Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Thoughts on Gratitude

Today I was reading from the January 2015 Ensign (it's a magazine put out by our church). There was an article entitled, "Heavenly Father Provided an Answer to Prayer When...." In the article several people share experiences of their personal prayers and how Heavenly Father gave them answers. 


One of the final stories talked about pouring out our gratitude to Heavenly Father during our prayers.  This one really stood out to me.  I was thinking about how these same kind of things happened soon after Jaren passed away.  I wondered why Heavenly Father was helping me so much. I was having a hard time to say the least, but I had so much peace in my life - he was really holding me up and helping me move forward.  As I read this Ensign article today - I was struck with the fact that my gratitude for the blessings of the Gospel was what was helping me so much. At this particular time I was extremely grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the Plan of Salvation. 

The girl from this article said, "The more grateful I was, the more I could recognize the blessings I received and appreciate the lessons I learned from difficulties. And the more I recognized the blessings and lessons, the more I had to be grateful for."  I love this. Gratitude truly invites the Spirit of the Lord to be more abundant in my life.  I feel that being thankful for the Gospel and it's teachings truly helps me recognize how much I have and how gracious our Heavenly Father is. He truly loves us.  The trials I have been given aren't a form of punishment, or a sign of my disobedience. But they are a tool that has helped me to understand His love for me more.  He truly loves me, He loves everyone.  And I know that as we pray we can feel His love for us more in our lives. 

Richard G Scott, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: "Don't worry about your clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your Father. He hears every prayer and answers it in His way".  (From Nov 1989 Ensign, Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer)


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