It’s all up from here

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