Rebuilding a Lazy Testimony

True Story of One Who Rekindles a Relationship with God When a Loved One Leaves the LDS Church

By: Taft Givens

Narrated by: Taft Givens

Fans of Patrick Q. Mason, Al Carraway, Dieter F. Uchtdorf will love this book.

Having a loved one turn his back on the faith we embraced through our formative years forced me to honestly reflect on things I had never dared to question before. My journey through my thoughts and with my brother would take me into places I did not expect to go—places that were simultaneously painful as well as uplifting. I would find myself covered in dirt from everything anti-Mormonism has had to throw at me, but I would also find myself shielded and renewed by gaining a deeper understanding of the beautiful truths surrounding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I can now see why people fall away from being faithful members of the church. I say I have a better understanding, but that does not mean I agree. I do not. It is also easy to see why many relationships do not survive the changes that so often come when a loved one leaves the faith.

This not a fun story. Most of this book is the story of two inseparable brothers who go through something so difficult we have to rebuild our relationship from the ground up and, unfortunately, that relationship is never quite the same.

This book is also a personal journey of discovering for myself what it means to have an intimate relationship with my Father in Heaven. And for large portions of this book, I abandon the storyline altogether in order to answer questions I have posed for myself and sort out my jumble of thoughts.

My prayer is that some people will take this story to heart in a way that they can gain for themselves some of the lessons I have learned as they take part in my journey. My hope is that some people can learn from what I have experienced in order to avoid some of the same mistakes I made and sidestep the need to walk the same route. My desire is that someone might listen to my story and discover a reason to stay in the faith despite the fact that they do not have all the answers.

©2024 Inky's Nest Publishing (P)2024 Inky's Nest Publishing

Very interesting and uplifting

The author takes us on a journey through his brother’s faith crisis, which sends him on a bit of a faith crisis for himself too. It’s full of great little stories within the bigger story and helps us see how all things can work toward God’s plan of growing and understanding. I especially liked the last section entitled “Why I Stay”. The narration is clean and well performed.