Good morning brothers and sisters, it is so good to be with you here this morning, bright and early. Just a quick introduction again, my name is Elder Varner, I’m from a little town called Ladera Ranch in Orange County California. I’ve been on my mission for a bit over 14 months and this is my fourth Area. This is a beautiful place, and you are all so lovely, im so grateful for the chance I have to speak this morning.
I suppose I have no greater dream than that you will say of me a few minutes from now what was said of the cross-eyed javelin thrower. “He didn’t set any records but at least he kept the crowd alert.” I want so very, very much to say something of value to you.
This morning I would like to speak a little bit on how we can develop and grow our testimonies, and how we can turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones. I suppose one of the main Christ like attributes needed in order to develop a strong testimony is patience.
We live in a world of now. We can get any information we want at our finger tips in seconds, we can go to McDonalds or a chippie and get food instantly, we can get any scripture or conference talk in a matter of clicks. We live in an amazing time, but I’m afraid that we might sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that everything is so instantaneous and easy coming.
Testimonies take time to develop. For some people, they might gain a testimony in seconds or hours, days or weeks, and for some even months or years. And as most of you know, it takes work. I’m going to paraphrase President Henry B Eyring stating that developing and growing a testimony doesn’t come through the passage of time, but it does take time. This meaning that a strong testimony won’t come to us over time unless if we put in effort. This effort includes doing the simple things well, it involves feeding our spirits, it includes working out the testimony we already have. And it certainly includes not feeding our doubts, that’s poisonous.
Elder Holland once said “do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your “unbelief.” That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak! Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have. Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not! In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue--it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.”
President Uchtdorf once said that we should “doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith” how important that is! Some of you may feel like you don’t have much faith, but I feel to tell you that you’re faith is stronger than you may think it is, and the fact that you are here today is evidence of that.
Do things that will help you grow your testimony, do the simple things well: we’ve heard it a million times but I’ll make it a million and one, read your scriptures. Elder Holland promised our mission a few years back that if we read the Book of Mormon every day that we would never go less active, and as a representative of Jesus christ I make that same promise to you. Pray constantly, attend your church meetings, and yes, even share your testimony with others. Similar to working out to gain muscles, we must work our testimonies out by sharing it with others if we desire growth!
When you are doing these things, you may not feel as if you are improving much. But keep acting on the faith you have.
President Uctdorf recounted a story last year in conference that goes as follows:
Faith comes to the humble, the diligent, the enduring.
It comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness.
This truth is illustrated in the experience of two young missionaries serving in Europe, in an area where there were few convert baptisms. I suppose it would have been understandable for them to think that what they did wouldn’t make much of a difference.
But these two missionaries had faith, and they were committed. They had the attitude that if no one listened to their message, it would not be because they had not given their best effort.
One day they had the feeling to approach the residents of a well-kept four-story apartment building. They started on the first floor and knocked on each door, presenting their saving message of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His Church. No one on the first floor would listen to them.
How easy it would have been to say, “We tried. Let’s stop right here. Let’s go and try another building.”
But these two missionaries had faith and they were willing to work, and so they knocked on every door on the second floor.
Again, no one would listen.
The third floor was the same. And so was the fourth--that is, until they knocked on the last door of the fourth floor.
When that door opened, a young girl smiled at them and asked them to wait while she spoke with her mother.
Her mother was only 36 years old, had recently lost her husband, and was in no mood to talk with Mormon missionaries. So she told her daughter to send them away.
But the daughter pleaded with her. These young men were so nice, she said. And it would take only a few minutes.
So, reluctantly, the mother agreed. The missionaries delivered their message and handed a book to the mother to read--the Book of Mormon.
After they left, the mother decided she would read at least a few pages.
She finished the entire book within a few days. Not long after, this wonderful single-parent family entered the waters of baptism.”
Faith truly does come to the patient, the diligent, and to those who act on the faith they already have, no matter how small it may be.
Another thing that can help us grow and develop our testimonies is turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones. One thing I’ve heard a lot on my mission is how God couldn’t possibly exist because of all the bad things happening to innocent people. I have seen many lose their faith because of the trials they were called to face. The trials they faced turned out to be stubbing blocks for them. May I add my thoughts to this sincere concern of many of our brothers and sisters?
That is, in god’s perfect love for us, he wants us to be fitted with him, and we are given experiences in this life, which we chose to come down to, so that we may become as god is.
To start I’d like to share a story shared in Conference a few years back that goes as follows:
“President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”
Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty, President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for the promotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but I cannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in that moment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered:
“I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, … I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done--that I should have done--that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was as bitter as gall.
“And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. …
“… And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.’”
God knew what Hugh B. Brown was to become and what was needed for that to happen, and He redirected his course to prepare him for the holy apostleship.”
We are given trials, not because god hates us and wants to see us fail and hurt, but because he loves us, and he wants us to become as he is. We can turn our trials into testimony building experiences. Growing up my mom battled breast cancer. Doctors appointments, bed rest, and surgeries were all part of her trial. Shortly after I turned 8, she passed away from her four year battle with cancer. For so long, I was angry, I was depressed, and I simply couldn’t understand why all of that had happened, I was unhappy for a long time.
Over a period of time I decided that if I believed in god and his son, that I would have the hope to see my mom again, I would have that hope that for so long I didn’t feel I had. Through scripture study, temple attendance, and a lot of prayer I eventually developed a testimony that has grown and grown, it keeps growing. It wasn’t until a few months ago, on my mission, that I truly developed a testimony of Jesus Christ, I know that His grace and love truly are sufficient for me. I’m so grateful for my trials and my mistakes, for how they have led me to the testimony which I now have. I can trace almost every ounce of my testimony back to the hardest day of my life, 11 years ago. Our trials can be stepping stones to gaining a testimony. Even if all you have is the desire to believe, that is enough, that is all you need to start your journey to gaining an unshakeable testimony.
In our search for enduring faith, in our quest to connect with God and His purposes, let us remember the Lord’s promise: “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
Will we give up after knocking on a door or two? A floor or two?
Or will we keep seeking until we have reached the fourth floor, last door?
God “rewards those who earnestly seek him,” but that reward is not usually behind the first door. So we need to keep knocking.
I promise that if you will do this--even until the fourth floor, last door--you will receive the answers you seek. You will find faith. And one day you will be filled with light that grows “brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He loves each of us so much. He truly does reward our diligence in seeking to grow our testimonies. Brothers and sisters, my dear friends, keep doing the simple things well. And never give up. As you consistently choose the right, the heavens will open, and you will know, as I know, that Jesus is the Christ, he is my saviour, and he’s yours, I humbly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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