Testimony

Last fall, Madison informed us that she wanted to bear her testimony in Sacrament meeting. Jordan and I talked about this extensively and decided we wanted to teach and prepare her to do it by herself. This was especially important to Jordan; he showed me excerpts from the Church Handbook and Pres. Hinckley talking about how children should be encouraged to bear their testimony at home or in Primary with help until they are prepared to do it on their own in Sacrament meeting. A child standing at the pulpit repeating words whispered in their ear may look cute, but they're not really bearing their testimony; they're bearing the testimony of whoever is doing the whispering!! We started working with Madison in Family Home Evening every week. Then when I was called to be her Sunbeam teacher at the beginning of the year, I decided to devote the last 10 minutes of our lesson time each Sunday to teaching the children to bear their testimony. Each child comes to the front of the class and stands with me while facing the others. The other children know that their job is to sit reverently and listen to the testimony being shared until it's their turn. I've tried very hard to let their testimonies develop naturally without me just telling them what to say. I started by asking them questions like, "Do you know you're a child of God?" or "Do you know Heavenly Father loves you?" and if they said yes, I would have them say it as part of their testimony, "I know that I'm a child of God." After several weeks of this, we reached the point the point where all I had to say was, "Tell us what you know about the church" and off they go! Now they don't even need that prompt! They just come right up, say a few things and end with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!" They all get excited about testimony time, and several of them have reported to me that they've born their testimonies at home with their families.

Madison, of course, still had her eye on the end goal of saying it in Sacrament meeting. She was probably more than ready in June, but for whatever reason, we ended up deciding to wait and have her do it for Fast Sunday in July. This ended up being such a good thing for me! We kind of have a tradition of some pretty awesome things happening on July 4th weekends (which is my favorite holiday): getting engaged in 2008, blessing Madison in 2010 and blessing McKinley in 2012. We had hoped that we would be continuing our tradition of blessing babies this July 4th weekend, but it didn't end up happening, which has been difficult for me. So having Madison decide to bear her testimony this weekend was a tender mercy and such a blessing for me! We asked her if she wanted one of us to walk up there with her, but she said she wanted us to stay down in our seats. So she walked up there by herself, sat in a chair until it was her turn, climbed up the step, grabbed the microphone and went for it! Her testimony:

- I know the Church is true
- I know the scriptures are true
- I know the Church is true (Yep, she said this one twice; she may have been a tiny bit nervous, but I think it was just because it's so important ;) )
- I know I can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again someday
- I know Heavenly Father and Jesus are always by my side

I may have been crying as she came back to sit with us :) I'm so proud of her and love her so much!! I can't believe it was only four years ago that we were blessing her in Sacrament meeting!! She loves the gospel so much! She is always the driving force behind our Family Home Evenings, nightly scripture study and family prayers. She loves to pretend to be the Sunbeam teacher and teach us out of her scripture books. And she loves to "read" the scriptures to us, and has the language of the scriptures down very well. Heavenly Father and Jesus are a very important part of her life, and I love hearing her talk about them! She is a great example in our family of faith and trust in God!