Meet This Mormon

Hi friends! Today’s post is a little off topic, but holds a special place in my heart.

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints otherwise known as “The Mormons”. We are proud of this part of who we are! We are excited to team up with over 65+ of us strong… to extend an invitation to see a film. A film entitled “Meet The Mormons”. This film is not meant to be an “in your face” – you must join our church film. It is simply designed and produced to uplift and inspire you through six stories of those of our faith who have followed promptings to follow Christ more fully in their lives. We hope you take the opportunity to enjoy this film. We hope your hearts are made light as you feel the goodness that comes from following our Christ and Savior. All proceeds from the film will be donated to The American Red Cross. So not only will you be uplifted and inspired, your money will be going to an amazing charity!!

We also would like to take a moment and share our personal testimonies, stories of our own personal conversions, and our own stories of how following our Savior, Jesus Christ has changed our lives. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ offers a joy and hope that only following him can provide. We hope as you click through and read our stories and testimonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you will feel uplifted and encouraged. We are by you! We love connecting with our readers, that is why many of us do what we do!

Please be kind and considerate in your comments. It takes great bravery for us to open our hearts and our mouths to share with you such a tender and personal part of who we are. We share because we feel strongly the need to share the peace and the hope that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

*My story is below all of these awesome blogging Mormons.*

Adrienne | Free Time Frolics, Camille | Chicken Scratch n’ Sniff, Natalie & Rebekah | House of Sprinkles, Kathleen| Fearlessly Creative Moms

Emily | The Benson Street, Staci | The Potter’s Place, Alyssa | Alyssa.Marie, Kristen | Capturing Joy, Aly | Entirely Eventful Day

Katie | Clarks Condensed, Larissa | Just Another Day In Paradise, Camille | My Mommy Style, Candice | She’s Crafty

Anita | Live Like You Are Rich, Landee | Landee Lu, Tara & Devin | Salt & Pepper Moms, Mallory & Savannah | Classy Clutter Kelli & Kristi| Lolly Jane

McKenzie| Girl Loves Glam, Pam & Lisa | Over The Big Moon, Melanie | Forty Eighteen, Sky | Capital B, Adell |Baked in Arizona

Andie | Maybe I Will, Shatzi | Love and Laundry, Robyn | Create it Go, Rachel | R & R Workshop

Tiffany | Feel Great In 8, Katelyn | What Up Fagens?, Brittany | BrittanyBullen, Ginger | Ginger Snap Crafts, Stephanie | Crafting In The Rain

Chelsey | Cee Me Be, Amber | Crazy Little Projects, Kallie | Smitten By, Elyse, Kristen, Lauren, Steph, Kendra & Camille | Six Sisters Stuff, Annette | Tips From A Typical Mom

Amberly | Life With Amberly & Joe, Taralyn | Keep Moving Forward With Me, Jessica | What Does The Cox Say?, Lisa | Mabey She Made It, Kiki | Kiki & Company

Kierste | Simply Kierste, Tayler | The Morrell Tale, Jennifer | My Daylights, Cambria | Live To Be Inspired, Danielle | Today’s The Best Day

Amber | Dessert Now Dinner Later, Natalie | The Creative Mom, Bobbie | A Vision To Remember, Becky | Babes In Hairland

Lisa | Pebbles & Pigtails, Mandy | Sugar Bee Crafts, Krista | Reclaim, Renew, Remodel, Wendy | Musings, Miracles, and Mayhem

Nat & Holly | My Sister’s Suitcase, Britni| Play.Party.Pin, Montserrat | Cranial Hiccups, Heidi | A Lively Hope, Ashley & Meegan | Flats to Flip Flops

Alexis | We Like to Learn As We Go, Amy | The English Geek, Mariel | Or So She Says, Carrian | Oh Sweet Basil

Kirtley | The Gist of Fit, Aubrey | Dreaming of Someday, Natalie| The Messanos, Angela | Handmade In The Heartland

MY STORY…  I’m excited and nervous, about sharing my faith and testimony, because it’s such a personal thing, but I am happy to take this opportunity as “Meet the Mormons” plays in theaters, to share a little bit about my life as a Mormon.

Life is hard, but I know because of my faith, my life has purpose and meaning. I know that God knows me, individually, and that He sends blessings and tender mercies in good times and bad. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I’m striving to do my very best, and Christ will make up the rest.

There are many aspects to the Mormon faith, but I want to share an experience I had with just one of our gospel principals: paying tithing. Tithing is defined as freely giving 10% of one’s income to the Lord through His church. It is a privilege and a blessing to show my gratitude to God for my blessings, and it takes faith and trust in the Lord to pay tithing, rather than relying in material things.

This proves especially true when my husband and I were young newlyweds, and I was pregnant with our first child. At the time, I was our main source of income, since I worked full-time and my husband was still in college and only worked part-time.

I worked in a bakery, on my feet for a good 8 to 10 hours a day. I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, it was the beginning of summer, it was hot, my feet were awfully swollen, and I was plain exhausted from working such long days, and such early hours. Bakers hours are typically like a graveyard shift. I would go in at midnight or 2:00 A.M. and finish by 10 A.M. or noon depending on the day, with one break around 7 A.M. for breakfast.

I decided I wanted to take my maternity leave early, because it was so hard for me to be on my swollen feet all day. I would get home, take off my shoes and socks, and lift my feet up to try and alleviate the terrible swelling, but not much was helping. My position at work was not one where I would get paid for maternity leave, so it was risky taking it early, but we planned ahead and had enough money to get us through the summer.

Well, not long after my maternity leave began, someone had found access to our debit card information and spent almost everything we had in our checking account.

We were extremely upset and panicked because that money was supposed to get us through until after I had the baby and went back to work. We immediately filed for fraud on our account and filled out all the paperwork, but we would not be getting our money back for a couple of months. Well, that wasn’t going to help us pay the bills. How on earth were we going to get by with such little money left in our account?

Here we were, face-to-face with my final paycheck, my husband’s part-time paychecks coming in, and the decision on whether to pay tithing or not. As hard as it was to pay 10% of our measly earnings at that time, we did anyway, putting our faith in the Lord that he would watch over and protect us in our circumstances.

Not long after the fraud and our payment of tithing, we received an anonymous letter in the mail with a $100 bill in it and a nice note for us to use it for our “food storage, baby, or medical bills.” I bawled my eyes out for that kind soul who listened to the spirit and followed a prompting to be so generous to our family!

Now, a lot of people will chalk up this experience to be “luck,” but I know in my heart it wasn’t luck, but a blessing from the Lord because of our faith to pay our tithing, even when we weren’t sure we would be able to pay our bills or buy groceries.

The blessings of tithing are just one of the many things I love about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have peace and joy in a world full of confusion and chaos. Because of my faith, I have direction and purpose in my life. I have a family which I can be with forever, even after death, because we were married and sealed for eternity in a temple of the Lord, as long as we live God’s commandments the best we can.

I extend the invitation for you to see the movie “Meet the Mormons” and learn more about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is changing the lives of many people all over the world. If you like what you see and feel, I invite you to find a meeting house and sit through our services one Sunday, or request a visit with the missionaries to answer any questions you might have. Mormons are happy to share what we know and feel about the true gospel of Jesus Christ!

My name is Amber Brady. I’m a wife, mother, culinary graduate, food blogger, photographer, and I’m a Mormon!

Meet other Mormons through their Mormon.org profiles: