A change of heart

 

 

“It’s so easy in life for us to receive blessings, many of them almost uncounted, and have things happen in our lives that can help change our lives, improve our lives, and bring the Spirit into our lives. But we sometimes take them for granted. How grateful we should be for the blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into our hearts and souls.”

David B. Haight

 “The revered Abraham Lincoln accurately described our plight: ‘We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power. … But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.’”

Thomas S. Monson

“In speaking of the story of the 10 lepers, Elder Howard W. Hunter also stressed our need to thank our Heavenly Father for all the blessings that He gives to us: ‘Of the ten men who were healed, only one returned to express appreciation. This must have been a disappointment to the Master, but there are many who receive blessings, many who are endowed with good things in life, yet never take the time or go to the effort to show gratitude to the benefactor or express appreciation to God. Happiness and joy from blessings are never complete until there is a deep feeling of gratitude within oneself which moves an expression of appreciation’

 

“Let us follow the Son of God in all ways and in all walks of life. Let us make him our exemplar and our guide. We should at every opportunity ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and then be more courageous to act upon the answer. We must follow Christ, in the best sense of that word. We must be about his work as he was about his Father’s.”

Howard W. Hunter

“Awareness is the first step in developing gratitude. Bishop Henry B. Eyring pointed out that if we count our blessings with faith, the Holy Ghost will often bring other blessings to mind (Ensign, November 1989) Many of our greatest blessings have been part of our lives for so long that we may have forgotten they are gifts. How often, for instance, do we recall that our physical bodies are blessings we eagerly longed for as spirit children?”

Carolyn Wright

“On several occasions President Heber J. Grant was strongly impressed with President Brigham Young’s ability to talk with the Lord. President Grant said: ‘I was familiar with the Prophet Brigham Young. I knelt down time and time again in his home in the Lion House at family prayers, as a child and as a young man; and I bear witness that as a little child, upon more than one occasion, because of the inspiration of the Lord to Brigham Young while he was supplicating God for guidance, I have lifted my head, turned and looked at the place where Brigham Young was praying, to see if the Lord was
not there. It seemed to me that he talked to the Lord as one man would talk to another’

 

“Life every life has a full share of ups and downs. Indeed,

we see … many blessings that do not always look or feel like blessings”

Howard W. Hunter

“Recognize trials as blessings. It may seem odd to think of illness, social upheavals, natural disasters, and personal tragedies as blessings. But how often have we heard people bear testimony of the growth they experienced through enduring periods of challenge and trial?”

Carolyn Wright

“I was sitting behind two teenage girls on a bus. One of them was upset because her parents couldn’t afford to buy a dress she had wanted. She didn’t really like her second choice.  ‘Then Mom was upset because I didn’t say thank you,’ she complained. ‘I don’t know what she expected me to say thank you for!’  Ungrateful child, I thought.  Not long after that, I began pondering the promise of ‘a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it’ (3 Ne. 24:10). Although I had been paying my tithing and fulfilling my other obligations, I did not feel overwhelmed with blessings. In fact, I felt that I had little to be grateful for.  Suddenly, my experience on the bus flashed through my mind. I, too, had been an ungrateful child. First as a trickle and then increasing to a torrent, there came to me a powerful awareness of the blessings I had received. From tiny everyday blessings to the great blessing of the Atonement, the gifts God had given me were both abundant and wondrous. The windows of heaven had been open all the time. I just hadn’t noticed.”

 

Carolyn Wright

 

 

“I cannot escape the interpretation that meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgement of a greater power beyond one-self, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of his commandments. This is the beginning of wisdom. Walk with gratitude before him who is the giver of life and every good gift.”

 

Gordon B Hinckley

 

 

“…The greatest miracle is not in such things as restoring sight to the blind, healing an illness, or even raising the dead, since all of these restorations will happen, in any event, in the Resurrection…A change of heart, including new attitudes, priorities, and desires, is greater and more important than any miracle involving the body. I repeat, the body will be resurrected in any event, but a change affecting what the scripture calls the ‘heart’ of a spirit son or daughter of God is a change whose effect is eternal. If of the right kind, this change opens the door to the process of repentance that cleanses us to dwell in the presence of God. It introduces the perspective and priorities that lead us to make the choices that qualify us for eternal life, ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God.”

 

Dallin H. Oaks

 

 

“Faith is not just push a button and you get the answer. The Lord declared, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.’ Brigham Young observed, ‘God never bestows upon his people, or upon an individual, superior blessings without a severe trial to prove them.’ Personally, for some vital decisions I have experienced the grueling, anguishing struggle that precedes a confirming answer. Yet those trying experiences have been edifying. It is comforting to know that God will never try you more than you can manage with His help.”

 

Richard G. Scott

 

“Christ’s supreme sacrifice can find full fruition in our lives only as we accept the invitation to follow him. This call is not irrelevant, unrealistic, or impossible. To follow an individual means to watch him or listen to him closely; to accept his authority, to take him as a leader, and to obey him; to support and advocate his ideas; and to take him as a model. Each of us can accept this challenge.”

Howard W. Hunter

“Every person born into the world comes from the presence of God. We all saw him in that eternal world. We heard his voice. He taught us his laws. We learned about Christ and chose to follow him when he was chosen to be our Savior and Redeemer. We understood and knew the gospel plan and shouted for joy at the privilege of getting our mortal bodies as part of that great plan of salvation.”

Bruce R. McConkie

 “The Lord’s invitation to follow him is individual and personal, and it is compelling. We cannot stand forever between two opinions. Each of us must at some time face the crucial question: ‘Whom say ye that I am?’ (Matt. 16:15.) Our personal salvation depends on our answer to that question and our commitment to that answer.”

Howard W. Hunter