With Thanksgiving right around the corner...

Today at church the new first counselor in the Bishopric talked about how we all go through hard times and that it's easy to let our guard down, give into temptations, and let ourselves be sad and hard on ourselves.  I love the simple advice he gave us which was to "always look for the good."  This isn't anything new but I know I forget to look for the good in situations and in people more times than I'd like to admit.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner I gave myself a lot of time today to reflect about all of the good things in my life that I am eternally grateful for.  I could sit and list them all but that would take a really long time to type so I won't.

What I will say is that I don't know how I got so lucky with this great life that I have.  This year has been one of the toughest years of my life and I'm sure there will be harder ones down the road, but I am so thankful for the people in my life who continue to lift me up, opened my eyes, and help me become a better person.  I'm especially grateful for the trials and hard times that I've gone through this year and in my life in general because through them I've realized how much my Heavenly Father loves me, how much I love Him, and that he truly does have a plan for me.  I don't know what that plan is, and I sometimes forget that He thinks I'm special but I refuse to give up figuring out who I'm meant to be and the great things that I'm meant to do and become.

All material things aside (because I'm also overwhelmed with all of the things that I have in general) I'm above all most thankful for this life that I have.  The fact that we're here on this beautiful Earth experiencing everything that we get to experience is pretty amazing.  We have bodies. Complex, weird and amazing bodies! We get to feel happiness, heartbreak, pain, joy and  LOVE..and probably the most fabulous part of it all is that we get to make our own choices!

Like I said before, hard times come in life and I know I let myself get down and negative sometimes but I always end up reminding myself at the end of the day about how lucky I am to even be here and for the life that I have.  We just  have to always keep looking for the good.

 I send my thanks to my Heavenly Father and My Savior Jesus Christ.  All good things come from them.  My life, my family, my friends...everything.  I am me because of their love and sacrifice.  They are the root of ALL of my happiness.  What more could I be thankful for?

Happy Early Thanksgiving :)