Gaining Our Own Personal Testimony

The new teaching curriculum "Come, Follow Me" has changed the way I have taught. Prayerfully considering several weeks or even 2 months in advance what I would like to teach has been powerful for me and my testimony. It has helped me to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost as I understand what I should be teaching. I have had a lot of time to ponder about the upcoming lesson and to increase my own testimony of the particular principle I will be teaching.

 This week's lesson was no different. I have been considering my personal testimony lately, as I mentioned in a previous post. I thought in today's lesson I would share a lot of my personal experiences, but I was directed to teach in a different way.

I know that gaining our own personal testimony is the most important thing to do here on this earth. Without a personal testimony we will not achieve the end goal which is to gain eternal life and be as our Father in Heaven and to live with our families forever.

Today in class we talked about belief a lot.  Just a reminder what Brother Holland said in this April 2013 conference in his talk entitled, "Lord, I Believe"

A 14-year-old boy recently said to me a little hesitantly, “Brother Holland, I can’t say yet that I know the Church is true, but I believe it is.” I hugged that boy until his eyes bulged out. I told him with all the fervor of my soul that belief is a precious word, an even more precious act, and he need never apologize for “only believing.” I told him that Christ Himself said, “Be not afraid, only believe,” a phrase which, by the way, carried young Gordon B. Hinckley into the mission field. I told this boy that belief was always the first step toward conviction and that the definitive articles of our collective faith forcefully reiterate the phrase “We believe.” And I told him how very proud I was of him for the honesty of his quest.

  When I was your girls age I had a lot of belief but not a lot of testimony, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I think what has changed my belief to testimony and in some cases to unwavering faith is my willingness to submit to the Lord's will. I have been willing to do what he has asked of me. I have been willing to keep his commandments (and obey them more strictly) and follow his prophets and their counsel. I have heeded the Lord's counsel to find out for myself if these things are true.

 I know it is important to do these things because it is the only way to make it through this life that can be full of so much disappointment and heartache and challenges.

Simply stated, 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. To have a real and abiding testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be “spiritually … born of God,” to “[receive] his image in your countenances,” and to experience a “mighty change in your hearts” (Alma 5:14).

-M. Russell Ballard, "Pure Testimony"

 I know that gaining a personal testimony will change your life.

Love, Sister Chambers