Yesterday I took took a giant step into real adulthood and bought a car! I'm still amazed at how quickly it happened - I applied for a loan and found the car all in the same day. Before I bought it, I struggled to understand the process of actually buying a used car. There have been several moments in my life where the process seems too lengthy or too much out of my comfort zone (like getting my driver's license, applying to the athletic training program, going to grad school) and I wonder if I'll ever actually do it. This was one of those moments, but the process ended up being much easier than I thought!
Buying a car was actually a bit of a confidence boost for me. I was able to prove to myself yet again that I can do hard things (buying a car may not actually be all that difficult, but it sure seemed like it beforehand). I learned that there are always people there to help you out, people who know much more than I do. I couldn't have done it without both of my parents and the people at the bank (whom I called or visited three times yesterday to get everything figured out); plus the sweet lady I worked with at the DMV was just the icing on the cake. She was seriously so sweet and made me feel even more confident and like I've got life figured out (which I don't, I promise).
This car buying process actually ties in quite nicely to my thoughts from Sister Joy D. Jones' BYU Education Week devotional. She talked a lot about enticements and how we react to them. We must act rather than react, as we've all heard before. I walked away from the devotional struck by two thoughts:
Every experience is an opportunity for spiritual growth.
My life depends largely on my perspective.
I loved loved loved her talk. I'm still trying to figure out how to find spiritual growth in every experience, but I believe her completely that we have constant opportunities to grow spiritually. If I stop and think about this car buying experience, I have learned that God is always looking out for us (being able to buy this car was a definite tender mercy. Everything fell into place so perfectly). He answers our prayers not just with feelings but with life circumstances and experiences. He places people in our path to guide us and teach us along the way.
I think that if I can work on both learning how to spiritually progress from seemingly ordinary/non-spiritual experiences and shift my perspective to a more eternal/grand-scheme-of-things one, I will be well on my way toward a more meaningful and fulfilled life.
Happy Thursday!
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