Unperceived Blessings


       

UNPERCEIVED BLESSINGS


When our son Aaron was a teenager, his mother Annette discovered in his room a box of his favorite candy, “Hot Tamales”, which was 2/3rds full.  Annette just happened to have a supply of this delicious candy herself and thought, “I wonder if I add to his box, if he will even notice.” Every few days as Aaron would remove from the box, she would add to it. Some days she would add more, some less for a few weeks going undetected.

Finally, she filled the box all the way to the brim, only then did Aaron notice. Annette then confessed that she was the one who had been his generous “hot Tamale” benefactor! Our family enjoys recalling this true story as it reminds us that often we receive small blessings from our Heavenly Father, without even realizing it!

Annette’s brother Dale Stone recently shared a true story he heard that relates to the story above.

A man driving home from work on a very slick, icy road came to a stop sign and noticed a car, slightly off the road butted and up against the stop sign. The car appeared to have no outside damage and there appeared no driver outside the car seeking for help.  Still, he couldn’t deny a prompting he felt to pull over and see if he could help.  As he approached the car, he discovered a young lady inside.  Her car had slid off the road and she was in distress having no idea what to do.  With the man’s help, wedging himself between the stop sign and the car, they were able to push the car back on the road.  The young lady expressed her sincere appreciation and was all smiles as she cautiously drove away.

No sooner had she driven away than to the man’s surprise, another car came hurling off the road and landed with such force in the very same place where the young lady and her car had been moments earlier, that it sheared off and splintered the stop sign! To the man’s relief, that driver was uninjured though the car was a mess. As the man stood surveying the scene, he couldn’t help but think, “What if ?”

What if he hadn’t listened to the prompting to stop and help? No doubt there would have been major injury to both vehicles, possible injury to both drivers, maybe even death!”  He contemplated the young woman who had just driven away with a smile on her face who would never know the extent of the blessing she had just received and the tragedy that certainly would have befallen her, but for a prompting followed and an unperceived blessing received!

As you contemplate these two stories, we hope that you will be more perceptive of life's little blessings you receive from your loving Heavenly Father who is definitely in the details of your life. That you will also be thankful for blessings you receive while traveling life’s highway that you will never even know about in this life but no doubt will be revealed to you at the end of your life’s journey!

Much love- The Grandparent Chronicles

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cruising to 90!

Image
          Cruising to 90 ! Annette’s mother, Naomi Stone turned 90 on Dec 20, 2024. To celebrate, her children took her on a Caribbean cruise this March. Eight of her 9 children and those with companions all joined her. (see attached pictures) Naomi’s life has been however, anything but a pleasure cruise! Naomi was born number 9 of 9 children to Francis Louis Phipps and Nellie Clark. Born on Dec. 20,1934, she was 11 years younger than her next youngest sibling, so in many ways, Naomi felt like an only child. She grew up in Ogden, Utah and attended Mound Fort Jr high school where she met Dennis Stone. They soon became sweethearts and married the fall after graduation from Ogden High school on Nov. 4,1953 in the Salt Lake Temple.  On May 26,1955, their first-born Annette joined the family, followed by- Bruce, Carolyn, Dale, Denise, Renae, Sharon, Michelle and Chad. Naomi was a very busy mother raising her 9 children but still found time to serve in th...
Read more

A REALLY BAD DAY!

Image
         A REALLY BAD DAY !       At our senior missionary retreat last October at   Bear Lake, our mission President Ed Kumferman gave a wonderful lesson on happiness. In his lesson he shared a story related to him by his good friend Dr Gary Waddoups. We share his story with permission. Dr. Waddoups is an animal science professor at BYU Idaho and also a practicing vet. One day an imigrant family of parents, children and grandparents, showed up at his clinic with a scruffy white and black dog. Dr. Waddoups said “ you have never seen such an emaciated mess in all your life. He had one   red swollen eye and what looked to be a large dirt clod on his head.His coat was dirty and unkempt, and he was very gaunt.” One small child spoke English, and interpreted for an older woman. “We want you to fix Cholo.” Dr. Waddoups was shocked, “You want him fixed?” “Yes, the old woman said. “He’s broken.” He realized that by “fixed” they ...
Read more

HAS THE DAY OF MIRACLES CEASED?

Image
       HAS THE DAY OF MIRACLES CEASED? Hopefully, you had the opportunity to listen to recent General Conference talks. They are all inspiring, but have you ever heard a talk that you knew was a message that was meant especially for you? I have. Let me share my experience. On September 23, 2017, my sons Blake, Aaron and Curt, with son in-law Michael Thompson and two grandsons- Spencer (age 10 at the time) and Levi (age 6 back then) and I, all went to a shooting range for a father’s and Son’s activity. We all wore the same protective ear plugs. After the event, when I removed my ear plugs, my hearing was muffled, as if I had earmuffs on. Everyone was hearing normally, except me! This condition didn’t go away so I went to an audiologist who informed me that I had experienced a traumatic hearing loss of approximately 50% in both ears! Soon after, I received a priesthood blessing in which I was not promised a restoration of hearing but was promised that I wo...
Read more