Although General Conference has thrown something of a cog into our regular Relief Society and Elder’s Quorum lesson planning (pity whoever is conducting this month, as they didn’t have to prepare a lesson! Unfair!), you should be studying from the Spencer W. Kimball handbook. This week, we are reading Chapter 7, a beautiful lesson on Personal Testimony.
As I started off by reading the first section, addressing moments from President Kimball’s life, I was touched by the experience his son had. While on his mission, young Elder Andrew Kimball would frequently be impressed to bear his testimony. Later, he would doubt himself and wonder if he could truly state that he knew such things had occurred, or would occur. He began to hesitate to share his testimony.
Spiritual promptings can be so fragile, particularly when we are unaccustomed to responding to them. When we are in tune with Heavenly Father, we may receive them more easily, only to doubt them at later points when the Spirit’s presence isn’t quite as strong. This makes another good argument (if you needed one) for keeping yourself in tune with the Holy Ghost.
I remember the first time the Holy Spirit bore witness to me of the truth of the gospel – specifically of the Book of Mormon. I have always been very intellectually bent, and had a strong disdain for “those church people”. What can I say; my mother is agnostic and my father is borderline atheist (I bet they love me now!). So when I felt the strong and powerful prompting of the Spirit telling me the Church was true, one of my biggest concerns was what would happen when I didn’t feel that confirmation. In true intellectual fashion, I sat down and wrote myself a letter. I testified to myself strongly that I knew without a doubt that what I had read was true, that this was not the result of some past or current infatuation with a “Mormon guy” (hey, I was 18 and knew my weaknesses), and that I should not doubt the fact that my heart literally burned within me. I wrote the letter so that, when I doubted, I could go back to it and have a tangible record of the spiritual prompting. Thankfully, I never needed to reread it; I never doubted my testimony, and indeed have felt it grow. But I was always aware of the “natural man” within.
Like spiritual promptings, testimonies can be very fragile. We may feel them stronger at some times than at others. We may wonder if the feelings we felt are true. But as we continue to exercise faith in the Lord, as we continue to walk down His path and do as He would have us do, our testimonies grow stronger and more solid. Our faith grows firmer, enabling us to walk farther. And we can more strongly and more frequently feel the Holy Ghost testifying to us that we are on the path the Lord would have us follow.
Related Articles:
Visiting Teaching: Strengthening Your Personal Testimony of Jesus Christ
Gospel Doctrine: Testifying of Christ
To read more blogs for this week’s lesson, click on the RS/EQ Lesson link.