Over the years, President Thomas S. Monson shared several Thanksgiving tales that help us remember gratitude, charity, and the hand of God on our lives.

Often, when seated in my office with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I hear questions and statements such as: “Why doesn’t God love me? Why do I not receive the blessings that are promised when I strive so hard to be obedient? Why does it feel like I am being punished when others are blessed? I try so hard to do what I know is right, and yet nothing seems to change; why? Why can’t I get past or over these feelings of depression and/or anxiety? Is there something wrong with me? Why does it feel like God is not listening when I have done all that I know how to do? Why, if God is so powerful, does He not bring the changes into my life that I desire and so desperately need?” With each of these heartfelt questions expressed in desperation and defeat, the next phrase I hear, more often than not, is this: “I must be doing something wrong. I am just not good enough.” It is as if this anguished response expresses a logical answer to their questions.

The race is on. The gauntlet has been thrown down. The challenge? Submit the best cookie recipe you have. The prize? One hundred dollars to Deseret Book, and the chance to live in immortal glory as the crowned victor of LDS Living’s first ever cookie contest. Here are the rules (pay close attention, because you must abide by each for your recipe to be considered):

Though fasting is an import part of drawing closer to our Heavenly Father, not every Latter-day Saint is able to do so. But this doesn't mean these members can't enjoy the blessings of drawer closer Heavenly Father in other ways. Read how one LDS woman with terminal cancer finds others ways to draw strength from Heavenly Father when she cannot fast.

“I cannot remember a time when there was no war,” George Ngunza says. “My earliest memories are of the fighting that ravaged my village." In fact, when Ngunza was just 14 years old, militiamen wielding machetes attacked Ngunza’s family in the middle of the night, killing his father, mother, and two brothers and leaving him for dead.

Kristin Wells lost her husband and two children in a plane crash while she was 20 weeks pregnant. While the family cannot describe the pain of the loss they feel, Kristin Wells's father-in-law shared, "It would be extremely hard if I didn't know where he was at. And that I'd see him again."

If you're wondering where you can go to find a little compassion in the world, apparently Provo, Utah, is the place to be.

We’ve talked here at Segullah before about grief, and how for all of our Mormon doctrine about hope and life eternal and the glories of salvation, Mormons aren’t always that good with grief. We rush to comfort those who stand in need of comfort, but lots of times we do it badly. We want to give hope, but somehow want to do it by pretending that hope and sorrow can’t co-exist (they can). We accentuate the hope (which is good) and ignore the sorrow (which is bad).

All across the nation, over 1,500 people created wedding dresses from nothing but toilet paper, glue, tape, and thread. And a Latter-day Saint was among them.

Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that just resonated with you on a level you would never have expected? Though it might seem strange to receive enlightenment from a sticky piece of plastic, you're not the only one. Many general authorities have shared wisdom from these often quippy, sometimes serious phrases.