An Unexpected Answer

     As most of you already know, I recently completed a residency in Wyoming (woot, woot) and following the completion, accepted my dream job back home in Utah.  (Hooray!).  I absolutely LOVE my job.  I love working with both patients and students, but the demands of work have been great.  Between seeing patients in the clinic and managing my teaching responsibilities at the University, I have averaged 50-60 hours of work each week.  Not wanting my entire life to be work…. I’ve tried to squeeze as much into my free time, and as a result, my life has become overly scheduled.

     Spending such long days always on the go has taken its toll, and a couple of weeks ago I hit my breaking point!  Work had been exceptionally demanding.  I’d just been given another calling (institute council… yeah buddy) in addition to the busy calling I already held in my ward, and I was trying to make time for a social life too.  Trying to be the best pharmacist, compassionate service committee member, professor,  sister, visiting teacher, daughter, institute council member, date , weekly temple attender, and friend had taken its toll as there was more on my plate than I had room for and I wasn’t ready (or willing) to give anything up.  So, after another long week, I prayed to my Heavenly Father.  I explained to him that I was feeling extremely stretched.  I wanted to be my best.  I wanted to serve Him.  But the demands I was feeling were just too much.  I asked for Him to let me know He was aware of me and my silly struggle and begged for His help in accomplishing everything on my to-do list.

     Just as I finished my prayer, my phone went off.  It was a friend who would be moving the next day and needed help.  Knowing that I drive an SUV and have a bit more room in my car, she asked if I would be willing to help.  I couldn’t believe it!  I just ended a prayer telling my Heavenly Father how overwhelmed I felt, and here I was asking to give more.  My Saturday was already fully scheduled, I was already overwhelmed, this couldn’t possibly be the answer to my prayer.  I was baffled, but decided I would serve, trusting that by serving my friend, Heavenly Father would somehow allow for me to have more time in my day and I would be blessed.

     So, I moved my friend.  I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal as she didn’t have much to move and wasn’t moving far.  I could spare an hour.  Heavenly Father KNEW how busy I was and would help things go quickly and smoothly, so I could get on with my day.  I couldn’t have been more wrong!

     In the five minutes it took to move a piece of furniture from my open vehicle into her new home, someone who had been watching us, took the opportunity to go to my open car and rummage through things.  He managed to find my purse hiding under my front seat and we happened to see him running away from my car with my purse in hand, just as we were coming back outside to move the next piece of furniture.

     I screamed and began chasing him only to follow him around the corner where he jumped into a truck and began driving off.  I was devastated!  My purse contained my wallet complete with my driver’s license, credit cards, and social security card (which I had used only the day before when I went to talk to HR and had forgotten to remove).  My day had gone from crazy to worse and I was angry because I was supposed to be blessed for serving.

     After calling the police and my credit card company to cancel my account, I sat on my friend’s lawn waiting for the police to arrive, angry and silently questioning why this was happening to me.  I was already at my wit’s end and then this had happened.

     When the police arrived, they explained another gentleman who had been driving by witnessed the whole thing and followed the speeding truck long enough to get a license plate number; however, the owner of the vehicle did not match the description of the person I’d seen, and so they weren’t sure how good the license plate lead would be.  I was hopeful that things would work out, but still knew that there was a good likelihood my nightmare wasn’t ending anytime soon.

     After the police left, and I finished moving my friend into her new place, I began my drive home.  My head still swimming from the events that had occurred as I made a mental list of all of the places I would need to call to begin cleaning up the latest mess.  I was still angry that this had happened and thought God was playing a cruel joke… didn’t He hear my prayer?  Didn’t He know how stressed I was?  I was already at my wit’s end and then THIS had to happen.

     At this point, my phone began going off, and as I answered my brother explained that someone was at my house looking for me.  I was only a couple of minutes away and drove quickly to find out who it was and what was going on.  As I walked into my house, a man; dressed in bike shorts and a biking jersey, with a race number fixed to his shirt, handed me my purse which had been stolen not even 2 hours prior.  I was shocked!  He explained he had been biking in a race that day and during the race happened to notice my purse on the side of the road.  He felt prompted to pick it up and look inside, and after seeing both my ID and temple recommend had a strong impression that I was desperately looking for these items.  So, after he finished his ride… he biked over to the address listed on my license.  As I went through my purse, everything was still inside, exactly where it had been!  Nothing was missing and it appeared undisturbed, including my social security card which I had tucked deeply inside my wallet to keep safe and hidden.

     After thanking this kind gentleman and offering him a ride home or a reward (which he wouldn’t accept), I called the police to let them know my purse had been found, miles from where it had been stolen.  They were shocked everything was still intact and explained how rare it was for something like this to happen.

     Suddenly, I felt incredibly selfish and guilty for being so angry.  I had been blessed for serving and Heavenly Father was aware of me!  At the exact moment that my purse had been stolen someone else just happened to be around and decided to follow the thief long enough to get a license plate number.  The thief got nervous from being followed and decided to get rid of my purse and just happened to throw it out of a window on a road where a bike race occurred.  An honest person who was participating in the race just happened to notice the purse and felt prompted to pick it up and find me.  For something so crappy to happen, things had sure been smoothed out quickly.

     My stolen purse adventure really had been an answer to my prayers.  Everything had worked out so perfectly and was a reminder that Heavenly Father was VERY aware of me and my circumstances.  He KNEW I felt stretched.  He allowed for a bad thing to happen but He also allowed for things to work out and in doing so reminded me that although I felt overwhelmed and like things were out of control, He was in full control.  How grateful I am to have gone through this experience.  For it allowed me to see Him orchestrating even the smallest details of my life.  He is really there.  He really is listening.  And being reminded of this was simply beautiful.