Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks, Being Thankful/Grateful

This month visiting teachers were to pick a message to give themselves....I wrote up the following for our (my comp, Denise and I) message this month....

Your Visiting Teachers, Denise Riley & Deb Allred, wish you a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

This month we are blessed to share a lesson from our hearts to you.  What a better time than Thanksgiving to share what is in our heart.  We want you to know that you are special to us.  We are thankful for the opportunity to be your visiting teachers.  We regret that November just seemed to fly by and with the obligations that we’ve had we will not be able to visit you this month.  We want you to know that we are here, and ever will be if you should need us…to talk, to help, to be a friend. 

Since this is my month to give the message (as Denise and I switch off) I remember seeing a little sign in a store greatly affected me, it read:

“Everyday there is something to be thankful for”. 

I think I had forgotten that in some of those days before I returned to the church.  Some days that “something” may be difficult to find, but it is there if we look for it.  Every day I find more and more if things are stressful, or difficult I can be thankful for the trust our Father in Heaven and His Son placed in the Prophet Joseph to restore the gospel to the earth.  If I start there I find more and more things that come from that wonderful restoration, including you, our Sisters in Relief Society. 

President Joseph F. Smith said, “I believe that one of the greatest sins of which the inhabitants of the earth are guilty today is the sin of ingratitude, the want of acknowledgment, on their part, of God and His right to govern and control.  We see a man raised up with extraordinary gifts, or with great intelligence, and he is instrumental in developing some great principle.  He and the world ascribe this great genius and wisdom to himself.  He attributes his success to his own energies, labor and mental capacity.  He does not acknowledge the hand of God in anything connected with his success, but ignores Him altogether and takes the honor to himself; this will apply to almost all the world.  In all great modern discoveries in science, in the arts, in mechanics, and in all the material advancement of our age, the world says, ‘We have done it.’  The individual says, ‘I have done it,’ and he gives no honor or credit to God.  Now, I read in the revelations through Joseph Smith, the prophet, that because of this, God is not pleased with the inhabitants of the earth but is angry with them because they will not acknowledge HIS hand in all things.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5^th ed., Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1939,  pp.270-71.)

Sisters, if I know one thing I KNOW that we in the restored church acknowledge thankfulness to a Father in Heaven who loves us, and that NOTHING we do is without HIS hand guiding us, and blessing us…at this wonderful time to reflect on our thankfulness I will remember to be grateful for, at least, one thing every single day.

We are thankful for you, and look forward to getting to know you better.  Enjoy this wonderful holiday with your family.

With love,      Denise and Deb

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Love, Deb