Grateful in Any Circumstances

 Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately three minutes to read from start to finish.

First and foremost; "Are you grateful for any circumstances that you are currently facing?" This post is based on a April 2014 General Conference talk, and it is called "Grateful in Any Circumstances" by President F. Uchtdorf.

I would like to share with you some highlights whilst I was reading the talk. President Uchtdorf. He has mentioned the following; "Have we not reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?

We Can Be Grateful

Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, I have learned that there is something that would take away the bitterness that may come into our lives. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious. We can be grateful!

Being Grateful for Things
But some might say, “What do I have to be grateful for when my world is falling apart?” Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count.

True, it is important to frequently “count our blessings” and anyone who has tried this knows there are many but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.

“In His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting
beginnings.” - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances whatever they may be.

Gratitude as an Act of Faith

Being grateful in our circumstances is an act of faith in God. 

It requires that we trust God and hope for things we may not see but which are true. By being grateful, we follow the example of our beloved Savior, who said, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony. It comes from acknowledging that we do not always understand the trials of life but trusting that one day we will."

If you want to read the talk in your own time, here's the link below:
www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances

Stay Tuned until next time.

#GIVETHANKS ~ Day Four to Day Six

  Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take approximately six minutes to read from start to finish.

Day 4 - I am GRATEFUL for my Religion; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

I am grateful for what my religion has taught me and helped me to learn so much throughout my life so far, I am grateful for the standards (such as no swearing), and I am grateful for the covenants that I have made in the past. 

I am grateful for Seminary, I am grateful for Institute, I am grateful for the knowledge of doing Family History, I am grateful for the standard works a.k.a the scriptures (The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and King James Version - Holy Bible, and the Word of Wisdom.

I am grateful for the past General Conference talks, I am grateful for the Temples, I am grateful for current prophet, I am grateful for past prophets, I am grateful for current apostles, I am grateful for past apostles, I am grateful for the Relief Society organization, I am grateful for the youth organization, I am grateful for my current church callings, and I am grateful for my past church callings. 

Day 5 and Day 6: I am GRATEFUL for the Opportunities to Travel and Methods of Transportation. 

I love traveling in methods of transportation. I was able to drive whilst I was living in Australia, I was able to drive for about ten days in a car rental whilst I was visiting Utah in February 2018, I was able to driven a little bit whilst I was visiting Texas in November 2018, I have been able to go on walks (even though it is for short distances), and I have been able to go bike riding.

Prior to when I've met my husband for the first time in person; I had the opportunities to travel. I remembered when I was nine years old; I attended a school camp with students of the same grade as me, we went to Sunshine Coast, and I remembered while I was at that school camp, we went to Underwater World.  

I remembered when I was twelve years old, I went to another school camp with my class and another class - the students were aged eleven years old and twelve years old, and we went to Canberra. I remembered my experience for the first time flying in the plane because I was so excited and I kept counting down the days.

I really enjoyed the activities that was set up and places to go and visit during that school camp, I was able to go to Australian War Memorial, Australian Old Parliament House, Australian New Parliament House (the one that is current one), Royal Australian Mint, Questacon - National Science and Technology Centre, Australian Institute of Sport, and other places. 

I remembered when I was eighteen years old; I had the opportunity to fly again but this time was from Brisbane to Perth, and I was able to attend End of Year Young Single Adults (YSA) Convention. 

I had so much fun, I have made many friends throughout the convention (I seemed to lose some of the friends that I have made sometime in the past years after convention), and I really enjoyed participating in Devotionals, Activities, Dances, and so forth. 

I had the opportunity to go to Rottnest Island, I really enjoyed spending some time with the friends that I have made, and I took many photos throughout convention. 

About four months after I returned back to Brisbane from convention, I flew back to Perth for a longer stay and at that time I was nineteen years old. I even made more friends, I was able to have fun experiences such as going to Perth Temple more than twice, I was able to go bowling, I was able to go to institute often, I was able to travel to various locations, and so forth. 

