I found these true examples on gratitude in the midst of trials. What great examples they are to me and how they have touched me.
This is from a women who young 10 year old son was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme IV not long after his 8th birthday. I haven't met this family, - she is a friend of a friend - and I connected to her site from my friends recommendation to pray for them. I connected with this family because their sweet little boy has the same kind of cancer my father had. My heart breaks for this family and all they have to endure as I read about and pray for them on their journey. The mother wrote this on her website - to express to God what she was grateful for and it just really touched me. Everytime I read this, I cry - because sometimes I think we take the good things in life for granted and don't express our gratitude for all the wonderful things we have. Here this family is going through such troubling times and still she freely expresses to God how much she has to be thankful for. Thank you for being a wonderful example to me.
"I am thankful for oh so much... my family. Absolutely my family.. especially my husband and my kids. I am thankful for one more Thanksgiving with my K-----. I am thankful for his brother being healthy. I am so thankful for the extra people that God has put in our path on this journey, for the old friends and the new friends we have met along the way. I am thankful for God.. thankful that he has kept this family together for another Thanksgiving, for keeping me strong and for guiding me down this road of life. I could really go on for quite awhile. So much to be thankful for!"
This is also a very touching story, I read about online (Meridian Magazine) just recently. Maurine Proctor shares a personal experience from her life when all seemed hopeless. Even though times can be tough and life may seem all messed up, the Lord still watches out for us and still blesses us. These are just excerpts from the article - to read entire story see: http://www.ldsmag.com/lineuponline/081125moment.html
"...We had a time like that nine years ago. Things were hard. We had just moved from our dream home to live with eleven children in a cramped condo, waiting for a larger move across country to Washington DC . The sale on our home, which had been on the market for three years, had fallen through, and now we were stuck with two very large house payments. On top of that, we were just at the starting point for Meridian Magazine, and the financing, which we had worked on for several years, had also fallen through. We were too new to have an income from the magazine which took our full-time effort.
I already felt adrift and frightened for our future. Then the horrible phone call came from Mexico . Our daughter, Julie, had saved her money to spend a week at spring break, in Puerto Vallarta , with her friend Heidi. She had only left the day before for this longed-for vacation. Heidi's voice trembled as she told us the news.
Julie had had a terrible fall by the pool and had hit the back of her head hard on the cement and had been found in a pool of blood. No one knew exactly how it had happened. ...
Heartsick, we called the hospital in Puerto Vallarta , struggling with the language barrier, to find out how she was. They couldn't tell us much, but only promised one thing for certain: they would start treating her as soon as we gave them a credit card to use. Our insurance wouldn't cover the bills in Mexico .
It is often the case that critical illness is accompanied by financial desperation because of bills that mount at a dizzying rate. We ached with worry about Julie's condition because we knew that head injuries often left long-term disabilities, and it was made worse because of our current circumstances.
We couldn't get a plane out to Puerto Vallarta for about forty hours and in the meantime, the reports from the hospital were grim. She had twenty bleeds in her brain and her brain continued to swell. The mid-section of her brain had shifted. She had a large subdural hematoma. She was not in a coma, but difficult to awaken.
I knew someone who had one bleed in her brain and her life was completely altered. ...
Another fear nagged us. Was she getting the best treatment in this small hospital in Mexico ? It was hard to say because our doctor only spoke halting English. When the results of the second MRI came back, the news was worse. Her brain continued to bleed and swell, and, if that trend continued, we'd have to MedVac her to another hospital in Guadalajara , though moving her could be dangerous. ...
On that slab in the darkness, I tried to pray. You'd think at such a low ebb of desperation that you could pour your heart out to God, that words would come bubbling to the surface. Not for me. It was like the words were stuck inside of me in some paralysis of pain. It was as if they were stuck behind a dam, that if it burst I would not be able to contain my anguish and my grief would overcome and swamp me.
So, all I could say in a plaintive whisper to God was, “Help. Help. Help” repeated over and over again, my voice hoarse with pleading.
How could so many things go so wrong in my life at once? What would happen to our beautiful girl?
I found out that God does hear one-word prayers, because when I think back on my life and am filled with gratitude, those miserable days in a Mexican hospital, when I could hardly breathe for tension, are what come first to my mind.
The Lord gradually shed light into my darkened world. First, He sent his children to bless and lift us....
Just as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, he (a branch president) was already there and gave her a powerful blessing in the ambulance. It was in Spanish and Julie couldn't hear it, but the Spirit did.
The branch president and his wife came the next day with a teddy bear and treats, hoping to touch her heart with hope, and then came a few times more to make sure she was doing well.
Another member of the branch owned a lovely restaurant and motioned to us after church on Sunday, that he wanted to give us relief from our worries. He explained with a word of English here and a word there, that he would pick us up the next night and take us to his restaurant and feed us.
How can the Lord have such charitable and good children? I thought, they will never see us again. They can't even converse with us. We can do nothing for them, but they are seeking to bless us merely because we are a brother and sister in heavy need.
These kindnesses made our days bearable. They were like a quiet touch on the shoulder from God saying, I know where you are and I haven't forgotten you.
...Then, we got a knock on the door and there stood Chris and Alison Hemming, a young couple we had never met before, brimming with happiness and vitality, who were on their honeymoon. They had been married two days before in the Oakland Temple and were on a cruise, whose first stop was Puerto Vallarta .
Now think about it, if you are on your honeymoon at your first port of call, where the tropical breezes caress the very air, what would you do with your few hours? Walk hand in hand along the beach? Share a romantic little dinner to celebrate your wedding? Wander through the shops eyeing the folk art?
Then there is always that great possibility that pops up first in any honeymooner's mind. You could always visit the sick—somebody that you don't know at all. Who were these two bright ones at our door? Who would consider such a thing? ...
We laughed together, talked like old friends, and I secretly marveled at how much better I felt for this outpouring of love to us from these two who didn't know us, but chose to love us anyway.
I felt awash in gratitude for my Heavenly Father, who knew just how to send a dash of hope into a gray hospital room. I wanted to shout Hallelujah that His children who feel His light would act in such a compassionate way.
I felt—I can say it no better than this—I felt loved. I felt noticed by the Divine, acknowledged by my Creator, and encircled in the robes of His righteousness." ...
