Failed to Promote

A few months ago I found out that I was passed over for promotion. I was very very hurt because I thought I was doing a good job and thought the promotion was a sure thing. In the military this means that I am going to be forced out and will need to find a new job.



So when I found out that I wasn't promoted, I was completely heartbroken and extremely depressed. My wife tried to console me, but I just wanted to be alone.  So I went upstairs to my bedroom and decided to pray. I got down on my knees and talked to my Heavenly Father and told Him how I felt. He responded, and told me He was the one who did not want me to be promoted. I remembered a talk by Elder Hough B. Brown called The Current Bush about a time when Elder Brown failed to promote and how this turned into a great blessing in his life. (If you have never read or heard this talk please do. It is one of the greatest talks ever given, in my opinion.)

While on my knees praying and asking for help, comfort and guidance the Holy Ghost whispered: Heavenly Father has a different path for you!  I do not know yet what that path is but I am trusting in Him. I do know though, when this life is said and done and I look back on all the experiences in this life that this experience this will be one of my greatest blessings--my failing to promote. 



While I was praying my daughter who was two at the time came upstairs looking for me. When she found me, she huddled up next to me and hugged me. I felt like an angel was sent to give me comfort. I hugged her back and cried for a minute or two and then took my family out to eat for dinner.  I have gone on with my life not knowing what lays ahead but trusting in the Lord.

I still have over a year left in the Navy before I will be forced to leave and it is hard meeting and associating with my peers because most assume that I must be a subpar sailor if I did not promote.  But the fact that I know that this is part of Heavenly Father’s plan for me then it does not hurt too bad.  I know where my 

trust is…

(2 Nephi 4:34) O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.