Imagine you just finished a good walk/jog at a park. It's not a sweltering day but its warm enough that a refreshing cold bottle of water is just what you need along with a sandwich. You reach for your car keys in your pocket and they are gone. You look at the ground around you thinking you dropped them. You don't see them anywhere. A feeling of dread and anxiety start to replace that happiness feeling you were getting from a satisfying jog. You start realizing that you are going to have to retrace your steps and hope that your brother answers his phone soon because he has an extra set of your car keys. Off you go with your eyes focused on the ground. You make sure to stop and ask every single person you pass if they have seen any car keys. Its a little embarrassing but you would rather suffer some embarrassment than not have your car keys.
Fortunately this person was not me but it so happened that I spent a part of my afternoon helping this person. There is a place I like to go walking/hiking near where I live called Arbor Hills. I was feeling rather disconsolate one day so I decided to go there to walk and clear my head. I made it to "the tower" which is essentially that and tried to enjoy the scenery but I was determined to marinate in my own feelings of failure and disappointment from a recent experience. A woman came up to myself and another person that was enjoying the scenery and told us that she found some car keys on the trail and she was going to take them to the front of the park. I made a mental note of what she said but I wasn't all that invested in the situation that was forming.
I sat for a few more minutes wallowing in my own feelings of hopelessness before I decided I might as well head back and go home and do some laundry or whatever mundane task was waiting for me. I walked for maybe a minute and I saw a young female in her early 20's talk to the random woman that was walking ahead of me. I could tell from her actions that she was the woman who was looking for her car keys. There were only 2 people that knew what the woman looked like who had this young womans car keys. Myself and the other person that was still up at the tower. She came up to me and before she could finish her sentence I told her that someone had found her car keys. She was so grateful and so relieved and to my surprise we walked together the whole way back to the front of the park. When all was said and done we had spent over an hour together, maybe more and exchanged phone numbers and yes she was able to get her car keys and make it home safely. We talked about exercise, family and religion. She told me that she had been thinking about going to church and she wanted to start dating guys that go to church as well. I talked to her about being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and told her about what we believe. She had such a sweet spirit about her regardless of her situation. I on the other hand knew I was being less than graceful about my situation and I knew that Heavenly Father had put her in my path to help her which was also helping me get out of my Eeyore mindset.
When I was walking with the woman who lost her car keys I really felt like I was on the Lord's errand. I literally walked with her and helped her with her burden. It reminded me of what it says in Mosiah 18:8-9 in The Book of Mormon. "...and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light...and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. I like what King Benjamin has to say in Mosiah chapter 4 in the Book of Mormon as well about helping others.
I spent the rest of my day thanking Heavenly Father for trusting me to help a person that only myself and one other person could have helped. I should add that for whatever reason all 3 of my music apps on my phone wouldn't connect so I couldn't listen to anything on my walk. I'm positive that happened for a reason. I could have ignored the promptings to help this woman. I could have not cared. I'm so glad I chose to step outside of my own woes and help someone else with theirs. I know this wasn't a miracle of raising the dead or the blind to see in a literal sense but it helped this hiker (meaning me) to let go of the deadening spirit I was holding onto and see the good that I could do regardless of other challenges I was dealing with. I am so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the sure foundation it gives me. I am blessed to know the truth. "Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings." Mosiah 8:18
May we all have the faith necessary to become a great benefit to each other.
