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2014-05-00-ensign-eng

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shortsighted that is. How much oflife do we miss by waiting to see therainbow before thanking God thatthere is rain?Being grateful in times of distressdoes not mean that we are pleasedwith our circumstances. It does meanthat through the eyes of faith we lookbeyond our present-day chall<strong>eng</strong>es.This is not a gratitude of the lipsbut of the soul. It is a gratitude thatheals the heart and expands themind.Gratitude as an Act of FaithBeing grateful in our circumstancesis an act of faith in God. Itrequires that we trust God and hopefor things we may not see but whichare true. 8 By being grateful, we followthe example of our beloved Savior,who said, “Not my will, but thine, bedone.” 9True gratitude is an expressionof hope and testimony. It comesfrom acknowledging that we do notRaymond, Alberta, Canada76always understand the trials of lifebut trusting that one day we will.In any circumstance, our sense ofgratitude is nourished by the manyand sacred truths we do know: thatour Father has given His children thegreat plan of happiness; that throughthe Atonement of His Son, JesusChrist, we can live forever with ourloved ones; that in the end, we willhave glorious, perfect, and immortalbodies, unburdened by sicknessor disability; and that our tears ofsadness and loss will be replacedwith an abundance of happiness andjoy, “good measure, pressed down,and shaken together, and runningover.” 10It must have been this kind oftestimony that transformed the Savior’sApostles from fearful, doubting meninto fearless, joyful emissaries of theMaster. In the hours following HisCrucifixion, they were consumed withdespair and grief, unable to understandwhat had just happened. Butone event changed all of that. TheirLord appeared to them and declared,“Behold my hands and my feet, that itis I myself.” 11When the Apostles recognized therisen Christ—when they experiencedthe glorious Resurrection of theirbeloved Savior—they became differentmen. Nothing could keep themfrom fulfilling their mission. Theyaccepted with courage and determinationthe torture, humiliation, andeven death that would come to thembecause of their testimony. 12 Theywere not deterred from praising andserving their Lord. They changed thelives of people everywhere. Theychanged the world.You do not need to see the Savior,as the Apostles did, to experience thesame transformation. Your testimonyof Christ, born of the Holy Ghost, canhelp you look past the disappointingendings in mortality and see the brightfuture that the Redeemer of the worldhas prepared.We Are Not Made for EndingsIn light of what we know aboutour eternal destiny, is it any wonderthat whenever we face the bitter endingsof life, they seem unacceptableto us? There seems to be somethinginside of us that resists endings.Why is this? Because we are madeof the stuff of eternity. We are eternalbeings, children of the AlmightyGod, whose name is Endless 13 and

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