Third year Day 114 - Sunday April 6, 2014

Another day of conference.  Another day of kidney pain for Bridgett.  Of course, we know nothing is wrong in the kidneys.  Faith says that it's the respiratory diaphragm, so between the kidneys and the respiratory diaphragm.  I do know that Bridgett's lungs had a great assault at the time of the accident.  Of course, remember that she was anoxic for like 20 minutes or so.  And then, she might have hit the truck with her chest and had that blow as well.  She did have two pools of blood in the lungs that they were watching closely and there was a point that they were worried about collapse of the lungs.  However, they said that her lungs were so healthy they were able to heal themselves fairly quickly.  Anyway, this pain is very frequent, painful and hard to deal with.  There were so many great address today at the general conference.  This mornings session was very close to my heart.  At all times, we gather strength, knowing that God loves us and will watch over us and nurture us as we turn to Him. Keeping perspective is key to many of lives problems.

I attach one address for you to read, Grateful in Any Circumstances by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/print/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng

I want to quote from his address...

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.

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.

There is an old story of a waiter who asked a customer whether he had enjoyed the meal. The guest replied that everything was fine, but it would have been better if they had served more bread. The next day, when the man returned, the waiter doubled the amount of bread, giving him four slices instead of two, but still the man was not happy. The next day, the waiter doubled the bread again, without success.

On the fourth day, the waiter was really determined to make the man happy. And so he took a nine-foot-long (3-m) loaf of bread, cut it in half, and with a smile, served that to the customer. The waiter could scarcely wait for the man’s reaction.

After the meal, the man looked up and said, “Good as always. But I see you’re back to giving only two slices of bread.”