Christmas is coming…are you ready?
I am not. I am struggling a bit to decide what to give a couple of the kids on my list. I will figure it out…eventually…hopefully before Christmas. In the meantime, I do know what I want to give all of you, my dear readers and friends.
To start off, I want to give you my sincere gratitude for connecting with me here. I love your comments, your messages, and the personal emails that I get from you, telling me about the perspective or hope that you have found through something that I have written. Spreading perspective and hope is perhaps my main goal in writing and sharing so much of my life with you, so it makes me happy to hear about the times when you are able to find that in my little corner of the internet. Thank you for taking the time to let me know about your experiences…it makes me feel like what I am doing is worth it.
Secondly, many of you know that my faith plays a huge role in my life. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. My faith gives me hope amidst challenges and trials. It gives me peace in a world that is often chaotic. It gives me perspective and direction in my efforts to live a meaningful life, and helps me to teach my children to do the same. It brings me joy and purpose. I would feel lost without it. I know that many of you also depend upon faith in your own lives, for all of those same reasons. Your faith may be different from mine, and that is OK. We can all be friends and learn from each other, whatever our faith may be. Faith in all of its varieties brings a common bond to live a good life. However, there may be some of you who are struggling to find faith in a world that often doesn’t encourage it, and sometimes mocks the faithful. There may be some of you who are searching for something more in your life – something to give you the hope and perspective that you yearn for. For those of you, and any others who may be interested, I would love to send you a Christmas gift. It is a book that is dear to me – one that has brought me so much peace and hope in the troubled world that we live in. It is called the Book of Mormon, and it is an important part of the gospel that I love. It is a companion to the Bible, not a replacement for it, and also testifies of Jesus Christ.
The origins, history, and purpose of the Book of Mormon is explained on mormon.org. It says:
The Book of Mormon is the word of God, like the Bible. It is Holy Scripture, with form and content similar to that of the Bible. Both books contain God’s guidance as revealed to prophets as well as religious histories of different civilizations. While the Bible is written by and about the people in the land of Israel and surrounding areas, and takes place from the creation of the world until shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon contains the history and God’s dealings with the people who lived in the Americas between approximately 600 BC and 400 AD. The prophets in the Book of Mormon recorded God’s dealings with His people, which were compiled by a prophet named Mormon onto gold plates.
You can read much more about it, and why it is so important to our faith by visiting mormon.org. I have read it several times, and I testify of its truthfulness. I have found answers to my prayers as I have studied it, and know that it is, along with the Bible, the word of God. Here is one of my favorite scriptures found within its pages:
2 Nephi 25:26
And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
As a parent, one of my main goals is to teach my children how to live good lives and stay close to God. I know that they are going to make mistakes as they learn to distinguish and choose right from wrong. I want them to know where to look for comfort, for hope, and for a remission of their sins. As it testifies of Jesus Christ, his life, and his divinity, The Book of Mormon, used in combination with the Bible, has helped me to teach my children of Christ and his role in their lives. It has also helped me to find great purpose and joy in my own life. If you would like a copy as my Christmas gift to you, please send me an email at lynnette@simplyforreal.com, or click on the contact link at the top of this page and send me a message that way. Be sure to include your address, and I will get a copy in the mail for you.
Please remember that I will not be offended if you are not interested in learning more about what I believe. We can still be friends. I am not trying to force my beliefs on anybody, and it is perfectly fine with me if you have your own beliefs that are different from mine. I only ask for the same respect in return. I have found much happiness and peace in my own life as I have embraced my own faith, and this is an offer to share that same peace with others who may be looking for that in their lives. I have recently had people unsubscribe from my blog because they didn’t realize that I was a Mormon. If you feel that way, that is OK. I will be sad to lose you, but I won’t be offended. Like I said before, I really do believe that we can all learn from and gain strength from each other as we strive to live the best lives that we can.
Thank you again for reading, and Merry Christmas.
