Rocks Work Better Than Sand by: Brandon Hunsaker

I’ve built my foundation on several sandy foundations (reference to the song, “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock). I’ve tried making several changes within my own life that I thought would gain me friends and acceptance. Each time though these ideas ended up being washed away by the realities of real life and I would always feel empty in the end. After enough failures I finally decided to do things the less obvious way by focusing on my inner self instead of my outward appearance. I quit building my foundations upon the sand and finally build one on the rock. By building on the rock I had to change some of my thoughts, but as I did I was blessed because I gained a testimony of Christ and this testimony proved to be invaluable.
To build our foundation upon the rock of Christ we must first start by developing the habits of clean and uplifting thoughts. Jacob communicates the need of having a clean mind by stating, “Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith,” (Jacob 3:1). When we do have a firm mind, Jacob also explains the blessings of keeping our thoughts clean by continuing, “he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause,” (Jacob 3:1). Through having clean thoughts continually we can take advantage of the Atonement because we are eligible to be comforted in times of need, and also Christ will be our advocate on the Judgment day.
Through having clean thoughts we live in a way that we are able to receive personal revelation that establishes a testimony of Christ. By having a testimony of Christ we are able to weather the storms of life. The Savior communicated this concept to Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which art in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:18-19). Because I have had a testimony of Christ and the Atonement I have been able to overcome my own tough times.
I moved in the middle of high school to another city and had to start all over making friends. People in my early morning seminary class were not that friendly initially and I eventually quit going to seminary. One day I had a talk with my Grandma about why I wasn’t going to seminary and she helped explain to me that while the Gospel is perfect the people aren’t. She helped me see that church was more important than just being a social function. She told me of a time when she lived in a ward where nobody was friendly, but she kept going to church because she had an absolute testimony of the Savior, Joseph Smith, etc. and that it was her testimony that kept her going to church during that hard time of her life. I applied her advice and instead of going to seminary for social reasons, I started going to seminary to expand my testimony. While I did not always feel welcome, I started to receive enlightment from the lessons that I would not otherwise have gained. I learned of the necessity to forgive others. While I did not hold grudges on the outward appearance there were several grudges that I secretly held against people in my class and I started to realize that it was these grudges that made seminary such a frustrating experience. My teacher read a scripture that startled me but started to reverse my course in seminary. “My disciples in days of old…forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted…Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin,” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:8-9). I never realized that these grudges I held were actual sins, but it made sense because they were impeding my spiritual progress. After that lesson for the first time I went to the Lord and asked that I could find a way to forgive those people in my class who had offended me. I didn’t forget those mean actions immediately, but for the first time I walked out of seminary with a warm feeling and I felt the Spirit. As the months went by I continued to pray that I could forgive those people within my heart by not letting thoughts of anger dominate my mind. As I continued to pray and fast about this issue, I started to no longer harbor feelings of resentment. As I lost those feelings, people then became my friends in that class, and seminary became enjoyable. While my testimony was tested my junior year, by going to the Lord for help on controlling my thoughts I was able to solidify my testimony. I finally believed in the Atonement not because everyonelse around me did but I had gone through my own personal experience where I needed the Atonement to pull me out of a rut. My junior year was my hardest year of high school, but that experience taught me how to control my thoughts emotionally, and also forced me to determine whether or not the Church really was true.
As I started to build my foundation upon the rock I got into the habit of reading my scriptures daily. One day I read Helaman 5:12 which says,
“And now my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer who is Christ the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation, that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of endless misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall,” (Helaman 5:12).
This scripture popped out at me and I realized that my life was going a lot better because I was building my foundation upon the rock of Christ. Nothing on the outside had changed. I hadn’t gotten any new friends, or anything worldly, but I was a lot happier with who I was as an individual. I had a higher self esteem and I had self worth in myself. While the Lord did not change what was around me he did change what was in me.

Works Cited
LDS Primary Song Book
The Book of Mormon
The New Testament
The Doctrine and Covenants
LDS Word Cruncher