Miracle of Miracles :)

So it has now been a little over a month since I arrived in Boston, and up until two days ago I had experienced no real signs of progression or seen real signs of hope in me getting a job as an RN anytime soon.

I would like to share with you what I read in my scripture study two days ago BEFORE any of the good job news came along.

The previous day had been one of the hardest and most discouraging days since I got here. Not for any particular reason, but I was starting to doubt again the soundness of my decision to move to Boston without having any sort of job set up for me when I got here. And I realized then just as I know now that I shouldn't be doubting it because the answer came very clear after a lot of work and prayer. But I'm human and when things are tough and not going as well as I dreamed, it is hard not to wonder if I really did make the right decision. Anyway I was reading Elder Holland's Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence. (Do you italicize talk titles or put them in quotes? I forget.) Anyway, I was reading it and came across these lines:

Everyone runs the risk of fear. For a moment in Moses’ confrontation with the adversary, “Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.” 9 That’s when you see it—when you are afraid.


That is exactly the problem that beset the children of Israel at the edge of the Red Sea, and it has everything to do with holding fast to your earlier illumination. The record says, “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid.” Some (just like those Paul described earlier) said words to this effect: “Let’s go back. This isn’t worth it. We must have been wrong. That probably wasn’t the right spirit telling us to leave Egypt.” What they actually said to Moses was: “Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? … It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” 10 And I have to say, “What about that which has already happened? What about the miracles that got you here? What about the frogs and the lice? What about the rod and the serpent, the river and the blood? What about the hail, the locusts, the fire, the firstborn sons?”

Now I don't get me wrong. I do not wish to compare Provo to Egypt; however, I cannot deny that I know that I should not be living in Provo at this period of my life, just as the children of Israel should not have been living in Egypt at that time in theirs. And reading this talk made me see how ridiculous I was for thinking about turning around. I had always wanted to laugh when I read in the scriptures about the children of Israel wanting to turn around and enter back into servitude in Egypt, but when I read this talk, I realized that I was doing the same thing by wondering if I shouldn't have ever left Provo or if I should just go back.

I decided then and there not to question my decision again. I knew that I was supposed to come to Boston and nothing about the correctness of that decision has changed yet.

Now we also know that although the children of Israel had to wander about the wilderness for 40 years, they experienced many miracles along the way.

My miracle came within 30 minutes of me finishing reading Elder Holland's talk and my resolution not to question the decision to move again.

About a week after moving here, I got a call from a man who ran a temp agency here in the Boston area telling me that he thought he could for sure get me a job with a home health agency (not my FAVORITE field of nursing, but hey in these economic times, any field of nursing is my favorite. . .). I was super excited and spent a day and a half filling out his paperwork and taking some tests, etc. But then nothing happened. He kept saying, "oh after Labor day" and then "your resume is in their hands, they will call you if they need you" blah blah. And after about 3 weeks of that I kind of wrote it off.

But this day I got a call from him saying that the agency wanted to have me come in so they could meet me. And then the next day (yesterday) I went in for an "interview" and I will be starting to work on Tuesday. This last part has happened so quickly that the whole thing seems kind of like a dream, or I guess MIRACLE. :)

Then if that all wasn't good enough, I got a call from another lady a couple of hours later from Mass General Hospital that my background check had FINALLY gone through and that I will be able to go in and get everything set-up on this next Monday so I can start working for them as well. (This job is just as a sitter/observer, but it will allow me to apply as an internal candidate for a few of the major hospitals here in Boston so I think it's a good thing).

After these two phone calls, which occurred literally within hours of each other and hours of my decision to stick with it and stop questioning my prayerfully made decision, I couldn't help but feel so overwhelmed with gratitude and faith in my Heavenly Father. I know He lives. I know He loves me. I know that He knows all of the little details of my life and of my every day. And I know that He is the ultimate "trainer" and knows exactly how far to push us so that we will grow and develop, but that He also knows our limits and will never push us farther than we can handle.

I re-read the talk again today and this final part stuck out to me:

How soon we forget. It would not have been better to stay and serve the Egyptians, and it is not better to remain outside the Church, nor to put off marriage, nor to reject a mission call or other Church service, and so on and so on forever. Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt—seemingly free, seemingly on our way—only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary’s weapons against us.

And I know that even after all of these miracles and blessings I have been given lately and even now that it looks like I won't have to worry about having work to do for a while (I will likely even have too much between the two jobs), I know that my testing period is not over and that I will have to continue to push myself and go through experiences that will make me grow and develop even greater faith and love for my Father in Heaven and His plan for me, but I'm excited for it. And I say, "BRING IT ON!" (Okay, maybe not really, but I know I'll get through and be better for any trials that do come my way.)