Exercising and Sharing Our Testimonies

I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting  today.   Here's my talk, with a few minor changes that I made as I spoke:

A week ago, I watched Star Wars:  Rise of Skywalker.   I promise not to ruin anything in the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet.  But there are a couple of things related to Star Wars that I think relate to strengthening and exercising your testimony.  

In Star Wars, we have Jedis and the Sith....good versus evil...just as we have in reality here on Earth.  To become a Jedi requires training and practice and self mastery.   Luke and Leia (and others) did not just wake up one day and decide to become Jedis and with no effort gain great skill in the force.  It took years of learning and continued practice.  But as they put in this effort, their ability to use the force became stronger and better and their lives are changed.  This is very similar to our testimonies.  We aren’t just born with a testimony, though we are born with the light of Christ.  We must continually work to build and strengthen and use our testimony.  And as we do, our lives are changed.   

Elder Ballard said, “testimony—real testimony, born of the Spirit and confirmed by the Holy Ghost—changes lives. It changes how you think and what you do. It changes what you say. It affects every priority you set and every choice you make.”  As your testimony grows and gives us power...just as a Jedi gains greater power as he or she learns to use the Force.  Elder Ballard said, “...The Spirit cannot be restrained when pure testimony of Christ is borne.”  AND “Miraculous things happen when members join with missionaries and share pure testimony with those who are not members of the Church.”  Our testimonies can lead to miracles...for us and for those we share our testimonies with...just as the use of the Force often led to miraculous results. 

There are so many things I could talk about that help us strengthen our testimony:  living the gospel, sharing our testimonies with others, prayer, temple attendance, service, scripture study, repentance.   

Elder Ballard said, “Real testimony of these precious truths comes as a witness by the Holy Ghost after sincere and dedicated effort, including teaching in the home, prayer, scripture study, service to others, and diligent obedience to Heavenly Father’s commandments. To gain and forever hold on to a testimony of gospel truths is worth whatever price in spiritual preparation we may be required to pay.”  I could easily give a 30 minute talk or longer just on this subject so I can’t possibly discuss all that we can do to strengthen our testimonies.  So I want to focus on just a couple of things: 

First, recognizing that we aren’t alone and using the people around us to strengthen our own testimonies. In Rise of Skywalker, I loved this one line:  “They win by making you think you are alone.  There are more of us than them.”   I absolutely believe this is one of the adversary’s tactics...to make us feel or think we are alone, to make us think that we have no help in living the gospel and strengthening and using our testimony.   But we are not.  Heavenly Father has given us so much to help us.   One of the things that has really helped strengthen my testimony is my friendships.  I have a group of friends that often text one another and share gospel insights, ask questions about our scripture study, etc.  I have friends (and children!) that willingly go to the temple with me, helping me to make it there more consistently.  If we surround ourselves with people who also have testimonies, it is so much easier to strengthen our own.  NOW PLEASE don’t misunderstand.  I am absolutely not saying that our testimonies are based on others’ testimonies...we must gain a testimony for ourself.  I’m also NOT saying we should only be friends with those who believe as we do.  How will the gospel be spread or miracles happen if we only associate with those we go to church with?  However, I am advocating for developing at least one close group of friends that you can share your beliefs with and that can help strengthen you when you are feeling weak.   And if you are currently in a lonely place...as I think most of us go through times when we feel lonely or friendless, I have in the past...do a couple of things...reach out to others (I know that is so hard when you are struggling!   So hard)...and perhaps consider finding a group online that will provide support and strength if you are having difficulty finding a group here in our ward.  Social media has its pros and cons, but I have found that my life is blessed by participating in a couple of online groups that discuss scriptures and the gospel.  And we have our families.  My family has been so blessed this past year as we have studied and read the words of the New Testament and used the Come Follow Me manual.  And if you don’t have family support, you might consider inviting others to study with you.  We’ve had friends join us nearly every week to read and study together on Sunday afternoons and that has been such a wonderful experience! 

