Making Easter About the #PRINCEofPEACE

#PRINCEofPEACE – what is this all about? 

Allow me to step out of my normal blogging self and share something that is personal to me and near and dear to my heart. First of all… just what is #PRINCEofPEACE all about? Well, beginning March 31 and through out the duration of Holy Week, you can head on over to the #PRINCEofPEACE website to learn more about 8 core principles of PEACE.

Why am I telling you about this?

With Easter right around the corner, it’s easy to forget why we celebrate this time of year. Eggs to dye, bunnies to find, and many many more fun spring activities to fill our time. I grew up in a home that didn’t put too much emphasis on the commercial side of Easter… we’d pretty much just dye Easter eggs and have a candy hunt. That’s because my parents taught me that the most important part of Easter is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Seeing that He is the reason why we celebrate, I have chosen to highlight Him and the ways He can make our day to day lives better, if we allow Him into our hearts.

I am honored that I was asked to help spread the word about the Mormon.org campaign #PRINCEofPEACE to celebrate this Easter season. I love the 8 core principles that are focused on for this campaign. Jesus Christ lived and exemplified each of these during his life here on Earth.

These principles are:

• Faith
• Compassion
• Forgiveness
• Repentance
• Gratitude
• God’s Word/Scripture
• Prayer
• Hope

As a Christian woman, each day I try to better myself in these areas and sometimes, I will admit, it is hard to work towards these goals. I’m far from perfect! But when I really try to improve myself, I am happier and feel more joy in my life.

My friend Sheyanne and I were discussing this campaign and she talked about her mother, who exemplified faith and prayer in her life. I asked Sheyanne if she’d share the story of her mother with you! Her mother is a beautiful example of letting prayer work in her life daily. These are her words…

The Influence of Prayer

My mother is a mother of 7 children, middle aged, and crazy busy just like the rest of you. She has a hard working husband who is supportive and loves her. She has talented children who are always involved in every activity under the sun. Just like many of you, she wakes up early to get her kids to school and goes to bed hours after them so she can prepare for the next day. She is your average mother, but one thing that sets her aside is her ability to stop in the middle of any moment and pray.

Each morning, the moment her feet hit the floor, she bows her head and thanks Heavenly Father for a new day. I’ve walked into her room many times to find her kneeling down, praying to her God for guidance and counsel. She then gets her kids ready to leave at 7 AM. But before they go, she huddles them together and says a family prayer with them. I have witnessed many of these prayers and how hard it is to get everyone together early in the morning, but she does it. During the day, as she cleans and cooks or even when she is driving around in the car running errands, she prays in her heart to know how to be a better mother or how to help her struggling child.

The prayers are constant and simple. She does not have much alone time or quiet time (lets be honest, do any of us?!) so she carries her prayers in her heart everywhere she goes.

Once the kids have all come home and dinner is served, she has one of them say the blessing over the food and has taught them how to thank Heavenly Father for everything He did for them during the day. Once all the evening chores and homework is done, the entire family gathers in the family room and kneels together to pray.

Every night someone else will say the prayer and once they are done, everyone runs off to bed to get a good nights sleep. Once again in the quiet home, she kneels by her bed and prays again. She talks to God about what happened to her daughter at school when all the boys where being mean to her, she asks how she can be a better wife and a better mother, she prays to know how to serve those around her, and she waits to feel the love that only Jesus Christ can put into our lives.

It’s amazing how something so simple can really make an impact. I loved hearing these simple acts by a loving mother.

Who do you know that exemplifies one of these core principles? Share with us below in the comments or on your social media page! We’d love to hear from you!

Many of you mothers may have the same experience this mother does. You may constantly be searching for the love of God in your life to help you do all the things that are required of you. Just by taking the time to pray, this woman made an impact on so many people around her. She led by example and each of her children know that the moment something goes wrong, the first thing they need to do is pray. She taught them how to find the blessings and the hand of the Lord in their lives. That family knows how to spend time together because they have spent hours on their knees together praying for strength over a loss of a family member or a struggling sibling. They are not the perfect family, they are just average people. But this mother has helped them all grow closer to God by her example. The biggest gift this mother gave to her children was the knowledge that prayer is one of the greatest gifts god has ever given us and we need to use it every chance we get.

No matter who you are surrounded by, whether you are a mother a father, a sister a brother, a coworker, or even a friend, you can be that influence. You can help people realize just how real Jesus Christ is.

To celebrate Easter even more this year, I wanted to pick one of the key principles and work on developing it even more during this Easter Season. I have chosen Gratitude. I have learned that “what you focus on, expands” or “what you think about, you bring about”. I want more goodness in my life, and I know that if I take the time to be grateful for all that I have and all the good things that happen around me!

What attribute will you focus on during Holy Week?

Make sure you visit Mormon.org each day starting March 31 to learn more about each attribute. And share what you are doing with your family on social media using the hashtag: #PRINCEofPEACE

Happy Easter!

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions and testimonies are my own.