good idea after all, so I changed lanes again and headed to the store. When I walked into the store, I heard a familiar voice--one from my freshman year of college. It sounded like my roommate, Andrea, but knew that it couldn't have been her because the last I heard, she and her husband were living in Spain for an internship. I turned around just to make sure that it wasn't Andrea, and to my surprise, it was! I was shocked!

She was one of my favorite roommates from my freshman and sophomore years...we did everything together. My very first semester of college was not the best experience (let's just say that I learned a lot!) and I had thought about not going back to BYU Idaho after my first year, but Andrea was one of the reasons that I decided to go back. I was so blessed to have had her as a roommate and it was an answer to prayer that I ran into her last night.

I think that these little experiences that we have--the ones that make you think, "did that really just happen?!"--is evidence that the Lord is aware of each of His children. I love this thought from Elder Bednar: "We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (Click HERE to read the full talk...this is one of my favorite General Conference talks!)

Tonight I go to bed with a grateful heart, knowing that the Lord is aware of me.

(I know this is an awful picture, but I don't like to post without some sort of picture! This is Jana, me and Andrea my first semester of college. One Saturday, we went to Jackson Hole and I remember that it was such a beautiful fall day. This is one of the pictures we took along the Snake River.)