Every once in a while, I receive a message that reminds me how Rare Faith principles ripple through our lives in ways we could never orchestrate on our own.

Recently, I opened my inbox to find a note from Audrey, who shared how following a nudge led her to unexpected blessings, both for herself and for those around her. Her experience highlights the quiet miracles that unfold when we dare to live by true Rare Faith principles.

In her own words:
(images are for illustration only)

"Dear Leslie, Thanks a million for everything you do! I hope your Founder’s Odyssey class is going well. I’m happy for my friend Gail who is in the class, and she is inspiring me to consider joining the class myself when you guys do Mindset Mastery in a few months. ...

Some backstory

"A little over a year ago, I moved from Logan, Utah to Rochester, Minnesota. Shortly afterward, I noticed from your newsletter that there would be a live Genius Bootcamp happening in Logan, and so I reached out to a lot of my Logan friends to encourage them to try it out. I was disappointed at how few of my friends took my invitation seriously, and so I felt a little burned-out and reluctant to bring up Rare Faith with my friends for a while. 

"But shortly afterward, I gave a sacrament meeting talk in my new ward, and as I talked, Gail (a member of my new ward) had a distinct impression that she needed to get to know me more, so after church she sought me out and invited me to go walking with her later that week.

"During the walk, we made various small talk about our families and life circumstances, and then towards the end of our walk, she felt prompted to ask me something like, 'Do you have any wisdom you have learned in life or any nuggets for me that you want to share?' That question was a sign to me that perhaps Gail was prepared to receive. So I told her all about Rare Faith. And boy was she ready! 

We all learn at our own pace

"It’s so fun to see how Gail has dived in and embraced Rare Faith, in some ways even more than I have. I’ve been gradually immersing myself in Rare Faith content for about 8 years, but I haven’t 'worked up' to joining a guided class yet. Whereas Gail started by signing up for the most elite class right off the bat. It’s interesting to me to observe our different personalities, different approaches, and different types of preparedness.

"For the past year, I’ve been doing your bundle of 5 self-paced classes and loving them.  I’m grateful to have completed Genius Bootcamp, Miracles Made Simple, and Operating in God’s Economy this past year (and I got half-way through Mindset Mastery and part-way through Activating Unseen Help). ...

"Anyways, I have a long list of miracles and experiences with your classes that I look forward to sharing with you over time.

"(The last time I wrote you, I shared how my understanding of the Law of Polarity inspired me to build friendships with my neighbors after a broken plumbing incident.)

"Today, I want to share some thoughts and experiences with the principles in the Operating in God’s Economy class. When I did the class, ... one of the things that stood out to me is in part 2 when it talks about the importance of building community. I loved the quote from Cari’s grandmother that went something like 'If you want to stay poor, don’t do anything about your community.'

"That concept gave me a new perspective on two miracles that I’ve experienced in recent years:

"The first experience happened 8 years ago, in the summer of 2017. That was the year I was first introduced to your website (by a friend in my YSA ward). At that time, I was single and I had a student job working on the grounds crew at BYU. As I pulled weeds each day, I listened to all your podcasts through my earbuds and immersed myself in the Rare Faith principles for the first time. (Some other time, I’ll have to share with you how Rare Faith principles inspired and led me to date my future husband.)

A new way to think about money

"I can’t remember which specific quote or podcast of yours inspired me on the day of this particular miracle story, but I just remember generally that I’d been thinking about money in a whole new way and believing in an abundance mindset. 

"On this one hot summer afternoon, I went for a run. (It’s not ideal to run in the afternoon, but I was training for a half-marathon and ran when I could). As I ran through a residential neighborhood, I noticed a couple of young kids who were eagerly sitting behind a lemonade stand and optimistically calling out to whoever passed within ear shot. (I wish I could remember how much they were charging per cup, ... probably a dollar.) 

"As I ran past the kids at the lemonade stand, I had an internal dialogue within myself, wanting to encourage and support their blossoming entrepreneur skills and reward their faith, but also making every excuse I could think of---arguing that I was too busy running and I was a poor college student, and besides, I had left my wallet at home. But then I stopped in my tracks and asked myself, 'Hold on, do I believe in the principles I’ve been learning or not?' So I decisively turned around and ran home to fetch my wallet.

Something caught her eye

"As I ran home, I passed by an inconspicuous patch of weeds, dirt, and rocks along the border of a public parking lot. As I did, something caught my eye: a tiny corner of a piece of paper that was mostly buried by dirt and rocks, and very camouflaged. I paused, squinting through a flimsy chain-link fence at the barely-visible sliver of paper. Slowly, I reached my hand through the fence, pinched the visible portion of paper, and pulled the whole paper out, dusting it off. 

"My jaw dropped. It was a $20 dollar bill!

"I stared at that $20 dollar bill for a long time, pondering what God wanted to teach me. (And yes, I did go on to buy one or two cups of lemonade from those kids.) I think there are multiple lessons I can draw from this, and I’m continually realizing more lessons:

"When we are in a vibration of abundance and in harmony with true principles, we have eyes to see things that others miss. (Reminds me of seeing a jackrabbit.)

"When we give and share generously, God restores to us tenfold. 

