My perception of faith (or a testimony) has evolved from knowing to trusting, and from trusting to believing.
I now confidently proclaim belief, in both God the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost through a series of actions that required a quest for knowledge, a surrender to trust, and eventually ... a faith to believe.
I believe that God is knowledge, and to know God is to become enlightened with divine inspiration and eternal truth. I believe that God is peace, and to know God is to feel a deep serenity within the collateral, a stillness in the chaos. I believe that God is forever, and to know Him is to feel a constance, an anchor, a shore.
I have seen poverty in its finest hour, have heard the wail of funeral drums and the gasp of newborn life. I have witnessed the sunrise over Volcanos and swam alongside the finest creations of the Sea. I have laid coffins in the ground and picked flowers on a dance through the Alps. I have known both miserable pain and indescribable joy. My belief has never spared me the cost of reality - and all the pain attached - but it has never also never abandoned me. It has sailed through the thicket of the tempest and arrived at the harbours relief. It is the compass that travels with each adventure, always guiding me to an assurance regardless of the confusion. My belief has been the last string I dangle from as the walls of my comfort are torn down by the brutalities of life. It has also been the first responder as I attempt the reconstruction of my joy.
My belief, my knowledge, my trust and indeed my testimony of Divinity is so much apart of me that to live without would be as impossible as breathing without oxygen.
I believe that everything is a testimony of Christ. From the deep coral reefs to the soaring bald eagle. From the butterfly’s in true love down to the lavender springing from the earth. To know God is to see Him everywhere and in everyone. When I love others - even when my reflexes demand otherwise - I grow a love for God, and myself.
My curiosity about life, purpose, death and joy are always met with great learning opportunities within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Having chosen contrary in earlier years, I have a distinct comparative of life with Jesus Christ and life without.
It is not even a question worth hesitating to consider whom I will follow for the remainder of my life. Because I have known the world and realized ... that even the best this world has to offer is worse than the least Christ can give. I feel alive in Christ. I feel potential and purpose being actualized and meaning being fulfilled. I value my life, my contribution, my character so much greater when I live to serve a cause - a God - higher than myself.
I too believe to choose.
I choose this testimony.
It is the direct result of earnest seeking, continual learning, and humble trusting. It is not forced. It is not automatic. It is, rather, the bi-product of loving God so much that serving Him isn’t a requirement, it is a desire.
Savannah
Vancouver, Canada