Sunday's Gratitude

Today, I am thankful for a certain broken television.

It gave it's life that I might have faith.

So, here's the story:

One day, when I was a teenager, I was talking to my friend. She was talking about her family life and how hard it was to always be good. So, just off the top of my head I suggested that she try to watch less TV and see if it makes a difference. It evolved until together we decided that we both would not watch TV for a week.

I went home that night and prayed for help in my effort. The exact phrase I used was "...help me to not watch TV..."

So the next day I went to school which obviously presented no temptation. When I got home, I went to my room, flipped on the television and started on my math homework. I had completely forgotten.

It was a couple minutes later that I looked up from my books. The sound was on, but the screen was black. I was totally confused and started to play around with it, but no matter what I did, the screen was completely black, with the sound on.

The words of my prayer came to my mind, "...help me to not watch TV..."

My prayer was answered, very specifically, I might add. Heavenly Father broke my TV. It never did get better. (No, it wasn't just the tint, color, or brightness settings messed up.)

Through this broken television, I knew that my Father in Heaven listened to my prayers and was willing to help me. It gave me the faith to know that no matter what I asked, he would answer.

It also demonstrated to me that I needed to be more specific on what I ask for. I now include an idealized plan of attack for whatever I pray for and I detail the things I don't want to happen in order to get what I'm asking for. (example: no breaking things, people dying, etc.)

So, yes, I am grateful for a broken television. It was way more valuable to me broken than working anyway.