Mark Hales/Mormon Insights Article #3/page 1

Mormon Insights Article

Title (8 words) Learning through Light: Receiving Personal Revelation (8 words)
Kicker (85 characters) Understanding how God gives us individual revelation is just as
important as knowing what he reveals to us. (85 characters)
Highlights of the source article (266 words)
Why havent I gotten an answer? What more can I do to get personal revelation? Questions like
these can plague our minds when we face pressing concerns or decisions. Sometimes we can
focus so much on the end result of personal revelationthe whatthat we forget about the
method of obtaining that resultthe how. Elder David A. Bednar empathizes with us and tells us
that personal revelation comes in a variety of ways. In athe April 2011 general conference talk
[https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng&query=], he
describes two common experiences with light that can help us understand Gods methods of
communication.
One experience is watching as a light bulb suddenly illuminates a dark room. The light
instantaneously fills the room, and the objects around us become immediately visible. In a
spiritual sense, this type of revelatory experience is when God reveals an answer to us all at
once. Some accounts of this type of revelation are given in the scriptures and even in the lives of
those around us. Elder Bednar suggests that this type of revelation tends to be more rare than
common.
Though both methods of revelation are possible for everybody, tThe other type of experience
the sunriseis more common than rare. This type of revelation comes to us gradually,
incrementally. We may not even be aware that we are receiving an answer until one day we look
back and can see how the light of revelation from God has been illuminating our lives. Though
both methods are possible for everybody, this type of revelation is more common than rare.
God knows which methods will best teach truth to our hearts, and we can have confidence that
how he will teaches each of us will be specifically to our us as one of his individual
needschildren.
(Optional expandable paragraph) Read more (70 words)
Elder Bednar reminds us not to be discouraged if we find ourselves receiving revelation more
often through the second, more gradual method. He assures us that if we find an absence of
spiritually striking revelatory experiences, that we are quite normal. God loves his children,
and if we listen to and look for his revelations, we can be guided to find them, no matter which
method he uses to send them.
Hyperlink to the URL of the article https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-spiritof-revelation?lang=eng&query=
Source: lds.org [http://www.lds.org/]
(Optional) Hyperlinks to relevant articles, videos, etc.

Formatted: Font: Bold

Comment [BH1]: Source checked

Comment [AP2]: The word as in this sentence

makes me think of a process, like the lightbulbs
illumination would take more than an instant. Since
this example is intended to illustrate fast and
immediate revelation, I thought using an active
construction would better illustrate your point. What
do you think of this revision?
Comment [AP3]: In class, we talked about
changing the style guide so that references to leaders
of the Church can use just the last name instead of
last name and title. If you want to take out the
Elder in Elder Bednar after the first use, feel
free. I dont think it will be a problem to leave it asis either.
Comment [AP4]: I rearranged this sentence to
establish what the second experience is before
moving on to a comparison of both methods.
Revision ok?
Comment [AP5]: The use of us and
individual in this sentence was a bit confusing.
Revision ok?

Mark Hales/Mormon Insights Article #3/page 2

Listen to how others receive answers to questions.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8B3FzWDsZ0]
Watch Elder Bednar talk more about personal revelation.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTa15a3mp0]
Byline
Mark T. Hales, Mormon Insights
Tags. Faith, revelation, Holy Ghost, spirit, prayer, David A. Bednar, general conference
SEO keywords. Revelation, personal revelation, answers to prayers, how can I recognize
answers to prayers? Following the spirit

Comment [AP6]: The wording here sounds like a

question and answer session. Could you tie this link
back to personal revelation?
Comment [BH7]: Source checked
Comment [BH8]: Source checked