What are you grateful for? Since I’m counting down the days to Thanksgiving and posting what I’m thankful for, I think about this a lot! I believe being grateful keeps sadness and depression away to a degree. If nothing else, it’s a great subject to fill your mind with instead of all the things we might worry about. 😂
Over the last few weeks, posting every day what I’m grateful for it’s made me ponder upon all the times the Lord has sent someone with just the right skills to help me. I know He is in the details of our lives, but when I see it with my own eyes, I actually “Stand all amazed” at what the Lord has done.
Sometimes my gratitude comes when I get an answer to a prayer for comfort. It could also be as simple as a hug or the prayers friends offer for my family. I know not every prayer is answered right away, and I’m grateful for that, also. Maybe we aren’t ready for the answer because there just isn’t a place in our hearts yet, and it is up to us to trust Him that the answer will come. But this I do know, Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives, and I am so grateful for that.
I felt gratitude recently when I received an answer for something that I had questioned for years. You know the phrase people say, “Everything happens for a reason.”
Well, that never quite made sense to me. I know Heavenly Father doesn’t give us challenges or trials…earth life does that. But to say everything happens for a reason just never felt right to me. So when a friend sent this video, I finally had an answer.
This incredible woman in the video reminded me of my Grandmother Osmond. She had red hair too, and had to be incredibly strong raising her little boys on her own when her husband, my grandfather, died as a very young man. The video is about a soldier in the Army who went to Afghanistan. When he was killed, he left behind a beautiful wife and seven young children. When someone said to the young widow, “Everything happens for a reason,” she recoiled. She said there were plenty of brilliant people, including past prophets, scientists, inventors, and all kinds of people who had passed to the other side. She felt she could make a very convincing case that her husband was just as needed with her and their children as Heaven was. Then, she said the thought came…. ”Instead of “Everything happens for a reason,” how about God can help us find a reason for everything that happens.” This hit me so profoundly because this is what our Savior, Jesus Christ, is for. To help us find a reason to keep going when bad things happen to us, whether through other people’s agency in their choices or our own choices. He is waiting, full of love to help lift and heal our broken hearts and help us move forward. I’ve been counting down the days to Thanksgiving, but I’m grateful for this clarity today. I am grateful for our Savior’s atonement. I know I would never have made it through this life so far without Him and His infinite atonement. My prayers are with all who struggle and suffer. Remember, He is the way, He is our light in this world, and He will help us find the reasons to keep moving forward. All we need to do is ask.
#Sundaymessage