#LightTheWorld

This year, I’m sure many of you have already seen #LightTheWorld somewhere on your newsfeed. What a great way to share opportunities to serve each other during this Christmas season!

 

The Lord works with us one-on-one. We see His hand in the smallest details of our lives. Often, our prayers are answered through someone else’s actions and words. This #LightTheWorld initiative simply gives us ideas and the opportunity to be the answer to someone else’s prayer.

 

If you have not already printed out a calendar, here are two that you can choose from:

 

This is the original, which uses the Bible and LDS scripture sources:

 

 

This version uses only Biblical scriptures:

 

If you have family and friends who would appreciate a way to spread more kindness in the world, please share one of these calendars with them!

 

Our missionary and his companion put together a video post of the song Angels We Have Heard On High. My son played the violin and his companion played guitar. It isn’t a professionally filmed and edited video—just two young men sincerely joining their talents together in order to add their testimony to the many that have gone before.

 

The beauty of their performance lies in its simplicity and authenticity. I shared their post on my personal Facebook page. Within minutes, one of my Catholic friends “Loved” the post and commented, “This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns!”

 

This post added happiness to her day. Perhaps it helped her to recall her Savior and His love for her. Perhaps it brought back happy childhood memories. In some way, this simple post added Christmas cheer to her day.

 

In another social media effort to add to the #LightTheWorld efforts, our missionary and his companion sat down one morning and recorded their testimonies and the things they are currently learning on their missions.

 

My son’s companion shared about his realization that living God’s commands has blessed his family throughout his life. Something that he took for granted, as he was growing up, he now vividly sees missing in the broken lives of those he daily serves.

 

My missionary shared his growing knowledge that God hears every prayer. “We get to pray to a Supreme Creator, who cares about us!” Hearing his voice quiver with deep emotion as he shares his growing understanding that God, omnipotent and omniscient, the great Alpha and Omega, cares about him, cares about each concern and each struggle … my eyes fill with tears to see my son struggle to find words to convey the depth of his gratitude that God wants to hear from His children.

 

Again, I shared this post to my personal page. It is a longer video, a little over 3 minutes, in a world of 30 second sound bites.

 

Imagine my humble awe and gratitude when my non-religious niece, whose mother is in a life-and-death battle with cancer and whose father has literally only just walked back into her life after years of no contact, “Loved” the video.

 

She watched her cousin share his testimony that God hears our prayers … she who posts almost weekly of her feelings of desperate loneliness heard words telling her that God is there and He does care. Perhaps … just perhaps, this will help her find her way to Him for the comfort and peace only He can give.

 

Or when my sister, who has struggled to overcome addictions and who has tried to take her life several times, reaches out to me through a private message, “I loved your son’s post.”

 

My beloved sister watched her nephew share the truths that define him and give him strength. I pray the next time life knocks her to her knees, she remembers his experiences and she turns to God in prayer. Life will knock her down, it knocks all of us down. We need to remember Who to turn to when we are down! And perhaps, my missionary’s post will help when that moment comes again.

 

If I’m honest, I did hesitate before sharing my missionary’s posts to my Facebook page. I have so many friends and family members not of my faith—what if I offended one of them? What if they saw my posts and began to think I was some crazy religious fanatic?

 

I am not ashamed of my faith … yet, for a moment, I was guilty of wanting to hide the truths that guide my life and burn in my heart. For a moment, I hid beneath a bushel basket.

 

I am so very grateful that I “shared” my son’s #LightTheWorld posts. Doing so allowed me to see that Heavenly Father knows that individuals I deem uninterested in reading a religious post may be the exact son or daughter that He is trying to reach with comfort, peace, and strength.

 

I don’t know who is crying in the quiet dark corners of their hearts, desperate to know of a loving Heavenly Father’s care. I need to simply act when the Spirit prompts and set my fear of human judgment aside.

 

This year, I will #LightTheWorld … if only so that I can open myself up to the possibility of being the means to answer someone’s prayer.