Take Charge of Your Testimony

In May of this year President Nelson spoke to the young adults in the Church and said this: “The truth is that you must own your own conversion. No one else can do it for you. Now, may I invite you to consider a few questions? Do you want to feel peace about concerns that presently plague you? Do you want to know Jesus Christ better? Do you want to learn how His divine power can heal your wounds and weaknesses? Do you want to experience the sweet, soothing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ working in your life? Seeking to answer these questions will require effort—much effort. I plead with you to take charge of your testimony. Work for it. Own it. Care for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with the false philosophies of unbelieving men and women and then wonder why your testimony is waning.” He continued, “As you take charge of your testimony and cause it to grow, you will become a more potent instrument in the hands of the Lord…. As the Lord’s prophet, I bless you to know the truth about who you are and to treasure the truth about what your glorious potential really is. I bless you to take charge of your own testimony. And I bless you to have the desire and strength to keep your covenants.” Two days ago he followed up on this invitation on social media and said this: “Recently, I invited you to ‘take charge of your own testimony.’ Please share with me what steps you are taking to accomplish this. I can’t wait to be inspired by you!” As I consider his original words to work for it and care for it and nurture it, I’m reminded of Laman and Lemuel’s words when Nephi asked them this question: “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” Their reply was this: “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:8-9). They wanted to put the blame on the Lord for their failure to seek Him through prayer—they expected a spiritual witness to be given with no effort. But President Nelson’s message is that we must work at it and diligently labor to strengthen our testimony of the Savior and our commitment to follow Him. The responsibility is ours to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

                As I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting this Sunday I leaned over to my four-year-old boy and whispered this: “Do you want to bear your testimony?” I certainly wasn’t expecting him to get up and go to the pulpit, but I was just curious what he would say. His response was immediate, “But I don’t have a testimony!” I’m not sure he really knows what that is, but it was a reminder to me that in addition to strengthening my own faith in the Lord, I need to help my children gain a witness through the Spirit of the truths of the gospel. I need to help them do those things that will help them feel the Spirit of the Lord and recognize the hand of God in their lives. When I served a mission in France I realized that learning a language did not come simply by being in the country. While it certainly helps to frequently hear native people talk in the language, I noticed that there were plenty of students from other countries I talked to who could hardly speak it even though they had been there for several years. And yet as missionaries we were able to relatively quickly pick up the language and communicate reasonably well with people as we spoke to them day after day. I pondered this and realized that as much as people talked about the importance of “immersion” in the country to learn a language, if you didn’t try day after day to speak it yourself you would never learn it! It would not come by osmosis! I think that lesson is important for me to remember as I try to help my children come to gain a testimony of the gospel. “Immersion” in what we try to make a gospel-centered home is not enough for them to gain a spiritual witness for themselves. That is certainly a good start, but if they don’t learn to pray on their own, study the scriptures for themselves, fast for their own purposes, participate in temple and family history work for their own ancestors, and ultimately learn to hear the voice of the Lord for themselves, then a strong testimony likely won’t come. As a parent I need to help them “take charge of their testimony” and cultivate in them a desire to come to know the Lord. They don’t yet know how important that is for their life, but I do! I hope that I can not only continue myself to study and pray and seek the Lord early as I try to follow President Nelson’s invitation but that I will also be able to instill in my children a desire to do the same for themselves. John declared, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4). I hope that I can help mine walk in righteousness, and I can indeed imagine no greater joy with my wife to see them safely gathered in to the Truth, even Jesus Christ.