I’ll Follow Him in Faith

By Elizabeth Ricks

“And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69).

Have you ever played follow the leader? The rules are simple: choose a leader and then follow him or her.

The purpose of our life on earth is to follow our leader Jesus Christ. When Jesus saw Peter and Andrew fishing, He said to them, “Follow me.” Peter and Andrew left their nets and followed Him. (See Matthew 4:18–20.)

Just like He did to Peter and Andrew, Jesus invites each of us to follow Him (see D&C 100:2). We will probably not walk exactly where He walked, but we can do the things that He did. We can read the scriptures. We can pray to our Heavenly Father. We can be baptized.

After Peter followed Jesus, Peter declared, “We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69). When we follow Jesus Christ in faith, we can have that same testimony.

Our faith in Jesus Christ will grow when we understand more about Him. And the more we know about Him, the easier it will be to follow Him in faith.

Activity

To make a cross-stitch sampler, color each symbol on page F4. To stitch the sampler, trace the pattern onto plain fabric, like muslin. Use three strands of embroidery floss in the color of your choice for each symbol. Ask an adult to show you how to make a cross-stitch over each symbol. (See illustration.) Display your sampler where you’ll see it often.

Illustration By Thomas S. Child

Note: This activity may be copied, traced, or printed from the Internet at www.lds.org. For English, click on “Gospel Library.” For other languages, click on the world map.

Sharing Time Ideas

Display the children’s names as well as the names of several ancient prophets on wordstrips. Ask what all of these names have in common. Read together Abraham 3:22–24, and explain that we all lived with Heavenly Father in the premortal life. Tell the children that because of the scriptures, we know a little of what happened there. Ask the children to find out which of all of God’s spirit children was the firstborn by looking up D&C 93:21. Have the pianist play first one measure, then two measures of a song about the premortal existence. Keep adding a measure until the children guess the song. After the children guess, sing the entire song, pointing out the lines that tell about our life with Heavenly Father before we came to earth. Explain that we were all spirit brothers and sisters in the premortal life. We call each other “brother” or “sister” because those titles reflect our spiritual relationship to each other. Sing “I Am a Child of God.”
Show the children several examples of plans. For instance, a recipe, a blueprint, or instructions for putting together a toy. Explain that when we put something together—such as a house, a batch of cookies, or a toy—it is best to know what will happen in the end. We need a plan. Before we came to the earth, Heavenly Father presented His plan. It is called the plan of salvation. Invite the full-time missionaries or a recently returned missionary approved by the bishop or branch president to teach the plan of salvation, from Preach My Gospel (pp. 47–59).