A Grateful Heart

"When you look for the (good)..., hoping to find it, you surely will." Abraham Lincoln made this statement many years ago. I have been thinking about that statement a lot lately. Then when I went to church on Sunday, heard an amazing talk. My stake president reiterate the importance of this same principle this last Sunday as he spoke to our ward.


He talked about the 10 lepers who asked Jesus to be healed. He healed all 10, but only 1 returned to thank him. Pres. Welch said in trouble, we often petition the Lord for his blessings. When he gives us those blessings we should petition him in thanksgiving at the same level when our prayers are answered.

Cultivating a grateful heart is what he challenged us to do. Gratitude offers three important principles to our lives that if incorporated can change our lives.

1. It offers us PROTECTION

D&C 46:7
"doing all things with prayer and ^dthanksgiving, that ye may not be ^eseduced by evil ^fspirits, or doctrines of devils, or the ^gcommandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils."

2. It Gives us POWER

He gave the example of Moroni from the Book of Mormon
"And Moroni was a ^astrong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect ^bunderstanding...Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the ^awelfare and safety of his people. Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ...

I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

Moroni's heart was set upon the Lord. His heart SWELLED with thanks to God. It gave him power.

3. Brings JOY to our lives.

In 3 Nephi, after all the earthquakes, storms and tempests, those who had survived came out to see that everything they had was destroyed. However, they were not fixed on what they lost. Instead, the focused on the Savior. Their mourning turned to joy:

"And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood; and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer." 3 Nephi 10:10

Our stake president then promised us, if we would apply this principle into our lives that these blessing would be bestowed upon us. That we would have protection from evil, power to do what needs to be done and joy in our lives.

Well, I sure want all of that !!

In an effort to improve in this area. I want to write two or three post a week to share my gratitude to the Lord. And share any of the blessings that I see come from this quest.