Growing in gratitude.
I’m sitting in the shower. In the dark. Hot water streams over my skin. A Piano Guys song is playing from my phone.
I got in the shower to escape the frustrations of my day. As I reflect over what happened, I start to see God in all of it. Frustration fades. Gratitude takes its place.
I get to go to work every day with one of my best friends. Today, our executive director took us to lunch. He adores and spoils us often. My two other co-workers are some of the biggest goofballs I’ve ever met. But they are also some of the best guys I’ve ever met.
I was on campus after work for six hours. During the first two hours, I ran into four people who have had a huge impact on different parts of my life.
Next, I visited with a professor who gave me 10 names of PR people in NYC who can help me land an internship there next summer.
Other good things that happened:
I finished my homework in time for my 6PM class.
I drank my fave smoothie from Jamba Juice for dinner.
I stopped to see my brother at the library who, up until a couple months ago, I hadn’t seen for 2.5 years.
I made two new friends - Sebastian from Chile, Katrina from Arizona.
My 6PM class was cancelled.
I walked home talking to my mom, dad and two siblings on the phone.
What a blessing it is to love and be loved.
During our phone call, my mom asked if I wanted to join them for prayer before they ate dinner. Ezra offered it.
He starts off, “Dear Heavenly Father, we are so thankful to be here.”
We are thankful to be here.
Words I’ve heard him say thousands of time in prayer. But it stands out to me this time.
As soon as he utters it, I think of my brother Jonah. He’s on a mission in the Philippines. Living on an obscure island off of Manila, deep in the jungle. Without a hot shower. Without toilet paper. Trying to learn a language he hadn’t even heard of 8 months before. He is having a hard time. I know he wishes he could be here. Part of us wishes he could be here.
I realize since Jonah told us he is struggling, Ezra’s gratitude to be here is probably deeper than it used to be. I realize my gratitude is deeper as well.
I pray and think of Jonah more now than I ever have in my entire life. Whenever I have a problem or start to say something isn't fair, I remember him. How he’s in a third world country experiencing much greater, heart-wrenching challenges. How his whole situation may seem like a great injustice at times. Thinking of this causes me to pour out my heart to God, thanking Him for my circumstances and blessings.
Jonah will adjust to the Philippines. He will learn the language. He will love the people. He chose to serve a mission knowing it would be difficult. He is there because he knows God wants him there. Because of that, we want him there too.
Challenges are opportunities to grow close to or turn away from God. Sometimes it seems our circumstances are too bitter to bear and we question why we are experiencing the trials. As we read the scriptures, we realize God sent us to earth to face hardship so we could be tested and grow. In Abraham we read:
“And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
The sooner we accept trials are a part of life, the happier we will be. How do we face those trials? How can we find the happiness God promises us as we experience them?
Simple. We ask Him.
Pray to see the challenge as an opportunity instead of a burden.
Pray to know what you should learn from it.
Pray for the strength to overcome it.
Pray to have joy in the journey.
Pray to recognize the good more than the bad.
Along with prayer and scripture study, take time at night to record or ponder how you saw God's hand that day. Doing this fills my soul with joy - outweighing the pain of any suffering I am experiencing.
God would not tell Lehi, “men are, that they might be, that they might have joy” and not help us achieve that. If we are having trouble living that scripture, we should follow what the Savior often teaches: “Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened to you.”
As we take time to reach out to Him, recognize and express gratitude, He will ease our suffering. He will help us have joy. And we will all be able to say with sincerity, “We are thankful to be here.”