Never Give Up and Opportunity to Testify of Christ

President Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President

Sacrament Talk by Marcie Molnar

May 28, 2023

“14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.”

In her April 2023 General Conference talk, Sister Bonnie H. Cardon, shared:

“We live in a fallen world, with distractions coaxing our eyes and hearts downward instead of heavenward. Much like the Nephites in 3 Nephi 11, we need Jesus Christ. Can you imagine yourself there, among people who had experienced so much chaos and destruction?”

I might add Brothers and Sisters, are we not ourselves witnessing chaos and destruction in our world today?

She goes on to say: “What would it be like to hear the Lord’s personal invitation…” to ARISE AND COME FORTH UNTO ME.”

“These Nephites eagerly went forward to thrust their hands into His side and feel the prints of the nails in His hands and feet so they could witness for themselves that this was the Christ…”

Twenty-three years ago, our youngest son Peter had the opportunity to play the very small role of “Fish Boy” in the Church production of “Finding Faith in Christ.” Since he was just a young 7-year-old, I had the opportunity to escort him while on the set. We were handed his costume from a large circular clothing rack, and directed to the trailer for make-up. There we were in the company of the actors who played the twelve apostles. The only makeup Peter required with his already very tanned summer body, was to dirty up his fingernails and parts of his recently showered face and extremities. We then all loaded up into a cargo van, and were shuttled to the site on the far side of Utah Lake. When we arrived, the extras were already dressed and in their places, sitting on the boulders and rocks waiting for the arrival of the actor, Thomas Kofod, who played the Savior in the Church production of The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd. 

It was exceptionally quiet on the set and I was immediately touched by the Spirit. Peter was directed to his spot in the midst of the crowd. Unannounced, at least within my earshot, Thomas Kofod ascended from the other side of the boulders and proceeded down the hill until he approached my son. My tears flowed freely as I realized what a sacred experience this was for me. There was my small child being asked by the Lord if he would share his basket of bread and fish with him. Peter responded with a simple, “Yes!”

Brothers and Sisters, I did not have the opportunity to touch the Savior or feel the prints on his hands or his feet, but with this experience, I felt perhaps an inkling of what it must have been like for those who had been in the physical presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sister Cardon asked, “Are WE as anxious to witness for ourselves as the multitudes did in the scriptures? Are the blessings we seek less needful than theirs?”

“When Christ physically visited the Nephites at their temple, His invitation was not to stand at a distance and look upon Him,” as I had to on the set, “but to touch Him, to feel for themselves the reality of the Savior of humankind. How can WE draw close enough to gain a personal witness of Jesus Christ? While we may not enjoy the same physical proximity as those who walked with Christ during His earthly ministry, through the Holy Ghost we can experience His power every day! As much as we need!”

Sister Cardon shared with us the story of her father who once counseled her with urgency, “Bonnie, never give up an opportunity to testify of Christ.”

She said, “It seemed as though he was saying, “Bonnie, don’t let the world overtake you! Stay true to your covenants with the Savior. Seek to experience His blessings every day, and be able to testify through the Holy Ghost of His power and presence in your life!”

“Through President Russell M. Nelson, we have received countless invitations and have been promised glorious blessings if we will center our lives on our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

“As we choose to seek Christ, the Spirit will witness of Him in many different situations. These witnesses of the Spirit occur as we fast, pray, wait, and continue forward. Our closeness to Christ grows through worshipping frequently in the temple, repenting daily, studying scriptures, attending church and seminary, pondering our patriarchal blessings, worthily receiving ordinances, and honoring sacred covenants. All of these invite the Spirit to enlighten our minds, and they bring added peace and protection. But do we honor them as sacred opportunities to testify of Christ?”

Sister Cardon resumes: “ Feast on the Spirit with purpose. There is power in making these holy habits less of a checklist and more of a witness. The process will be gradual but will grow with daily, active participation and purposeful experiences with Christ. As we consistently act on His teaching, we gain a testimony of Him; we build a relationship with Him and our Heavenly Father. We begin to become like Them.”

We are a covenant people brothers and sisters, and we are admonished to stay on the covenant path. But it’s more than that. We need to understand that this is a covenant RELATIONSHIP with our Savior and we need to build and strengthen that relationship with him and with our Father in Heaven and with the Holy Ghost.

