2020-11-26 Journal Entry- Thanksgiving
It would be an understatement to say that most of 2020 has been a lousy year for most of the planet. Pandemic. Much sickness and many deaths. Political strife and civil unrest. Earthquakes. Wildfires. Floods. Unable to hold normal church meetings or worship in temples. Missionaries being called home. Many businesses struggling or failing. Many have lost jobs and/or are struggling financially. Being strongly encouraged by government leaders and health experts to not gather together in large family groups for the holidays. Even though I've been striving to follow counsel to focus on the many things for which I am truly thankful rather than my problems, I've had rather low expectations for this Thanksgiving Day.
This morning I awoke early and finished the last chapter in a book written by my friend Debbie Matthews entitled "Excelling through Adversity". Debbie uses personal experiences as a parent and former professional motocross champion to teach important lessons. The book reminds disciples of Christ that this mortal life is INTENDED to be difficult and full of tests and trials. It is a book of hope and encouragement to persevere in the face of opposition in all things, exercising faith in God and NOT quitting when the going gets tough. Among the many analogies in the book is that we should look to Christ as our guiding light in an ever darkening world.
So, I sent Debbie a brief, but heartfelt thank you note and turned my attention to helping my wife prepare for Thanksgiving. One of the things she had me do was replace a nearly empty bottle of hand soap in one bathroom with a new one. I decided to move the nearly empty bottle next to our laundry room sink. While I was in the laundry room, I was impressed to tidy up some painting supplies that we have temporarily stored on the counter top. As I did so, I noticed for maybe the first time since we've lived here that there is a GFCI plug on the laundry room wall facing the hallway. The thought crossed my mind that I should check whether the plug was tripped or reset. I pushed the test and reset buttons several times. Then I checked and found out that the only other electrical outlet in the room (for the washer and dryer) was oddly not on the same circuit. The question popped into my mind, "I wonder what other electrical outlets ARE on this circuit"? THEN my eyes got very big!
I've been struggling for many months (maybe a year) to troubleshoot and figure out why the electrical outlets on the backside of the outside of our home stopped working, even though they worked when we moved in. I have checked circuit breakers and all the GFCI electrical outlets I was aware of, to no avail. Unsolved mystery. We have a string of lights on the rear of our home that we use to plug into the exterior electrical outlets. Since the outlets have been non-functional, we've had to connect the lights via an extension cord running through a rear door and plugged in to an outlet inside the house. Less than ideal.
You can probably see where this story is going. After recognizing that I had found and reset a previously unknown GFCI outlet, I went outside and plugged the string of lights directly into one of the exterior electrical outlets. The lights beautifully illuminated the darkness of the predawn morning. What a SERENDIPITY! What a tender mercy to have a long running puzzling problem resolved on the very day I had completed a book of hope and encouragement to not quit...AND on Thanksgiving morning! My heart swelled with gratitude and appreciation. The experience of having the string of lights illuminate the darkness was a reminder to me to trust in the Lord, the Light of the World with all my heart, because he sees the end from the beginning and his promises are sure.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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