pril 6, 1993. I was driving home from work on a busy freeway in Southern California when the Spirit began to touch my heart with a burst of energy that I had seldom felt. Sensing that I needed to write down what the Spirit had to tell me, I began looking for the next off-ramp. I had a dilemma. I was stuck in the far-left lane of a 4-lane freeway, and the Lord wanted me to listen to the Spirit now!

Somehow I managed to exit the freeway, and soon I found a quiet place to park and listen. I grabbed an envelope on which to write, and I began to scratch down the title and chapters of this book. Later that day, when I arrived home, I began to write. That process continued for about three weeks. When I finished and as I read what I had written, I cringed. I thought it sounded terrible, so I took the matter to my Father in Heaven.

“Why am I not making any progress?” I asked.

The answer came suddenly, as though a light went on. I realized I hadn’t been told to write a book at that moment, only that I was going to write a book. I would need to receive inspiration over time. During the subsequent years, I have methodically penned the ideas and fleshed out the concepts. Not a word was written with the intention of being published to the public. My writing was private. That it has come to this point is astonishing to me. I sincerely hope it will help many people.

From the outset, I’d like to clarify one point about gaining a testimony. There are different kinds of testimonies that vary in degrees of conviction. As we will discuss in Chapter One, the testimony that we gain of our Father in Heaven, of Jesus Christ and of the truthfulness of the Plan of Salvation are accomplished differently than other testimonies. The majority of testimonies are developed line upon line by obedience to true principles, then continuing to obey specific commandments or keeping prescribed covenants. Deeper understanding comes through scripture study and by observing causes and effects of gospel principles in your own and other people’s lives. Each testimony grows within you, as do your commitment, comprehension and your ability to live the associated principles.

Let me give you an example. When you were a child and looked up into the sky you saw that it was blue. Because you had seen it for yourself, you had effectively gained a testimony that the sky was blue. From that point, you may have assumed that the entire universe was blue. But, as you grew older and began to learn about the universe in school, you discovered that your idea of space being blue was wrong. However, that didn’t mean that the sky isn’t blue. It only meant that your childhood assumption of the entire universe being blue had changed. You had gained further knowledge and deepened your understanding. Your testimony had matured. You learned that the sky looks blue by reason of the types of elements in the atmosphere and how light shines through them. From an astronaut’s perspective, the atmosphere looks black. Thus we see that more knowledge and experience you gain about a principle the greater understanding and application you enjoy.

I like to cut grass. I like to pull weeds. I enjoy being outside and doing yard work. However, I couldn’t tell you the names of trees or flowers. Sometimes I have trouble deciding what is a weed and what isn’t. At times I need to ask my wife, who is very knowledgeable about such things. Although I enjoy yard work, I don’t enjoy it enough to learn every detail about it. On the other hand, some people are so knowledgeable that they can just examine the leaves of a tree and tell you whether or not it needs more water, sunlight or fertilizer. Not only do they know the name of the tree, they can tell you every detail about it. They have an insatiable desire to know. Having such a desire leads to gaining knowledge, and knowledge increases testimony.

This book is intended to help you gain a desire to grow your testimony. It is essential that we understand and have a conviction of our relationship with our Father in Heaven: that He lives, and that we have an important purpose here upon this earth. We need to learn how to grow into our own personal roles. In this book I hope to provide you with tools to measure your relationship with your Father in Heaven, which will also help you measure your relationship with your family, better fulfill your life’s work and increase your testimony. However it is up to you to first gain that desire.

The next time you look up into the blue sky, remember that there is always more to learn and more to do. Blue is only the beginning. There is always further knowledge to be gained.

--Denis Nurmela

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