Seed of Faith

by Yvonne Wilding

After the flame and smoke and water, my little bookmark was a better object lesson than ever.

When I was serving as class president of my seminary class in West Jordan, Utah, I decided to do an object lesson as a devotional.

For the lesson, each student got a card with a tiny mustard seed glued to it. I had painted each seed with glow-in-the-dark paint, so that the seeds could be easily seen in the darkness. The seed represented our faith, which would help us even in dark times.

The Spirit was strong when we talked about the devotional that day. But I didn’t think much more about my short lesson until a few months later when our seminary building burned down. Almost everything was ruined. About a week after the fire, students were allowed to claim what was left of their scriptures. Most of the books were totally scorched. After finding his scriptures, one of my classmates came up to me with a smile on his face. The card I had given to him months before was in his hand. It was still damp with water and had chemical residue on it, but the words, “With the faith of a mustard seed, trust in the Lord” could still be plainly read. And there, in the middle of the card, was the mustard seed with a sprout growing out of it! After the tribulation of the fire and the stress of chemicals, this little seed had not only survived, but thrived.

In life, we are tested. We are tried. But despite all that, we can enlarge our testimonies if we remain faithful (see Alma 32:28–29). We have the potential to do great things if we faithfully endure our trials.

Illustrated by Steve Kropp