Fanks

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Two really simple words that really can make a major difference.

So once upon a time where I wasn't really happy. It was a long hard couple of months and I wanted to pull my hair out. I wrote to my mom and told her what I was going through. Her advice was to make a gratitude bowl. So every night on a slip of paper I write something that I was grateful for that day. Sometimes it is the weather, or people, or something I read in the scriptures, or something we ate. Really it was anything that I felt thankful for at that moment. The interesting thing was that it actually helped. I felt happier, I felt more at peace. I felt like I was me again. All this came about really by saying two simple words... thank you.  

"My brothers and sisters, do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive? Sincerely giving thanks no only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love." - President Thomas S. Monson.

So, feel down and out? Feeling not like yourself? Feeling like no one understands? Maybe think about having a gratitude bowl and see how your life will change because you can feel the love of God better.

Easter

The other day I came across a wonderful story that really shows how the Atonement works. You can read it here. http://www.sermonillustrationlibrary.org/illustration52

I just want to leave my testimony at this Easter season. I know that Jesus Christ died and took upon Himself all of our sins for each and everyone of us.I know that He died on the cross but on the third day that He arose and that He still lives today. That He loves us and that He is constantly wanting us to turn to Him. He will never give up on us and even when it seems that we turn against Him He is always there just waiting for us to return to Him again. I know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we all can be saved. That it is through Him we have the possibility of living with Heavenly Father again and that we have the opportunity to be sealed to our families in the temple so that we can live with them again as well. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that knew that we would make mistakes so that He sent down His only Begotten Son so that we can make right our wrongs. This I know and am so very very grateful for.
http://lds.org/pages/his-sacred-name-an-easter-declaration?lang=eng

Spring

The other morning between my alarm at 6:25 and my next one at 6:30 I heard the most wonderful surprise. What I heard was the birds singing good morning to each other. With all the snow and crazy weather that we have been having I didn't know if I would ever hear them again.

What I love most about listening to the songs are how cheerful they are. I can just imagine what the birds are singing. "Good morning how are you? The sun is coming up and I am wonderful. Spring is close. Spring is near. I love spring." Some mornings I too want to join in their songs about spring. What a wonderful season. A renewal of green grass, flowers, birds, and new baby animals. Spring light and bright sun casts away the gloom that sometimes accompanies winter. It is a time where we can go outside and actually want to stay.

In the World Book Encyclopedia it says, "Spring is the time of year when life begins again." Spring only comes once a year but something even more wonderful is that our life can begin again whenever we apply the Atonement to it. Through repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the sacrament (all made possible through Jesus Christ) we can have a new life, a Christ centered life. We can be new people and have a spring season with Christ in our lives. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

While spring only happens once a year we have an eternal spring, when a Christ centered life begins, daily if we choose so. Let us be like those birds singing about "spring". Let us be so happy and excited that it bursts from us each morning.