Hey there, everybody. Welcome out to another
episode of Redeemed Through His Blood. I'm Scott
Durfey joined as always by the beautiful one
and only Deborah Durfee. Hi, friends. How's it
going? That's so nice of you to call me beautiful.
Good. Life is good. Life is interesting and good.
Those are really interesting adjectives that
you choose today. I know. There's just a lot
going on. There is a lot going on. Like you had
a surgery last Tuesday. That's a lot going on.
Another one. I know. The other shoulder. You
know, this has just been a really... I don't
know how else to say it. It's been a jacked up
2025 summer. That's probably not the most, you
know, Reverend or eloquent way to say it, but
sometimes you just have to pick the words that
fit. And it's been jacked up, Deb. You know what?
It reminds me of that TV show back in the seventies.
You take the good, you take the bad, you take
it all and there you have the facts of life.
The Facts of Life. Do you remember that? No,
I don't remember that. I think it was the Facts
of Life episode or something. You take the good,
you take the bad, you take them all, and there
you have the Facts of Life. I don't know what
it is. A couple of weeks ago, obviously, we put
out our last episode and since then I've had
surgery and we haven't been able to come together
to do this. We were going to make the attempt
to do it last week, right after surgery. I was
a little more optimistic about my healing process
brute strength or whatever then was possible.
We did get in a great substitute to substitute
our first night at Institute last week. We will
not be doing that this week. I don't have to
have an app during the day or something or something.
But you know that this has just been kind of
an interesting little period of time. And I know
it's not just us. I know that many people in
the world, many people in our community, many
people in our society, and otherwise are just
feeling a lot of, I don't know, angst. I don't
know, disconnect. I don't know, fear. There's
so many adjectives. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I
call it interesting. Because first off, you know
that I always say No growing in the comfort zone
and no comfort in the growing zone. What if I
don't want to grow no more? So so if you're uncomfortable
just know you're growing. It's not up to me Don't
tell me that tell tell somebody else has control
over that because it is not me So I get I get
super uncomfortable I've got employees that are
going through massive major health issues right
now and I'm watching them go through surgeries
and Things that I mean you know, soon to be maybe
chemo. I mean, there's just so many things going
on. And we had this ridiculous episode in Orem,
Utah at the university that just rocked, I think,
the world. I really think it rocked the world.
We just live in interesting times. People have
stuff, and we're not alone. No, and not only
that, not everybody's world was rocked the same
by certain events. And we're not making judgment
or we're not here to take a stand and we're not
here to take a promotion or any of that. But
what we are here to do is to acknowledge that
You know what? Life's a little bit messy. It's
so different. And it's been really difficult
for me, Deb. I just got to be honest. You know,
I try to get on this podcast and put on a happy
face. You know, I get on stage at work and that's
the one area, one of the areas where I feel so
blessed. I love my career. I love what I do for
a living, you know, and all of that. But there's
just a lot of messed up stuff going on. You know,
I you wreck your motorcycle on Memorial Day.
A month later, I'm having shoulder surgery. Two
months after that, I'm having another shoulder
surgery. Where the heck did summer go? You know,
so wow. Right. Poor me. Poor me. And that's and
that's really kind of, you know, if I were to
be talking to and I can almost hear their voices,
you know, Big Al and. John Lala two of my sponsors
in a a they're both passed on I can hear them
both saying that to me You know if I'm sitting
down at at the coffee shop with big Al for example
That's where he'd want to meet and he's like
what's going on in your world? And if I just
told him what I told you he'd say when you know,
you know what it's a are you sober? If you're
sober and you're drawing air And all of that,
everything else is bonus. That's what Lala would
say. Everything else is just a bonus, Scott.
And I have to remember that. It's hard to put
things in perspective, though, especially when
you're in the thick of it. It is so hard, especially
when you're dealing with things you do not want
to deal with, that you don't want to feel, that
you don't want to see with your own eyes. There
are days you just want to kind of, I want to
close my eyes and just curl up in a ball and
have a really long nap. I want to wake up when
I don't when I can feel different when it's all
over. Yes. Yes. When it's all when it's all resolved.
Yes. Yeah. But, you know, the reality ain't going
to happen. No, no. And it doesn't happen. Yeah.
And we we just keep going through. You know what?
That reminds me of the other day I've been I've
been kind of bounced around in the Doctrine Covenants.
And I was in Doctrine and Covenants 136. I know
we're not there yet in the come follow me, but
in verse 11 in Doctrine and Covenants 136, 11,
it says, and if you do this with a pure heart
in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed. Ye
shall be blessed in your flocks. You shall be
blessed in your herds and in your fields and
in your houses and in your families. And I just
thought, you know what? We just need to have
that faith and the obedience that we will be
blessed in all things. I mean, I know we don't
have herds and flocks, but what is my herd and
what is my flock? By that scripture I wrote,
I just want to see God's hand in everything.
everything in my life, literally everything.
And so I've, I've kind of put on a different
pair of glasses to just say, where can I see
God? And he is everywhere. Like every morning
when I'm driving to work, I look at that East
mountain and I see that sun rays coming over
and I'm like, Hey Jesus, this is a good day to
come. I think this is a really good day to just
come and make this all right. Cause there's a
lot of people carrying heavy burdens. like hard,
hard, heavy stuff. And we have talked to many
of you and feel your pain and grieve with you,
which is so hard. I wonder, you know, we often
hear and I think that I can't go find it and
quote it exactly, but I'd be surprised if I was
wrong. But I think that there's a lot of places
where our apostles and prophets have talked about
Heavenly Father is hastening his work. hastening
his work. So I wonder if, you know, you and I
talk about this stuff every day, obviously. Well,
maybe it's not obvious, but we do talk about
this stuff every day. That's one of the things
I think that makes yours and my relationship
kind of cool, kind of special, you know, is we
have all of this, all these things in common.
I wonder if it's because we're getting older
that we're more sensitive to the effects of sin,
to the effects of the fallen world. To the effects
of physical and spiritual death or I wonder if
there's or if this is part of the hastening Well,
you know when the prophet says at the pulpit
It will be impossible to survive spiritually
Without the without the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Yeah, we need him. We need the spirit We need
to have something there and he talks about the
tumultuous times, right? I had to Google tumultuous.
Oh, what did you learn? That it's bad. Yeah,
tumultuous is I mean, there are a lot of I told
you it's not primary talk. So I have to Google
big words. But, you know, I don't remember exactly
the definition. But it's tumultuous means not
calm, not peace, not easy going. And it's not
just Few of us that are going through tumultuous
things. Yeah, the entire world is going through
tumultuous times Yeah, maybe I could just say
to our listeners right now listeners if there
is tumult Tumultuous times in your life. Raise
your hand right now. How many hands do you think
just went up? Exactly, maybe I could ask a question
a different way and have a different response
but Also, in all seriousness, though, I think
you're right. Yeah, I believe that there is a
quickening. I believe that there is a hastening.
I believe that as we draw closer to the end of
times and as we draw closer to that beautiful,
glorious day of rapture when he'll come again,
I believe that we will continually, potentially.
And I think, you know, we hear it from our apostles
and prophets. I think that this is the way it's
going to be. And so if that's the case, we need
to be prepared. Yeah, we have to prepare ourselves
to be able to go through the things that he is
asking us, inviting us, assisting us to go through
to draw us closer. to him. Well, you know, I
asked this question a lot in Institute and I
say, you know, how many of you have had an incredibly
spiritual growth moment in your life? And you
know, hands go up. And then the next question
I ask is, when you were going through that big
growth experience, was it easy? I mean, it's,
it's just, it's never easy when we're uncomfortable.
I just, I just don't think we grow in the calm.
We enjoy it now when the calm comes. It's like
you better enjoy it because it's not gonna be
here very long But it's it's so crazy for me,
especially I think of the times that I really
had to cry out and plead for help and guidance
and direction and inspiration and Revelation
because I wasn't comfortable I wasn't just floating
through life because my life was just rainbows
and butterflies. It was hard. And that's when
I grew the most. And that's when I knew I had
a Heavenly Father that knew my name. That's when
I knew that I have a brother, Jesus Christ, that
knows exactly what I'm going through because
he was in a garden and drip drops of blood and
hung on a cross and suffered for me. And I knew,
I know that because of the hard things that I
have endured and I have the things that I have
gone through and I'm, I don't want to, I mean,
I don't want to wish that on anyone unless you
could get that same result in that knowing because
knowing that he's there makes the next hard thing
a little bit more bearable for the simple fact
that I know I get to learn something in this.
And you know what, there are sometimes that I
don't see the lesson I just saw the hard, but
those are probably my eyes, my spiritual eyes
not being open. And I'm just feeling sorry for
myself, which is probably true too. Over the
past few episodes, a couple, I think maybe three,
two or three, we've talked about faith. faith
in Jesus Christ and and we and we moved into
a little bit about into the power of faith and
we could probably spend and maybe even should
but we're not going to more time on faith in
there and I think dub I think the reason that
you and I have decided that it's okay for us
to move now into the topic that we'll be talking
about or that we'll be addressing and visiting
with more Detail over the next probably two or
three maybe more episodes is really okay. Faith
is good Let's maybe we could do a little recap
right in the very beginning of this or this Season
we talked about who we are And we talked about
whose we are and how come that's so why that's
so important Then we talked about Heavenly Father's
plan and we talked about the fall how the fall
is ubiquitous we're all affected by the fall
of Adam and Eve every one of us and in many many
ways in some the same ways in some ways that
are different from each other but we're all affected
by the fall of Adam and Eve and sin is a part
of that and other things spiritual physical death
things are a part of that too for example you
know I have an autoimmune disease and that's
been kind of messing with me again lately too
And I know that many other people out there do
I I know that you just made reference to a friend
of ours Who's dealing with some pretty serious
cancer issues? And we pray for her And we have
others that have gone through and are going through
some of these same things and these are all the
effects of being separated From our Heavenly
Father by coming to earth by taking on mortality
by getting this gift You know and we talked about
how we should even celebrate Our mortality we
should even celebrate our fallenness be grateful
for the fall and be grateful for that Just a
great lesson for me to learn to become thankful
for the fall Why am I thankful for the fall?
