addendum

My last Marriage Prep lesson came and went. I had such plans as to how to end my tenure—pounding the pulpit and sharing insights from my journey through the Marriage Prep manual—but in the end I felt like I should just share a story.

The story you already know. It’s about my job, and how I compared it to the Jaredite barges and it allowed me to see God’s hand in my life. So I shared with them my miracle and Ether 6. But then we discussed how another principle also applies. It is found in D&C 123:17:

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

At first I struggled aligning these two—how I had been handed a dream of a job that had nothing to do with any of my efforts, and also that we must do all things in our power in order to qualify for this privilege of standing still and waiting to see God’s arm revealed in our life. Then I realized that I had indeed done everything in my power: I had interviewed for jobs I didn’t want and applied for every job I could find. I had prayed and fasted and acted on my faith and spammed all of my law school friends. And then, after I had done everything in my power, God told me to stand still, and He revealed His arm in my life.

Pretty awesome. And oh how well it applied to Marriage Prep!

So in the end we talked about trusting God, and also trusting other people and trusting yourself that you are pretty great and worth someone being crazy about you. And then two days later I taught my first Institute lesson and discussed mummies, the Chicago Fire, and how God works miracles in your life but sometimes they take time.

Anyway, after recounting this story again I realized I needed to make a blog addendum! You see, when I wrote about my job in September the job was already a dream. Can you believe that a week later my favorite person in the whole agency was transferred to my department of six people? Wow! The day she started I went to FHE and everyone asked me why my day was awesome and I said “because Fola Rae started working with me!” and now she is a minor celebrity in the ward. Then another week later we hired someone new who is now my work bff! It just keeps getting better and better. My choir had a Christmas concert last month and five of my co-workers came (doubly impressive when you realize I have 7 co-workers total)! I was disastrously on the agency party planning committee (think The Office) and my work friends forged ahead and helped me survive and we ended up singing Christmas karaoke and it was the best. work. party. ever!!! So I am happy to report that the job is still a dream—even better in fact. I am so blessed.