David A. Bednar

Approximately eight months ago, a horrifying attack took place during a Sunday sacrament meeting in the Grand Blanc Ward in Michigan. The following Tuesday morning, Susan and I were in Michigan to learn from and minister to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others involved in this tragic event. What we saw, what we felt, the friends we made, and the faith in Jesus Christ we witnessed were life-changing for us. For my remarks at BYU Women’s Conference, I invited members of the Grand Blanc Ward to share with me lessons they had learned from this terrifying experience. Please notice the use of the words “light,” “glory,” and “darkness” in their reflections. What lessons can we learn from the Michigan Latter-day Saints about “rising up” (as quoted in the slides with permission) after a devastating experience? An eternal perspective grounded in the Father’s plan of happiness matters. Acknowledging we absolutely can never “rise up” without the power and blessings of the Savior’s Atonement matters. Covenants received worthily and faithfully honored matter. Spiritual priorities grounded in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ matter. Consistency in learning, doing, and loving small and simple spiritual things matters—all the time and everywhere.

The very purpose of having agency is to choose God and to love, serve, and bless our brothers and sisters.

As mortal beings, we are in absolute and never-ending need of Heavenly Father’s and the Savior’s help to realize our eternal destiny.

Enduring to the end is not merely a relentless determination to grit our teeth, hold on to the limits of our physical strength and mental capacity, and push through the challenges and adversities of mortal life; it is so much more than that. Enduring to the end is linked inextricably to the spiritual gift of charity, or the pure love of Christ. As we are blessed to receive this supernal gift, a transformation occurs in our spiritual nature and character. Charity encompasses both what we do and what we can become as this spiritual gift ultimately possesses us. As we follow, love, and serve the Savior, we gradually focus less on our own desires and interests, and more on understanding and addressing the needs of others. We do not merely perform benevolent deeds; rather, our state of being is changed and becomes increasingly Christlike. Charity, then, ultimately possesses us. The scriptural phrase “endure to the end” is a repeated reminder of the mighty spiritual change in our hearts that should be ongoing throughout our lives; it also is His promise of what we may become if we truly are possessed of the pure love of Christ. #GeneralConference

In this special and sacred Easter season, I joyfully declare my witness that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father. He lives. He is risen. #GreaterLove

If you feel discouraged in your efforts to hold family prayer or study the scriptures together, remember this: Power comes through consistency—not perfection.

Whether you grew up in a gospel-centered home or not, you can create one. It begins with you.

My earnest prayer is that we will seize on the opportunity to study the Old Testament this year—not just read, but ponder, pray, and relish the truth we find in the scriptures.

No matter how sophisticated and elegant AI technology ultimately may become, it simply can never bear witness of the Father and the Son nor reveal the truth of all things.

Our souls should swell with gratitude as we consider God’s great plan of salvation, redemption, restoration, mercy, and happiness. Knowledge of His plan provides precious perspective, enriches our joys, and strengthens us to overcome our challenges and adversities. Heavenly Father yearns for us to return home to Him. He invites and promises blessings, but He will never compel, coerce, or constrain our exercise of the moral agency He gave to us. We must act and choose to return to Him by following the example of His Beloved Son.

Today I had the sacred privilege of dedicating the Alabang Philippines Temple—the fourth house of the Lord to be dedicated in this beautiful country. As 10 additional temples are under construction or in planning here, it is clear the blessings of the temple are expanding across this remarkable nation. In temples, we focus on the Savior, Jesus Christ. The covenants and ordinances we make in the house of the Lord enable us to have a covenant connection with the Father and the Son. Everything in the house of the Lord is about the Father’s plan of happiness and the Savior’s Atonement. In a world that grows increasingly confused, we can be blessed with light and direction in the house of the Lord.

Sometimes we are asked why missionaries in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend their time, talents, and funds to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The answer is simple: They love God, they love His children, and they know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King!” ("Joy to the World," Isaac Watts)

The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, a witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and a powerful tool for conversion. I invite you to read and study it often. To ponder it. To pray about it. And I promise that the Holy Ghost will confirm its truth to your heart and mind.

In the quiet countryside of upstate New York stands a place of protection, divine preparation, and revelation. It was here that Joseph Smith first obtained the record which we now know and love as The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Three years after Joseph Smith’s miraculous vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ, he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who declared that God had a work for Joseph to do—including the translation of ancient records that we now know as the Book of Mormon.

In response to a humble prayer of the 14-year-old Joseph Smith, the heavens were opened again. Revelation was restored. And the Lord’s voice was heard on earth. In this Sacred Grove began the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.

Rather than changing our circumstances, our Heavenly Father can change us and our hearts so we then can change our circumstances. This strength to change comes from Jesus Christ—an incredible gift from a loving God.

God’s creations include both “things to act and things to be acted upon.” And moral agency is the divinely designed “power of independent action” that empowers us as God’s children to become agents to act and not simply objects to be acted upon. A primary purpose of the Creation and of our mortal existence is to provide us the opportunity to act and become what the Lord invites us to become. We have not been blessed with moral agency to do whatever we want whenever we will. Rather, according to the Father’s plan, we have received moral agency to seek after and act in accordance with eternal truth. President Dallin H. Oaks has emphasized that the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us both to know something and to become something through the righteous exercise of moral agency. And yet our works and desires alone do not and cannot save us. “After all we can do,” we are reconciled with God only through the mercy and grace available through the Savior’s infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice. Many of us may expect that our appearance before the bar of the Eternal Judge will be similar to a proceeding in a worldly court of law. A judge will preside. Evidence will be presented. A verdict will be rendered. And we likely will be uncertain and fearful until we learn the eventual outcome. But I believe such a characterization is inaccurate. The fear of the Lord is not a reluctant apprehension about coming into His presence to be judged. Rather, it is the prospect of ultimately acknowledging about ourselves things as they really are and as they really will be. Ultimately, we are our own judges. No one will need to tell us where to go. In the Lord’s presence, we will acknowledge what we have chosen to become in mortality and know for ourselves where we should be in eternity. If our desires have been for righteousness and our works good—meaning we have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, made and kept covenants with God, and repented of our sins—then the judgment bar will be pleasing. #GeneralConference