Testimony

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the October 2011 conference.

Elder Kevin G. Brown's talk from the most recent General Conference has been an internet sensation for his fervent, fiery delivery. Last week in Relief Society we studied that talk and the teacher said that she had met Elder Brown some years ago when her family went to Jamaica to pick up a brother from his mission. She said that Elder Brown was just as intense and passionate in real life as he was in conference.

Two things that President Monson said in his talk "Dare to Stand Alone" brought to my mind Elder Brown's talk.

In order for us to be strong and to withstand all the forces pulling us in the wrong direction or all the voices encouraging us to take the wrong path, we must have our own testimony.

 May each of us who holds the priesthood of God [or is a disciple of Jesus Christ] know what he believes.

We can't be strong enough to make it through life leaning on someone else's knowledge and testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to put in the work ourselves to grow our own knowledge and testimony.

Watching YouTube fitness videos and listening to my son talk about the benefits of nutrition and exercise is wonderful, but it doesn't help me. I need to do the work myself of choosing the right foods in the right amounts, and getting in the right amounts and kinds of movements to change my body. He can't do it for me. (Darn!)

Sister Julie B. Beck said, "Insight found in the scripture accumulates over time, so it is important to spend some time in the scriptures every day." And General Conference talks qualify as scripture. My study doesn't really help anyone else's knowledge and testimony either. We each have to fill our lamps and oil vessels drop by drop over time. There's no way to "download" knowledge and testimony in a few minutes. Or to think of it another way, we don't get through life starving our bodies all week and gorging on Sunday. We eat every day to maintain health and strength. We need to be "eating" our spiritual food daily too. 

Another little tidbit I notice in each and every conference is that the speakers says things like "in these trying times", "in these perilous times", or similar phrases. And I think to myself, when has life ever not been trying or perilous, or economically hard, or morally easy. This life is a test of our obedience and commitment to following the Savior. Satan wants us to fail and works tirelessly to do so. Of course life is hard! But we can be strong and pass the test by taking our spiritual vitamins daily, exercising our faith in Jesus Christ daily, and enduring faithfully to the end.