I Will Learn...Hopefully Sooner Rather Than Later

You know how people say that sometimes the Lord gives one trials to see if he/she will be obedient ie: Abraham with Isaac, the Saints in Zion's Camp? Well, Mike has often told me that everyday we are given test, sometimes they are big, and sometimes they are small---and often times, we bring these test upon ourselves, by the choices we make. Sometimes we recognize them, sometimes we don't. He has told me in the past that when I realize I'm being tested (usually when I'm frustrated): That I should stop and ask myself, " how am I going to handle this? Will I handle it in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, or will I let my "natural man" take over? Basically, am I going to pass or fail? My choice. Will I be faithful and obedient as Abraham and Job, or will I be like many of those "murmuring souls" of Zion's Camp that we can read about? He also tells me to stop and thank the Lord for the "test" because if that is the hardest test of the day, then I should be grateful. He reminds me that undoubtedly someone is going through something harder at that very moment.
I try hard to remember this, but today I failed... again. I'm ashamed to admit that I seem to be doing that a lot lately. But hopefully by blogging about it, I am beginning to learn. Sis. Hughes once taught a R.S. lesson in which she said, "There is nothing wrong in making a mistake, unless you failed to learn from it." I like that and think that it is true. So here's me trying to learn.
The Terminix man came out this morning. YEAH! But when he came in, I started telling him about the termites and he said, "Oh, I'm not here for termites. I'm pest control and that the termite man would be out at a later date." (after our experience, I made Mike sign us up for pest control too!) I was like "Oh. Okay. But we aren't having trouble with bugs right now, just termites. I'd rather take care of that first."
Well, Jimmy was a REALLY nice man and he said that he would do a termite inspection too, even though he was the pest control guy. YEAH. He asked me all sorts of questions and looked all around and then he went into the attic and looked around. Well, he came down and said, "I think you have problems, but since I'm the pest control man and not the termite man, you will have to wait for him to come out and check."
He informed us that after Thursday night there were a lot of calls, and we were about call #250 so it would be a while before the termite guy would be able to see us. He even said that it has been so bad that the news stations have been reporting about it (too bad I don't watch the news). He was very apologetic and super nice. However, he did say that he thought that the termites may have nested in our fireplace. OH NO!!!! He said that when he was in the attic, he saw that it looked like we might have had a roof leak recently. I told him yes, a few months ago we had a bad storm and our "brand new roof" had leaked where they did not seal around the fireplace, but we called our "roof people" and they came out right away and fixed it. Problem solved. Or so we thought. Jimmy said that he thought, we had termites in our chimney and the water leak gave them a source for water--because termites need water to survive.
So, he left and I called Mike and told him. Then I three-way called with Susan and Lisanka and I was murmuring and complaining that had our home inspector noticed that the chimney had not been sealed, we would not be having this problem (nor would we have had to pay the money to have it fixed. Then I just went on murmuring about how awful our home inspector was. That had he also checked the outside faucets he would have realized the one on the front of our house was broken, and we would not have had to pay the plumber to come and fix the huge leak we had a few weeks back. I was just complaining about everyone and everything. My friends have to be good to put up with me. Seriously.
There was no gratitude in me. I was feeling sorry for myself. I was not looking at all the blessings that really matter: my healthy family, the gospel, Mike has a job that allows for me to stay home, we can pay our bills even when we have to pay someone to come and fix a problem like the roof, we have a termite bond on the house etc... Let's face it, I have a lot to be grateful for.
Well, somehow, the Lord still manages to bless us even when we are least deserving. Because after all this verbal complaining, I heard a doorbell. It was a new Terminix man--Jeff! I was like "What??? I thought you would not be here for at least another week, if not longer." He said that he was on the phone with Jimmy after he left our house and Jimmy was explaining what he thought the problem was, so Jeff decided to come right over! WOW---Can I just say, we are VERY, VERY, VERY Happy with Terminix. (If you are in need of a Termite or pest control company, I highly recommend them. If you do go with them, mention our name and street ,or call us and we can refer you--we can get a discount.:) )
Well, Jeff who specializes in termites (18 years of service) first went all over the house and outside, and then he went up into our attic to check it out. When he came down, he said good news----NO TERMITES! He believes that they just came in through the chimney where the smoke comes out, and through the attic fan vent. He said he inspected everything and it looks fine. YAY! Mike came home as he was finishing up and talked with him. Jeff told us that Jimmy really specializes in the "pest control" part of Terminix, but I'm grateful that he did "his own termite inspection" because that bumped us from customer #250 to customer #1. We love JIMMY AND JEFF! Hats off to both of them.
When they left, I had a feeling of gratitude in my heart, as well as one of disappointment in myself. Because I realized I failed my first test of the today. I failed. Instead of turning to the Lord in prayer, I murmured. Instead of being grateful for what I have, I murmured. Will I ever learn?
Thankfully, the Lord is always there when we are ready to turn to him. Knowing this, before Mike left for work again, we came together as a family and gave a prayer of thanks , and I also was reminded to repent. Ariel said it all worked out because of her prayer to the Lord on Thursday night. I am reminded to have more faith in the Lord because when I do, it will work out--not my way, but his. The Lord is good. Here's to passing that next test! Pray for me, I need all the help I can get.