My Testimony

I find myself often lost in ponderings after I study the scriptures. There are so many ways they can help us, and this time around, they motivated me to ask our Heavenly Father how I could help those around me. The answer came. I can always bear my testimony. I have been called to serve in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Well, here is what I came up with, I hope you find it edifying.

I was thinking about my mission, about leaving. I realized that the moment I step on the plane, I give up everything. My family, my friends, my achievements, my language, my culture, my reputation. Everything I have ever worked for, everything that has made me who I am. Except for the gospel. The knowledge that Jesus Christ lives, that He loves us, that He overcame all for us, and that He wants us to return to Him. And that we all can. This knowledge, the gospel, is the part of me that I will never have to give up, that can never be taken from me, the only thing in my life that will never change. My testimony, my relationship with Heavenly Father. What greater blessing and opportunity could I ever ask for than for the chance to give it all up for Him?

This gospel, this knowledge and relationship with deity, is the only thing you can really count on. Let it be your foundation. If it defines who you are, then you can lose nothing; if it doesn't, then you will lose everything. Don't let anything else define you. Don't trade a minute for your crown of eternal glory, for your eternities of glory that you have yet to experience. Whether sin large or small, or idleness, not embracing what is truly best at that moment, don't give a moment place to take away everything that means anything to you.

This gospel is true. It is worth the work it takes to live. You won't find lasting happiness any other way. Your Father in Heaven loves you. Christ loves you. They know your pain. They know your sorrows. They know your stress and struggles. And They know how to take them all away. There is a way prepared for each of us to return to Them. No matter your struggles, they can take them away and help you be better. We can all be better then when we went to bed last night, than when we woke up this morning, if we choose to be so.

Choose to be. Choose to be better than you were yesterday. Chose to do whatever it takes. Every effort now will be well worth it when you meet Christ one day. This is my testimony; this is my knowledge.