Friday, March 22, 2013

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."

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Journal march 20, 2013: Service

Journal entry: March 20, 2013 (4 months out)

I am learning that at the end of the day
the number of people I have helped is 
more important than the number of 
things I have accomplished on my to do list. 

Stop, 

take time to look around and 
find someone to lift today. 

It will lift you.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Prayer works march 4, 2013

Prayer Works

March 4, 2013 (4 months out)

Hard morning... My sister came and listened to me cry and then helped me do laundry, pack cookbooks and made us dinner. Sold our truck! Hurray! Opened the book my dear aunt sent me and wanted to share this quote... I know many of you are not of my faith, but I want to comment on this scripture from the New Testament.

 Prayer works... It really does! 

It is the only thing that consistently gets me through everyday. 

Sometimes it takes really hard times like these to dig deep enough and to need strong enough that you are willing to devote the time to earnest prayer and earnest listening

God is willing to help us if we only ask.

 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not:and it shall be given him" (James 1:5)


"The message of James 1:5 is that God is approachable, generous, and willing to answer our prayers.  An additional implication is that if we don't ask of God, He won't give liberally.  Later in the epistle, James writes, 
'Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2). "  
"In the same spirit, Elder Jeffrey R Holland taught, " God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has.  But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream.  In short, He can't if you don't believe" (Broken Things to Mend {Salt Lake CIty: Deseret Book, 2008].85)"                                                        - John Bytheway

March 6, 2013 


Something that comforted me tonight.... I was searching for scriptures on prayer. I have 172 to read. This one stood out...
2 Kings 20:5 Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: