Shaking Our Envelopes

Today I am really grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This morning I was able to attend a stake Relief Society activity where Brad Wilcox spoke.  He is hilarious and awesome.  My favorite, parts were when he referred to himself as his wife's 1st Counselor.  Cracked me up! 
And when he talked about his mother.  I'm paraphrasing a lot but basically, a while after her husband died a woman asked her when she first noticed Jesus helping her through it.  She thought about it for a minute and then replied that there wasn't a time when He wasn't with her.  She said that in her life there has only ever been one set of footprints.  She could never have made it through life without Him.  I just thought that was really a neat way to look at it. 
Also, he talked about how we aren't just going through life trying to make it back to Heavenly Father's presence.  If that were true we would have never left in the first place.  We are supposed to be better when we return than we were when we left.  He talked about how, in our efforts to make it to Heaven, we are supposed to make ourselves more Heavenly.  Meaning...that our obedience helps us feel more comfortable, and at home, when we "get" to Heaven.  If we aren't being obedient we might not feel quite as comfortable.  I hope that makes sense.  He makes it sound a lot better than I do I'm sure.  :)   
Oh, it was just  a really great talk!  He was at the session of "Time Out For Women" that I attended last year and he was so fun to listen to and so inspiring, that I really wanted to go to this activity and listen to him again.  I love that when ever we try to understand the gospel more or just to bring ourselves closer to our Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost, we are blessed.  It can be so easy at times and so difficult at other times, but whatever effort we make is appreciated by Them and we are blessed for in some way or another. 
Brad Wilcox talked about that also.  He said that the bishop doesn't act hateful to a little kid who pays his tithing in coins and say you really need to work harder and stuff like that, he just is so happy that the child is being obedient and gaining a testimony of tithing.  He said that it's that way with Heavenly Father.  He's not up there "shaking our envelope", he's just happy to see us show our obedience and making our best effort to grow and learn.