Gratitude...

The past six months have brought some challenges into our lives and it all hit me yesterday. I definitely hit a low point and was feeling pretty sorry for myself. It didn't help that my TMJ was painful and I have been unable to eat or sleep for the past few days! But, out of all of this I learned a very valuable thing. And it is especially poignant at this time of year. I learned how lucky I am and how grateful I feel to know that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me completely and a Savior who came down to Earth for me. Can you imagine the pain that people who do not know this can feel? I can't even fathom it! Without the comfort of this knowledge, I would have truly been lost yesterday and still in a funk today.

I just want to share some quotes from a talk that I read yesterday, "Trust in the Lord" by Elder Richard G. Scott. These words resonated so deeply with me yesterday and I found what I needed. (The entire talk can be found here: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=bd5a6e9ce9b1c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1)

"This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience."

"We are like infants in our understanding of eternal matters and their impact on us here in mortality. Yet at times we act as if we knew it all. When you pass through trials for His purposes, as you trust Him, exercise faith in Him, He will help you."

"Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."

"It is a singularly marvelous blessing to have faith in the Savior and a testimony of His teachings. So few in the world have that brilliant light to guide them."

"True enduring happiness with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the most challenging difficulties comes from a life centered in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a sure foundation upon which to build. That takes effort. There is no guarantee of overnight results, but there is absolute assurance that, in the Lord’s time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and emptiness will be filled."

"Your Father in Heaven and His Holy Son know better than you what brings happiness."

I'm just so grateful that out of pain and adversity, comes beauty and more proof that Heavenly Father and Jesus have a pure love for me and everyone. I apologize for writing such depressing thoughts all the time, but maybe some of you are struggling and could use some uplifting thoughts (not written by me, but enjoyed by me).

I also know that Christmas is not about having the money to buy extravagant gifts for family and friends (who knows if there will be any gifts this year), but about the pure love that our Father and Jesus Christ have for us. Why else would a Son come down to this mortal world only to suffer pain, rejection and death? True love. Why would a woman choose to bring a child into this world that she would have to watch suffer and die? True love. Why would a Father send his Son to pay for the sins of all? True love.

Merry Christmas and LOVE to all!