Another week, come and gone?

Hey everyone! How is everybody doing? Hope all is well where ever  life has found you these days! I'm just chillin' here in Texas, quite literally! :-) It's been very rainy recently and it's been getting a lot colder. Tender mercy from the Lord preparing me to come back to SNOW!!! ;-) Oh, yeah - I'm excited for all that! It's been nice to have the colder weather for sure, next week it will probably move back up into the 80's or so. At least that's what I was told the weather predictors said. 

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week! I hope you all do something really exciting! I encourage you to do something nice, and let someone know that you are grateful for them and why. We often think of all the things that have made a difference in our lives, but we rarely remember to thank those who played a part. And most of all, naturally, thank Father for all He has done and continues to do for all of us. We are certainly all beggars and He has shown us great mercy! Truly grateful for that. We can all give thanks more sincerely and more frequently than we do. Ingratitude is an unfortunate epidemic that can cause us to forget where we really came from, and how we really got here. It can cause us to forsake blessings that God would have willingly gave if our hearts would've remained focused in gratitude upon Him. Or at least that is how I feel.

So, this week I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting, I suppose in preparation for my homecoming talk :-), and I really wanted to share my testimony of Christ and His Atonement. I studied a couple of talks, and I prayed a whole lot! I can't say that it was a master piece in itself, however, God is good! I stood up to give my talk, and I kept praying that I would be able to bring the Spirit unto the hearts in the meeting and that they would be able to feel God's love for them. I gave my poorly organized address and sat back down. There was a great peace in the room. After the meeting quite a few people came and expressed that they really enjoyed my talk. I want to testify that the Spirit that was felt or any difference that I made was by the grace of God alone. He does answer prayers, that's for sure. It was a really humbling experience, I felt simply inadequate of all those marvelously generous compliments. I am constantly amazed at what the Lord does with my feeble attempts at performing His work. I promise, it was definitely a 5 loaves and 2 fishes kind of experience. I was not nearly prepared for that talk as all those compliments deserved. I guess the point of me sharing this story is to express a simple example of how His grace is more than sufficient. He really can take our meager offering, and turn it into the work and glory of God! It's amazing!

I want you to know that I love you very much and I hope that you have a most wonderful week! Do all that you can to be thankful and love one another! Know that my love is with you!

Forever,

Sis. Chris.