A Reservoir of Living Water

Over this last month, I have made a conscious effort to improve my scripture study. Elder Bednar’s talk “A Reservoir of Living Water” compounded with March’s visiting teaching of “Strengthening Faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ through Personal Scripture Study” has motivated me to do better. More than simply motivating me though, Elder Bednar provided specific strategies to use.


You will most likely recognize one strategy that I really liked: studying by topic. It is very simple and I have tried it before but after trying it again I have begun to recognize Elder Bednar’s promise in my life, that by using this process I will “obtain a much richer spiritual knowledge.” And that “This approach increases the rate at which living water flows into our lives.”

I have used the new gospel principles manual to guide my topic study because it is a convenient review or preparation for Sunday school and relief society. Also, after each relief society lesson our teacher gives us a specific challenge, usually incorporating an application of what we have learned. For example, Sunday’s lesson was on virtue from Bishop Burton’s general conference talk “Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts.” The challenge was to choose a virtue and to improve on it this week. I chose patience and so this week I am studying patience in the scriptures. This will hopefully help me actually apply it and improve on it this week and for the rest of my life.

It is amazing how Heavenly Father can use simple school assignments (reading Elder Bednar’s talk), friends (my visiting teachers), and church lessons (relief society challenges) to help me improve as a person and as a child of God. I am so grateful for this experience and am committed to continue to improve myself each day.