An Evening with Elder David A. Bednar: Hearing the Lord's Voice in Personal Revelation, My Testimony

hi everyone I'm Sarah welcome um so today I want to make a little bit of a different video um I this is something that has been on my mind like I couldn't get it off my mind for the past couple of days and um I wanted to share it and in hopes that it uh was Will resonate with someone else out there on the internet so this week I was able to watch this um evening with a general Authority with elder David a batner which uh who for those of you who aren't familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of letter Day Saints he is one of the world leaders if if that makes sense we call them general authorities and uh they preside and they uh teach and minister to everyone all over the world um but this particular broadcast was uh was recorded in February of 2020 and it's sort of like a a Q&A situation um yeah where where they have like this group of people and they have some questions that they're going to ask him and you know he's he's sort of teaching them and engaging with their questions and it and it's really really nice and and um really uplifting and I was able to learn a lot from it um but the thing that I wanted to focus on the most today is something that I I didn't find anyone else that um this resonated with and um and this this broadcast has been shared quite a bit um by different accounts on YouTube so I figure a lot of people already know about this but the thing that really struck me and that stuck with me like really strongly I I wrote it in my journal here I'm still quite pregnant as you can tell um so I'm having a little bit of trouble moving um but I wrote it in my journal and I wanted to share the thoughts that I the thoughts that came to me me and in hopes that it will resonate with someone else um so he focuses a lot on Revelation and personal revelation recognizing personal revelation and um you know helping other people recognize personal revelation in their own lives if you're not familiar with our beliefs um in our faith we believe that God can speak to us and guide us and direct us and will speak to our heart through the Holy Ghost so there's a part in this Q&A at the very very end like when he is Clos his closing remarks where he says and and I'm I'm quoting here but you can find it in the video it's the very very last little bit he says the longer I serve the less satisfied I am with words but I pray the Holy Ghost will fill the gap between the words I express and what I yearn to convey and I thought this was so so interesting because this is something that I have been thinking about and was talking with my mom about only four days later only four days earlier um four days ago four days sorry five days ago last friday today is Tuesday I don't know when this video will be up but yeah so I was in the temple and one of our many temples um I was in the temple closest to my home and I had been praying and having a conversation with our heavenly father with God and uh this is something that's also very important to us in our faith and in our home we really believe in prayer and we love to be able to you know have that connection with God so I was in there and I was praying and just expressing my feelings and my thoughts thoughts about things and um asking for guidance for certain things that are going on in our lives and you know trying to find more direction for certain problems that we are having and um in this prayer I was I was thinking I I was talking with God and and uh and and saying to him I really wish that I could this is all in my head like these are all my thoughts but I it was like I was I was peing saying I really wish that I could speak with you like I can speak with anyone else here on Earth like with spoken words and out loud and you know look at you and you know get social cues and things like that um and you know it seemed seems a bit silly because it's you know we all know this isn't we can't just you know like hello God like got a minute like you know I understand this is not how it works and I I was I was expressing this sort of a desire that I had that I just wanted to be able to speak like I can speak with any other person and what his reply to me was and you know this can sound like I'm absolutely crazy to anyone who is not a part of our faith but uh we believe in in Impressions and being able to hear the words of God for ourselves through the spirit through the Holy Ghost so this is what his reply was to me um it was like I'm going to read what I wrote Because it's it was so interesting um it was like God was saying would you really want to trade our conversations and the connection we have through the spirit for something so simplistic and unsufficient as spoken words we have only been speaking for a few seconds and we have been able to express to each other so much more than mere words could have conveyed what you really need is to trust your ability to hear my voice when I speak to you you know what it is like you know what it feels like it is familiar to you because you have had a lot of practice in recognizing it but now what you're missing is to trust it trust your ability and this this was so so wonderful such a wonderful experience because it is true I had only been having those thoughts I I was in this prayer for about 15 minutes with myself in my own head my own thoughts but uh in this particular part where I express this want to be able to speak with him in person um it this this part of our conversation had only been happening for about 2 or 3 seconds and it was so incredible for me to realize that it is true that we were able to have this conversation this whole connection and this whole expression that would have taken perhaps many minutes with another person um but through the spirit it was much shorter and much sweeter and it encompassed so much more because I couldn't even find words to really describe what I felt and it was much more than these words like these weren't exactly like this isn't exactly you know God didn't tell me those words to my ears um but this is why the statement from Elder bner was so interesting to me because I've been starting to realize that our Spirits our souls are capable of connecting and expressing our feelings and our and and our desires and ours our love for each other in ways that are so much deeper then um simple words can convey and I loved that I was able to understand this and trust that this is better that the more I grow into it then I can actually Express much more and and this can be so much some a much Fuller experience if that makes sense so that is why when he says that um he's not satisfied with words but he prays that the Holy Ghost will fill the gap between the words that he expresses and what he yearns to convey and this is exactly what I'm trying to do right now I hope that the Holy Ghost spirit of God can speak to your heart and help you um understand what I mean and even though I'm not obviously I'm not finding the best words um I feel like my pregnant brain is also shutting down losing brain cells by the day um but I I felt this was really special and I hope that this can help someone else recognize God speaking to them in their own lives because we are all children of God and he loves each and every one of us and he wants to he wants us to be able to hear him and recognize him and yeah so these are just some of the thoughts that I wanted to express today I this was a little bit of a different video I I was a little bit more nervous to make this content because I have never made you know more religious content before I mean I I've only just started doing this but it's um it can be a little bit daunting because I don't I don't want to mess it up and I don't want to you know make light of it and because this is something that is really important to me and it holds me together on my worst days so um yeah so this is what I leave with you and I I'll see you guys next time