You Ought to Thank Your Heavenly King!

Mosiah 2:19-25
Benjamin tells us how much we owe to our Heavenly Father and how much we ought to give thanks to Him.

Here are some of the things He does for us:

1. He created us.
2. He keeps and preserves us.
3. He causes that we should rejoice.
4. Allows us to live in peace with one another.
5. Preserves us from day to day.
6. Lends us breath.
7. Allows us to move and do according to our own will
8. Supports us from one moment to another.

 I especially love the mental image of the Lord lending us breath and supporting us from one moment to another.  I feel myself with His arms supporting mine, holding me up, helping me move around.


When my arthritis was at its worst, my bad knee ached almost all of the time, and moving it at all was hugely painful.  I remember once going to the temple and pushing that sore knee to get me to the front door of the temple, only to recall that my temple bag (or was it my wallet with the recommend) was still in the car.  So I had to limp back down to the car and back up again.  I remember thinking, "Well, Satan, if you thought you could get me to give up and go back home rather than turn around and go back into the temple, you were wrong!"  But I could feel the Lord supporting me then, helping me walk back up to the temple and through the rest of the time there.  Soon afterward, I discovered by "accident" that the dose I was taking of my medicine was only 1/10th of what it should have been.  When I started taking the correct dose, I felt much better.  And the final miracle was getting the whole knee replaced!


Amazingly, He doesn't just support us as one might with a puppet on strings.  He allows us to move and do according to our own will.  Even if we're not always doing His will, He still helps us.  Oh, how we ought to thank our Heavenly King!.