This is a sponsored post by FrontGate Media. All thoughts are my own.

If you are of a liturgical tradition, you know that we are in Advent. Advent is a season of preparation for the Messiah, hope for the savior to come, and light for a world in the midst of darkness. It's easy to get sucked into the darkness these days, right? Political, societal, and family drama often distracts us from the love that true light brings to us.

Berhanu Tadesse's True Light encourages readers to embark on a journey of self-discovery in order to determine how the Holy Spirit brings them to authentic light.  While this is an easy read, it's full of scripture, wonderings, and ways to live our life for God. 

Tadesse is not only a writer but also a seeker, a teacher, and an inspiration. Born in Ethiopia, Berhanu’s life journey took him from a career in aviation maintenance to a profound spiritual awakening that reshaped his life.

In 2005, he embraced his new journey of faith with Christ, overcoming battles with depression, anxiety, and inner conflict. He sought answers all his life, and his relentless pursuit of truth led him to Christ, where he found something far more precious: freedom.

Today, he is fulfilling his purpose and continues the work of revelation as a Bible study leader and educator among the Ethiopian Christian community of Lynwood, Washington.

Grab your journal and bible so that you can follow Tadesse's thoughts on finding true light and joy. You may even wish to look at his biblical references in greater context, thinking about how they applied to the communities they were written for, as well as our own context & community. 

Living Life for God

In fact, Tadesses opens up his book by asking the reader if "love, joy, peace, and rest-each in their fullest sense-begins to resonate within your heart..If that's the case, then there's no need for this book."

If we are perfectly honest with ourselves, we have not achieved any of these to the fullest sense. Sure, we can try, but we are human, living in a human world.

Yet, Tadesse encourages the reader to find the peace that only God brings, reminding us that our worth is far more than any good deed or worldly possession. We are children of God that will still live in error in this world, because we cannot be perfect until we are one with God.

In the Lutheran tradition, we believe that as children of God, there is nothing that will take God's love away. No matter how much sin, how much error, how much self-righteousness, God still claims each one of us as one of his children. Yet, we want to live a life full of love, passion, and truth. 

Transformation

Tadesse suggests that as we grow closer to God, our lives will be transformed. 

These themes connect our inner and outer transformation, as we learn how to live for and with God first in our lives. 

✨ Purpose — Recognizing your path and walking it boldly.
✨ Inner Peace — Creating stillness in a chaotic world.
✨ Spiritual Growth — Learning, questioning, and strengthening the soul.
✨ Fellowship— Understanding your role in a larger Christian family.

Let the Light In

Living for Christ means giving up our selfishness, our independence, and our own desires. It means inviting God's peace, love, and joy into our hearts, changing us so that we respond in actions of love to our neighbors. Following true light means learning how to live into the identity God gives us while reconciling our past (and even our future) identities. We can't magically change who we are; only God can do that.

This Advent season, lean into the light and let it in. As you wait for the birth of a small baby boy that becomes the Messiah, the Savior of the world, lean into God's love.

 Twinkling Christmas lights, candles in windows, that soft glow of decorations invites us to a world of peace, joy, and love. 

Why True Light Belongs on Your Shelf

If you’re looking for a book that comforts, uplifts, and challenges you in the best way, True Light is that companion. It's the book that will help you rediscover your own faith life; along with the joy, peace, and passion that only God brings.