oN GRaTiTuDe aND HaPPiNeSS

"No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish.  There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it...

"...Let us resolve to be happy, no matter our circumstances."     

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Our sincere efforts to thank our beloved Father generate wondrous feelings of peace, self-worth, and love.  No matter how challenging our circumstances, honest appreciation fills our mind to overflowing with gratitude."

- Elder Richard G. Scott

Happiness is a choice!  We get to choose every day whether to find happiness or misery, for we have been given the power to do so!  Gratitude is a happiness booster.  I need to remember, the whole year through, to find gratitude and happiness in the things I DO have and stop worrying about the ones I lack.  I am SO blessed!!

oN oVeRCoMiNG WeaKNeSS

Speaking about Jesus's compassion for Mary and Martha when their brother had died and Christ wept with them, Linda S. Reeves said,"Apostle James E. Talmage wrote, 'The sight of the two women so overcome by grief..cased Jesus to sorrow [with them] so that He groaned in spirit and was deeply troubled.' This experience testifies of the compassion, empathy, and love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father feel for each of us every time we are weighed down by the anguish, sin, adversity, and pains of life...
   "...He has not forgotten you!  Whatever sin or weakness or pain or struggle or trial you are going through, He knows and understands those very moments...He has paid the price that He might know how to succor you.  Cast your burdens upon Him.  Tell your Heavenly Father how you feel.  Tell Him about your pain and affliction and then give them to Him.  Search the scriptures daily.  There you will also find great solace and help."

I have been struggling with a weakness lately.  One that seems to come back over and over again.  To know that He knows me, knows how I feel, and feels sorrow for the sadness my struggle brings helps me to trust Him and know that He will also help me overcome my weaknesses!  This quote was such a comfort to me, especially as it helped to remind me that I am not struggling alone, but that He walks with me and is right there by my side when I slip, to catch me and lift me higher.  How does that song go?...'Oh what a friend I have in Jesus!'  Yes I do!  And [He] will not leave [us] comfortless, but will come to [us] (John 14:18)!  Sometimes I forget to turn to Him and I just try to do it all myself, but that is not the answer.  Humility is the key!

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me;  for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27)

He knows me by name.  He loves me unconditionally!  He will help when sought in faith and humility!  

oN aNSWeRS To PRaYeRS

"Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter.  It is a sacred privilege.  It is based on unchanging principles.  When we receive help from our Father in Heaven, it is in response to faith, obedience, and the proper use of agency.
"It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer will be answered immediately.  Some prayers require considerable effort on our part...
"...We are here on earth to gain experience we can obtain in no other way.  We are given the opportunity to grow, to develop, and to gain spiritual maturity.  To do that, we must learn to apply truth.  How we face challenges and resolve difficult problems is crucially important to our happiness...
"...When we explain a problem and a proposed solution, sometimes He answers yes, sometimes no.  Often He withholds an answer, not for lack of concern, but because He loves us - perfectly.  He wants us to apply truths He has given us.  For us to grow, we need to trust our ability to make correct decisions.  We need to do what we feel is right.  In time He will answer.  He will not fail us...
"'I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost' (D&C 8:1-2; italics added).  
"When we receive an impression in our heart, we can use our mind either to rationalize it away or to accomplish it.  Be careful what you do with an impression from the Lord."
- Elder Richard G. Scott (Quorum of the 12 apostles)

oN BeCoMiNG WHo We WaNT To Be

"The demonstration of righteous courage will often be as subtle as to click or not to click.  Missionaries are taught from Preach My Gospel, 'What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue.' [Preach My Gospel: A Guide To Missionary Service (2004), pg. 118]  Be courageous!  Be strong! 'Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved.' [Doctrine and Covenants 87:8]"  This was from a talk in the priesthood session of general conference by Presiding Bishop Gary E. Stevenson.  He goes on later to say:

This morning I ran across this quote from Elder Russell M. Nelson: "All that the future holds in store for each sacred child of God will be shaped by his or her parents, family, friends, and teachers.  Thus, our faith now becomes part of our posterity's faith later."

We are not only shaping our faith and future, but that of our children and those who come after us...no pressure, though, right?  We even shape, in some ways, our friends and those we teach!  I know this to be true from my own life!  I can also see how I have been shaped by the things I have seen...movies, pictures, books, etc.  and also where I have been, and what I have done!  All this influence can be for good or bad of coarse, and gratefully, we have the power to choose which one!

In the Teachings of Spencer W. Kimbal, (pg. 155) he says, "There are dark, deep corners, locked rooms, isolated spots, but...

Even our thoughts shape who we become.  Who do YOU want to become?  And by default, who do you want your CHILDREN to become?

oN MoTHeRHooD

Reading back through last October's general conference notes, I came across Elder Neal L. Anderson's talk, where he quoted a blogging mother named Rachel Jankovic, "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.  You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps.  It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in.  IT IS WHAT GOD GAVE YOU TIME FOR."  I was intrigued by this courageous and faithful mother, so I went and read her blog post...WOW!  I hope you will take the time to read it also!  I loved it!  Enjoy!

Later in Elder Anderson's address, I found this little gem, "To a righteous father, there are no words sufficient to express the gratitude and love he feels for his wife's incalculable gift of bearing and caring for their children." 

I love being reassured that motherhood is truly the highest and holiest calling/career/undertaking a woman can choose in this life (or the life hereafter for that matter)!  It spans eternity and trumps even the most prestigious of worldly aspirations!!  It is what we, as women, were made for! So, even though many days become monotonous and I often feel overwhelmingly inadequate for such a grand and important adventure, I know that there is no greater joy than seeing a child rise to the infinite potential inside of them and become who they were born to be!  To think I may have some small influence in that glorious process fills me with a deep gratitude that I am privileged to be a woman, a daughter of a loving Father in Heaven who entrusts me with His greatest treasures...His own amazing children!

As Rachel Jankovic puts it, her hands are full...full of good things!  I think I might change that up a little to say my hands are full...full of blessings!!  (my cup runneth over:)