Elder Bednar Talks

Definitely Loving Life 

Sooooo..... I've never blogged once in my life. I hardly ever even read other people's blogs. I really just have never been interested in it...like whatsoever! And honestly the only reason I created this blog is because my Writing 150 Professor at BYU is REQUIRING us to keep up a blog for this semester!!! The first thing I thought when she told the class of this assignment was, "Oh man... A Blog? Really? Even if I had the slightest desire to keep a darn blog (which I sure as heck don't), I wouldn't know where to start. Well then.... I'm dropping the class." This was very much my intention. That is until I began reading two talks by Elder Bednar (Things as they Really Are and To Sweep the Earth as With a Flood), which my professor also assigned to us for homework. Let me tell you something... ELDER BEDNAR IS THE MAN!!! He is the reason I am okay with the fact that I have to keep a blog. In fact, after listening/watching/reading his words, I feel I will no longer think of it as an irritant, but rather a privilege. A privilege through which I can express the knowledge, peace, blessings, experiences, and true happiness I have received from my glorious and merciful Father in Heaven which is only possible because of His Son, my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

In his talks, Elder Bednar speaks of the amazing time that we live in with all of the technological advances. These new technologies and easy accesses are neither bad nor good by themselves... we make them a certain way according to how we utilize them. If we become addicted to any type of website or app, then we are not using technology in the best ways we could. I know I am definitely guilty of frequently checking my facebook, instagram, snapchat, yik-yak, etc. Although now that I am a college student and am coming to realize that this is nothing like High School and that I actually have to do work and be responsible, my social media checks have significantly decreased. Aaaaaaaaand here at BYU, I experience social activities everyday... I don't need the electrical versions. I make more friends by just walking around campus and studying in the library than I ever would through Hot or Not, twitter, or tinder. This is also something Elder Bednar addressed in the two talks we were assigned to read, "To feel the warmth of a tender hug from an eternal companion or to see the sincerity in the eyes of another person as testimony is shared.... To be 'encircled about eternally in the arms of His (Chirst's) love' (2 Nephi1:15) will be a real and not a virtual experience." That is what really matters! That is "things as they really are"! Instead of slowly slipping into the powerful, disrupting pull that technology can have, Bednar tells us to use these amazing inventions to flood the earth with the the love of God and His gospel!!!! By posting, pinning, tweeting, and blogging about the goodness of God, we can bring the world happiness! We can literally "sweep the earth as with a flood" with the gospel of Jesus Christ, with true joy!

I Nephi chapter 20 verse 6: "Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye not declare them?" I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life... on a day to day basis I see His blessings and feel His love. I have been so extremely blessed to live where I live with the advances and technologies that I have. To have the knowledge and testimony of the gospel that I have. How could I have ever been so unwilling to declare what I have been so blessed with? Through this blog, I hope to be able to do my part in flooding the earth with the gospel of Christ. I owe much thanks to my professor and Elder Bednar for helping me come to this realization. I KNOW and I testify that God is real. We are all sons and daughters of Him, a Heavenly King. He knows us by name and he knows our needs better than anyone. We have the potential to become just like him. Through Christ this can be accomplished. He sacrificed His life for us so we could be truly happy. That right there is a love we can not yet fully comprehend, but we feel it.... ALWAYS! This I know and do testify.

I LOVE LIFE. And I want everyone else, all my brothers and sisters, to feel the love that I feel.