Strength and Life Each Day

At church today, right after the counselor in the bishopric, Bro Schmidt, sat down, like 5 people rushed up to the stand to share their testimonies and it was busy to the end. It was a full meeting and my heart was touched. I had thought of what I could testify of, but I ended up staying in my seat and allowing others to share their testimonies. I decided I'd share mine here after I got home, so here I am, and here is my testimony today ~

I was touched by the opening hymn we sang at church, "In Fasting, We Approach Thee" (Hymn 139) especially in verse two where it says:

Through this small sacrifice, may we 
recall that strength and life each day
are sacred blessings sent from thee
fill us with gratitude we pray.

On Friday night as part of our family scriptures, my family and I revisited a story shared by President Monson in a book we read last year called "Consider the Blessings". On pages 62 - 66 is a story called "I do not know how I can go on". President Monson briefly shared this story in his October 1994 message and also mentioned it in his April 2009 talk "Be Of Good Cheer". In the book, he tells of a widow from Prussia who, after World War II ended, had to walk 1000 miles to Germany with her four small children. Her children all passed away on their trek, from starvation and the winter cold. Her first child that died was her 3 year old little girl, and we had our little Katharine asleep on Natalie's lap in front of us to be our visual aid of that. The mother dug the child's grave with the only tool she had, a tablespoon. Next her seven-year-old son and five year-old son passed away. Again she dug their graves with the spoon. When her last child died, a small infant in her arms, she dug a grave in the frozen earth again, but this time the tablespoon was gone, so she dug into the frozen earth with only her frozen fingers. In the account from the book "Consider the Blessings", it says:

Her grief welled up as she knwlt beside the little grave, considering all she had lost. She wondered, Was it worth going on? How could she bear it, with her heart literally broken? Others were choosing to end their lives rather than continue in such despair. As she considered the awful possibilities for ending her own life, something within her said, “Get down on your knees and pray." She ignored the prompting until she could resist it no longer. She knelt and prayed more fervently than she had in her entire life. "Dear heavenly father, I do not know how I can go on. I have nothing left, except my faith in me. I feel, Father, amidst the desolation of my soul, and overwhelming gratitude for the atoning sacrifice of my son Jesus Christ. I cannot express adequately my love for Him. I know that because He suffered and died, I shall live again with my family. Because He broke the chain of death, I shall see my children again and will have the joy raising them. Though I do not at this moment, wish to live, I will do so, that we may be reunited as a family and return together to Thee." When she finally reached her destination of Karlsruhe, Germany, she was in the throes of starvation, but in a church meeting shortly there after she bore witness of her happiness and her testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. She had no doubt that if she remain true to the gospel, she would be reunited with her loved ones in the celestial kingdom of God.

(Photo credit, just a pic via google of what I imagine the end of her journey looked like)

With all the problems that seem to overwhelm us in the world today, it has helped me to think of all that people have endured in the past. Despite the challenges we face, like those who have gone before us, we can find joy as we look to Christ. He will strengthen us. "Strength and Life each day are sacred blessings from above." We can show gratitude for the blessings He offers. Verse three of the opening hymn at church: 

And may our fast fill us with care
For all thy children now in need.
May we from our abundance share,
Thy sheep to bless, thy lambs to feed

I am really trying to focus this year on gratitude, I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon looking for times when gratitude is expressed and praise and thanks to the Lord is given. As I’ve been searching for that in the scriptures, I’ve also been searching for that daily in my life. I’ve been writing down five things at the end of every day that I’m grateful for, last night I finished my gratitude for just a small portion of the blessings I noticed in January, and I really think that gratitude is such a key to happiness and peace and trust. I've also begun to see that humility is the beginning of gratitude - humility and realization of how much we depend upon Christ. In the story that President Monson shared, that sister showed gratitude for Christ - that was something that she came to find in her wrenching trial of losing her husband and children and walking with the Lord for 1000 miles. We have journeys to go on as well, and may we also be prompted to pray, as she prayed, and let the spirit testified to us of the reality of the Savior's resurrection. We can be with our loved ones again because of Jesus Christ. When we are in the depths of despair, He is there and He understands and He can lift us. He can help be humble in our hard trials, and that will lead us to trust and have faith in Him. 

A quote shared in the Follow Him podcast by Elder Eyring "Remembrance and Gratitude" from October 1989:

Remembrance is the seed of gratitude, which is the seed of generosity. Gratitude for the remission of sins is the seed of charity, the pure love of Christ. And so God has made possible for you and me this blessing, a change in our very natures: “And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.” (Moro. 8:26.)