For many, there are times when life's heavy burdens seem too much to carry.  When you can count your blessings it is easier to see where the weight of your heavey burdens have been lightened by a loving kind Heavenly Father.  Blessings, Gar

 
Carry Your Cross

 By Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve

Taken from an edited version of a talk by Elder Ashton.

"In Matthew 16:24–25, we read, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

But what kind of cross do we each bear? what is its shape, weight, size, or dimension? The crosses we may carry are many: the cross of loneliness, the cross of physical limitations—loss of a leg, an arm, hearing, seeing, or mobility. These are obvious crosses. We see people with these crosses, and we admire their strength in carrying them with dignity. Poor health can be a cross, as can transgression, success, temptation, beauty, fame, or wealth. Financial burdens can be a cross. So can criticism or peer rejection.

Count Your Blessings

There is an aid, there is a strength, there is a power when we count our blessings as we labor under crosses that sometimes seem unreasonable and unfair but that can be for our good and for our strength. I bear special witness to you that carrying our crosses and following our Lord will bring strength, peace, and purpose in our quest for the abundant life. God has made this promise. Carry your crosses with strength, with purpose, and while you do, count the blessings of God's strength.

 
Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by.(Hymns,1985, no. 241.)

There is a strength that comes to us when we count our blessings as we labor under crosses that may sometimes seem unreasonable and unfair, but that can be for our good. I bear witness to you that carrying our crosses and following the Savior will bring us strength, peace, and purpose in our quest for the abundant life. God has made that promise."