Blessings From Heaven

You never know when the windows of heaven will slide open and release the blessings of God, but life would sure be miserable if they didn't. For me, this week it's been pouring, but only after an extremely difficult drought.

It took two months, but Mitchell and I finally finished recording "Airlis" as an audiobook. We hit some bumps along the way but persevered and eventually made it through. As with any difficult path in life, I learned some valuable lessons, like: You should probably listen to yourself BEFORE you record the ENTIRE book, just in case something's wrong….

Going over the final audio check, about three-fourths of the way through, I couldn’t handle anymore and shut it off.

I was utterly sick. My inflections were out of control, I spoke too fast, and I hated the sound of my voice. The despair was overwhelming. I’d just wasted two months of my life and a large chunk of our savings. I’d hit bottom a few times before on this insane roller coaster, but this was a dark day.

Once again, my sweet wife scooped me off the floor. After making sure I was still alive, she slapped me hard!—No she didn’t, but I could tell she wanted to. She patiently tried to convince me it wasn’t as bad as I thought and begged me to get another opinion. That night I pulled up a few of the chapters I thought were the worse and played them for her. That’s when she really wanted to slap me. J

“There’s nothing wrong with this! It sounds great!” Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with encouragement…and a little exasperation. Oh, how I love you, Tiffany. It wasn’t a cure-all compliment, but it did lift me enough to try one more time. I went to bed with the decision that, either way I’d finish listening to the whole thing before I hammered down judgment.

The next morning I put in my earphones and started cleaning the car. When the audiobook concluded a few hours later, with tears in my eyes, I realized, It’s not perfect . . . but it’s good enough. I submitted it to ACX the following day.

That was over a month ago. Even though I’d finally agreed to let it go, that didn’t mean it would meet all the requirements in the eyes of the professionals, and I was asked to wait patiently for approximately 10-14 business days…. The suspense was killing me!

In the meantime I knew my fluffy dreams weren’t going to pay the bills. It was time to stop playing and get back to work . . . but, what if I could play and work at the same time! Now that would be a dream devoutly to be wished! If only I could find a job that would allow me time on my computer while I was at work.

Have you ever heard the phrase: Be careful what you wish for? It correlates with an amazing scripture in the Book of Mormon that reads, “…And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.” (Moroni 7: 26)

Long story short, a good friend of mine, Jeff Greer, happened to know of a job working on a train crew that often had hours of down time. He said it was one of the most boring jobs in the world, and I became so excited! Lol!

So I started praying. The company wasn’t hiring at the time, but they agreed to take my application and keep it on file in case something opened up. We moved to the valley, and I started writing my next book “Kirus” and recording my audiobook. Two months later, about the same time I submitted “Airlis” to ACX, I got a phone call from a guy named Jon Richardson asking if I was still interested in the train job! I started work the following week!

Do you doubt that God is a God of miracles? I don’t. Not anymore.

I’ve learned a thing or two about the Lord’s tender mercies in the last few months. I want to share with you something very personal. It’s part of a blessing I received when I was fourteen, called a Patriarchal Blessing. If you’re not familiar with what this is, look it up on LDS.org. These are sacred blessings given to individuals concerning who they are, who they were, and who they might become. One line of my blessing reads, “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven....”

This is the secret ingredient!!

If you want to turn yourself from a fat panda into a kung fu warrior, you have to climb the stairs—you have to pay the price! It doesn’t work to merely ask and then hold out your hand. You have to be willing to give the Lord all you’ve got if you want to achieve something impossible with His help!

Yesterday, the audiobook version of “Airlis” passed all requirements to become available on Audible, ITunes, and Amazon. Two weeks ago, at work, as I sat waiting on a train in a coal yard, I finished the rough draft of “Kirus,” the adventurous sequel to “Airlis!”

Whether or not any good comes into your life from the blessings God has showered down on me…well, that’ll be between you and the Lord. What I do know is this, our Father in Heaven can and will bless each one of us!

Ask Him! Seek Him! I promise you will not be disappointed. Praise be to God for blessings from heaven!

brian