1. Focus Your Testimony on Christ
Our testimonies should always be focused on Christ. While it can be fun to share recent experiences in a testimony meeting, it’s important that everything we share at church helps lead ourselves and others to Christ. President M. Russell Ballard said, “Simply stated, testimony—real testimony, born of the Spirit and confirmed by the Holy Ghost—changes lives.”
Though hard to do in an increasingly demanding and distracting world, I have found that focusing on Christ brings me a sense of peace that I would not have otherwise. I don’t have all the answers, and things in my life haven’t suddenly started going well, but focusing on Christ helps me remember that there is a much bigger plan—His plan—at play.
2. Know Your “Why”
Blessed with an inquiring mind, my favorite question is “Why?” Because I grew up in an area with few members, my teenage years were often spent answering “why?” questions from others. Why did I believe in Jesus Christ? Why didn’t I drink alcohol?
For me, it wasn’t enough to say, “Because my parents said not to.” I needed to know “why” I was doing what I did. After going to the Lord and spending time in scripture and prayer, I was better able to answer the questions of my peers.
I believed in Jesus Christ because I chose to believe in Him, the alternative was not attractive to me. I didn’t drink alcohol because while it was spoken of in the Word of Wisdom, I come from a line of people who struggled with alcoholism, and I knew that addictive tendencies come easy to me.
Knowing my “why” helped me to establish firm roots and taught me the importance of having a testimony. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “When we understand why our Heavenly Father has given us this pattern for living, when we remember why we committed to making it a foundational part of our lives, the gospel ceases to become a burden and, instead, becomes a joy and a delight.”
3. Practice Gratitude
It may seem simple, but practicing gratitude is a way to recognize the Lord’s hand in our daily lives. Recognition of His hand enables us to know how truly dependent we are on Him. That dependence leads us to a deepening of our testimonies, for we come to know that without Him we are nothing.
In the Book of Mormon and the New Testament, we learn that the Savior gave thanks to the Father. If Christ, who is perfect, needed to express gratitude to Father in Heaven, then why would that not be needful for us as well?
As Elder Robert D. Hales said, “Through expression of prayerful gratitude and thanksgiving, we show our dependence upon a higher source of wisdom and knowledge—God the Father and his son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
4. Recognize That Trials Are Meant to Refine and Enhance Us
Sometimes when we face a trial and don’t see an immediate answer to our prayers, we start to question not only God but our beliefs. C.S. Lewis wrote: “God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t.”
Having, in recent years, had a string of seemingly unending trials and tribulations I admittedly have gone to the Lord and asked, “Are you trying to break me?” It wasn’t until recently that I realized that He has been merely showing me who I really am, and He is helping me to become who He needs me to be.
5. Be Willing to Work to Keep Your Testimony Strong
We can’t expect our testimonies to grow if we do nothing to nourish and reinforce them. While seeds may begin to sprout without much care, in order for them to be plants, they have to be watched over. If you want a testimony of the Savior, then search scriptures, talks, etc. If you want to have a testimony of the Atonement, study what it means to apply it to your life.
Alma 32:38 says, “But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.”
I have often told the youth that I’ve taught that I want them to have questions, but they need to go to The Source to find their answers.
6. Attend the Temple Regularly
President Russell M. Nelson has said, “If you don’t yet love to attend the temple, go more often—not less. Let the Lord, through His Spirit, teach and inspire you there. I promise you that over time, the temple will become a place of safety, solace, and revelation.”
When I first began to attend the temple, I simply thought it was nice place to be; I didn’t feel the importance of attending it on a regular basis. In recent years, the temple has become a place of solace and teaching for me. The things that I have learned in the temple have become vital and treasured parts of my life and testimony of Christ.
