Gratitude journal - march 21, 2013

My 1:00- 3:00 Epiphany...

March 21, 2013

My 1:00- 3:00 am epiphany...

I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so I felt impressed to start a...

gratitude journal. 

I have been praying lately that 'I would see the hand of The Lord in my life each day' and this idea  answered that prayers. 

I'm finding ways to be grateful for things that I previously felt were curses. For example, last night I wrote,

"I'm grateful that I had an MRI of my knee and went to physical therapy the month before Scott died when we still had insurance because now I know the exercises to do to help it." 

(Previously I was upset that God wasn't letting me run pain free when I felt like I at least deserved that after all of this tragedy). 


My house selling has been a huge stress in my life, and I have struggled being patient with the time it is taking to sell it. Today I wrote... 

"I'm grateful my house hasn't sold yet because it has given me the time to slowly say goodbye, to sell things, organize and purge things, and to be able to focus on my kids instead of moving."

Gratitude is a way of looking at things.

As my dear husband used to say... 

"It's impossible to be grateful and depressed at the same time." 

  

One of my favorite speaker talked about Gratitude.  He said...

"We can choose to be grateful, no matter what.

This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.

When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, 

we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. 

In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. 

How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?

Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges."

-Grateful in Any Circumstances BY PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF