"Who is that God?"

I have felt the need to get back on the blogging horse and ride into the sunset. But fret ye not; I will tell you all about everything as I ride into that hermosa sunset. Apparently sunset is feminine.

Why waste time? The hand of the Lord has been involved in our lives for a very long time. Right now, we are living in Lindon at my in-laws house. Mary is just starting her second week of her "bootcamp" in a program called IMPACT. It's an acronym for being really smart and dedicated to math. I was blessed to be able to move on in the Seminary Teaching Program (called "pre-service") and am now a part-time student teacher. I will be teaching at Timberline Middle School and at UCAS at UVU this fall.

Most of you who read this will know all of the previous information. What you may not know is what got us to this point.

Back in March of this year, Mary and I were living down in Provo. We were in an amazing ward. We were both serving in wonderful callings with the young women and young men, respectively. We loved being there. Our apartment was a fantastic little place and our landlady was incredible. We told everyone we would not be going anywhere for as far as we could see into the future.

Ha ha ha. Ha.

Ha.

Under some sort of maternal/grandmothernal inspiration, Mary's grandmother informed us of all of the different options and opportunities available to us as potential first-time home buyers. I want to thank Grandma Williams right now for her persistence. In retrospect, going on this crazy-always-in-limbo-what-are-we-doing-with-our-lives adventure has been more than we ever could have bargained for. An abundance of blessings.

Grandma got the wheels churning in my head, primarily, as I am the one who likes to do crazy things and spend money. However, it didn't take long for Mary to see the potential long-term benefits of buying our own home. The next several weeks were enveloped in realty sites and quickly learning the way of the realtor. As we had family members who were also in the process of buying a home, we were referenced to a wonderful realtor. She gave us a chance and pursued so many things for us. She even gave us homemade chocolate covered marshmallows. I also think I ate every hot tamale candy in her office. Twice.

Those weeks of house-hunting seem like such a blur now. I remember getting excited about just about every house that had a basement or purple carpet on the walls. I'm just that kind of guy. Mary was thankfully apprehensive, as she is the one who uses her brains on a consistent basis.

After a few weeks of searching and searching and searching, we found a great deal on a condo. We had initially said we did not want a condo because it felt like a glorified apartment, but because of the location, the price, and the freedom to have pets, we went for it. We negotiated and worked and negotiated. Our realtor, who I'll call Vickie, worked very hard for us.

We were ready to move in to our soon-to-be home.

Long story slightly shorter, we moved and moved again. Within two days. Things did not work out on our end and in a panic mode, we turned to Mary's parents, who were more than happy to take us in.

Here's the interesting thing: during that whole process, each time we saw a home or looked up a home, or considered buying a home, we rarely felt that complete assurance that it was the right place to be. Even me, who was anxious to spend higher than I can count, still felt nervous about these decisions. We figured that it was just part being realty rookies. So we never exactly felt at home anywhere, but we knew that we needed to move.

While I'm sure that there's always nerves when taking such a big step like this one, there was something different.

So anyways, I called back all of the amazing people who were so willing to help out the first time, and they rallied for another move. Without one complaint, friends and family gathered and moved all of our things during a bitter rainstorm. I love those people.

It wasn't long into the first twenty-four hours in our new home at the in-laws that I finally felt we were where we needed to be. As much as my intellect tried to tell me that moving in with parents is the definitive step backwards, everything else told me otherwise.

Now, I'm not sure why we are here, nor for how long. What I do know, and not by my own wacky imagination, is that we are where we are supposed to be. There is no doubt in my mind that we were led to this place at this time.

It has been such a blessing being here. We have learned so much and are still learning every single day. We have opportunities and blessings that simply would not be ours otherwise. My conviction is that everything happened exactly the way it should have. There just wasn't any other way I could see us leaving our happy place in Provo than the idea of buying our own place. God works in mysterious ways, and as much as I sometimes die to know why, I am grateful.

So maybe there's a little lesson here. Maybe we can learn that our understanding of how things "should be" means nothing when we know that Someone Else is in charge. It's hard to live in limbo, not knowing why or what's next.

It reminds me of a couple of great examples in the scriptures.

In the Book of Mormon, the book of Alma, chapter 14. Alma and Amulek are two missionaries who have been captured by wicked men and—after witnessing horrible things—face the idea of being burned alive themselves. Verse 12: "Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also."

If I were in Alma's shoes (or sandals), I probably would have said, "No kidding." But Alma's faith shines brightly here: verse 13: "And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord."

Now, of course, our situation compared to Alma's and Amulek's is pretty much nothing, but the example of having faith in God no matter what is pretty awesome. Go Alma.

Ether, another Book of Mormon prophet, witnessed the destruction of his entire nation by wickedness and war. The last verse of the last chapter of the book of Ether states: "Now the last words which are written by Ether are these: Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, so long as I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen." (Italics added)

Lastly, in the Bible, the incredible example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the book of Daniel.

King Nebuchadnezzar has built a golden image and commands everyone to worship it. The three previously mentioned awesome guys who refuse to do so. They are brought before the King. He tells them that when the music plays, they will have to fall down and worship the image in his presence or suffer death by fire immediately (seems to be a common theme among bad guys). Then he adds this tasty bit at the end: "and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"

Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego respond, saying "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods..."

I love that example. But if not. Amazing faith in God when facing seemingly insurmountable odds. Let's finish that story.

So the king has them thrown into the fiery furnace. The fire is so hot that it kills the men who took Shadrach and Co. to the mouth of the furnace. But then something happens. The three stand up, and the king says "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Sooo, King Nebawhatever, you were asking who that God was that would deliver them?

Jesus Christ. The same who saved them yesterday. The same who will deliver us today. The same who will save us forever.