Gratitude

• 1 Nephi 2:7…Thank the Lord for his blessings and protection
• Phillippians 1:3…I thank God upon every remembrance of you
• Alma 26: 37…Give thanks unto God forever
• Alma 26: 8…Always praise and thank the Lord
• Mosiah 24: 22…Teach children to give thanks to God
• Alma 19:14…At the very moment you see that your prayers are answered, fall on your knees and give thanks to God.
• Alma 25: 17…We should rejoice when the Lord gives us success and answers our prayers
• Alma 24: 10…Thank God for forgiving you of your sins
• Alma 24: 9…Thank God for being able to be convinced of your sins
• Alma 24: 8…Thank God for even just a portion of His Spirit.
• Mosiah 24: 21-22…After being blessed, pour out thanks to God
• Mosiah 25: 10…Think of God’s goodness and power and give thanks to Him
• Mosiah 18: 23…Give thanks to God everyday
• “The root of joy is gratefulness…It is not joy that makes us grateful;it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” – David Steindl-Rast
• “Like a Broken Vessel”, Talk by Jeffrey R. Holland
• “The depth and the willingness with which we serve is a direct reflection of our gratitude.” (Gordon T. Watts, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 84)
• “The faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.” (Joseph B. Wirthlin, Church News, Dec. 6, 2008, 4)
• “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  Theodore Roosevelt
• “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melody Beattie
• “I gave him the assignment of going cold turkey with criticism and blame. I asked him to call a complete halt to criticize his wife about money. To engage his competitive powers, I told him I highly doubted he could stop criticizing his wife about money for even one day. Jutting his jaw defiantly, he took up the challenge. When he and his wife came in for their next session, they both looked about ten years younger. They had even taken his assignment to a higher level, both of them deciding to eliminate criticism in general from their relationship. He told me that they had spent a delightful week “celebrating what we have rather than carping about what we don’t have.””  The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 68
• “Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.”  (James E. Faust, Ensign, Feb. 2006, 7)
• “The depth and the willingness with which we serve is a direct reflection of our gratitude.”  (Gordon T. Watts, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 84)
• “The faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.”  (Joseph B. Wirthlin, Church News, Dec. 6, 2008, 4)
• “Grateful and awake, ask what you need to know now. Say what you feel now. Love what you love now.”  The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have (Gift Edition) (Mark Nepo)-Kindle Loc. 156-57
• “There is an inexhaustible supply in the Universe. Begin to be aware of it. Take the time to count the stars on a clear evening, or the grains of sand in one handful, the leaves on one branch of a tree, the raindrops on a windowpane, the seeds in one tomato. Each seed is capable of producing a whole vine with unlimited tomatoes on it. Be grateful for what you do have, and you will find that it increases.”  You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 114
• “The bills that come in I rejoice over, thanking the companies for trusting me to pay.”  You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 117
• Mosiah 2:23 -24… 23  And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. 24  And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
• 2 Nephi 9:52…  Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice.
• 1 Nephi 17: 14 -15…14 Yea, and the Lord said also that: After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God; and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.  15 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did strive to keep the commandments of the Lord, and I did exhort my brethren to faithfulness and diligence.
• Jacob 7:22…  Now, this thing was pleasing unto me, Jacob, for I had requested it of my Father who was in heaven; for he had heard my cry and answered my prayer.
• “October 23rd, 1994 – Sunday.  Puyo, Ecuador… Ecuador is sweet.  It’s pretty.  It’s a ghetto in the jungle.  The people here are normal but don’t realize what it’s like to live well.  But they’re happy.  One thing I remember was today a boy with ragged clothes & who lives in a wood shack was praying for the poor.  Kind of makes you think.  To me, they’re poor but they don’t think so.” – Clinton Brown Missionary Journal
•  “We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comfort and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments, and we knew also that after a period of life we would die. We accepted all of these eventualities with a glad heart, eager to accept both the favorable and unfavorable.  We eagerly accepted the chance to come earthward even though it might be for only a day or a year.  Perhaps we were not so concerned whether we would die of disease, of accident, or of senility.  We were willing to take life as it came and as willing to organize and control it, and this was without a murmur, complaint,  or unreasonable demands.”  Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle p. 106
• “We should feel gratitude regardless of our circumstances. I have thought sometimes that one of the greatest virtues the Latter-day Saints coil possess is gratitude to our Heavenly Father for that which He has bestowed upon us and the path over which He has led us.” Conference Report, Lorenzo Snow
• “When I think of the wonders that have come to pass in my lifetime more than during all the rest of human history together I stand in reverence and gratitude. I think of the automobile and the airplane, of computers, fax machines, e-mail, and the Internet. It is all so miraculous and wonderful. I think of the giant steps made in medicine and sanitation. And with all of this there has been the restoration of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I are a part of the miracle and wonder of this great cause and kingdom that is sweeping over the earth blessing the lives of people wherever it reaches. How profoundly thankful I feel.” Manual, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, Chapter 3, Cultivating an Attitude of Happiness and a Spirit of  Optimism
• April 2, 1996 – Tuesday – Quito Ecuador…”We next went to Marcelo Mosquera’s house.  Let me tell you about him.  He got his right arm blown off to the elbow and 3 fingers and half of his left hand.  He did it working in the Jungle.  His wife left him. He never gets hired because of his physical impairment, so it’s very hard to get a job.  The government pays him 150 mil sucres each month (about 60 bucks a month) as a retirement pay.  This month he has no money at all because after getting it, he was robbed on the way home.  He’s had to go 2 days without food, and today he finally was invited to eat by Elder Howard and another friend.  With all these trials and problems (by the way, he lives in a one room house and basically all of his possessions (gas stove, bed, TV) were all given to him)  he still works soooo hard in the church work.  He sold almost all his possessions last November to go to the Lima, Peru Temple.  He’s the Turubamba Ward Mission Leader and magnifies his calling sooo much.  He reads his scriptures and is active.  He serves others.  He’s an example for me.  The thing was, after telling us his situation, he testified of his love for Christ, cried while doing it, and then went looking for things to give things away to us.  He gave my comp stickers.  Just seeing his situation, he has all the reason to complain and be selfish. But rather he serves others.  He is so awesome.  I’ll be like him.  I left 5 mil sucres on his table.  I hope he can make good use of it.  I left from there repenting of my selfishness, and of the times that I’d whined for material things.  How lost I was.  I’ll pray for him.”  – Clinton Brown Missionary Journal