“Thus, the year 2020 will be designated as a bicentennial year. General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel.

You may wish to begin your preparation by reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.” -Russell M. Nelson

This challenge has been such an honor and an opportunity to apply the principles learned and shared in Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision, in my own life, as well as to be able to feel the Holy Ghost testify to me of the divinity of the restoration of the gospel. I have been left with a firmly-built foundation, based on the absolute truth that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, called before the meridian of time through his faithfulness in the premortal life, to come at the exact time that the Lord needed to restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth. He was prepared before this life and followed through with diligence in all that was required of him, even though it was beyond difficult and impossible without the help of Heavenly Father. His courage and stamina are impressive and leaves me with a desire to prayerfully seek his valiant spirit.

This is where the application started for me: how can I take this divinely incredible experience and allow it to penetrate my own heart and mind?

Starting with the first vision.

It would truly be magnificent to have the Father and Jesus Christ come down from heaven and minister me, however, with that vision comes great opposition. Opposition that would break the everyday believer. I truly believe that we can have our own “first vision” experience through the gentle conformation of truth from the Holy Ghost. I have sought after this verification many times in my faith walk, and hold those tender moments dear to my heart and at the forefront of my memory. It comes exactly the same way as Joseph Smith’s did–first, seeking to know with an open heart and mind, and second, being ready to receive the Lord’s answer. With that prayer we must put in some effort. We know from his testimony and the testimony of others, such as his own mother, that Joseph loved the scriptures and sought to find answers in and through them. Then he turned to prayer. We, too, can follow this example to get the answers to our questions. I guarantee that young Joseph did not expect to have a vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The biggest takeaway for me is not a hope of a personal heavenly visit, but that Joseph had enough faith that his simple prayer would have an answer, his heart was prepared to accept God’s will and his mind was free of guile but full of sincere desire. With this, he was in the perfect place to receive the vision that was necessary to restore lost truths.

This is a great example to us of how we can get the answers that we desire: we must have the faith that God will hear us and answer us. Our hearts must be prepared to receive the answer that the Lord has prepared for us, even if it’s not what we are expecting. Our minds need to be full of desire to know and listen the Heavenly Father, with full trust that he will not lead us astray.

With this understanding of heavenly help that is available to all of us, we can start to look at Joseph Smith’s testimony and prayerfully apply it to our own lives. As we seek for our own testimony, and as we strive to study and grow every day, we, too, can increase a little at a time, with a hope of a fullness someday in the eternities. We will be faced with opposition. It’s guaranteed. The adversary will not allow anyone to develop a firm testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ without first walking through the refining fire. Lucky for us, this may not involve being mobbed, wrongly imprisoned, or forced to evacuate our homes—time and time again. It possibly could be in our own heads, as Satan fills them with fear and doubts, almost like a mental mobbing. As we go through these persecutions, we must remember our “first visions” or spiritual experiences, where we felt the Holy Ghost testify of truth to our hearts and minds. Like Joseph we too know what we know, and we know that God knows, and so we must press forward with steadfast faith and persistence.

Joseph Smith History 1:25 For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it;

There are many things in our lives that the Lord will entrust in our care. For Joseph it was the plates, and then the restoration of Christ’s church with all the members and responsibilities of following and trusting God to direct them out of the hands of their enemies. When I read this charge to Joseph Smith regarding the plates that were “delivered…up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.” (JSH 1:59) I can feel the Lord speaking to me pertaining to my children. He has given them to me to raise them for His purposes. I know this to be true, because while pacing the halls at 3 am holding my 5th child, admiring his heavenly presence in my home, I thanked the Lord for him, and for all my children and for their sweet spirits. Following my prayer, I heard a voice in my head, as if it was my own voice, but the feeling that accompanied came with power, that said, “He is not yours, but mine, and I need you to raise him for my purposes.” I did not feel that the Holy Ghost was telling me that my kids weren’t mine, but he was increasing my understanding that I was indeed holding a child of God. My other four kids, who laid sleeping in their beds, were all children of God, as were my two that would follow, and God trusted ME to take care of them. I felt just exactly what the angel told Joseph Smith about the plates, that I was given a great charge, serious in nature, and that I would need to be diligent throughout their entire lives. I knew that Satan knew that my kids were children of God, and that he would use the “most strenuous exertions” to “get them from me.” “Every stratagem that could be invented (would be) resorted to for (this) purpose. The persecution (/attempts would be) …bitter and severe… (Satan’s minions would be) on the alert continually to get them from me if possible.” (JSH 1:60)

This same application could be put in place for any divinely appointed gift from God that he has trusted us with. Personally, I have felt an urgency to seek heaven’s help in my efforts to protect and nurture my children, my marriage, and my testimony. Satan is waging a full-scale attack on our families, he wants marriages to be destroyed, and covenants to be temporary. He wants to frustrate God’s plan. He wants our children’s hearts, and he will get to them by distracting us into thinking “all is well.”, he will lull us to sleep. We must be diligent and purposeful in our everyday attention on how to help each child that has been entrusted to our care. Our testimonies are being attacked at all angles. Satan is building an army, and we must decide in which battalion we will enlist, and then hold on tight with persistence to our testimonies so that we can be on the front line, ready to help bring the light of Christ to others.  As we strive to do our best with those precious treasures that the Lord has given us, (you can make your own list), He will help us every step of the way. “By the wisdom of God, they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand.” (JSH 1:60)

-Sherri Jorgensen