Dear The Boonie Life blog readers,
I don't know who out there still reads my blog. I have not been the best at keeping it up lately. It might just be one person that still checks this. If it is just one person, well then this is for you, One Person.
I have been feeling for a long time, the last year or more, that I need to write about my faith and testimony here on my blog. I have been putting it off, but I continue to be reminded/prompted to write it, and I am not going to put it off anymore. It needs to be on this blog here. So, here it is! Maybe it is just for me. Maybe it is for my family.
But maybe it is for you. I pray that as you read this, you will feel the Lord's love for you.
______________________________________________
It burns deep within me.
Like the trunk of a tree, it thickens and strengthens with time;
its roots grow deeper and deeper.
It is steadfast.
It is immovable.
It is more precious to me than any jewels could ever be and more valuable than any amount of money.
It is my
faith.
It is my
love of God,
my Father in Heaven.
It is my
love of Jesus Christ.
It is my
belief in scripture,
and in prayer.
It is my
knowledge that God loves me, and you - all of us.
And that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I love God. He is my Father in heaven, my Eternal Father. I am His daughter. Because of this I have divine nature. Have you ever thought of that? That YOU are a child of God? That you have divine qualities because you are a child of God. Talk about a self esteem booster! We are each daughters or sons of God. He loves us as just that - as His daughter, or His son. He knows our name. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts, our dreams, our fears, our worries, what makes us happy or sad. He sees our actions. He hears our prayers, whether formal or informal. He is omnipotent. He is loving. He is amazing! He wants us to live with Him again, forever. Until then, we need to stay close to Him through prayer. He wants to hear from us - daily, or several times daily. There is power in prayer.
I love my Savior, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I am so immensely and eternally grateful for Him and all that He has done for me - for all of us. He showed us the way to live. He told us to follow Him. He is our exemplar. He was baptized by immersion - not because he needed its cleansing, for he was perfect - but to show us that that is what we should do. He kept His father's commandments, and loved God with all His heart, might, mind and strength - that is what we should do. He loved people, and treated them with kindness and respect; that is exactly what we need to do. He walked before us, and all we need to do is follow in his footsteps. He is our older brother, who loves and cares for us. He gave the ultimate gift, and sacrifice; He gave His life. He willingly died for us! He loves us so much that He died, so that we can repent of our sins (that all of us commit every day because we are mortal) and live forever with Him and with our Father in heaven. He was resurrected, and, when the time comes, we will be too. Jesus lives today!
Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave us commandments to live by, to keep us safe, and in that safety, to have happiness. I know that in keeping the commandments there is peace, security, and happiness.
He has also given us scripture. Wonderful, true, meaningful scripture. He has given them to us so that we can know His word and His gospel, and how to live, what was, and what is to come. There is so much to the scriptures that we could spiritually feast upon them for a lifetime, studying them everyday. Scripture has power. It is amazing how the scriptures, especially combined with prayer, improves how you see life, and, therefore, influences your day-to-day choices for good.
The Bible is amazing, and is full of wisdom and guidance and love and wonderful stories. It is about the divine creation of the world and of man and animals. It is about miracles, and the birth and glorious life of Jesus. It is about His crucifixion and His resurrection. It is an ancient record of people from Jerusalem, and Canaan, and Egypt, and other surrounding areas. It is also about today - the last days- which I love to read about, and which we need to know.
The Book of Mormon is also amazing. It compliments the Bible. It testifies of Jesus Christ. Like the Bible is a record of the ancient people from the middle east area, The Book of Mormon is a record of ancient people from the Americas. Some people say they don't like The Book of Mormon. But if they love the Bible, and read the Book of Mormon, with an open heart and mind, they would also love it. They would see that it is not trying to take the place of the Bible, or be the Bible, or add to it, as some say, but it is a different book that is another witness of the Lord. It is the records and stories of people from the ancient Americas and their conversions and testimonies of Jesus Christ. It is also full of wisdom and guidance and love of God and Christ. It also talks a lot about the last days, which, like I said before, I love to read about. It is fun to read the Bible and Book of Mormon side by side and cross reference.
I would LOVE to share a Book of Mormon with you. It truly is an amazing book that will bring you closer to the Lord. If you would like one (for free of course), please email me at scarriebeth at yahoo dot com.
My faith has grown so much this year. I have been making more of an effort to study and ponder. My spirit has felt more nourished. Like our bodies need physical food, our spirits need to be fed daily, even several times daily. Our spirits are as real as our bodies. They will be weak, or may even die, if we do not feed them. We must nourish our spirits constantly, and with "nutritious food"!
I encourage you to be more reflective, to study and ponder, to read the scriptures and pray. Slow down a little, and take time for these things. Be more intentional in your living and more active in your personal growth.
The Savior will come again! We don't know when exactly, but when we study the scriptures we know it's coming closer and closer. I feel like it is soon. We are told to know the signs, to watch, and to be ready. We need to be spiritually preparing and strengthening ourselves. Like the parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13), so it is with us. I want to be considered like one of the 5 wise virgins, who had oil in her vessel, ready for when the bridegroom came. The foolish virgins were complacent and did not take filling their vessels with oil seriously enough to act upon it. We add drop by drop when we study our scriptures, pray, attend church, serve someone, are obedient to spiritual promptings, fast, perform deeds of kindness, etc. Each action adds a drop to our store for our vessels, adds real meaning to our life, and increases our faith and testimony, and therefore our personal readiness for the Second Coming of our Savior.
I hope, dear reader, that my faith and testimony can even in the smallest way increase yours.
God bless you!
I don't know who out there still reads my blog. I have not been the best at keeping it up lately. It might just be one person that still checks this. If it is just one person, well then this is for you, One Person.
