Thank You, Even Here: A Practice of Gratitude in the Middle of the Mess

It happened right at the end.
You know how sometimes you're already closing the scripture app on your phone and your mind’s on what’s next? Or what's for lunch? or what time will my Sunday nap start? That was me yesterday. Gospel Doctrine was wrapping up, the room was shifting out of “lesson mode,” and then, right before the final prayer., one last verse was read.

I’ve heard it before. Maybe you have, too. But something about it felt different this time. Like it lingered longer than it should have.

“And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold⁠—yea, more.”
Doctrine & Covenants 78:19

It sounds beautiful. Even a little too beautiful. The kind of scripture that feels like it belongs stitched onto a pillow. “Receive all things with thankfulness.”

All things?

Not just the obvious blessings. Not just the answered prayers, the breakthroughs, the mornings when everything clicks. But also the muddled, heart-heavy, can’t-make-sense-of-this days?

I paused there for a minute, and I wrote it down in my notebook, Because if I’m honest, I don’t always know how to say thank you in the middle of the storm.

I can do it later...when things settle, when I can trace the hand of the Lord through the hard parts and finally see how it shaped me.

I’ve done that.

I know what it’s like to look back with gratitude.

But being thankful right in the middle of the ache?
When the thing I’ve been praying for still hasn’t shifted.
When I feel like I’m walking with more questions than answers.
When the relationship feels strained and the future feels blurry.

That kind of thankfulness doesn’t come naturally to me.

And still, this verse made a promise I couldn’t shake.

Not that gratitude will make the trial disappear.

Not that it will usher in immediate relief. But that something will change in me.

Something glorious.

There’s something holy about choosing thankfulness when there’s not yet a reason to celebrate.
Maybe even sacred.

Because when I stop and whisper, “Thank you, God, for being here...even here,” I can almost feel my soul settle.

I think it’s less about understanding and more about trust.

Less about the outcome and more about who we become.

And that word receive caught me too.

“He who receiveth all things…”

Not resists.

Not avoids.

But receives.

I don’t always do this well.

Sometimes I brace. I try to fix. I want to skip ahead to the part where everything feels okay again.

But I’ve watched people walk through devastating things with peace and even joy. And I wonder if this is part of it.

So, this week, I’m trying something small.

When the moment feels frustrating or heavy, I’m going to say just one sentence of gratitude. Even if I have to whisper it.

Not because everything’s okay.
But because God is still in it.

And maybe that’s enough for today.