When you are willing to sacrifice, the Lord will bless you

For the last month and a half, I have been looking for a job, in order to survive while living at college. I have turned in more than seven applications, usually receiving no response. It has been overwhelming, but I realized that as long as I keep trying, that is all I can do. Finally, I got an interview with a receptionist job in the Church History department that I was really interested in. The interview went well, not super amazing, but not horrible either. I did not know what to expect, but I was grateful for the opportunity to have an interview. A couple of days later I received the rejection call. The Supervisor said I had been in the top three, but, well, I basically just did not make the cut. It was hard to be rejected, but I just went back to the drawing board. I knew the Lord would provide a way. There have been some jobs available that were in the middle of the night, or early in the morning that I had previously refused to even apply for. I realized that perhaps I needed to be more willing to sacrifice in order to pay for college. There was a custodial job everyday from 4:30AM-7:30AM. As painful as that sounded, I decided I needed to suck it up, so I called and left a message that I was interested in an interview. A few hours later, when I got home from school, I got a call from the Church History Secretary saying that a girl was quiting, and they would like to hire me on. I couldn't believe it. She said, "Hopefully this makes your day." and I replied, "It most definitely has!" I was ecstatic and felt overwhelmed with God's love. Why did I possibly deserve this? I realized that because I was willing to make a sacrifice, the Lord then blessed me. I had faith all along that everything would work out the way the Lord would have it, and I know it has. My job is perfect for me and I love it. I am so incredibly blessed, I am at a loss of words that truly express my gratitude.

5-sec-butyl-3-ethyl-2,7-dimethyldecane

You are probably thinking, what on earth does this have to do with everyday miracles? Yes, I am ultimately a science geek, and I always will be. So this week I had my first organic chemistry test, known to be one of the hardest classes offered at BYU. Most people make it out barely alive. Needless to say, I was kind of freaking out about it. Every night it was O-chem for at least 4 hours. I was doing problem after problem that eventually added up to over 250 O-chem problems in one week. O-chem was completely taking over my life. In my Church History class, I dozed off for a moment, and when I woke up there were Newman Projections (a certain way to draw a molecule) drawn on my History notes while I had dozed off. By Thursday night, I was absolutely sick of O-chem, I just couldn't take anymore. I had done so many practice problems, and I understood most of them, but when I went to do the practice test at 11 on Saturday night, I just could not handle it. I needed sleep. My brain was absolutely fried. I went to bed feeling miserable. I can't handle this, I told myself, I'm not good enough for BYU, what am I doing here? I felt completely inadequate and truly sobbed myself to sleep, knowing that I would fail my test the next day. The next morning, I felt better, I felt refreshed and ready to begin the day, even with my O-chem test looming over my head. I went to work, and it was a wonderful day. I was retyping The Juvenile Instructor and everything I typed pertained to me. It spoke of how if we do all we can up until we are completely spent, the Lord will do the rest. So many have gone to battle, completely overwhelmed and outnumbered, but if the Lord was with them, they succeeded. My eyes filled with tears as I typed this article. It gave me complete confidence in myself. I know that I can do this. Right after work I headed to the testing center, ready and excited to take my test. I sat at my desk, prayed, and felt overwhelmingly calm and comforted. The test was not nearly as horrible an experience as I expected. I answered every question to the best of my ability. Who knows, maybe I will still only barely pass, but what matters is that I know the Lord was right next to me as I took the test. Faith is so pivotal to every action and ever thought we have.