“Only Three Dollars in the Bank,” Ensign, Oct. 1996, 53
Only Three Dollars in the Bank
My husband had started his own business at a time of year when business was especially slow. The phone did not ring; the money did not come in. We didn’t know what to do.
After reading President Ezra Taft Benson’s address To the Mothers in Zion (pamphlet, 1987), I felt very strongly about quitting my job. In the address, President Spencer W. Kimball was quoted as saying, “Come home, wives, to your children, born and unborn”(7). Those words were carried into my heart. I had just given birth to my third child, and I knew by the Spirit that staying home with my children was what Heavenly Father desired of me. I decided to follow the prophet’s counsel and to leave our financial worries in the Lord’s hands.
I read in the scriptures that it was important to pray with a sincere heart and real intent (see Moro. 10:4). For two days I fasted and prayed as sincerely as I could that my husband’s business would pick up. However, when the time came to pay our rent, our bank account held only three dollars. My parents graciously loaned us a little money to get by.
My heart ached. Where could we get enough money to live on? Would the Lord answer my prayers? I knelt down in a closet and prayed with the most sincere heart and real intent I could find within me. I desperately wanted to follow the prophet’s counsel to be at home with my children, and so I pleaded and cried and reached out to the Lord for an answer.
As I prayed, the face of my dear bishop came strongly to my mind, and I knew that I must talk with him. I went to see him the very next day. After assuring me that our stake president had determined that no member of the stake would ever go hungry or homeless, he counseled me not to spend so much time worrying. Knowing that my worst fears were unfounded, I went home comforted, confident that somehow we would survive until things improved.
While the bishop did not solve our problem, his words of comfort enabled me to let my husband carry the burden of worry from then on while I looked to my own responsibilities in the home. The next month we had barely enough to pay our bills. Another month came, and things were slightly better. Then, within only a few months, my husband’s business was thriving.
I have since reflected on the Lord’s promise “I will not leave you comfortless” (John 14:18) and have been filled with gratitude for its fulfillment in our family. My bishop’s counsel that day gave me peace of heart and helped me realize that I really could follow the prophet, placing my trust in him and in the Lord.