Counting My Blessings

We recieved a very special blessing yesterday in the mail. It was the gift of $200. This generous gift came with a card. We have no idea who sent it to us, but they sure knew that we could use the money. Upon opening up the card, and saw that my prayer was answered, brought me to my knees crying. Before I go on, let me tell the story how this came about...

I had a dream sometime last week about our upcoming ELP trip to Fort Ross for the Russian Fur Traders. I dreamt that I was talking to someone (whom I can't remember) about Fort Ross, and I said that I was hating the thought of telling my kids, husband, and everyone else involved, that we have to back out of this trip due to the fact that we didn't have the funds to do so. (bear with me, this dream is fuzzy to remember.) That is all I remember about the dream. On Sunday, as I was gathering our checks for tithing, I was prompted with, "When you pay an honest and full tithe, blessings will come your way." The whole day, my dream was in my thoughts. I remember feeling like I was carrying a heavy weight on my shoulders all day Monday, just trying to figure out how I was going to let everyone down. We went to our ELP meeting on Monday night, finishing up all the final details and getting the cost per child (around $50 per child). My heart just sank. I have been diligently trying to save all the extra cash we had, just to pay for this, but every time, something came up and we needed that money. Forgive me, I am in tears while writing this. I did find some donated material @ the meeting, snatched up some to help off-set the cost of our costumes (hopefully I can make 5 costumes out of it). Yesterday came, and I was feeling very gloomy. I was hating the fact that I needed to speak up about not being able to attend ELP this time, and I knew that I needed to do it very soon. Needless to say, I was getting depressed (not a good thing for me). All I could do was pray to Heavenly Father about it, and leave it with him. Then, Charlie brought in the mail, and I found an envelope with no return address. I opened it, and my day got a little brighter with the sight of our first Christmas card of the season. I opened up the card, and saw the $200. My mouth dropped to the floor, and I was overcome with the Spirit. I have no way of knowing who answered my prayer, but I would like to say, THANK YOU. Nat was trying to figure out who we knew from the area of the postmark, and the handwriting. I have to admit, I was a little curious too, BUT, we are not meant to know who our Angel(s) are. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and that he is always looking after his flock. He knows when each and every one of us are in need, and will bless us in our time of need and everyday. I know that Christmas time is generally the time that everyone tends to give more and be more thoughtful of others, but I would like to challenge everyone to be more giving and thoughtful throughout the entire year.