Incredible Woman #10 - Paige Moore. Thursday's questions

KARA: "What is your favorite word? Tell us why it’s your favorite."

PAIGE: "I have to bend the rules here a bit and tell you my favorite thought. I use it as my as my signature sign off in my emails because it is my reminder! It is:

"Never doubt in the darkness what God told you in the light"

Often in my life I will pray and I will receive an answer. Then as I obey and then if things get hard, I second guess myself or think that perhaps I mistook the answer. In the past, I have been under the false impression that once we receive an answer that everything should be easy and smooth sailing. However, life is not like this. As I have gotten older and become more familiar with the scriptures, I realize that it is usually not easy. If God tells us to do something, we should “drop our nets and follow immediately” and not question Him. It was not easy for Noah when he did as the Lord commanded and preached repentance and built an ark. He was scoffed at for 100 or so years. It was not easy for Jesus when He was following God’s plan and had people beat, spit on, and crucify Him. I can not compare myself to Noah or Jesus, but I can try to obey and keep the faith that I had when I know I received a clear answer. (On the other hand, I will say that sometimes we tend to think we received an answer because it was the answer we wanted to receive but, in reality, we did not get that true confirmation. If this is the case, we should humble ourselves and pray for further guidance. This is not what I am referring to. I am speaking about the times we KNOW we have received an answer.)"

KARA: "Have you been able to serve others during your life? What kinds of service projects have you done?"

PAIGE: "Thankfully belonging to the LDS church, I have had many opportunities to serve on a regular basis. I have had the opportunity to serve as the Young Women’s President, Primary Counselor on several occasions, Enrichment Leader, Primary teacher, pianist, and numerous other callings. I truly believe that when we are in the service of others, we are in the service of our God. Just as we read in the scriptures. We can serve others every day. Service does not always have to be a huge effort on our part. It can be as simple as a phone call to check in on someone, a smile, a kind word, or even a hug. An example I would like to relate on how a small act of kindness helped me when I was a child: I remember one day when I was at Primary (children’s organization) and I was not in a very happy mood. I do not remember why, I just remember sitting there feeling and probably looking pouty. I was sitting on a row all by myself, when the Primary chorister wanted to sing the song, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.” She told the Primary children that there was a beautiful sunbeam in the room. She pointed me out and said that I was so sweet and suddenly I felt special. That was nothing “big” to anyone else, but to me it made me feel important. She probably didn’t even realize she had done anything special for me. If I can still remember it over 30 years later, it must have been “big.” As I said, I don’t even remember why I was sad, but I do remember the profound effect her kindness had on me that day. In the scriptures we are told that by small means, big things can happen. I truly feel that a small act of kindness can sometimes help someone in a very big way.

As I was in the process to adopt, I was given the opportunity to work at the adoption agency. I helped parents put together the “dreaded” paperwork. I was also able to travel to Guatemala and take pictures of children at orphanages or in foster care and send these pictures to their waiting families. I was told by many parents that it helped them to know that I understood what they were going through because I was going through the same thing. I received numerous calls, just wanting a listening ear. Sometimes they just needed their frustrations to be heard. Not that I could always help, but a listening ear from someone who understood sometimes just helped them get through another day. I feel that I received greater rewards than the people I helped. This is usually true when we are able to serve. It was a wonderful opportunity. I was sad to give up my job when Guatemalan adoptions closed."