Sunday, November 23, 2008

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.

1 comment:

Kristin said...

Our TV has the exact same problem right now, sound but no picture. Also, I have gotten in the same habit of saying, when I ask for my faith to be strengthened or something similar "But, don't do it by giving me major trials OK?" in my prayers. So much for "thy will be done" huh?