I remembered when I was twenty-one years old; I had the opportunity to travel to Utah on my own. On the way to Utah, I flew from Brisbane to Nadi Fiji for the first layover, followed by I flew from Nadi Fiji to Los Angeles for the second layover, followed by I flew from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, Utah. 

I had opportunities to meeting my husband for the very first time, I finally got to meet several friends that I have been friends on social media for about four years ish (long story short, we have similar past histories and got us to meet on the same facebook groups), I made new friends, and I had opportunities to drive on the RIGHT side (on the opposite side than what I was used to in Australia) whilst I was in Utah.

I attended sessions whilst I was visiting many different Temples during my stay in Utah. My husband and I went to Provo City Temple, Oquirrh Mountain Temple, Salt Lake City Temple together before it marked one month when my husband and I was in boyfriend and girlfriend stage. 

Kharissa and I went to Manti Temple, Payson Temple, and Salt Lake City Temple together - Kharissa drove us to those Temples. 

JaLisa and I went to Provo City Temple and Draper Temple together, - I drove us to those Temples. 

I drove myself to the following Temples; Brigham City Temple, Vernal Temple, Mount Timpanogos Temple, and Ogden Temple. 

Stay Tuned until next time.

#GIVETHANKS ~ Day Seven to Day Eight

   Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take five to eight minutes to read from start to finish.

Day 7: I am GRATEFUL for technology. Technology certainly has change a lot over the past twenty years and more. I have multiple reasons why I am GRATEFUL for technology. I love owning two cameras and two phones to take photos, take videos, and making memories. Technology is a great resource to use while studying online, to communicate short distance and long distance friends and short distance and long distance relatives, and so forth. 

My husband and I felt privileged to be able to see and talk to each other via skype, talk and see each other on video calls via Facebook Messenger, and messaging each other often whilst we were in our long distance relationship and our long distance engagement. 

Whenever I get to see my family members and friends on video calls via Facebook Messenger; it certainly DOES makes me feel so much joy because it has helped me to remember the memories, and the fun times that my husband and I had whenever we were able to video call to each other during long distance.

DAY 8: I am GRATEFUL for Animals especially Pets. My favourite animal is Dolphins and my husband's favourite animal is Eagles. While my husband and I was in our long distance relationship; my husband found a abandoned puppy (German Shepherd mixed Labrador) at my in-laws' house which was where my husband was living at the time.

My husband and I tried to work out a name for the puppy until one day, my husband decided to name the puppy, "Tarzan." My in-laws allowed my husband to look after Tarzan if he cares about providing food and drinks for Tarzan, which was great. I was able to see Tarzan via a video call on Facebook Messenger several times. He was definitely a playful and handful puppy. 

I felt joy and I was so happy when I was able to finally gotten to meet Tarzan in person during my visit in Texas United States in late October to towards end of November 2018. I was able to play with him at times whilst my husband was at work. When the weather has dropped to starting to get colder temperatures in preparation for winter season, my husband made sure that Tarzan was warm enough overnight. 

My husband had a blanket, and a small heater fan by the side of the kernel. There was days when Tarzan did not come back to my in-laws' in late afternoons while I was visiting. Sometime after I flew back to Brisbane, Tarzan started of not coming back to my in-laws' house persistently.

My husband and I think that Tarzan either gotten shot or ran away or died. It was sad news when I found out that Tarzan was not coming back, and I do not know if Tarzan gotten enough attention with love or not. My husband and I both decided that we would not get another puppy. A photo of Tarzan is on this blog's header. 

In early December 2018, I have been thinking about whether I should get a pet or not. I had a four bedroom place to myself, and I did not have any roommates who has moved in yet. I had a high expectation that I would hope that I would not get too emotionally attached to a pet prior to whenever I gotten my k-1 visa in my procession and moved to United States. 

I would like to have an ownership of a pet, and it took me a short while to make up a decision of getting a pet or not. I have decided to get a parakeet. I remembered during my teen years; a older young woman from church in the ward that I was in at the time was giving away parakeets. I remembered that I had two parakeets and I did not do a great job of looking after them.

