I am grateful for the tale of two wolves.

One evening, an elderly
cherokee brave told his
grandson about a battle that
goes on inside people.

        He said "my son, the battle is
between two 'wolves' inside us all.
One is evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow,
regret, greed, arrogance,
self-pity, guilt, resentment,
inferiority, lies, false pride,
superiority, and ego.

   The other is good.
 It is joy, peace love, hope serenity,
humility, kindness, benevolence,
empathy, generosity,
truth, compassion and faith."

        The grandson though about
it for a minute and then asked
his grandfather:

"Which wolf wins?..."

   The old cherokee simply replied,
"The one that you feed."

I am grateful for good laughs.

Credit

 

I am just grateful that the baby is okay because every time

I look at this photo I bust a gut. 

2013 has been a hard year

Tonight I was prompted to read through my gratitude blog.  With each entry I felt like my old self was speaking to my current self saying, "You can do this, look how amazing you are, look what you can accomplish, look what you have learned, and look what you have to offer!"   I know the old me isn't gone, she just had a hard year, but I am ready to invite her back.  I like her. 

I am grateful for a lesson on prayer.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman in our ward explained over the pulpit during fast Sunday that it had been 3 years since she had born her testimony because she had been struggling with an issue. The issue was that the night before her father-in-law was in a fatal ATV accident, she had prayed that everyone would be safe. She said it bothered her that her prayer wasn't aswered. She knows that our prayers are according to God's will, but she questioned why we don't simply pray, "Heavenly Father, I will accept thy will. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Why do we pray for things if it always ends up being according to God's will? She struggled deeply with this question, but it wasn't until her husband recently made a simple analogy that her eyes were opened. Her husband said, "You know how our little nephew is obsessed with his mom's iPad? Well, sometimes our nephew will ask to play with the iPad and his mom will say yes, but other times he will ask and his mom will say no. His mom knows what is best for her son, but her son still needs to ask."

God is our Father. We are His children. He loves us, and He knows what is best for us. Prayer unlocks blessings that wouldn't have been granted without us asking, but sometimes the Lord, with his ultimate wisdom and kindness, says no to our requests.

I am grateful for this quote:

 

"Women of God can never be like the women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
Sis Margaret D. Nadauld

This quote is sustaining me as I work through many challenging PTA President duties.

The Holy Ghost is real!

Around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, the ER doctor at the hospital explained to me that there were many viruses that mimicked the appendicitis-like symptoms my six year old daughter was exhibiting.  I couldn't blame him for thinking she only had a virus.  It was hard to believe that the happy, bouncy little girl we saw before us was, only an hour ago, doubled over in excruciating pain.  I immediately felt very foolish for bringing my daughter into the ER, but then the doctor asked, "Would you like her to give a urine sample to rule out a urinary tract infection, or would you like her blood drawn to examine her white blood count, or would you like to have an ultra sound ordered?" I inwardly chuckled because I felt like I was ordering from some kind of medical fast food menu, but really this was no laughing matter.  The ER doctor didn't sound too keen about the ultrasound option because of the length of time it would take to round up the ultrasound tech, and he also felt that the chances of finding the appendix in an ultrasound was low.  As he spoke, it hit me how completely in control and out of control I was.  The decisions for my daughter's care depended on me and my minuscule amount of medical knowledge.  Thank goodness I had my sister, a nurse, with me, or I would have walked away when they suggested putting a needle in my daughter's arm.  And thank goodness my sister had a close friend who was an ultrasound tech, so I could call her and pick her brain about the chances of finding an appendix in a little, thin 6 year old girl ... which turns out to be remarkably high. 

Continually throughout the night, a quote by Sis Beck fluttered through my mind, "This is when revelation hits reality."  I really only had one option, and that was to pray and listen for His guidance.  As the night wore on, it became very apparent to me that I was being prompted to ask for an ultrasound for my daughter.  Miraculously the ultrasound became the only piece of evidence that definitively diagnosed what the problem was ... acute appendicitis. We were checked into the children's hospital by 4 a.m. on Sunday, and surgery began at 9:00 a.m. 

I know the Holy Ghost is real. 

I am grateful for this Chinese proverb.

Good Luck Bad Luck!

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?