So Much to Be Thankful For

Oh how I love this time of year! All the wonderful fall colors, spending time with family and enjoying be able to reflect on all that I am grateful for. Here are a few things that I am especially grateful for:

Love all the beautiful surroundings that we get to enjoy all year round. Heavenly Father created so many beautiful things for us to enjoy while we are here on this earth.

So grateful for my wonderful family. They have always been there to lend their to love, encourage and support each other in all that we do. It is the wonderful memories of all the fun times we have shared, the miracles we have been blessed with and to know that we are an eternal family.

What a blessing it is to have married into such an amazing family as well. It was such a blessing to be all together to honor their father & grandfather - Benjamin Ben Evans this past August. They to are a great support to each other and we all love being able to be together, lend love and support to each other. I am grateful to Val and Benda and all that they do for us as a family. Their example of faith and endurance is a strength to me.

How truly grateful to my wonderful mom and dad who lived their lives truly devoted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have both passed on but their legacy of faith will always be a strength to me in my life. They taught me what it means to be of service to others as that how they lived their lives. I love them both and so grateful to have had them as my mom and dad. This is there wedding photo - what a beautiful couple.

What an honor and privilege to have a living prophet on earth today to guide us, to teach us and to help us know return to live with our Heavenly Father again. President Monson is truly called of God to act in His name and to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints today. He also has to wonderful councilors in Elder Eyring and Elder Uchtdorf.

The blessing of the Temple are so special and I am so grateful to be able to have so many doting this great earth so that all can have the opportunity to feel of the great blessing that are given to all worthy members. This is the beautiful Bountiful Temple that I had the privilege of being sealed to my wonderful husband, Mark on November 15, 1996. So grateful to be able to attend often and be reminded of how much my Heavenly Father loves me.

Oh what can I say but that I am so blessed to have such and amazing husband. He blesses my life daily and I could not imagine my life without him. I love every minute I am with him. He works so hard to be able to provide for our needs. I love him with all my heart.

I am so grateful to live in this great country. We have so many wonderful freedoms that we are blessed with living here. I am so grateful for the the men and women who are serving in the armed forces to that I can continue to have the freedoms that we do.

Last of all I am truly grateful to a loving Savior who took upon Him all my trials, test, sins, and joys so that I might have the opportunity to return and live with Him again. He is given given us all that we have. Without Him and His atonement for each of us we would not have any of the wonderful blessing that we do. May this holiday season and always remember all the good things in our life and to remember what we are truly celebrating and that is the birth of our Savior

MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH

Over the weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to be taught my two member's of the Quorum of the 70's. Elder Pearson of the 1st Quorum and Elder Curtis of the 5Th Quorum were the visiting authorities to our stake to reorganize our Stake Presidency. What a great opportunity to be able to raise our hand to sustain our New Stake Presidency that the Lord has chosen to guide our stake at this time. The spirit was so powerful as I raised my hand and I knew that these three men were called of God. We also had the amazing opportunity to sustain a living Prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson, and his counselors, Elder Henry B. Erying and Elder Dieter Uchdorf along with the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and all other senior leaders of our church. It is always and honor and privilege to lead by a prophet of God and to sustain them in their righteous endeavors.

Elder Pearson spoke on Lehi's dream and making sure that we are keeping our focus on the tree and not on other things of the world. He reminded us that the things we focus on are what we are going to get so if we want to have the Lord in our lives we need to focus on the tree. Some of the things he said we needed to be aware of that takes our focus from the tree are:
1. Do not criticize the senior leaders of the church. If we are not putting our full support, doing all that they ask of us we are not focused on the tree.
2. Are not willing to serve. Service in the church will bring many blessings and answers to our trials and concerns we are facing in our lives and we should always remember that all calls come from our Father in Heaven. Attend the temple more often. Take advantage of being in the House of the Lord and be reminded of all we need to do to endure to the end
3. Forgetting to pray and read our scriptures. We just have to do it.
4. Justifying our actions. We should avoid things such as movies, books, TV shows, music and other things that are not uplifting to us.
5. We are not forgiving others. We are to forgive all. If we do not forgive those who have done a misdeed we will not be able to focus on true repentance. We will not be happy - we do not need to carry those burdens. Forgive and we can find true peace, joy and love in our lives.

I am so grateful that I was able to be reminded of what we need to do so the we can return and live with our Eternal Father in Heaven and to be with our families for Eternity. I have made it a goal to try harder to do all that has been asked of me - to try to keep my focus on the tree so that I can draw closer to my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. I know that we are lead by a true Prophet of God, President Monson. That the atonement is real and that if we use it in our lives or faith will increase and we will be more willing to do all that is asked of us. I know the Book of Mormon is true and is a guide for us. I know that God lives that He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to earth so that we can return to live with him again.