Somehow the parakeets flew away from my family's home and then they flew back, but this time under the house. One day, the parakeets did not ever come back again. I thought it was a good idea for me to get one parakeet and hopefully I would do a better job of looking after one. 

On December 18th, 2018 - it is a week before Christmas and I was ready to pick up a parakeet after my shift from the Temple in the evening. I felt so excited and I really looking forward to it. When I arrived to the breeder of the parakeets; I was able to see other parakeets and those parakeets are siblings in one big cage. 

As I was approached to the cage; I asked "which one of you would you like to come home with me?" I saw a parakeet from the back of the cage and seemed interested of the question. I selected a parakeet, I was able to put the parakeet into the new cage, and drove home. I was able to tell the new parakeet that his name was "Bluey" repeatedly on the way home. 

Bluey was able to settle well into a new location and environment. I hand tamed Bluey a lot, I would put him on my shoulder whenever I gotten him out of the cage before he started getting training to go on my finger and then put him on my shoulder. 

I made sure that he has gotten a lot of love attentions, and I made sure that he was constantly loved. Bluey and I had great memories and fun memories together.

I remembered during a hot summer day, he would play with his food. One day, I decided to purchase several bird toys and I was thinking that he would not play with them at all. He proved me wrong, he played those toys and always having great times. I would wake him up during his sleep when I gotten home from work to tell him that I am home. 

Overtime, I taught Bluey how to talk. My husband and I decided it was best to tell Bluey that "we are Mummy, and Daddy" I constantly told Bluey this "Mummy and Daddy loves you, and misses you." I taught him how to say of these words of the following, I would just share some words, "Mummy, Daddy, Dad, Dadda, Goodnight, Millie, Meow, I love you and Mum." 

Bluey has its funny moments to make me laugh a lot. One time, I would tell Bluey "Goodnight, you go to sleep." Bluey says "You go to sleep." He knows that I would repeat on some words so that he can be a quick learner. 

Stay Tuned until next time.

#GIVETHANKS ~ Day One to Day Three

 Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,
this post should take three to five minutes to read from start to finish.

Day 1 - I am GRATEFUL for my husband. I have always appreciate everything that he has done for me. I love having his support, I love hearing his mission stories whenever he feels like talking about his mission, he has helped me to gain a deeper understanding of scripture passages that I didn't fully understood in the past, I love at times when he ensures me that everything will be okay when things aren't going the way that I would like it to. 

I love the ways of how he always me feel happy often, I love the ways of how he always make me laugh often, I have always appreciated that he reminds me often that he cares about me, he's such a great listener whenever he chooses to listen, he listens to my concerns carefully, so close to everytime he knows when it is the best time to give me a priesthood blessing, and so forth. 

He always shared compliments with me so often (each morning after we wake up, and each night before we go to sleep), he has been a wonderful example towards me, he always quick to forgive, he always says "I love you" and he always means it, I always have admired him for having a reliable full-time job (despite how early we wake up from Monday mornings to Friday mornings every week for my husband to go to work), and so forth.

Day 2 - I am GRATEFUL for my Immediate Family members, Extended Relatives, and In-laws. 

To my immediate family members and my extended relatives: 

I have always appreciated your useful advices or suggestions, I have always appreciated your righteous examples to me, your constant love for me, I have always appreciated your constant care for me, I have always appreciated your constant support for me, I have always appreciated your kindness towards me, I have always appreciated for you to be using your time to spend some time with me, I have always appreciated your sacrifices that you have shown, I have always appreciated our conversations (whether it is via phone calls or via handwritten letters or in person or emails or messages via social media account or text messages - I have always enjoyed talking to you, and so forth. 

Thank you to my parents for raising my siblings and myself up with having a religious background and the religion is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I always enjoyed family home evenings (even during times when I don't show that I have enjoyed family home evenings), but I do remember learning so much during family home evenings. 

To my in-laws: 

I would like to apologize of me for not getting to know y'all very well but I am sure that I would have plenty of opportunities to get to know y'all.

