Your personal witness is often the only way for the Spirit of God to reach certain hearts. Your witness matters! Let me explain. The first Sunday of the month is the day that Latter-day Saint congregations fast. We fast for a variety of reasons and then gather to have a special testimony meeting. It’s a lot like an open mic night, and anyone who feels moved by the Spirit is welcome to get up and bear their witness of Christ. Yesterday was one of those Sundays. My young son loves to get up and bear his witness. He is brave and free with his love for the Savior. It is inspiring.
Better Dead Than Giving the Eulogy
I heard Jerry Seinfeld once joke that more people are afraid of public speaking than death. So at a funeral, more people would prefer to be the guy in the casket than the one giving the eulogy. I love that joke!
But the sad truth is that many, many of us really do fear getting up in front of others. Even when it’s to share a very important message, like our personal witness of the Savior, we feel a lot of anxiety.
God Can Do His Work
For many years, I was happy to sit in the congregation and listen to others. I told myself that I wasn’t a public speaker, that what I had to say wasn’t important and wouldn’t be eloquent. Then one particular fast Sunday, I felt a strong urging from the Spirit to get up and share my witness. I knew the topic I should speak about, and the prompting came multiple times.
I kept pushing it off. I had a lot of excuses, and I gave the Lord them all. Before I knew it, another young woman got up and bore her witness of the exact message I had been inspired to share. I was shocked! The impression I got from the Lord was that He knew someone needed that message that day — and that He could do His work. And He would find someone else to share His message if I wasn’t going to do it. It was an awful feeling. I wanted to be someone the Lord could count on, and I had let Him down. It was in that moment I knew that my witness matters.
Every Testimony Matters
This past Sunday’s Testimony meeting was full of the beautiful witnesses of young children. As I followed my little boy up to the front, I was feeling the need to hear the witness of a seasoned adult. It was a craving in my soul. So I risked the displeasure of the congregation and challenged the older members to share. As the meeting progressed, an elderly gentleman got up. He walked using two canes — the kind with cuffs that wrap around your forearm.
He struggled to get up to the front of the room, and I felt so guilty knowing I may have spurred him on, risking his health. But the witness he bore was so beautiful! The Spirit was so strong and tears poured down my face. It was the message my soul needed so badly, and I felt so grateful for that man. I have never felt so strongly that each witness matters.
This wonderful man had every excuse in the world to stay in his seat. He obviously had physical limitations. It would be easy to justify staying seated because he also had a long life of service under his belt. But he followed the urging of the Spirit and blessed my soul because of it.
A Window to God’s Love
There is a song I love by Julie De Azevedo called “A Window to His Love”. The words are, in part:
“I want to be a window to His love, so when you look at me you will see Him,
I want to be so pure and clear that you won’t even know I’m here, ‘cause His love will shine brightly through me —
A window to His love, a doorway to the truth, a bearer of the blessing He would have me bring to you,
And with each passing day, I want to fade away, till only He can be seen and I’ve become a window to His love.”
What a poetic way to illustrate what our testimonies do for the human family! The Savior is the focus and we are simply the magnifying glass to help each other hone in on Him.
Your Testimony is Needed
To read more of Patty’s articles, click here.
I am so grateful for the times in my life when I’ve been blessed to hear the witnesses of the Savior from those around me. We can never be reminded too often of the great sacrifice He provided for us with the gift of the Atonement. We are stronger each time we share the love we have for Him and when we bear our witness of the Savior and all He has done for us.
We are here on Earth to grow in strength and faith — and there is no better way than to help others in their journey back to Him. Let us all be a little bolder and stand a little taller. Let us all be more free with our witness so that others can strengthen theirs. Then we will be able to confidently know we were always there when He needed us to do His work.
About Patty Sampson
Patty thrives on all things creative. You’ll often find her in the garden pretending she is a suburban farmer. She loves meeting new people, and is devoted to her friends and family. In her heart she is a Midwesterner even though life has moved her all over the country. She believes in “blooming where you’re planted” and has found purpose in every place she has been. She has a deep and abiding love for the Savior and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And she loves editing LDS Blogs because it is a constant spiritual uplift. Not many people can say their job builds their witness of the Savior.
Twitter •
IT can be frightening to share your testimony before a crowd or even just to one person sometimes. Thank you for this encouragement to speak up!
Thank you for this! I have feelings of guilt every single time I bear my testimony because I was inactive when my children were growing up, so they never heard my testimony. When I finally came back, I lacked the self-confidence. So, when I bear my testimony now, I feel guilty that I’m doing it without my children to hear. So I rarely share. This helps.
Oh Tudie! You need to share more because so many of us are lax and your unique experience is a great teacher.