i watched this video on the first day of december.
i had just finished making our advent calendar and was wondering what
treasures to put inside the tiny red envelopes.
abe was in charge of deciding our christmas theme this year.
after much contemplation, he decided our christmas theme this year
would be from the song, 'oh holy night'
"TILL HE APPEARED
AND THE SOUL FELT ITS WORTH"
i LOVE the theme abe picked out!
i loved watching him think about it and take it seriously. it impressed me listening to him present it to our family. i liked his thoughts about when the savior appears in our hearts, it gives us strength to withstand temptation and when we do what is right and feel God's love, we feel better inside.
that made my whole christmas.
it's just like the last scripture in the video, 'that whosoever believeth in him should not perish'
i truly believe that!
i looked up perish and it means destroyed. i really do believe that if our testimonies are strong then satan can't destroy us by any of his lies, deceptions, addictions or even discouragement.
we are working at our house on strengthening testimonies. family night last week was all about having our own testimony, which takes work.
i decided after watching this mormon message about embracing the GIFT, feeling the need to strengthen testimonies, and hearing abe's theme, that our advent calendar would hold
scriptures about Jesus.
we read them each day for family scripture study, then everyone gets a
hershey kiss, ya know, so they can feel the love:)
i have been praying that my kids will have more encounters with the spirit. we decided our first gift of christmas this year would have to do with "sharing the gift". we were discussing which family to give our gift to. after some discussion, kai piped up and said he had been thinking about a family.
i had the thought go through my mind that maybe this was as much for kai as it was for the family.
i jumped on board and we delivered our first gift of christmas to the family that kai thought of. i prayed that somehow it would come back to kai and he would know his thought of this family was a spiritual encounter. i believe it was. a couple days later, a post showed up on insta gram thanking whoever gave the gift to their family. i showed it to kai and he got the cutest little look on his face.
i know Heavenly Father answered my prayer.
i had these two scriptures go through my head one day as we were preparing to move from flagstaff.
i was reminded of them the other day as i was thinking about all the ways Heavenly has had a hand in my family's life the last couple years. i have felt his hand in BIG ways like with abe's accident and also many small ways, like with kai feeling who we should deliver the gift to.
13 And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.
14 Yea, and the Lord said also that: After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God; and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.
i love that it says that 'ye shall be led...and ye shall KNOW that it is BY ME that ye are led...after ye have arrived, YE SHALL KNOW that i am God"
TESTIMONY!!!!
i know that as i look back on the last few years, i have felt led and when i remember the things we have felt and had help with, i can look back with a strong testimony!
i am so excited to embrace the GIFT this Christmas season!
