by April Tribe Giauque
Joseph: Handpicked to Be a Father of Heaven's Greatest Spirits.
Picture it—five children and one single woman. Five children needed love and support. I was that single woman who was doing all that I could, and I will never be both Father and Mother for my family. My efforts could be guided by the Spirit and supported by outstanding Church support from Ministering brothers and sisters. The extended family gave all the time they could, even at the end of their long days, but really, no one can ever replace the father of the family, the Daddy.
Family
Let's think and feel about that for a moment. Families are team players, with everyone having a critical role to play. Heavenly Father understood the part of a complete family and hand-selected one man for the job. His name was Joseph. Joseph was to be the stepfather of Jesus.
Think about that. Joseph was hand-selected to be the earthly father to the Son of God. Joseph must have been a man of humility, kindness, profound strength, joy, and love. The qualities in him that Heavenly Father trusted in really touched my heart and blew my mind. The profound significance of such a humble man being the earthly father of the Son of God catches my breath in awe and wonder for such a person.
Joseph
Joseph held one of the world’s most significant positions, that of a stepfather—a father to the Son of God. This is a very respectful and yet under-respected man, in my opinion. Think about Joseph’s surprise to be asked and hand-picked to be the earthly father of the Son of God must have been an experience that no one else has shared to that degree.
However, during an incredibly amazingly difficult time in my family’s lives, I prayed to my Heavenly Father for help
that was answered in a way that now will change our lives forever. The prayers that must have been said to Heavenly Father from Joseph to know how to raise Jesus best are much like many of our prayers on behalf of our children.
Husbands
Scott is the direct answer to a prayer offered on February 13, 2008. I have never prayed with such a need before in my life. Heavenly Father is the only one who knows the depth of that need. He was the only one I could lean on. He understood our needs through my endless prayers and pleading for guidance and help. He answered them with Scott.
No one will ever fully understand how dark and lonely my world was, except for Heavenly Father, and so in Him, I placed my complete trust to know how to help my family better. Some of these prayers were prayed at the bedside of sick children who lay in Hospitals or their beds at the Apartment complex. Some of these prayers drove the long drive to Huntsville, and some were offered as I would collapse into bed at the end of a 19-20 hour day.
Alone
Without a partner to talk to, laugh with, cry with, make decisions with, and go to Church with, I could not speak to anyone about the children and have them fully understand. I had no outlet to just talk things over with. I needed a husband. I needed a Joseph for me.
I can only imagine what Joseph and Mary talked about as a married couple: children, the gospel, relationships, finances, outings with the family, work, providing, taxes, stresses, pain, and happiness. I would share this with my Heavenly Father, but I still needed a partner—a husband.
Husbands just don’t drop out of the sky, but they are there. Stepping into the dating scene with five children with special needs felt like that prison lineup where I would be examined, questioned, glared at, and mocked. Fun! The long and short of it was that Scott and I met online, communicated for months before our first date, and he knew upfront about all the challenges. He stepped in and stepped up, asking me to marry him on Thanksgiving of 2008 and marrying him on April 2, 2009. Yesterday we celebrated thirteen years of marriage.
Answers
No one will ever know the complexities of this family better than Heavenly Father. He knew the challenge of having children with multiple issues and has given me strength—strength drawn from the Redeemer—the Atonement! But, even with this, the family still needed another. Heavenly Father answered my prayer in a way that I will always be grateful for. Here's to all those Joseph's of the World. Thank you, Scott, for following the Spirit.
Thank you, Scott, for being our Joseph, my Joseph*. *(first published 12/20/2020).
If you would like to know more about how Scott came into our family, you can read all about it in Pinpoints of Light Escaping the Abyss of Abuse
Join me today for a FUNNY story at 3:30 pm Mountian time.
Comentários