Seeing God's blessings around me

Something I always try to do (usually not well) is to stay up with the recent conference addresses. There's been so many times that I watched conference, loved it, and had it change my life for about 2 days until I forgot basically everything that everyone said. So I try (once again, usually not well) to go back and review a talk from last conference every so often to keep them fresh in my mind. Recently I read Pres. Monson's and had some thoughts about it.

His message was basically this: being grateful for the blessings in our lives, particularly the blessing that God's hears and answers our prayers. One paragraph in particular I liked was this one:

"...it is sometimes difficult to view the problems and permissiveness around us and not become discouraged. I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness."

And so I ask myself: what prayers of mine have been answered? What blessings am I overlooking, both small and large? I'm gonna try and list some of it out today.

Which of my prayers have been answered recently? I'm really not entirely sure. I guess I gotta think of what I pray for first. Here we go.

• Health and safety - My wife and have in fact been pretty healthy. We have our little things here and there, but overall, not so bad. Our families have also been relatively healthy and safe. 

• The Spirit's companionship - I pray for this one every day, and now that I think about it, I have had it every day. It has been there to warn me, to support me, and to strengthen me at the times when I have needed it most. 

• Relationship with my wife - Our relationship is slowly but surely getting back together. It feels like we go up a little, then down a little, up a lot, down a lot, but I believe there is an overall net progression and that we're both learning important things about ourselves, each other, and God. We both wish we could feel better sooner, but it's good that we're getting lots of time to learn so much so we won't have to learn these lessons later.

• Power to resist temptation at various times such as this one - I can't believe that was the last time I had to face a stronger temptation. I never thought it would get easier, but it is. I have truly felt a higher power beyond my own to deal with the struggles and stresses of life in much better ways that I have in the past. This is a daily thing for me, whether it be praying for deliverance in a focused attack from the adversary, or just to feel peace on a rainy day, I've felt strength. Not in the way I thought I would, but it is enough and I am grateful for it.

• Pray to know God's will - usually I think of this in times of temptation, because He ALWAYS provides a way out when I ask Him. But recently I had another one that came during personal study last week. My little sister is leaving on a mission soon and I thought during my study to send her a message about scripture study, so I did. Anyway, small thing, who knows what it did, if anything - but I had the feeling to do something and I did it, and that is a success. 

• Praying for my wife - I pray for my wife often. I pray for her to have strength, to feel peace, to have power beyond her own, to heal, and many other things. I feel that God is answering those prayers. The other day we were having a hard day and I felt to write her an email. I'm not great with words and was nervous the email wouldn't turn out good or would do more harm than good (sometimes that happens to me), so I prayed that God would bless my weak email so it could help my wife feel happy. She wasn't bouncing off the walls afterwards but she told me it helped her feel happier, which is what I prayed for.

• Lastly....Recovery - I realized something while reading this. I don't remember the exact day, but it has now been a full year since I have even started to seek out any sort of pornography or act out sexually. No gateway websites. No "gray area" videos or other media. No pretending to search out something just to see if I can find it. No... I can't even think of the word that I used to do all the time. Where you do something, and pretend like it's ok for reason A or reason B. Rationalizing. Nothing. I feel so humbled by that. Thank You...

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude as I think about the blessings God has given me over the last while. He has heard and answered my prayers both great and small. Usually slower than I would like, and not to the extent that I would like (I'm quite impatient), but He has. I'm grateful for the ability to recognize some of those blessings, and hope I can get better at it as God continues to open my eyes to better see His ever-present hand in the seemingly spontaneous flow of events going on around me.

The future is indeed looking bright. Turns out President Monson was right, that did help me be happy.