Simply stated, a testimony is sharing what you believe or know to be true. Yet for some reason, we tend to over-complicate this simple idea, so much so, that many people do not even realize they have a testimony. You have a great opportunity to help your students come to enjoy the strength and power in saying what they know to be true or even what they simply believe to be true.
A few years ago as I was trying to help my own students enjoy the power behind sharing what they believe or know to be true, I was pondering and working through thoughts and ideas on this, and I was inspired with what I like to call "Testimony Tuesday." Although sometimes we would do it on another day of the week and then I would say, "It's Testimony Tuesday...but on a Friday!" This simple activity became something my students looked forward to each week, and if it didn't happen, they started reminding me that we needed to do it. Once they began to realize that sharing parts of their testimony was easy to do, they looked forward to the chance to do it. Now that's powerful!
So how does it work? I simply took 3-5 minutes at the end of my lesson and asked each person in the class to simply state one of the following, "I believe... or I know...," and then say one thing they believe or know. I made sure to let my students know that even if they shared the same thing that someone else had shared they should still testify of it, too, because there is power in more than one person testifying of the same truth!
The first time I introduced the idea of Testimony Tuesdays, I started and bore my simple testimony by stating, "I know that I am a child of God." Then I silently pointed to the student closest to me and they shared what they knew or believed and then I silently pointed to the next student and so on until everyone had shared. The interesting thing that happened was that as each student shared what they believed or knew to be true you could feel the Spirit descending on the room. The whole atmosphere changed and everyone became quiet and thoughtful.
Once everyone had shared their simple testimonies, I quietly pointed out that what they were feeling was the Holy Ghost testifying to them that what they had said and heard was true. I reminded them that whenever they needed to feel strengthened or gain peace that all they had to do was testify to themselves or to others of what they knew or believed to be true because when they testify, the Spirit will always be there.
In a world that is full of confusion and upheaval this small and simple act of bearing testimony will have powerful results in the lives of those who testify and those who are testified to. As my students practiced this over several weeks they came to not only love their Heavenly Father more, they started noticing all the ways that He, the Savior and the Holy Ghost have blessed their lives. My students also started realizing that there were a lot of things that they believed and knew to be true and that when they were uncertain about anything they could always testify of what they did know and let those things which they didn't understand yet not worry them. My students began to see that eventually they would understand those things that they didn't know yet and they learned to be okay with that because of all that they did know. That my friends is a wonderful place to be!
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