Gratitude fast

(This is Melanie)
Since this is Shelby's blog and there is no real reason for me to get on here anymore , I just wanted to depart with my love and gratitude. Today was Fast Sunday at church. Often, we fast and pray asking the Lord for the things we NEED or WANT. Sometimes there is something about ourselves that we need help in changing. Sometimes our loved ones are sick or in harms way or having some kind of trouble and we fast for them. We fast for the Lord to know we are serious about what we are praying for. When I was serving a mission in Japan many years ago and was struggling with the language and with trying to find anyone who wanted to hear our message, my whole family fasted for me. Even my little brother Jamey who was only 5 or 6 at the time fasted. The Lord listened and blessed me and my mission. I have learned that fasting is powerful. Every fast Sunday since Shelby got cancer my heart has been filled with the desire for the Lord to spare her; to heal her; to bless her with strength and courage. But today was different. Today I didn't fast FOR anything. Today I fasted out of gratitude.

In the Book of Mormon we read about the people of Nephi in Alma 45:1 "Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them . . . therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy." This is what I did today. I fasted today to let my Heavenly Father know how grateful I am that Shelby was made whole. I fasted today for the "time" she has left with all of us and for how important a part of my life she is. I was just grateful. I felt like I was "worshiping God with exceedingly great joy." And you know, I wasn't hungry. I was happy. Maybe we need to fast out of gratitude more. It was a very sweet, beautiful thing for me. Marvin J. Ashton once said that "a grateful heart sits at a continual feast." So it was for me today. I was not only grateful for Shelby's miracle but as the day progressed I was more and more thankful for President Hinckley and his life and his example. I was thankful for my family and my home and at dinner time, for my double oven :) I was thankful for the beautiful weather in Arizona in the winter and for the progress my sweet Lizzy has made just in the last few weeks. I could go on and on but I won't. This isn't my blog. But I just want all of you to know how much I love this gospel and am grateful for the miracles that I have seen throughout my life. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon that gave me the idea to fast out of gratitude. If you haven't had a gratitude fast before - try it next month. I am still choked up about how it made me feel all day.