- "Grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts" (p. 697). Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity. I testify and witness that the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement is real.
He says that the Lord can help us in all aspects of our lives.
- In the strength of the Lord we can do and endure and overcome all things.
Elder Bednar shares his dedication to the work he has been called.
- I will go where the Lord and the leaders of His Church want me to go, I will do what they want me to do, I will teach what they want me to teach, and I will strive to become what I should and must become. In the strength of the Lord and through His grace, I know that you and I can be blessed to accomplish all things.
Finally, Elder Bednar shares his testimony of Christ and the restoration of the gospel.
- As one of the weakest of the weak, I testify that God lives. I testify and witness that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Redeemer and our Savior, and He lives. And I testify that the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His true Church have been restored to the earth in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Priesthood keys and authority and saving ordinances are again found on the earth. By the power of that priesthood, families truly can be together forever. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and the keystone of our religion. And, brothers and sisters, the heavens are not closed. God speaks—to us individually and to the leaders of His latter-day kingdom on earth.
Elder Bednar is amazed at this calling he has been given and humbled to be sustained as an apostle by the membership of the Church. I wonder if we all have things to learn from his reaction to his calling. He recognizes that he will not be able to accomplish this calling without the Lord's help. He knows that the weak things of the world refers to him and that he has to work hard to become something greater than he currently is. He also recognizes that many people have helped him come this far in life and that he will continue to need their help to become even more. Maybe we can take his example and see if we can find ourselves. I would hope we can rededicate ourselves to the callings that we have received and rededicate ourselves to become something greater with the Lord's help.