November is the month of gratitude. I've noticed since the month started, many people have put different grateful posts on their facebooks... I'm not much for putting a whole lot on facebook, but I've had a lot on my mind, and I figured maybe it was time to actually get on here and publish something.
Three years ago this month I first decided to serve a mission. I've thought a lot about that decision over the past few weeks, and I have been amazed at how grateful I am that the Lord placed me somewhere I originally didn't want to go. A mission wasn't in my plans, and actually, when I first got my answer to go on a mission I argued about it with God for a while. I told Him all the reasons I didn't want to go, all the reasons I shouldn't go, and exactly why a mission didn't fit into my plans.
I'm so glad He let me get all that out, and then gently told me again that I needed to go on a mission. At that moment I felt the most overwhelming sense of love, particularly directed towards those I would serve. Three years later I can still feel that, and it was that love that carried me through some of the hardest points in my mission.
My first answer to serve a mission wasn't the last time I needed to know that I really was called to serve. There was a second time, and once again my answer to serve came in a "no" to something else I wanted. Looking back, I guess I often don't know what I really want or what is really best for me. But that, I think, is what I am most grateful for this year. I grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me well enough to say "no" because He has things for me that I couldn't have imagined.