Many of you are aware of the great excitement we felt as we prepared ourselves to join our Lecanto Ward family in the summer of 2021. I especially felt great joy to be back in what is often referred to as “The Mission Field”. Having joined the church in California, but living in Utah for 22 years, I was ready to share the gospel with the people in Florida. Life however often throws a curve ball. Like most of you, we are no strangers to adversity and within a month of being here, our trials hit us hard. Then as a typical reaction, one began to doubt:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once shared, “Beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted in it, it is right now. At times there is nothing more we can do but muster up enough faith, strength, and courage to forge ahead.”

Then I was once again reminded of the following scripture:

“And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” Ether 12:6

As Sister Cardon said, “The adversary creates so much noise that it can be difficult to hear the Lord’s voice. Our world, our challenges, and our circumstances will not get quieter, but we can and must hunger and thirst after the things of Christ to “hear Him” with clarity. We want to create muscle memory of discipleship and testimony that will bring into focus our reliance on our Savior each day.”

Let me repeat that, “We want to create muscle memory of discipleship and testimony that will bring into focus our reliance on our Savior each day.”

Ironically, in January of 2022, our dear Bishop called us to be ward missionaries. Because of our individual medical situations, I wasn’t certain how well we would be able to perform our responsibilities. I do know however, that when the Lord calls you, he qualifies you and provides you with that mantle and the abilities and tools to do all that he desires for you to accomplish IF you have the faith, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.

Over these past 16-plus months, I have worked hard to focus on HIM and not on my challenges. They are still there and at times often raging, but just as Sister Cardon’s father counseled her to never give up an opportunity to testify of Christ,” I have found that by sharing my testimony as a Ward Missionary with our new friends, neighbors and even strangers on the street, that I have been blessed with incredible relief, strength, tender mercies, and even miracles.

I take comfort in the words of President Russell M Nelson as he has warned us that “In the coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

Sister Cardon has invited us to “look for Christ everywhere–I promise He is there. True joy rests on our willingness to come closer to Christ and witness for ourselves.”

She goes on to say, “We know that in the last days, “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess” that Jesus is the Christ. I pray this witness will become a normal and natural experience for us now—that we will take every opportunity to joyfully testify: Jesus Christ lives!

During the October 2022 General Conference, our dear prophet Russell M. Nelson shared the following words:

“I assure you that our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, love you. They are intimately aware of your circumstances, your goodness, your needs, and your prayers for help. Again and again, I pray for you to feel Their love for you.

Experiencing Their love is vital, as it seems that we are accosted daily by an onslaught of sobering news. You may have had days when you wished you could don your pajamas, curl up in a ball, and ask someone to awaken you when the turmoil is over.

But, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In the coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.”

What incredible blessings we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. People often say, “I don’t know where I would be without the Church and the Gospel in my life. My brothers and sisters, I do. I was there, but there are so many who are in need of what we have. They need to hear from us. So again, Never Give Up an Opportunity to Testify of Christ, to share what you have, your story, your knowledge, your testimony. Do not be reluctant to be bold and invite others to attend Game Night, come to church, meet with the missionaries, and join our family and the Lord’s true Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The blessings are there for ALL.

This I say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Why Marriage, Why Family

 

Elder D. Todd Christopherson, 

General Conference, April 2015

Sacrament Talk, February 27, 2022

One Christmas from the pulpit, a dear childless sister in our ward sang a beautiful musical number, from Michael McLean’s The Forgotten Carols. My tears flowed freely as I heard the familiar words:

Mary let me hold her baby

Her newborn son

Though I'd never be a mother

I felt like one

After sacrament, I approached this dear sister to offer a hug and express my sincere appreciation. Her words were sharp as she coldly gazed into my eyes and asked how I could possibly relate since I had my boys. My response was simple, at least it was to me, as I replied, “Because there was a time I thought I would never have children of my own.”

The topic of marriage and family can be painful to many brothers and sisters in the church. I want YOU to know that I am sensitive to this. Like many of you, I am a convert. I did not come from pioneer heritage. I did not have parents who were members of the church; the priesthood blessings were therefore not in my home growing up. I had no experience in Primary or Young Women’s, and for ten years of marriage, five of those being a member of the Church, I did not believe that I would ever have children of my own. Although Paul and I have been married now for 42 years, we admit that we do not have the perfect marriage or family.

So, as I share with you words of wisdom from the talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson on “Why Marriage, Why Family”, I do so knowing that this topic may be difficult for many in this congregation. So I want to begin by sharing the following words that are embedded within the body of this talk with the hopes that you will understand what is said here today with an open heart and with an understanding of how great the love our Heavenly Father has for each one of his children.

