3 Miracles

I wanted to be sure these miracles were documented and we also wanted to share them with our friends and family. We have been led along at the right times & places in our journey the past few years. These and many more have showed us that the Lord always cares and watches over us.

It seems I cannot write or share trials until they are beginning to move into our rear view mirror. At the end of 2007, we lost our business and our baby in the same month. The subsequent years proved to be a struggle financially. Although very difficult, I know that these things were for our good and our experience.

1. The Miracle of spring clothes

In the spring of 2009, we were staying with John's parents for a few months. The weather was starting to get warm and I realized that we had packed all of Allison and Rebecca's spring & summer clothes in our storage unit. Trying to go and find what they would need would be a huge time-consuming task.

I thought, "I need to figure out a way to get the girls some spring clothes."

The next day, John's Mom came home from visiting teaching. One of the ladies she visited has a daughter just a little bit older than Allison and LOT taller. She was growing fast and she sent to us a HUGE bag of spring & summer clothes for Rebecca and Allison.

They were overjoyed and I spent the rest of the day crying over the goodness of the Lord and the generosity of a kind neighbor.

2. The Miracle of Meat

While we lived in Ogden (2009-2010), we became unemployed again. I had followed a prompting to build up our food storage and we did very well for quite a few months living off our storage in our home.

However, we were starting the run low on meat. We were down to a few packages of frozen chicken legs and some cans of tuna. Again, I thought, "We need to get some more meat." I didn't pray about this, I only had the thought.

That night, I went shopping with a friend at Smith's. We both loved coupons and we wanted to get away when things were quiet at home.

I noticed that a package of sausage was marked down in the back cooler. I also had a coupon for the sausage that made the package free. A few minutes later, my friend and I saw that chicken breasts were on a great sale. She said, "I want to buy you a package of chicken for the gas you spent driving tonight." Okay. I accepted her gift.

The next morning, I was working on my deal blog and there was an awesome Groupon good for $20 worth of meat at a local butcher shop. I checked into my relatively new Groupon account and noticed that I had a $10 credit in my account for referring a friend- enough to purchase this $20 gift certificate for nothing! Wow, I couldn't believe this blessing!

Literally within a few more minutes, I received an email message saying that John's parents had purchased some Omaha Steaks package for us and it was on route to our home.

Is this not a miracle?! :) :) It makes me really happy to think about that one.

3. The Miracle of our Texas move

In the summer of 2010, John received an offer for a great job in the Dallas Texas area. He headed down in August to begin working and saving up enough money to move the whole family south.

The company John worked for gave us money to move, but it was just enough to get us there. As John started looking around for homes to rent, he began to realize that we would not have enough money for a complete month's rent + a full deposit. So, he started to negotiate. He found one landlord that was willing to let us move in with a month's rent + 1/2 of the deposit amount. Hurray!

As the time for our move became close, we realized that we would not have enough money for ANY of the deposit to be paid, only the rent. I remember one of the last things we did before we left Utah was dropping off our tithing at our bishop's house. Then, we drove to Texas not knowing if we would have a place for our family to unload all of our possessions and to make a temporary home. As we drove out of the Salt Lake Valley, I felt a small part of what the pioneers must have felt. They moved forward, not knowing where they would go or how they would live. We definitely felt that the move was right and that we needed to go to Dallas. So we went and left the details to the Lord.

After the first full day of driving, we stopped and stayed at a hotel in New Mexico. John got the internet hooked up and sent an email to our potential landlord. He told him that we would still like to move into his rental home, but that we only had enough money for rent and we could pay the deposit in payments over the next 2 months.

We received an email back pretty quickly saying, "Yes!"- this arrangement would work. We were overjoyed and so grateful that we didn't need to unpack our belongings in a storage unit or stay in temporary housing. I know that the Lord honors those that honor his laws. We are so grateful for the testimony & the memory of these miracles in our Ryan family history.

"Behold the fowls of the air...your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field....even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:26-33