I have been thinking for a while now that I have done as much as I could with the missionary focus of this blog.The inspiration for The Whole Missionary came during the priesthood session of the October 2012 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That was the same conference where the announcement was made regarding the change in the age of eligibility for young men and women for serving full time missions.
A midst the excitement the announcement generated among family and friends, I listened to the first talks of that priesthood session which seemed to focus on what it meant to be men. I had a thought I had had many times before, that we could do a better job of preparing our young people to serve missions. Among the missionaries I served with on my mission there were various reasons why these young men and women had accepted the call to serve, some well thought out, others rather silly. I had accepted my call out of gratitude for the blessings God had given me and out of a desire to serve him, and I could think of no better reason.
So I started a blog dedicated to helping people prepare to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. While focusing on missionary work, most of the time, I posted on many different topics, and soon accumulated 170 posts. But I think I first realized I might have been running out of steam when I started posting edited versions of letters I sent home from my mission all those years ago. At the same time, I have been posting more and more on topics that had little if anything to do with preparing for and serving a full time mission.
So, I have started another blog, Good Tidings For Us. I may still have an occasional idea for a missionary focused post, but I also have other ideas. I might continued posting those letters from the mission field of the late 1980s, but I have also been thinking about posting more stories about my great great great grandfather Frederick G. Williams. I might post other stories from LDS Church history. The more I ponder this, it occurs to me that the sky may really be the limit.
The inspiration for the name of this new blog comes from the fourth verse of the LDS hymn Redeemer of Israel:
As children of Zion,
Good tidings for us.
The tokens already appear.
Fear not, and be just,
For the kingdom is ours.
The hour of redemption is near.
Recent events at home and abroad have reminded us that the world is a dangerous place. It may seem at times that we are surrounded by fire on every side, or that we may, in fact, be living in a world on fire. Yet there really are "good tidings for us." No matter how dark things get, there will always be good news; in the gospel of Jesus Christ we may find peace and strength, and the courage to press forward during these latter days.
There is difficulty in the world around us, but there is often also difficulty in our day to day lives. No matter how much we may struggle, or how weak we may feel ourselves to be, we can always humble ourselves and exercise faith in God and the Son he sent to die for us. We have his promise that His grace is sufficient to make weak things become strong if we truly will humble ourselves and have faith in Him.
Good tidings for us indeed.
If you have enjoyed this blog, please check out the new blog. Here is the link:
http://goodtidingsforus.blogspot.com/