Elder Christofferson says, “To declare the fundamental truths relative to marriage and family is not to overlook or diminish the sacrifices and successes of those for whom the ideal is not a present reality. Some of you are denied the blessing of marriage for reasons including a lack of viable prospects, same-sex attraction, physical or mental impairments, or simply a fear of failure that, for the moment at least, overshadows faith. Or you may have married, but that marriage ended, and you are left to manage alone what two together can barely sustain. Some of you who are married cannot bear children despite overwhelming desires and pleading prayers.

Even so, everyone has gifts; everyone has talents; everyone can contribute to the unfolding of the divine plan in each generation. Much that is good, much that is essential—even sometimes all that is necessary for now—can be achieved in less than ideal circumstances. So many of you are doing your very best. And when you who bear the heaviest burdens of mortality stand up in defense of God’s plan to exalt His children, we are all ready to march. With confidence, we testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has anticipated and, in the end, will compensate all deprivation and loss for those who turn to Him. No one is predestined to receive less than all that the Father has for His children.”

Brothers and sisters, we likely all know someone who is struggling in their marriage or with their children. Families are falling apart and members are finding themselves attending church alone with their children, while their spouse is home claiming to have no more desire to be a part of the fold. We know who the enemy is!

Elder Christofferson says,

“In the premortal world, Lucifer rebelled against God and His plan, and his opposition only grows in intensity. He fights to discourage marriage and the formation of families, and where marriages and families are formed, he does what he can to disrupt them. He attacks everything that is sacred about human sexuality, tearing it from the context of marriage with a seemingly infinite array of immoral thoughts and acts. He seeks to convince men and women that marriage and family priorities can be ignored or abandoned, or at least made subservient to careers, other achievements, and the quest for self-fulfillment and individual autonomy. Certainly, the adversary is pleased when parents neglect to teach and train their children to have faith in Christ and be spiritually born again. Brothers and sisters, many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith stated that “Satan cannot seduce us by his enticements unless we in our hearts consent and yield. Our organization is such that we can resist the devil; if we were not organized so, we would not be free agents.”

Elder Christofferson refers to an article In the Wall Street Journal, The Global Flight from the Family by Nicholas Eberstadt, which reads: “People may be loyal to one another in nonmarital relationships, and children can be born and raised, sometimes quite successfully, in other than a married two-parent family environment. But on average and in the majority of cases, evidence of the social benefits of marriage and of the comparatively superior outcomes for children in families headed by a married man and woman is extensive.

Eberstadt catalogs the worldwide declines in marriage and childbearing and the trends regarding fatherless homes and divorce and observes: “The deleterious impact on the hardly inconsequential numbers of children disadvantaged by the flight from the family is already plain enough. So too the damaging role of divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing in exacerbating income disparities and wealth gaps—for society as a whole, but especially for children. Yes, children are resilient and all that. But the flight from family most assuredly comes at the expense of the vulnerable young. That same flight also has unforgiving implications for the vulnerable old.”

The Family: A Proclamation to the World reads:

“...we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

It also states in The Proclamation that “The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.”

In an article written by me in 2018 on The Wisdom of Grandparents, it reads: “Traditions can play a huge role in nurturing a healthy family. The experience of growing up with generations can be vital to a child’s well-being. It provides a sense of security in an often confusing and tumultuous world our little ones have to endure. Grandparents provide a child with a trusting resource in times of questions and concerns. The more pillars of strength in a family unit, the more stable one may feel.

The Proclamation blesses us with the knowledge that “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”

The final paragraph in The Proclamation reads: “We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”

And in my personal experiences might I be specific by adding to that list, lawyers, judges, therapists, clergymen, social workers, guardian ad litems, and the like. How wonderful it would be if all involved worked together in the best interest of the children and the family unit.

Elder Christofferson ends his talk with this, “May we each find approval in His sight. May marriages flourish and families prosper, and whether our lot is a fulness of these blessings in mortality or not, may the Lord’s grace bring happiness now.”

Brothers and sisters, whether you are part of a family, have a family of your own, have a circle of individuals who are a family by choice, remember that you are a member of this great ward family and worldwide church.

I would like to leave you with the words of the sweet primary song, “The Family is of God,”:

Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.

God gave us families
to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love,
for the fam’ly is of God.

I leave these words with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.