Experience the hard times

Saturday morning I left the house early to get to Austin's stake center for a Regional Welfare meeting with Gavin in tow. I wasn't sure how long I'd be gone from the house when I waved my dear husband and girls goodbye.
The training was a wealth of information and though it was difficult lugging around my baby in his carseat (since I left the stroller at home on accident) along with my bag and his diaperbag, I managed to enjoy the workshops and speakers. Perhaps because they were speaking to my problems and not just problems of my stewardship, I paid a little closer attention.
Afterwards as I tried to find my way around Austin, looking for a bank to deposit our LAST paycheck, I saw some vagrant looking men standing outside of the hole in the wall bank that I needed. Finding nowhere to park and thinking of my baby - I passed my destination and continued to look for another branch elsewhere - juggling my cell phone and GPS while driving - I know not a good idea.
I finally gave up and determined to just go home and perhaps stop at the one I was more familiar with North of town even though it meant a detour from my original route home. I finally found one and deposited the money and left thinking about how long this check will last and debating which bills to pay to sustain us as long as possible.
That's when I pulled up to a light and noticed a homeless lady standing on the street corner. She held a sign that said: "Even 50 cents helps." Now normally I would think about how sad this situation was and vow to pay extra on my fast offerings, but as I looked at this woman, compassion came over me and I realized that I had a dollar in my purse. It's not much, but as she said - even 50 cents helps.
I rolled down my window as her gaze at the cars seemed hopeless. I finally caught her eye after what seemed like several minutes and she looked unbelievingly as she pointed to herself and asked, "Me?" I nodded and waved her to me.
She hurried over and with frostbitten hands and blackened fingernails in cutoff gloves, she reached out for my dollar and thanked me profoundly. She told me to keep smiling and "god blessed" me just as the light turned green and I had to move with the traffic.
As I pondered her words and drove onto the ramp of the coming freeway, I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.
I pondered the experience of the moment and felt gratitude. Sometimes we have to experience the hard times. . .