Blessings for Attending the Temple

Since our move to Oklahoma getting to the temple has been more challenging for us for various reasons. It is on our mind a lot and topic of many conversations about how we can get to the temple.

At the beginning of the year we planned a small family trip to another family-friendly mid-west city. Clark, as I stated before, has limited paid time off but had a day off that we were going to combine with a company holiday. We were all looking forward to this little excursion. But through the weeks our conversations kept turning back to how and when we were going to get to the temple. The idea suddenly dawned on us to take his day, cancel our trip, pack up the family and spend the night in Oklahoma City in order to attend the temple.

The day before our "temple trip" Russell came down with a fever. I was slightly concerned but since he had no other symptoms and he seemed to be ok I figured we should still go. The next day, Friday, I must admit, I was frustrated that my prayers hadn't been answered and Russell was still sick. However, Clark and I both felt strongly that we shouldn't cancel our trip.

I won't go into a lot of detail but throughout the trip though Russell maintained though he didn't progress in getting better. I was concerned because he had lost his appetite, was losing energy (obviously) and his fevers periodically would spike high. It didn't seem that Tylenol or Ibuprofen was really kicking his discomfort.

The weather Saturday turned on us. When Clark arrived back from the temple around 10 am snow was coming down, the wind was blowing hard and weather reports were talking about terrible road conditions across the whole state. Even though we had planned more activities for the day due to weather and Russell we quickly loaded up and had an intense 3+ hour drive home. As the weather continued to worsen so did Russell.

The thought that went through my mind several times was, "Why are we not being blessed for making the sacrifice to go to the temple?"

Upon further pondering the answer came to me, "You cannot choose your blessings."

(Russell & Eliza at the hotel)

These are some of the blessings I can immediately attribute to going to the temple:

• Although the roads were bad and other drivers were clueless in how to drive in winter weather (sorry to say but a lot of Oklahomans I come across on the road are terrible snow drivers!) we arrived home safely.
• I felt a stronger guidance by the Spirit. Russell did not immediately improve. In fact, I felt a gentle yet urgent prompting to get him more help despite the fact that the nurse at the doctor's office was convinced he had a virus. We took him into an urgent care clinic Sunday morning which left us essentially with no real answers. I continued to feel that something more should immediately be done for him. Sunday evening saw us in the emergency room to learn that Russell had pneumonia.
• I felt strongly comforted. Having your child go through this type of experience and being in the hospital put through various kinds of torture treatments is intensive. But from the moment we walked in to that ER I felt enveloped with peace and comfort.
  
• Russell was blessed with a fast recovery. Maybe this is slightly premature to say this. He was discharged from the hospital this morning but still in need of lots of recuperation, monitoring, medicine, and sadly, force feeding (unless it is grilled cheese sandwiches or chips.) I have been under the impression however that this type of sickness tends to lead to longer hospitalization time. We are so grateful he is home. I think Jaron is too because he started fighting with Russell within 5 minutes. Boy did I miss that!
• The blessings of friends who helped out not only physically (tremendous help!) but in just a phone call of "I was thinking about you" or "You were on my mind" and "Russell and your family is in our prayers." Essentially the blessing of others being aware.
  

I guess now it goes without saying that I have been filled with knowledge from this recent temple visit. I think what I will reflect and ponder on for weeks is our expectations of the Lord when we are doing something we are suppose to be doing. I know that I am blessed when I do what I should but what I'm learning is that you cannot choose those blessings.