Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks

"You could have such an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. You could start to count your blessings and then pause for a moment. If you exercise faith, with the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will find that memories of other blessings will flood into your mind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, your prayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance will come, and so will gratitude."

Count your many blessings name them one by one!

" An Expression of Faith

Luke chapter 17 records the experience of the Savior when He healed 10 lepers. As you recall, only one of the cleansed lepers returned to express his appreciation. Isn’t it interesting that the Lord did not say, “Your gratitude has made you whole”? Instead, He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” ⁷

The leper’s expression of gratitude was recognized by the Savior as an expression of his faith. As we pray and express gratitude to a loving but unseen Heavenly Father, we are also expressing our faith in Him. Gratitude is our sweet acknowledgment of the Lord’s hand in our lives; it is an expression of our faith."

gratitude an expression of our faith :) 

"Do material possessions make us happy and grateful? Perhaps momentarily. However, those things which provide deep and lasting happiness and gratitude are the things which money cannot buy: our families, the gospel, good friends, our health, our abilities, the love we receive from those around us. Unfortunately, these are some of the things we allow ourselves to take for granted."

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-divine-gift-of-gratitude?lang=eng#watch=video 

In all things we give thanks. Not just here a little there a little. I ALWAYS find my self struggling through having an attitude of gratitude. All things come from God. Each thing that is good in my life has been a gift from the heavens. In times of trial it is often easy to become wrapped up in the why or how of it. I am learning that it is not the why or the how that we need. It is the "Thanks" we have need for. Even in trial there are moments of sunshine. In the greatest storms always comes a ray of light after or the rainbow. In my moms kitchen there is a quote i have often reflected on

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain"

Put on your best rain boots and learn to jump in the puddles! I am learning that trials are merely blessings wrapped up in a box with the best wrapping paper surrounding it. You at times have to work a little harder to unwrap it but in the end the blessing always comes forth. "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven" as we give thanks to the lord we will find more things to be thankful for and we will find that we have more than we once thought. the simplest things in life become the greatest beauties.

The Lord is present in all things, in all times in all places <3