chills

i have chills today.

not only because this very moment is the first time my little eyes have seen snow fall this season. what a magician our Father in Heaven is-he creates the most magical things.

but i have chills today because my spirit feels like it is going to burst out of my body, it is that full, and my tummy is too. though i'm thousands of miles away from the nation and people which honor the holiday we celebrated, today i am grateful. grateful that i have arms that can whip cream by hand, and a voice that can invite missionaries over for an american mock thanksgiving, fingers that can open the sweetest messages from people i love, and ears that can listen to handel's messiah.

this has been a thanksgiving we are sure to never forget. we've never done it by ourselves before, and it was surprisingly fulfilling, and a tad bit lonely without the clan. BUT absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Two thoughts that are foremost in my heart:

“I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns” quote

We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance quote

hope you are hitting up the black friday sales for me! 

now on to Christmas.