Dear Class,
As I mentioned in my "Week 5" email, Elder Bednar's talk entitled "The Windows of Heaven" is special, and it mattered a lot to me when I watched him give it. I invite you to share your response to the talk below. Here's mine:
When I read this passage, "As
we live the law of tithing, we often receive significant but subtle
blessings that are not always what we expect and easily can be
overlooked" (in the context of Elder Bednar's story about his
mother-in-law demonstrating blessings in her budget ledger), I reflected
on my family's blessings from tithing and financial honesty.
We
bought a house in Pocatello, Idaho with the "$8,000 Housing Incentive"
for first-time home owners in 2009. It seemed like such a great choice
at the time. Even if we only lived in our house for three years, we
would break even financially. The catch was that we had to stay in our
home for three years, or we would have to repay the $8,000. We lived in
our house for a year and a half, and my husband, who was a law clerk for
a great district judge at the time, could not find another job as a
lawyer in Pocatello. He found a good job in Idaho Falls, and we decided
he would commute there each day.
When
he admitted to almost falling asleep at the wheel one morning on the
way to IF, and mentioned black ice on the road, we started talking about
moving close to his job. We put our house on the market, and were
informed by our realtor that we would only need to repay a prorated
portion of the $8,000 incentive money if we left before our 3 years were
complete. We did the math on the cost of gas between Pocatello and
Idaho Falls every day, as compared to the prorated portion of the
$8,000, and decided it made financial and peace-of-mind sense to move.
When
we got to Idaho Falls, and began doing our taxes, we discovered the
horrifying truth: We needed to pay back the full $8,000. Our realtor had
given us incorrect information. There were plenty of tears as we prayed
about what to do, and we paid the money back, even though we were urged
by many people not to do it. The IRS wouldn't know if we didn't send
the money back, people reasoned. No one would ever know.
Paying
that money back, and acting on faith through the whole ordeal was
tough. We second-guessed our choices, and wondered if the confirmations
we had received had been real.
But if you look back in our ledgers, you can see some real blessings:
Our second child's asthma (and the medical costs associated with asthma) disappeared when we moved to Idaho Falls.
We have always been able to pay our bills.
We have always been employed.
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