{"id":2252,"date":"2023-07-04T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T07:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/?p=2252"},"modified":"2023-07-04T11:59:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T17:59:11","slug":"independence-day-is-a-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/2023\/07\/independence-day-is-a-big-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Independence Day Is A Big Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I love Independence Day! The fireworks, parties, and celebrations are all wonderful. But did you know that America\u2019s independence was foretold in the Book of Mormon? I will show you, and I have added a few parentheses to help you see what I mean. In 1 Nephi 13: 16-19<\/a> it says:<\/span><\/p>\n

16 <\/b>And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity (<\/span>The Early Settlers<\/span><\/i>) did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with <\/i><\/span>them<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Independence Day celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

17 <\/b>And I beheld that their mother Gentiles (<\/span>England)<\/span><\/i> were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.<\/span><\/p>\n

18 <\/b>And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against<\/i><\/span>\u00a0them to battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

19 <\/b>And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered<\/i><\/span>\u00a0by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/h2>\n

Independence led to the Restoration<\/h2>\n
\"Ben
Benjamin Franklin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I believe that our nation was founded and blessed by God so that the fullness of the Gospel could be restored to the Earth. No other nation could provide the religious liberty needed for the church to thrive. <\/span><\/p>\n

As the heart of both the birthplace of Liberty and the birthplace of the LDS church<\/a>, many members of the LDS church really enjoy celebrating Independence Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we lived in Pennsylvania and Illinois, our church congregations always got together for big parties. There were games, food, and everyone was invited. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even the full-time missionaries took a break and came to join the fun. We played flag football and made s\u2019mores and watched the fireworks. It was a time we were guaranteed to have a lot of fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Utah goes all out<\/h2>\n
\"Sparkler\"
Sparklers light the night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that we live in the Salt Lake area, Independence Day is on a whole other level. Every year since we moved into our subdivision it has been a 360-degree fireworks show every 4th of July. <\/span><\/p>\n

The whole neighborhood goes nuts. At any one time, you can see no less than 7 fireworks shows going off in people\u2019s yards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are so many aerial fireworks that it rivals the show the city puts on. We used to gather in the park with family and friends. Now we just stay home and have folks over. <\/span><\/p>\n

We participate in our own explosions, and it\u2019s a lot of fun. Without fail, there is so much smoke in the air after all the fireworks, that the day after Independence Day it rains. In a place as dry as Salt Lake that is no small thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Freedom isn\u2019t free<\/h2>\n
\"\"
The American Flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our freedoms in this country are a big deal. I have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, some giving their lives. Today it can be easy to forget that our rights were hard won. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our right to vote, to express our opinions, and to be involved in our government should never be taken lightly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, I just witnessed one of our streets finally get the street lights we have been petitioning the city for. It has taken years. It all started when a neighborhood kid was killed on that street because he had to be at the bus stop before dawn. <\/span><\/p>\n

He was running late and crossed the road without looking. Without the street lights, he was hit and killed by a truck. It was horrible and heartbreaking. But knowing we could do something to prevent another tragedy was empowering.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

You can change things<\/h2>\n

All who knew this boy and his family have been asking the Mayor to put these lights up. Being a small town, I know the Mayor. She is a great lady. I even shop at her plant nursery for my vegetable plants. Seeing the fruits of our efforts is a beautiful thing. Our voices were heard, and that is the beauty of living in the US. You can make a difference. Let us never take that for granted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love Independence Day! The fireworks, parties, and celebrations are all wonderful. But did you know that America\u2019s independence was foretold in the Book of Mormon? I will show you, and I have added a few parentheses to help you see what I mean. In 1 Nephi 13: 16-19 it says: 16 And it came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3521,"featured_media":2258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[50,182],"class_list":["post-2252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-life","tag-family","tag-lds-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nIndependence Day Is A Big Deal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now that we live in the Salt Lake area, Independence Day is on a whole other level. 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I'm Abby Christianson, a transplanted Mormon living the dream. In my life, I've lived in seven different US states and visited other countries. And the thing that amazes me is that in every place I've been the LDS (Mormon) church is the same. The people have hearts of gold, and their love for the Savior is unchanging. But for some reason, people still think Mormons are weird, backward, and sometimes even Amish. I'm here to try to help clear up the misconceptions about Mormons by showing you that we are just like you. We love our families, eat junk food, love movies, and spend time with friends. And just like you, our faith and values go deep. So join me as I keep trying to scatter sunshine everywhere I go. And hopefully, you'll find your faith in Christ strengthened along the way. Autism and more I'm also here to talk about Autism, and being an Autism Mom. There were few resources online when my son was diagnosed. So I want to be a support to those parents who are trying to figure out their child, and how best to support them. My wonderful son stretches me and helps me grow every day. I love being his mother and the things that make him unique. In 2020, every autism service stopped. So I got trained to be an RBT (Low-level autism therapist) with BehaviorUniversity.com. It has made homeschooling and doing at-home ABA easier as I understand my son better. They have some courses for parents to help them understand autism better, and I highly recommend them if you are searching. We have been home-schooling off and on for 6 years now. And it's wonderful to see my son thriving. Education and background Although my degree is not in education, I do have degrees from BYU Idaho and Southern Utah University in public relations, interpersonal communication, and marketing. I was lucky enough to get to teach a couple of freshman classes at SUU as part of my senior project. I have the best memories of those times. And it showed me how much I love to teach. While at SUU I was on the debate team. I wasn\u2019t great, but I loved the team and the feeling of unity we had. As a member of the Lambda Delta Signa sorority, I spent a year as VP of my chapter. I served on Institute Council and in leadership with my choir. And I was a member of the Lambda Pi Eta honor society. Funny enough, I was nominated as SUU\u2019s personality of the year in my senior year because I was so involved When my son was small I was part of the PTA at bus school \u00a0I even served on the PTA board and taught art classes to the kids. \u00a0I also volunteered to help out in the cafeteria. And I was a \u2018recess duty\u2019 meaning I got to be outside as a responsible adult during recess I love to write and wrote for LDSblogs.com as Abby Christianson and as Patty Sampson for many years. I took over editing LDS Blogs when our beloved editor Terri Bittner passed away suddenly from brain cancer in 2017. Then in 2020, LDSblogs.com stopped publishing after the pandemic affected their funding. But they are still online and some great stories are there if you are interested. I'm a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've been married for 23 years, and a mother for 15 years. I love people and creating in any capacity I can. I hope you'll join me as we navigate this crazy world we live in.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/author\/achristianson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scatteringsunshine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}