Does God give Progress Reports?

Our on-going problem of needing a better job continues.  Craig has fasted several times a week (I do when I can) and we are continually petitioning the Lord for deliverance from this job to a better one.  Craig is doing his part in looking on the internet for any job that he could qualify or “over” qualify for, but nothing comes.  Why?  This has been an off and on prayer that has lasted for the past 12 years!  I am impatient.  I guess if there was a prayer that I felt continued to go unanswered it would be this.  Why no job?  Why after over 20 years of having a stable, enjoyable job have we had to go through this experience? Am I asking the wrong question?  Should I be asking,  “What are we to learn from this?”  I know the Lord can provide a job for us, he did it over 30 years ago.  But why not now?

On Friday we got a call from our renters in Las Vegas.  They told us that the air conditioning in the kitchen area of our Tee Pee House had gone out and was blowing hot air.  On Saturday I started calling around to find an air conditioning company to go check it out.  They weren’t able to get there until Sunday.  As we were fasting on Sunday, we included the problem with the air conditioning in our prayers.  Later that afternoon we got a call from the technician and he said that our unit was almost too old to repair.  He said that the compressor was shot and so was the coil that went around the unit.  He said it would cost $4,500 to replace both those parts and since the unit was over 30 years old, he couldn’t guarantee how long that would last.  He told us that a brand new one would cost $7,500.  We just about died.  We told him that we were not ready to make a decision and would get back to him.  On Monday we had another company come out for a free second opinion.  When he called me back he said that the unit wasn’t worth fixing at all.  He said that it would cost $8,700 for a new one, but would give us $1,000 rebate for the old one.  WOW!  We still didn’t feel good about that, so we told him we would talk about it and get back to him.

In the meantime, Craig had called our dear friend and back door neighbor, Ned.  Ned said that he used Deke’s Air Conditioning for years and that he would try and get a hold of them.  Late Monday night, Steve from Deke’s Air went by the house and was able to get the compressor started.  He called Craig on Tuesday and said that he was able to get it started, but that it was very old and the next time it breaks down, it probably needs to be replaced.  Craig asked him how much we owed him and he said nothing!  Unvelievable! 

On Tuesday afternoon, by the time Craig got a hold of me to tell me this news, he asked me to call our renters and see if the air was still working.  When I called our renter, he didn’t even know that if had been restarted.  So he turned on the air while we were still talking and he said, “Wow, there is cool air coming out!”  We told him what had happened and told him to let us know if there were any more problems.

As I got off the phone, I immediately realized that this was an answer to our prayers.  I went directly into the bedroom and knelt down and vocally thanked the Lord for blessing our air conditioner to work.  Then I got up and found the phone number for Deke’s air and called and thanked them.  The wife was so appreciative that I would take the time to call and thank them for this favor.  I felt that if I didn’t thank both them and the Lord, that the cold air wouldn’t last long.

So later in the day I began thinking….(I was being such a brat!)  "Lord, I am thankful that you miraculously fixed our air compressor to work, but I would have rather had a new job for Craig!!!"  Ok, you might want to move away from your computer, in case lightening strikes it (haha).   I know this seems so ungrateful, but I am being truthful with my feelings right now and I'm trying to understand why God would answer this prayer and not a bigger prayer that we have prayed for months and years.  Of course no one ever wants to spend that kind of money, but right now we actually have the money and could have spared it.  So if we could bargain for answers to prayers, I would have said something like, “Lord, I feel like we need this prayer of getting a job answered more than our air conditioning fixed.”  But He in his infinite wisdom answers what is best for us.  I said to Craig, “I just don’t get it.  It’s not like he can’t get us a new job.  If he could cause the elements in our air conditioner to start working again….he certainly could cause us to get another job!”  Then Craig said, “Remember the law of agency.  The air compressor doesn’t have agency, but we as humans do and it takes a human to offer me a job”.

CAST YOUR MIND…. So last night I offered again a prayer of thanks and a prayer of forgiveness, for questioning the Lord.  Hopefully he will accept my apology and not take me out with a bolt of lightning.  After my prayer, the Lord gave me a tender mercy by way of “cast my mind back….. (D&C 6:22-Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.).  I instantly remembered the incredible miracle the Lord had performed on our FRIDGE in that same house on Tee Pee Lane.  (I need to go back to my journal and pull up that story.  I had completely forgotten about it).  It was the weekend that Byron was having his missionary farewell and we had a house full of company and our fridge went out.  The fridge part wasn’t cooling at all, and the freezer part was cold like a fridge should be.  So I transferred all of our freezer stuff out to the outside freezer and put some milk and few other things in the freezer part.  We got a cool chest and some ice for the rest of the stuff the fridge had held.  We didn’t even have time to do anything else because we left for Utah to take him to the MTC.  I remember praying FERVENTLY and using these exact words, “Please Lord, HEAL OUR FRIDGE!  We don’t have ANY money to buy a new one!”  We left for a 3 days and when we came back, the fridge was miraculously working.  That was a miracle!  But the most impressive miracle was that it worked from that day forward until we gave it back to the city and made $50.00 rebate on it some 9 or so years later.  Talk about amazing!

I was instantly humbled with this memory the Lord brought back to my mind.  It was right then that I knew he was trying to tell me something.  And this is what I felt he was saying to me.  “Michele, back then when I healed your fridge, it was because you had no money and you truly needed a fridge.  The reason I healed your air conditioner now, is not because of the money part, but because you need to know that I know you are there.  I am not able to bless you with a job right now at this time, but by blessing your air conditioner, it is like me sending you a “progress report” letting you know that I am pleased with your attempts to include me in your life.” Wow, reading that back makes ME cry!  I’m so thankful for a Heavenly Father that knows me and is patient with me and loves me with all of my faults.