Choose To Believe

I've been reading over the talks in the Priesthood session of General Conference the last few days. As always, I love how blunt and straight forward they are with their messages. They don't mince words, but just tell it like it is and how things should be. And then they tell of the blessings that follow for being obedient. 

President Uchtdorf gave a great self-examination interview in his talk Be Not Afraid, Only Believe:

Do we stand loyal to God?
Do we practice what we preach, or are we Sunday Christians only?
Do our daily actions reflect clearly what we claim to believe?
Do we help “the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted”?⁵Do we just talk the talk, or do we enthusiastically walk the walk?

Am I rising up to the challenge to "...daily practice the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to live true to God's commandments"? If not, how do I do that?

• Stay calm under pressure
• Don't be impressed by popular trends or false prophets
• Disregard the ridicule of the ungodly
• Resist the temptations of the evil one
• Overcome your own laziness

 In the past, it has been extremely important for me to have a strong foundation as my testimony. I've learned from my seminary years, EFY classes, Youth Conference and General Conference talks that relying on a sure foundation of a testimony will be what carries me through the hard experiences. And it has. The strongest testimony that helped sustain me was knowing who I am and who I belong to. Who am I?

[I am a DAUGHTER] of our Heavenly Father, who loves [me], and [I] love Him. [I] WILL “STAND as [a witness] of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as [I] strive to live the Young Women values, which are:
Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue
[I] BELIEVE as [I] come to accept and act upon these values, [I] WILL BE PREPARED to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

 Why is it so important to know this? Because when we know who we are, then we know our potential and can work on that as our goal. Satan would have us believe that we can't achieve our potential. President Uchtdorf said this concerning "Satan's deceptions: that belief is available to some people but not to others." Believing takes work and is attainable by anybody.

• Desire to believe.
• Scientific curiosity to exercise a particle of faith
• Requires humility
• Requires an open heart and an open mind
• Requires seeking for it
• Requires patience and waiting upon the Lord

When we decide to stop doubting, fearing, or being lazy but instead start to believe, we are open to the blessings our Heavenly Father is waiting to bestow upon us.

• Opens our spiritual eyes to splendors we can scarcely imagine
• Faith grows stronger
• Discover the dawn of light
• Discover truth
• Find peace
• Never hunger nor thirst again
• God's grace enables us to be true to our faith
• Soul filled like a well of water springing up into everlasting life
• Experience true and lasting joy

We are beckoned to have courage to believe and not to be afraid. And when we do, the blessings will come!

How To Gain Your Own Testimony of Jesus Christ

Yesterday in Primary we discussed our theme for the month of feasting upon the words of Christ. Everyone was given a copy of the Book of Mormon to read it by the end of the year as a primary challenge. Every time they read it, they get to put a pebble inside a bowl so we can see how much we are learning and doing the things that Heavenly Father asked us to do.

Furthermore, in our class we asked this question: How do I gain my own testimony of Jesus Christ? My answer that I gave my kids was 2-fold. One, do what we learned in opening exercises -- feast upon the words of Christ so that we may learn about his attributes, how he reacted to certain situations and read his words. Second, do what the Prophet has asked us to do  in the recent general conference talks as they are the spokesperson for him today. What was a main theme this past October? To keep the Sabbath Day more holy. We discussed different ideas on how we can do that.

Some kids said they don't do all the ideas I gave. So I encouraged them to ask their parents to try them. That lead to the question -- how do we strengthen our family? And how do we get our family to want to do those wholesome activities? What can we do for them if they don't want to?

Such thoughtful, sincere questions for only Valiant 10 children! They were soaking up everything. We didn't even have enough time to finish the lesson, let alone answer all of the questions that they had!

My Testimony is Growing

"We should be patient in developing and strengthening our testimonies. Rather than expecting immediate or spectacular manifestations, though they will come when needed, we should pray for a testimony, study the scriptures, follow the counsel of our prophet and other Church leaders, and live the principles of the gospel. Our testimonies then will grow and mature naturally, perhaps imperceptibly at times, until they become driving forces in our lives."

--Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Patience, a Key to Happiness", Ensign, May 1987, 30

Only by actions can a testimony grow. I am reminded of the Escalator parable. Your testimony's growth is like being on an escalator; you are never standing still but either going up or going down. If we do not nurture it, it will diminish in strength. So, my question to you is...what are you doing to strengthen your testimony in our Lord Jesus Christ?

Ways of strengthening a testimony

• Study the scriptures daily
• Live righteously
• Repent
• Pray
• Listen to the testimonies of others
• Bear your testimony often
  
  
  
  
  
  

Light of the Atonement will illuminate the truth of all things

John 7:17

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

If we want to know if His teachings are true or not, the best way to prove them is by doing them. The way I see it, we have two choices here: rely on someone's testimony of it because they have found out for themselves OR we can act upon His teachings to know for ourselves. You can't gain a testimony of tithing unless you pay tithing and reap the blessings from paying it. As we gain a testimony, our faith turns into knowledge.

Later in John (John 8:12), it talks about how Christ is the Light of the world. Something that my Sunday school teacher said was really quite interesting if you read it in the right context:

The Light of the Atonement will illuminate the truth of all things

I've tried articulating what he meant by this quote, but it's not coming out right. I guess it is one of those things where you would've had to of been there. But if you want to discuss it, by all means...discuss. I'll try to explain it as best as possible.