My Testimony

I bore my testimony in church today, but the couple minutes I was on the stand did not give me the time, nor could I convey everything that I feel and had thought of leading up to that moment.

I know that God lives, that He is our Heavenly Father, and that we were reared by him in the life before this one. I know that he knows each and every individual person on this earth, he knows them by name, and he loves them. How expansive is his love for each individual on this earth. I know that He sent his son to this earth, to live and preach, and then to suffer, to bleed and die for all of us. That atonement is infinite and eternal. It lasts forever, and it covers all the ways we separate ourselves from the Lord, whether it be a minor indiscretion, or the great sins that beset us in this life. The atonement covers them all, great and small.

I know that Joseph Smith walked into that grove of trees and that He saw God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ. I know that it was through inspiration that he brought forth the Book of Mormon, and I know that that book is true, and as Joseph said, that a man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the Lord's church on the earth, with the power and authority that come along with it, to administer ordinances, and to do works in the Lord's name. I know that Joseph Smith was just the first of many prophets who have been called and administered in that office in this dispensation. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the present president of the church, that he is our prophet, seer, and revelator, and the one person on the earth authorized to exercise all priesthood keys.

How great and glorious is the Lord and his love, to give us this gospel, to give us this church, to give us this organization. I invite all who read this who do not know for themselves to seek the Lord, to pray to him, to find him, to read the Book of Mormon, to live obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, and find the amazing blessings that await those who do so. All glory be to the Father who created this earth, who sent us here to learn, and who created a glorious plan whereby we may return to him, all of us, the whole family of the earth, to dwell with him forever. He is glorious and bright. He is light and truth. When we seek him, that is what we find. When we read the scriptures that testify of him, we draw near unto him. And it is holding on to that iron rod that leads us to the one source of truth, our Father in Heaven.

How soft the whisperings of the spirit, but how powerful its message, that the church is restored, that God speaks to men on earth, and that salvation and exaltation are open to all. I love this gospel, and I love the truth. I love my Heavenly Father, who forgives so much weakness in me, and who provided a Savior that I can have hope of overcoming all my weaknesses. How glorious and majestic the love of God. I know he lives, because he loves me, and I feel that so much every day. I love him. He lives, he lives, he lives. That is my testimony.

I share it with fervor and humility, in the sacred and beautiful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.