"What Comfort This Sweet Sentence Gives..."

Things I am grateful for through these difficult days:
These beautiful words and my Savior who is constantly helping me back up when I fall from the fatigue.
Love, in every aspect.
Hope and its power.
The restoration of the Priesthood.
The prayer that is Music
Stephanie and Christian Nielson; her words and their story have inspired me for the past few weeks, and I've been reading every single blog post of hers up until about a year ago, and I plan to keep going until I've reached her first post, before her faith and love was ultimately tested.

I wrote about them, as well as Abraham Lincoln, on Friday when we did a timed writing essay in English for AP test practice.  Throughout the whole thing, I felt like I was writing a talk for Sacrament meeting.  I had to either defend, qualify, or argue against the following quote:

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” - Horace


I, of course, defended this.


I am grateful for my cousin in law, Heather, for reminding me that I need to pray for those who cause my struggles and frustrations.
I am grateful that my cousin, Nicholas, is staying with us this week.  It's amazing how drastic of a difference it makes, have the priesthood in your home.  I genuinely felt a little more comforted as I dozed off into dreamland last night, and I really think that's why.

I am grateful to my most loyal friend on earth.

I am grateful for the fact that I have lived in the same home for fourteen out of the sixteen years of my life.  It allows me to be constantly reminded of happy, unscathed childhood memories.  Like this flower:

[There used to be a flower identical to this one in our front yard.  Every Spring, it would burst from the roots of the tree it stood by, and every Spring, it was a different color.  I don't know how that's genetically possible, but it was a fascination to my little mind.  It was always something climactic in my simple Springs when I played with roly polies by the Gardenias on the lamppost.]

Out of all of these things, the sweet spirit of Christ and my Heavenly Father continue to lighten my heavy heart.  I will always be most grateful for this.

I am grateful that we read Alma 22 tonight in family scripture reading.

"14 And since man had ^afallen he could not ^bmerit anything of himself; but the sufferings and ^cdeath of Christ ^datone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the ^egrave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king.

  15 And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: ^aWhat shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be ^bborn of God, having this wicked spirit ^crooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up ^dall that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.

  16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt ^abow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the ^bhope which thou desirest."

P.S. I am also grateful that my grandfather's memory is more real to me through the videos I got to watch last week from his job and my mom's earlier life.