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Crisis in the Corral

My friend, Dean Nelson, recently shared with me, in a letter, the following story from his youth.

He describes as a young lad growing up in Ferron, Utah, that it was his responsibility to feed and water the family’s horses. On one very cold evening, Dean was home alone and went out to do his chores. He finished feeding and went to fill up the water trough. He tells what happened next:

“As I reached down to turn it on, for some reason, the spigot came off and water immediately gushed forth, just like a drinking fountain except in much, much larger proportions. I reached down and tried to re-attach the spigot, but all that happened was ice cold water went spewing and spraying all over me. I tried several more times as hard as I could to re-attach the spigot, but the more and the harder I tried, the more the water spewed and sprayed all over me and the wetter and colder I became. I was soaked all over and chilled to the bone. What to do? I simply couldn’t get the spigot back on where it rightly belonged.”

As you can well understand, Dean’s biggest concern was that the corral was going to be turned into a pond and a mucky mess, but what could he do? Then, suddenly, it occurred to him to pray. He said:

“I stepped over by the haystack, just a few feet away. I am guessing that the haystack gave me a little sense of security and privacy. As I knelt down, and began to pray, I basically, with much sincerity, told Heavenly Father that I had done all that I could possibly do and that I now needed His help.”

Dean finished his heartfelt prayer, walked over to the water supply pipe, grabbed the spigot, and attempted again to re-attach it. He said, “It went on so easily that you would have thought it had never come off in the first place.”

It is important that we do all that we can to help ourselves, all the while we are praying for the strength, wisdom, grace and help of the Almighty. There is a certain wisdom in what Dean wrote to me at the end of his letter. He said, “It is a blessing that we can trust Heavenly Father to answer our prayers how and when it is best for us, whether it is immediately or sometime later.”

He is so right. I witness to you—God is listening, and He will help in His own time, place and way.

Source:
Story contributed by Dean Nelson