“…THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN…” — 1990
A wonderful spiritual experience came into the lives of our ward youth and their leaders in December of 1990. I became aware of the plight of one of the nurses with whom I worked, who was recently separated from an abusive husband, was just recovering from major abdominal surgery, had recently been laid off from work, had little money to support herself and her four boys, and had no prospects for a joyful Christmas. Our ward youth decided to do a Sub-for-Santa for her, and on a given night we collected food, money, and gifts. We had a wonderful outpouring of love and charity from our ward members, and we collected $1000 worth of groceries, $500 worth of new clothing and gifts, and $1500 in cash. I had contacted this nurse earlier in the day to ask if our ward could bring over some gifts and food. She was extremely grateful for the cash, due to her destitute situation. It was a beautiful experience to see the joy on the faces of this choice woman and her boys when we brought the donations to her home. Her youngest son was ecstatic over a box of “Cocoa Krispies” that someone had donated.
Two weeks later, she shared with me a moving epilogue to this story. Just two hours before I called her on the phone to ask if we could bring some food and gifts over, she had been sitting at her kitchen table facing a horrible dilemma. She had determined the amount of tithing she owed, and calculated that she would have 90 cents left in her only checking account after paying her offerings. She then had no source of income, and could expect no help from her estranged husband. With moist eyes and an empty feeling in her stomach, but with faith in the Lord, she wrote out the tithing check and put it in the mail to her bishop. Shortly thereafter, came my phone call, representing the Willow Creek 6th Ward, asking if we could help. “Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open the windows of heaven …”.
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