Lesson 2-27 "Strengthening Testimony through Obedience"

Hi, I’m Annie. Jeans is enjoying some time away with her family so I’m honored to jump in for a couple of weeks to chat about the upcoming YW lessons. I have loved using her posts as a jumping off point in my own YW lessons—and I won’t even try to fill her great shoes here—but I am thrilled to participate in starting the discussion.

Ah, obedience. It’s every adolescent’s favorite topic, isn’t it? When I think about my own conversations with my teenage daughters about issues of obedience, I think they most often want to know why. As I prepared this lesson, a couple of young women from my ward kept coming to mind—bright and inquisitive girls who are going through the process of asking obedience questions: why obey the commandments? What’s the point? What will happen if I don’t? I wanted to address those concerns in a real and convincing way.

This lesson actually does a lovely job beginning to answer those questions by discussing the relationship between obedience and testimony. Like the lesson on sacrifice a few weeks ago, the underlying theme this week is that obedience brings blessings and freedoms that surpass any perceived cost. The main point is that obedience and testimony are interrelated and feed each other. I divided my lesson into these four principles:

1. Obedience is an act of faith
2. Obedience is our gift back to Heavenly Father
3. Increased testimony is His continued gift back to us
4. The feelings accompanying this increase then contribute to our faith and our ability to obey.

Ideas:

~ Write down your testimony: My daughter left on a trip recently and, as they sometimes do, the LDS group invited the parents to write a letter containing their testimonies for their child to open during their two-week absence. Of course, given the audience and the permanence of written things, I gave great thought about what I would say, about what I know for sure and what I’d like to know better. It was, coincidentally, also terrific preparation for this lesson. If you felt comfortable, you could give a brief written testimony to your young women as part of this lesson. Or you could ask the young women to write down their testimonies, including space for what they want to know better and what offerings of obedience might bring them there.

~ Embrace the metaphor: This lesson is ripe for structuring around a good metaphor, something that will make the lesson come alive and memorable for teenage brains.

Build around one of the metaphors for obedience + testimony that feels comfortable for you. The lesson and supplemental talks contain several. I liked the precipitation cycle opening the lesson and, before I filled it in with testimony/obedience I asked the young women what other gospel principles work in this kind of cyclical pattern. They came up with some great examples, including the repentance process, the infamous Book of Mormon cycle of rebelliousness/righteousness, and testimonies.

Janet Lee’s article Look Both Ways uses a map metaphor. Elder Nelson talks about protecting the spiritual power line. I also like the key metaphor in this quote:

“Obedience—that which God will never take by force—he will accept when freely given. And he will then return to you freedom that you can hardly dream of—the freedom to feel and to know, the freedom to do, and the freedom to be, at least a thousandfold more than we offer him. Strangely enough, the key to freedom is obedience” (Boyd K. Packer).

~Invite personal examples: It seems natural to ask for examples from the young women of when they obeyed and received blessings—in fact, there's nothing wrong with that idea. But what about turning around the question and asking if they have ever requested or needed obedience from someone? I like the switch in perspective to open up discussions of why Heavenly Father asks for our obedience. The story of Mollie in Janet Lee’s “Look Both Ways” also gives that perspective.

~Brainstorm some scriptural examples. Although the lesson doesn't use any, there are some fantastic scriptural stories of the elements of obedience that show the complexity, rewards, and sometimes difficulty of following the commandments. Brainstorm with the young women or provide some examples to discuss. For example, the Israelites had difficulty just looking at the brass serpent! What seemingly simple things do we have a hard time doing? Why? Nephi (commanded to kill Laban) and Eve (contemplating eating the fruit) each had to decide between two seemingly opposing laws. What tools do we have to discern what we should do when things feel confusing? Jonah knows what he should be doing but runs away from the opportunities to fulfill what God wants him to do. How and why do we sometimes "run away" from what we're asked to do and avoid living up to our full potential?

Resources:

• Carlos A. Godoy, Testimony as a Process
• Janet G. Lee, Look Both Ways
• Spencer J. Condie, Claim the Exceeding Great and Precious Promises
• Robert R. Steuer, The Power of Light and Truth
• Russell M. Nelson, Protect the Spiritual Power Line
• Thomas S. Monson, Finding Strength through Obedience

As a concluding thought, I love this quote by Joseph Smith: "as God has designed our happiness—and the happiness of all His creatures, He never has—He never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which he has designed.”