Sometimes My Prayers Are Answered

There have been times in my life when I have felt my prayers went unanswered. I have felt alone and abandoned. This week I had two experiences that made me think that maybe there is someone up there who actually does care about me. On Sunday evening Rich called to say the dogs had gotten out and he was looking for them. He had been at a fireside and as he drove up to the house the four dogs were in the front. He was able to get Trixie and Ozzie back in the fence but our two females went running down the street. These dogs are very expensive, $2,200 a piece and we co-own them with a friend in the ward. Spencer jumped on the bike and Mindi, Rich and a neighbor started driving around the neighborhood and surrounding areas. Dave went out and plugged the irrigation ditch where they got out of and then he got on the bike and went on the search and rescue. By 9:45 p.m. we still hadn't found them, so everyone came home thinking that maybe someone found them and just put them in their house waiting for Monday to find a solution. Anyway, Mindi and I didn't feel good about giving up, so I jumped into her car in my nightgown and we drove over to tell Sherrie the dogs were loose. On our way to her house we saw a group of kids just hanging out in the street talking and messing around. As we left Sherrie's and turned the corner we saw two white dogs being held by these young kids. We felt so lucky because just a few feet away was a busy street We thanked the kids and took our "bad dogs" home. Another thing that happened was that Spencer told me as they were leaving that Annie lost one of her diamond wedding bands in our hall bathroom. They had looked and looked but wanted me to keep an eye out for it. I had been in there several times looking in the garbage, bathtub and even sticking my hand in the toilet thinking maybe it fell in there. Yesterday I decided to ask Rich's secretary, Amber about the ring and let her know it was missing. She said, "have you looked under the cabinet?" I assured her that I had looked everywhere without finding it. Well she got up from the office looked in the bathroom and said, "there it is." I couldn't believe that we found it under the cabinet. When I called Annie to give her the good news she said, "I looked everywhere in that bathroom, I even stuck my hand down the toilet." This morning I was reading a little book a friend of mine gave me, called "Your Happily Ever After" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. In this book he says, "adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy." Someday I hope to be worthy to experience that joy that comes through adversity, and hopfully have a "Happily Ever After" moment in my life.