I want to start my post by explaining what I feel it means to ‘Connect with Christ.’ I’m not talking about believing that He exists or even striving to live as He did. Although those things did proceed that deeper connection for me. I am talking about truly knowing Him so deeply that you open the door to His knocking and allow Him into every part of your life accepting His will and timing in all things.
Although I had a mom who loved me, I grew up around alcohol, partying and profanity to name a few. There was alot of contention in our home as we tried to blend two families together. Sundays were very seldom a day of worship. I can’t remember a single family prayer. There wasn’t a firm Christian foundation or an example of living as the Savior lived. At age seventeen I got married and moved to Texas. I divorced two years later. I felt completely broken during that time of my life. It was much easier to listen to Satan’s lies than divine inspiration, Satan had me right where he wanted me. In bondage!
There were many barriers and stumbling blocks that kept me from truly connecting with Christ. Some of those barriers were:
A shaky foundation. A weak testimony of my Heavenly Father’s plan. Feelings of no self worth. Making bad choices. Not praying or reading my scriptures. Comparing myself to others. Not seeking help. Feeling I didn’t deserve happiness.
Although I attended church, married in the temple to a wonderful man and raised our kids to the best of my ability, I never felt quite right. I carried heavy burdens that I didn’t know how to free myself from. I read a million self help books that didn’t help me. What I really needed was the Master Healer. But how could I connect with Him and access the power of His Atonement?
I believe that life’s experiences helped to humble me so that I could be taught……so that I could be prepared to someday truly convert and connect with Christ. I learned along the way that both praying and scripture study are very interconnected and both are ways we can communicate with our Father in Heaven and receive guidance through divine inspiration.
One day in 2018 I was reading my scriptures and I came across a verse that felt as if it was just for me. It read:
“But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.”
How glorious those words were to me!!! ‘Deliver me out of bondage!’ I had just been told exactly what I needed to do. I can testify to you that as I have done these things that are contained in this scripture I have connected with Christ in a deeper and more meaningful way than I could have ever imagined possible. My burden is lifted and I feel delivered from bondage!!!
If you are carrying a heavy burden I invite you to read “The Traveler and the Heavy Burden,” by Deborah Rowley and Sarah Newell. This little book has a very powerful message about giving your heavy burden to the Lord.
Comments are welcome on Facebook under Tanya Christiansen or at ctr75@comcast.net.