Second, I think the best way to strengthen our testimony is to study the gospel.  There are lots of ways to approach this study.  Let me share a couple of things that I have done that have blessed my life.  First, I have tried to listen for promptings or personal revelation that have come to me to tell me what to study or how to study.   Several years ago, while watching general conference, I received a prompting that after conference I should go through each talk and write down every thing that was said about each member of the godhead, separately.  I got a notebook and labeled one section “Heavenly Father”, another section “Jesus Christ” and another “Holy Ghost” and then I read and studied each conference talk and recorded each thing I learned under the appropriate member of the Godhead.  It was such a beautiful experience that I repeated that process for 2 or 3 years after each conference.  I learned so much about each member of the Godhead and their roles.  I KNOW that God is merciful and kind and loving and just and so when there is something that I don’t understand or when I have questions, I can RELY on this absolute knowledge that God is loving and good and say, “Well, I don’t understand XYZ...BUT I DO KNOW that God is good and loving and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and President Nelson is a prophet so I can trust in those things until I gain an understanding of XYZ.”   Studying the Godhead in such depth strengthened my testimony so much...and had an added and unexpected benefit of really helping me to see myself more clearly as a daughter of God.  I think it would be a valuable exercise for anyone...but above and beyond copying what I did, I encourage each of us to prayerfully ask what would be of value to us to study and then listen for personal revelation to come. 

Another way to know what to study is to pay attention to what our prophet speaks.  For instance, in this most recent General Conference, President Nelson said, " The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood. I pray that truth will register upon each of your hearts because I believe it will change your life. Sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help your family and others you love.”  He said we wouldn’t find the process spelled out in any manual, but he did give us some places to begin to study.   He encouraged us to study the Lord’s revelation given to Emma Smith in D&C 25.  Then he said, “I entreat you to study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with Doctrine and Covenants sections 84 and 107. Those sections will lead you to other passages. The scriptures and teachings by modern prophets, seers, and revelators are filled with these truths. As your understanding increases and as you exercise faith in the Lord and His priesthood power, your ability to draw upon this spiritual treasure that the Lord has made available will increase.”  So since October, I have been carefully and prayerfully studying these sections as well as other books, conference talks, etc. to better understand the priesthood.  I have been compiling all I am learning into a binder and trying to share some of what I learn with others. 

Finally, I just want to take a second before I close to mention that as we strengthen our testimony it is so important to share it.   We can do that in our homes, with our families.  That’s probably the most important place to share it.   We can do that in our fast and testimony meeting next week...and really each time we teach a lesson or even make a comment in a class that is, in a sense, bearing testimony.  We can do that (though in less formal ways, usually) online.   And one thing that I have done lately that has been really beautiful and strengthening for me is to bear my testimony in prayer...to express love to Heavenly Father and then explain to Him what I know to be true and how grateful I am for that knowledge. 

Our testimonies are precious to us.  How we treat them is evidence of how much they matter to us.  We make time for things that matter to us.  We share them with others.  We treat them with care.  I hope that is how we view and treat our testimonies. 

In the Star Wars movies, it often seems that evil will overpower good—that there is no hope.  In life, we can also feel that we are so surrounded by evil that we will never prevail.  But here is a spoiler alert for life:  this past week we have studied the book of Revelations in Come Follow Me...and the ending of this great battle is certain.  Christ will be victorious.  We know which side will win...all that remains to be seen is will we have a testimony that is strong enough to withstand the evils of our day so that we can remain on Christ’s side and remain strong and true?  I hope that each of us will consider our testimonies to be among the most precious blessing we have, that--like Jedis-- we will each continually work to strengthen our testimonies, and to share them with others. 

**After church, I talked for a few minutes with Amelia who spoke with me. Her talk was about what is a testimony...what should it include/what should we have a testimony of.  Her talk was beautiful.  But I was so touched by this compliment she paid me.  She said when I stand up to talk, it's like I am having a conversation with the ward.  She said she isn't sure exactly what it is or how I do it, but it feels like I'm just talking to my friends and having a conversation.  I was so touched by this.  I think it helps that I genuinely LOVE the people in my ward and so when I stand up to speak, I really do feel like I'm just sharing some things with my friends.  I think it helps that I plan out what I'm going to say and practice it several times so I know the talk pretty well and can just look down every once in awhile (or to read a direct quote) but can look at the audience a lot of the time (and can add in/take out things as needed based on time or as directed by the spirit). But I thought that was the nicest compliment ever.
Sara said she always loves to hear me speak and always thinks my talks are the best...but that this was the best I've ever given.  She also said that she happened to look over at Liam, Nolan and Cash and when I mentioned Star Wars, their eyes got big and I had their attention for longer than is normal.