Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles held his sixth live question-and-answer on Instagram on Tuesday, June 4, where he answered questions submitted by young adult social media followers, counseling them to trust God as they strive to follow promptings from the Holy Ghost and make important decisions in their lives.
In the Q&A, which lasted about 10 minutes, Elder Bednar answered two questions centering on personal revelation, trusting God and decision-making in a discussion with a young married couple named Brock and Bailee. The questions were selected from thousands submitted since Elder Bednar announced the Q&A the day prior, with a focus on questions and concerns from young adults.
The questions were:
- Sometimes things don’t work out when I follow a prompting. How can I keep trusting in God?
- There are so many decisions to make about a career, marriage, etc. How do I not get frozen? How can I know which good option is best?
Elder Bednar responded that promptings are rarely isolated instances but rather parts of a sequence, “line upon line, precept upon precept.” He gave an example that if a young man or young woman receives a spiritual prompting to date somebody, that does not necessarily mean that is the person they should marry. Instead, the purpose may be to help them learn and help them develop in preparation for another relationship.
“We would be foolish to ever stop trusting [God]. He is not the problem. We may give ourselves our own promptings and somehow think it came from God, that we mix our own emotions with an impression from God.”
In response to the second question, Elder Bednar read from Doctrine and Covenants 80, where the Lord calls Stephen Burnett on a mission, telling him “go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.”
Elder Bednar elaborated that the Lord does care where one goes, but He is telling them to first “get going” and “get started” in some direction and as they honor their covenants, He will guide them to the right place.
“If I trust in God, if I am not perfect but I am living the gospel, I am going to press forward, anticipating that I will discover things along the way that will help me. But I cannot discover them if I am just sitting and waiting for an answer to show up.”
To conclude, Elder Bednar testified that because God knows every person personally and individually, all can trust that He will not micromanage but guide them and not let them “go amiss.”
