Saturday

I am doing well.  I spent a lot of time alone today and so I am the one that had to do things.  I made my own tomato pie and it turned out great.  I went up and down the stairs to get things and even used a cane and headed across the back yard to pick fresh basil.

This sign hangs in the bedroom I'm staying in. My daughter made it for me and it has been very inspiring to me to learn first hand the truth of this statement.  The people around me affect me in so many ways - my moods, my healing, my worth, my hope.  I know I am giving them a lot of power but we really do have a lot of power in the way we treat others - our words and our actions.  We can pretend that things don't affect us but they do.  When we surround ourselves with good people and then also don't judge, celebrate their successes and welcome them into your life.  It helps those people around you to become a blessing and positive influence.

I have been listening to September Ensign on lds.org and loved this article Can We Live "after the Manner of Happiness?"  As you know I suffered a epidural hematoma.  When I read this paragraph I could relate in a new way.

When I was young, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) was the prophet. During his ministry as an Apostle and then as Church President, he had many health challenges. He suffered from heart problems. He had cancer of the larynx and had to learn to speak again. He suffered three subdural hematomas (a collection of fluid outside the brain). After all of his trials and difficulties, and just days after an operation to treat his first subdural hematoma, do you know what he taught at general conference? He said, “‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges.”1

He went through so much more than I have.  I listened to his talk "Give me this Mountain." with his gravelly voice and a new understanding.  Then I got it in print.  The part that spoke to me was this

I will “wholly follow the Lord my God” to the fullest extent of my energy and my ability.

Earnestly and fervently I urge that each of you make this same pledge and effort—every priesthood leader, every woman in Israel, each young man, each young woman, every boy and girl.

This I can do. This is what I desire. I can give MY energy, MY ability. I will wholly follow the Lord my God.  That is what I can do with the gift of life I have been given.  I'm still here and I want to do all I can to live my covenants, love others and serve my God.

Grateful:

• pizza ordered
• Milt did the grocery shopping.
• Women's Conference which was wonderful.  Again I want to have charity, to love others and to increase in faith.
• the sun came out today