Back to Blogging and a Cracked MacBook Screen

By: Megan Chipman

It has now been over 5 months since I wrote my last blog post...and surprisingly I have missed blogging dearly.  Although I never have identified myself as a writer, I have found that what I need to say is easier to write than to speak. While on my mission, it was difficult to only communice with my family once a week via email.

I found a lot of joy in writing down my experiences.  I unintentionally put my whole heart into those emails. Who knew pouring out your heart could be so therapeutic?

So I decided to start blogging about my everyday life. My beautiful life. Unlike when I wrote my last blog, I am no longer a missionary, but a college student and marketing intern. I no longer live in the hustle and bustle of NYC, but right next to BYU campus here in Provo, UT. I also want to note that I no longer have tonsils, and now am enjoying an active and healthy life! I traded my dress shoes for tennis shoes, but I keep wearing my pearls :). (Hence the Blog Title) I also am still forever changing and I realized recently (with the help of that still small voice of the spirit)  that if my experiences that forever changed me on my mission were worth recording and sharing, than so are my experiences now. So here goes nothing! 

So here is the experience I had the thought to share....

The company I am interning at gave me a brand new Macbook to work on this summer. About two weeks into the internship, I was using the computer while sitting on my couch. I moved the laptop off of my lap and while I did so, the power cord got caught on the armrest which pushed the cord out of the socket and onto the keyboard. Sadly, this all happened exactly as I was closing the computer and CRACK! To my horror, I opened up the computer and realized that the cord had cracked the screen in the bottom left hand corner. It was game over. The entire screen went white and so did my face.  I already was having a really awful week, and this just seemed to top it off with a cherry! 

The next morning I called around for estimates of replacing the screen. It was going to be anywhere from $500- $800, money that I simply did not have. I didn't know what I was going to do. I first prayed to my Heavenly Father and pleaded to be led to a solution and I then called parents. My Dad listened and then gave me some tough love and said something that stuck with me. He told me that this was an opportunity for victory and this was what real life feels like (sounds like my daddyo doesn't it?). It was still was all really hard to deal with, but I took the advice to heart and I learned three really important lessons from my cracked macbook. I thought I would share :).

1) TRUST IN GOD-- it really does all work out, and everything worked out better than I could of imagined. My boss was merciful and took me to the apple store to beg for mercy from them. About an hour before meeting my boss, I received an interesting prompting to do my hair, dress really cute and get all done up to go take my computer in. I shrugged my shoulders, laughed to myself thinking it was kind of funny and went and followed it. When we got to the apple store, the technician was a young man who told me I looked just like his best friend from high school (it was a good start). He listened to my story and took the computer into the back to check it out. He came back saying that under normal apple standards, I would have to pay around $450, BUT because my boss and I seemed like nice people and to show appreciation for my honesty, he said that apple would cover the cost and replace the screen for free...MILAGRO!!!!! (that is miracle in spanish). I walked out of that mall with a thankful heart, smiling and thinking  "There is a God in Heaven!". 

Sidenote: I also now understand why so many people are crazy about apple products. That was some unbeatable customer service, they might of just won a new fan. Marketing win! 

2) TREAT YOURSELF WITH KINDNESS-- As I was praying, more like pleading with the Lord to provide a way for these things to workout, I had the most surprising prompting that has really gotten me thinking ever since. The spirit interrupted my prayer with "I care more about how you treat yourself through this than I do about how everything will work out or if it is done perfectly." Think about that. God cares more about HOW we treat ourselves after making mistakes and during trials than he does about actually what those mistakes or hardships are. Do not get me wrong, he cares about our problems, but from this experience I have learned that he is more concerned about us. I took it to heart, and I am grateful for this week and what it taught me. 

3)THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU LOVE YOU, ARE PRAYING FOR YOU AND ARE ROOTING FOR YOU. I can't tell you how much it meant to me to have some of my friends and roommates come up to me and tell me that they said a prayer for me. Yes, it was a hard weekend, but there was nothing life-threatening or devastating that was going on. Just to know that my friends and family cared because I cared meant the world to me. :)

I know that God lives and is actively saving us everyday. Sometimes God saves us from our trials, but sometimes God saves us from the ignorance we would have suffered without those trials. I am grateful and am changed by the lessons I learned from this one.

Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend!!