I have always appreciated the kindness that y'all have shown to me, I have always appreciated their care for me, I have always appreciated our conversations (whether it is via in person or phone call or Facebook messenger or text messages or in person - I have always enjoyed talking to y'all, and so forth. 

I know that I definitely do appreciate of my mother-in-law and my father-in-law for raising my husband and siblings up in the same religion as me - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

Day 3: I am GRATEFUL for all of my friends including my close friends and my best friends.

To all of my friends:

To Best Friends: I have two current best friends, and they are my husband and Marah. I have been best friends with Marah for seven years, and I have been best friends with my husband for three years. I love y'all so much. I have always appreciated your constant love that y'all have shown to me, I have always appreciated your constant care towards me, I have always appreciated your kindness that y'all have shown to me, I have always appreciated our conversations (whether it is via emails or in person or phone calls or text messages or social media) - I have always enjoyed our conversations and being grateful that we can communicate to each other about anything, and so forth.

To Close Friends: I seemed to have more than five current close friends. I would just share several of who they are. There is Bethany K, Christine A, Emily S, JaLisa L, Sia L, and Sofronaiia W. I have always appreciated your kindness that y'all have shown to me, I have always appreciated your support for me, I have always appreciated your care towards me, I have always appreciated our conversations (whether it is via emails or phone calls or in person or text messages or social media) - I have always enjoyed our conversations, and so forth. 

To All of my Other Friends: I have always appreciated your kindness that y'all have shown to me, I have always appreciated your care towards me, I have always appreciated your support for me, I have always appreciated our conversations (whether it is via emails or in person or phone calls or text messages or social media) - I have always enjoyed our conversations, and so forth. 

Stay Tuned until next time.

The Choice to Be Grateful

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 
this post should take approximately three minutes to read from start to finish.

This post is focuses on an article from Liahona, December 2011 and it is called, "The Choice to Be Grateful" by President Henry B. Eyring. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the article. 

President Eyring mentioned,
"Our Father in Heaven commands us to be thankful in all things, and He requires that we give thanks for the blessings we receive. We know that all of His commandments are intended to make us happy, and we also know that to break commandments leads to misery. So to be happy and to avoid misery, we must have a grateful heart.

We have seen in our lives the connection between gratitude and happiness. All of us would like to feel gratitude, yet it is not easy to be consistently grateful in all things in the trials of life. Sickness, disappointment, and the loss of people we love come at times in our lives. Our sorrows can make it hard to see our blessings and to appreciate the blessings God has in store for us in the future.

"Gratitude is the gateway to JOY"
- Elaine S. Marshall.

        It is a challenge to count our blessings because we have a tendency to take good things for granted. When we lose a roof over our heads, food to eat, or the warmth of friends and family, we realize how grateful we should have been when we had them.

Most of all, sometimes it is hard for us to be sufficiently grateful for the greatest gifts we receive: .. the promise of resurrection, the opportunity to enjoy eternal life with our families, the Restoration of the gospel with the priesthood and its keys. 

Only with the help of the Holy Ghost can we begin to feel what those blessings mean for us and for those we love. And only then can we hope to be thankful in all things and avoid the offense to God of ingratitude.

With our Father’s help, all of us can choose to feel more gratitude. We can ask Him to help us see our blessings more clearly, whatever our circumstances. ... I had seen hope and the pure love of Christ shining in their faces, even in their terrible trial.

And I felt the evidence you can feel if you ask God to reveal to you that the Atonement can allow you to feel hope and love. Giving thanks in prayer can allow us to see the magnitude of these blessings and all of our other blessings and so receive the gift of a more grateful heart."

Towards to the end, it shares teaching from this message and I also would like to share with you one thing that was mentioned. "Writing down our experiences and blessings can help us remember them and give us something to refer back to.

Consider asking those you teach to write down what they are grateful for to help them remember the blessings they have received, recognize the blessings of the present, and look forward to the blessings of the future."

That is all from me for now. If you would like to read the whole article in your own time, here is the link. www.lds.org/liahona/2011/12/the-choice-to-be-grateful

Stay Tuned until next time.