Being Grateful in the Face of Adversity

So, on top of my mother's divorce proceedings, we found out today that her business partner passed away on Saturday. This is a mighty blow as he was the money handler and technical wizard behind their web business. He had been in poor health for some time, but they had never made a contingency plan if one of them died or otherwise could not continue. She had no access to the company accounts, nor any clue on how to take care of the technical end of things. No one can take his place, only he knew how everything on their site fit and worked together.

It seems like the hits keep coming lately, now the new ones come before the old ones are over.

Which brings me to the subject of this post. How can we stay grateful in the face of adversity? How did our pioneer forebears handle the excruciating sacrifice of traveling to the Salt Lake Valley? Dealing with the loss of loved ones, how were the early saints able to press forward? Why didn't they just curl up and die, or turn around and head back home?

Sometimes, it is easy to be grateful, it doesn't really take any effort. But other times, we need to be willfully grateful. We need to look explicitly for things to be grateful for. What I want to do is post everyday until Christmas. Each post will include one thing I am grateful for. I'm hoping that by the time Christmas comes, the gratitude I show then will be easier to express than it is at the moment.

I'll make this one easy:

I am grateful for my family that loves me, and who I love as well. No matter what comes against us, we have one another. Right now, my mom is taking the brunt of these challenges, so I try to support her. in the past and in the future, it'll be me who takes the brunt, and I'll require her or my brother for support.