There are many people who have said, “I know this church is true”, and later left the church.
Gaining a testimony is not the finish line.
That girls camp testimony meeting, your mission, that moment in the temple…
It wasn’t the finish line.
It wasn’t the peak spiritual experience in your life, and now everything is just downhill.
The Lord reminds Sidney Gilbert that:
“He only is saved who endureth unto the end.” (D&C 53:7)
To me, THAT’S what I’ve learned it really means to “endure to the end”.
It means that I’m working to maintain what I’ve already felt and learned.
AND I’m working to create even more spiritual anchor moments.
I’m trying to keep the general trend going upward.
I’m thinking back on my anchor moments, and using them to fuel my day-to-day living.
I’m reading the scriptures to support the knowledge I already have and dive into the new.
I’m putting myself in holy places so that I can work on feeling the Spirit more often.
And then even more often.
I’m not even close to the finish line, and that is exciting to me!
I didn’t “make it” by getting sealed in the temple.
Or having that one strong spiritual experience.
It’s consistency.
It’s the daily workouts at the gym, instead of doing a marathon each summer and calling it good. (Figuratively speaking…)
A testimony is great.
Having a strong witness that your Savior died and lives for you is amazing.
But after the amazing, anchoring spiritual experiences, I want to think:
“It’s only going up from here.”
And truly… it doesn’t always go up from there. There are dips and valleys and trenches along the way.
But I keep climbing back up and out as I keep turning to my Savior to lead the way.
He is the one who truly helps transform my “enduring” into “growing”.
Gaining a testimony isn’t the finish line.
It takes work to keep the flame going and growing.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
2 Responses
Your comments today greatly changed my perspective on what it means to “endure to the end.”
At 70+, I had been thinking more along the lines of doing my calling, showing up for church, not giving up on life as aging takes its toll.
“Having a strong witness that your Savior died and lives for you is amazing…He is the one who truly helps transform my “enduring” into “growing”.
Gaining a testimony isn’t the finish line. It takes work to keep the flame going and growing.”
I will now “translate” this phrase to be “growing to the end.”
I love your translation!