Just when you thought...

"Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly,
 permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes 
we need to become more and more Christlike. . . .
 As we understand this doctrine, 
we gain greater assurance of our Father's love."
 - James B Martino

It is interesting the lessons we learn and the way in which Heavenly Father teaches us.  I have been patiently and lovingly handed a huge slice of humble pie today and taught yet again how aware Heavenly Father is of us and our struggles.

Lately, I have been struggling with a little girl in my class and every week I have gone begrudgingly to teach this class.  When she is not there I silently do a happy dance inside because I know my class isn't going to be hard where I am shaking at the end of it due to all the adrenaline I feel of fighting against temper tantrums.  This week J was tied up in priesthood and little ms. storm cloud started her usual temper tantrum of chucking things across the classroom.  Without a second thought I picked her up, opened the door and walked with her straight to her mom as she was kicking and screaming.  I felt bad unloading that on her mom to deal with but I realized in looking over Teaching No Greater Call that it is my responsibility to teach her about Jesus Christ and set an example but I do not have to deal with her behavior.  I was disappointed that I couldn't handle it by myself but I had to think of my baby first and her safety because of how rough this little one gets.

Last week I had felt discouraged because I had wanted to meet with the bishop and was feeling so frustrated with my calling.  I felt like I had no support and no one to turn to other than mr hubbins and was upset when I had to cancel my appointment because I had booked visiting teaching for the exact same time.  So I was shocked when J came to me after church and told me that the bishop wanted to meet with us as a couple.  I didn't know what the bishop wanted and so we just went and waited.  As we  stepped into his office there was such a calming peace in there, it felt like walking into the temple.  All my fears and hurts just seemed to vanish as a peace washed over me, and our loving bishop told me that he was aware of my struggles.  He asked me to be patient just a little longer as he prayed about where to move me to a new calling.  He told me they knew from day one about the problems I had faced and he was worried about me and the safety of baby as there was a day where his wife had taken the little girl  when she had been having a temper tantrum on the floor.  I thought she grabbed her because she thought I couldn't handle it but they were worried that she would go after my stomach and hurt the baby and that is why she jumped in.  The bishop said he was there to support me and I could feel the love of Heavenly Father again.  Here was a bishop who I didn't even need to address the problem with, who is so spiritually in tune that he knew without me having to say anything.  He knew my fears, my frustrations, and struggles and I hadn't opened my mouth.  He addressed problems that I didn't even know he knew about and I felt such a strong love and gratitude for my bishop.

Today was a good day and I can tell that J and I need young friends our age.  Our ward had seriously been lacking in that aspect and J and I felt so isolated and alone for the majority of our last year and a half in the ward but suddenly we had a whole bunch of new move-ins and it has been amazing.  Today as we visited I could feel myself smiling and laughing in ways that I haven't felt in a long long time.  And I now know how important it is to befriend those that are new.  As we waited for the bishop's interview with us it just felt amazing to get to know others in the ward and feel a true sense of friendship and goodwill to others our age.  The bishop has really encouraged us to make friends with the younger couples in the ward and I know that this is also direct revelation he is getting from Heavenly Father.  J and I came home and laughed and talked for 3 hours together.  Usually we would be together but be distracted by doing other things but it was amazing how our friendship between the two of us blossomed as a result of making friends with others.  As we were eating lunch J had a bun that I had given him to eat with the chili I had cooked and I kept taking really small pinches of his bun and eating them.  I did it twice and J looked at his bun looked at me and shoved the rest of it in his mouth and the both of us started laughing!  Jonathan tried to make some muffled comment and we just laughed harder and harder! I can't remember what exactly he said but I loved being able to laugh together.  It felt nice with school being so stressful lately and know it was a cherished moment today.