I have been feeling for a long time, the last year or more, that I need to write about my faith and testimony here on my blog. I have been putting it off, but I continue to be reminded/prompted to write it, and I am not going to put it off anymore. It needs to be on this blog here. So, here it is! Maybe it is just for me. Maybe it is for my family.
But maybe it is for you. I pray that as you read this, you will feel the Lord's love for you.
______________________________________________
It burns deep within me.
Like the trunk of a tree, it thickens and strengthens with time;
its roots grow deeper and deeper.
It is steadfast.
It is immovable.
It is more precious to me than any jewels could ever be and more valuable than any amount of money.
It is my
faith.
love of God,
my Father in Heaven.
It is my
love of Jesus Christ.
It is my
belief in scripture,
and in prayer.
It is my
knowledge that God loves me, and you - all of us.
And that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I love God. He is my Father in heaven, my Eternal Father. I am His daughter. Because of this I have divine nature. Have you ever thought of that? That YOU are a child of God? That you have divine qualities because you are a child of God. Talk about a self esteem booster! We are each daughters or sons of God. He loves us as just that - as His daughter, or His son. He knows our name. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts, our dreams, our fears, our worries, what makes us happy or sad. He sees our actions. He hears our prayers, whether formal or informal. He is omnipotent. He is loving. He is amazing! He wants us to live with Him again, forever. Until then, we need to stay close to Him through prayer. He wants to hear from us - daily, or several times daily. There is power in prayer.
I love my Savior, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I am so immensely and eternally grateful for Him and all that He has done for me - for all of us. He showed us the way to live. He told us to follow Him. He is our exemplar. He was baptized by immersion - not because he needed its cleansing, for he was perfect - but to show us that that is what we should do. He kept His father's commandments, and loved God with all His heart, might, mind and strength - that is what we should do. He loved people, and treated them with kindness and respect; that is exactly what we need to do. He walked before us, and all we need to do is follow in his footsteps. He is our older brother, who loves and cares for us. He gave the ultimate gift, and sacrifice; He gave His life. He willingly died for us! He loves us so much that He died, so that we can repent of our sins (that all of us commit every day because we are mortal) and live forever with Him and with our Father in heaven. He was resurrected, and, when the time comes, we will be too. Jesus lives today!
Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave us commandments to live by, to keep us safe, and in that safety, to have happiness. I know that in keeping the commandments there is peace, security, and happiness.
He has also given us scripture. Wonderful, true, meaningful scripture. He has given them to us so that we can know His word and His gospel, and how to live, what was, and what is to come. There is so much to the scriptures that we could spiritually feast upon them for a lifetime, studying them everyday. Scripture has power. It is amazing how the scriptures, especially combined with prayer, improves how you see life, and, therefore, influences your day-to-day choices for good.
The Bible is amazing, and is full of wisdom and guidance and love and wonderful stories. It is about the divine creation of the world and of man and animals. It is about miracles, and the birth and glorious life of Jesus. It is about His crucifixion and His resurrection. It is an ancient record of people from Jerusalem, and Canaan, and Egypt, and other surrounding areas. It is also about today - the last days- which I love to read about, and which we need to know.
The Book of Mormon is also amazing. It compliments the Bible. It testifies of Jesus Christ. Like the Bible is a record of the ancient people from the middle east area, The Book of Mormon is a record of ancient people from the Americas. Some people say they don't like The Book of Mormon. But if they love the Bible, and read the Book of Mormon, with an open heart and mind, they would also love it. They would see that it is not trying to take the place of the Bible, or be the Bible, or add to it, as some say, but it is a different book that is another witness of the Lord. It is the records and stories of people from the ancient Americas and their conversions and testimonies of Jesus Christ. It is also full of wisdom and guidance and love of God and Christ. It also talks a lot about the last days, which, like I said before, I love to read about. It is fun to read the Bible and Book of Mormon side by side and cross reference.
I would LOVE to share a Book of Mormon with you. It truly is an amazing book that will bring you closer to the Lord. If you would like one (for free of course), please email me at scarriebeth at yahoo dot com.
My faith has grown so much this year. I have been making more of an effort to study and ponder. My spirit has felt more nourished. Like our bodies need physical food, our spirits need to be fed daily, even several times daily. Our spirits are as real as our bodies. They will be weak, or may even die, if we do not feed them. We must nourish our spirits constantly, and with "nutritious food"!
I encourage you to be more reflective, to study and ponder, to read the scriptures and pray. Slow down a little, and take time for these things. Be more intentional in your living and more active in your personal growth.
The Savior will come again! We don't know when exactly, but when we study the scriptures we know it's coming closer and closer. I feel like it is soon. We are told to know the signs, to watch, and to be ready. We need to be spiritually preparing and strengthening ourselves. Like the parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13), so it is with us. I want to be considered like one of the 5 wise virgins, who had oil in her vessel, ready for when the bridegroom came. The foolish virgins were complacent and did not take filling their vessels with oil seriously enough to act upon it. We add drop by drop when we study our scriptures, pray, attend church, serve someone, are obedient to spiritual promptings, fast, perform deeds of kindness, etc. Each action adds a drop to our store for our vessels, adds real meaning to our life, and increases our faith and testimony, and therefore our personal readiness for the Second Coming of our Savior.
I hope, dear reader, that my faith and testimony can even in the smallest way increase yours.
God bless you!
With much love,
Carrie
2 comments:
Well I certainly hope that I am not, "The One" because many would benefit from that post. In a world of yucky things, you blog is a colorful beam of the good that is till in the world. I believe the reason your blog is great is because it is simply an extension of your faith. You have a creative eye that is a gift from God to pass on his goodness.
I love your testimony and strong spirit! Thank you. I needed it.
Jesse B
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