Last Sunday I was blessed to be in Phoenix and attend church services with my Mother and sister, Randi Sue. Our lesson that day was Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth. The question was asked, "How did your testimony become real for you?" I have pondered this question and would like to share the experience.
The summer of 1972 I chose to read the Book of Mormon for the first time. I knew many of the stories from attending church classes, but had never read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. I do not remember when I gained my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, but I do remember the experience.
I was lying on my bed reading 1 Nephi 11. The account of Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life. In this vision Nephi tells of seeing "a virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins" (1 Nephi 11:15) and that "the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God" (1 Nephi 11:18). I remember the most incredible feeling of peace came over me as the Holy Spirit bore witness that these words written six hundred years before the birth of Christ were true, and that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Then I experienced the domino effect of this truth. Nephi is a prophet of God and saw in vision "the mother of the Son of God and learns of the condescension of God." Therefore the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God, therefore he is a prophet of God. These things being true, then The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as restored by Joseph Smith is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth today.
I don't remember ever putting the Moroni 10:4* challenge to the test, and receiving the conformation of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon from the Holy Ghost that some people talk about. There were times following this experience that my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel was challenged and waivered. At one particular time I decided to do as Moroni 10:4 admonished and pray to receive that "burning" conformation that the Book of Mormon is true. As I knelt in prayer and asked my Heavenly Father for this witness, the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 6:23 came to my mind. "Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?'
I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lords church on the earth today. I know this through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. When worldly doubts come to my mind I choose to remember these experiences and the feelings I received while reading 1 Nephi 11.
* "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