"God knows how to give good gifts. God was aware of me and aware of what I was learning, and I felt this experience was God’s way of encouraging me and witnessing to me that what I was learning was true and that I needed to keep learning these principles to understand them even better. I felt that one day I would have an even better understanding of why this happened.

"Years later, after taking the Operating in God’s Economy class, as I mentioned, and pondering that quote from Cari’s grandmother ('If you want to be poor, don’t do anything about your community'), I think I can add a 4th lesson to that experience:

We become wealthy when we are doing something for our community. 

"... Fast forward to 2023, 6 years later. By that time, I was married, living in a different city, I had two young children, and my husband was in grad school. One day at church someone said, 'Hey, I saw this flyer for group music lessons for kids at the rec center, and I thought of you and your kids.' I smiled and thanked the person, tucked the flyer into my bag, and promptly forgot about it. (Probably dismissing it because I thought we 'couldn’t afford it.')

Next right step (prompting)

"About a week later, I was on my knees praying to know what would help my neurodiverse child to prepare for preschool. The answer that popped in my head was, 'Go get in your church bag and find that flyer.' Long story short, I signed my kids up for that music class.

"The music class was amazing! It was taught by a very talented music therapist and a couple music-therapy interns. The class involved movement, rhythm skills, early literacy skills, bonding techniques, social interaction, turn taking, and lots of fun. It was perfect for my kids. It was a 12-week class, and we loved the class so much that we signed up for the class three seasons in a row. 

"During this time period, I made a new friend, who I’ll call Brenda. I met Brenda at a park one day as our children played at the playground, and I invited her and her kids to join in a 'Spanish Playdate' group I was hosting at my home once a week to help my family and a few other families practice Spanish through play. She happily accepted my invitation and became a regular guest at our playgroups.

A nudge she couldn't ignore

"As I got to know Brenda, I kept having the thought that she and her kids would really benefit from that same music class my kids and I had been attending at the rec center. I brought it up with her, and she seemed genuinely interested and intended to sign up. But then the next time I saw her, she told me her husband had just lost his job and they couldn’t afford it. The class cost $150.

"With my husband in grad school and me tending our children, we didn’t have much income ourselves at that time. In fact, my husband and I had recently been pondering and praying about how to financially prepare for one of his upcoming internships. Among other things, we wanted to get new tires on our car so he could drive safely through a canyon in the winter.

"How can I not share?"

"However, when I pondered how blessed we had been in the past year and how much my kids had benefited from the music class, I was so filled with gratitude that I thought, 'How can I not share?' So I talked to Brenda and explained that I wanted to pay for the class for her. She was surprised, but graciously accepted. (As it turned out, Brenda and her kids loved the music class, and after her husband got a job, she signed up for the class again and again and again.)

And then... $2000

"Just one or two days after giving my friend $150 so she could sign up her kids for the music class, I got a message from my mom out of the blue. My mom explained to me that someone---who wished to remain anonymous---had contacted her because they felt inspired to give me $2,000. I was speechless. The timing and the amount were uncanny, since it was more than ten-times the amount I had just given to my friend. Keep in mind, I hadn’t told anyone about my donation to my friend (except for my husband, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t told anyone). But I knew that God knew about it, and I felt certain it was the reason for why God had inspired this anonymous donor to think of me.

The Power of Gratitude

"I wrote a sincere thank-you letter to the anonymous donor and asked my mom to pass it onto the person for me. Later, my mom informed me that the anonymous person was so pleased with my thank-you letter that they decided to give me an additional $500. (Yet another example of the power of gratitude.)

"Once again, my mind was blown. I was reminded of my lemonade experience from 6 years before and how, when we give generously, God restores to us tenfold. (Like the story of the widow who fed Elijah.) And shortly after this experience, I was reading in Mosiah 2:24 when king Benjamin says that we are always in God’s debt because when we try to pay Him back, he immediately blesses us even more. 

"And then later, the Operating in God’s Economy class also helped me notice that both these experiences involved serving my community---and others serving me in my community (like the friend who told me about the music class to begin with).

Be who you want to be... now

"Sometimes during my 'poor starving college student' years, I found myself thinking, 'Some day when I have more money, I’d like to be the kind of person who gives generously to worthy causes and to those in need.' But one of the things Rare Faith principles have helped me with is to 'act as though' I’m already the kind of person I want to be. And, and these stories illustrate, perhaps when God sees that He can trust me to use my resources to bless my community, then He can entrust me with more.

It would have been enough

"But something important to note about these two experiences is that I wasn’t expecting immediate and miraculous monetary compensation for my actions. In the moment that I made the decision to be generous, the joy on those kid’s faces (at the lemonade stand) and the gratitude of my friend (about the music class) would have been enough.

"And I’m sure as I continue to learn Rare Faith principles, I’ll continue to grow in my understanding of what happened in these experiences.

"Thanks so much for everything! Talk to you soon. Sincerely, Audrey Jolly"

________________

Audrey, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to share your experiences! I love this so much. That you were willing to share this with the Rare Faith community is another way that you are truly improving the lives of others.

Audrey's friend Gail had something to add about the experience from her perspective. She wrote:

"Oct 4th almost a year ago, I went on that first walk with Audrey Jolly where I first learned about your work. I saw something yesterday that reminded me I had been studying Stephen R. Coveys' work, a few days before I was introduced to the idea of your work. This is the quote I sent to a friend...