Gospel Principles...from the treadmill

Teaching From Experience
Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on a missionary discussion with a wonderful girl.  I first met her a few moths ago when I was asked to go to one of her first lessons with the Elders.   She has grown so much in the gospel and has gained such a sweet testimony, but has not gotten baptized yet.  Her story reminds me so much of my own conversion.  She knows the church is true and she wants to get baptized, but she is scared.  She is scared she's not doing it for the right reasons, scared she doesn't know enough and scared of what it will do to her family.

While on the treadmill last night, I realized some things.  It's really hard to go backwards.  In fact, I could only think of two ways that would cause you to stop moving forward.  First, there's just giving up.  When you give up, your body just moves with the treadmill and starts to go the opposite way you were headed.  Then there's pushing yourself too hard.  When you do this, your body naturally resists because it can not keep up with the momentum of the machine.  Another thing I thought about was how you can stop and take a break at any time.  When it gets hard and your body wants to give up but you know you should go farther, you can pull yourself up and stand on the side for a few seconds.  This is dangerous though.  If you break for too long you could lose your stamina and decide to just be done; if you don't rest long enough you might risk pushing yourself too hard and your body might give up on you causing you to retreat.  Although maybe a little exaggerated, these same principles are valid when trying to gain a testimony of the church.

Investigating the church is a hard thing.  Not just the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but any church.  It's hard because it's new.  It's different than what you know and have been taught throughout your life.  Once you gain a testimony it gets even harder.  When you've learned the truthfulness of the gospel, Satan does everything he can to destroy it and confuse you.  He feeds you lies to make you feel lost and question the knowledge you've just gained.  Don't be fooled.  Like the treadmill, Satan can't push you backwards without allowing him to.  But once you let him, he does his best to get you as far back as possible.

The Way I See It
You have two choices.  Keep moving forward, or give in to Satan.  Let's be honest, the second one is not the best decision.  It happens though.  Giving up on the treadmill is the same as deciding to stop investigating the church.  When you don't get your answers as soon as you want and decide the work isn't worth it to you, you're giving up.  By pushing yourself too hard and too fast, you're fooling yourself into something you aren't prepared for.  This is applicable because baptism is sacred and you need to be ready for it and do the things necessary to be worthy.


This process takes time, and it's OK if you need more of it.  Be cautious in the amount of time you take though.  If you wait too long, you'll lose the testimony you've gained.  It might not seem possible in the moment, but it happens.  Like working out, the more time you stay away from doing it the harder it is to get back into it and the easier it is to fall back into old habits.


Lessons Learned
Be patient.  Heavenly Father has a plan, don't give up if you haven't received the witness just yet.  Make sure you're doing your part.  In conference, President Boyd K. Packer said, "it's not easy to be a Latter-day Saint, but it's the only way."  This is true.  Living the gospel is difficult.  Difficult in the sense that it requires a lot of effort.  But it's worth it.  For me, running is hard.  In fact, working out in general is difficult for me.  But, I know it's the only way to achieve the results that I want.  Baptism makes you clean, but repentance softens the dirt.  If you are not worthy or ready, take the steps needed to become ready.  Choosing to follow Christ and be baptized has been the greatest decision of my life.  It took time to be ready for it though, and it's taken time for me to get to where I am now.  Actually it's taken a lot more than time, it's taken effort, trials and lots of heart ache.  But I wouldn't replace any of it.  I know Heavenly Father loves me and He has a plan specific to me, and He has one for you too.  Don't give up on Him. Don't go backwards and don't sit on the sidelines too long.  Press forward strongly and steadily.  Endure to the end and I promise it'll be worth it.