Keywords

faith, revelation, testimony

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Many former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explain their loss of faith with the phrase “My shelf broke.” This is in reference to a well-known analogy by Camilla Kimball in which her shelf was where she kept the questions she could not yet answer, not as a way to avoid those questions but with faith that God would eventually answer them. Based on Sister Kimball’s analogy and the ninth article of faith, this paper suggests that there are actually three shelves rather than one, with a constant interplay between revelation past (shelf 1), revelation present (shelf 2) and revelation future (shelf 3). By intentionally remembering the past and thoughtfully engaging in the present, we can faithfully await revelation yet to come, fortifying our faith against the doubt that despairs of ever receiving answers to our questions.