Well, and you know and maybe sometimes I have
to in my mind take a trip back to that or those
couple of episodes or those Experiences that
we've had in Institute where we talk about how
being grateful for the fall Because if it wasn't
for the fall of Adam and Eve, we wouldn't know
pain. But if we didn't know pain, we wouldn't
know joy. Right. We wouldn't if we didn't have
the fall of Adam and Eve, we wouldn't have sorrow.
But if we didn't have sorrow, we wouldn't have
joy. Right. Right. We go through the fall and
we get discouraged and depressed. But if we didn't
have. the opposition because of the fall, we
wouldn't understand hope and peace and encouragement
and all of that. Top among all of that, probably
our agency. That's the one thing that whenever
I pray personally, when I say my personal prayers,
almost without exception, I thank my Heavenly
Father for my agency. And then sometimes I even
ask him, can you remind me why I chose it though?
I don't think that's an unfair question. No to
ask him and he often answers it Well, and I think
when we get to the other side and we see what
you know There's a talk about this mortality
works about a lady that had Massive challenges
here on this earth and when she passed through
the veil she visited I believe her son I could
be telling this wrong and I'm sorry if I am But
I just remember the the conference talk about
it is all for our good I mean in Joseph Smith
hears that in in the Carthage Jail or where our
Liberty Jail Liberty Jail Yeah, which was actually
elder just quickly elder Holland called Liberty
Jail because of that a temple prison Yeah, yeah,
but it's it's those kind of moments that it's
like can I see? The gift that comes in the in
the challenge. Can I see that and it is it is
work? And there are times that, you know, I'm
sure I am the only one that feels this, but there
are times I don't want to get on my knees and
say my prayers. Yeah, you're absolutely the only
one. There are times that I do not want to open
my scriptures and read. I mean, there, you know,
there's another conference talk. I am a conference
talk like junkie, but that talks about how Heavenly
Father is in relentless pursuit of us. And you
know what? He's not the only one that's in relentless
pursuit. And we feel the adversary pulling and
pulling and tugging and discouraging us. And
I feel that. I totally feel that. There are days
that I feel like I'm on top of the world. I'm
up, I'm in reading my scriptures, listening,
and I'm getting, you know, that feeling. And
then there's other days that I'm like, I'm not
getting out of this bed and I'm not opening my
scriptures today. I'm running late for work and
I'm going to... And you know what? I feel it.
I know the difference. And I remember hearing
people say that and I'm like, well, good for
you. Hallelujah. I mean, that's bad attitude,
Deb, but it's like, I'm living that now and it
takes effort. And sometimes I just have to do
the one thing prayer. I mean, the one word prayer
of whatever. Sounds like a lot of work. I know.
But if it sounds like a lot of work, then why
do it? I mean, I'm asking. Honestly and truthfully.
I love how I feel Yeah after and I hate how I
feel before after You know if I choose out I
hate how I feel. Oh, I see I hate but I love
how I feel if I choose in I see I mean, and so
I know the net result. It's like going to the
gym Sometimes I absolutely hate going But I have
never left the gym Saying I wish I wouldn't have
gone same thing for the temple This is such an
inconvenience. I don't have time for this. I
have never walked out of the temple and said,
gosh, I wish I wouldn't have gone. Ever. Ever.
I love how I feel. So the effort to me is worth
it because I know how it's going to make me feel
in the long run. In this podcast and in the book,
The Divine Gift of Forgiveness and in our Institute
class, and literally because of our laser focus
on this topic, Everything that we're talking
about here is really encapsulated in Jesus Christ's
atonement. Everything that we heal, everything
that gets better, everything that gets more comfortable,
everything that we're given the strength to overcome,
everything that we're given the power to go through
is because of Christ's atonement. We know that
Christ's atonement is administered to us by who?
The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, right? So we
know that when we're filling the Holy Ghost in
our life, we know what, Deb? That the atonement
of Jesus Christ is working in our life. That
we are being forgiven. That we're being forgiven
of our sins. So we're either are forgiven or
are in the process of being forgiven of our sins.
So when I feel the Holy Ghost in my life, I know
that I'm either am forgiven or am in the process
of being forgiven of my sins and what else. The
what else part for me is sometimes even, I was
gonna say more important, I'm gonna leave it
there. I can be argued out of that potentially,
but I'm going to leave it there. Maybe even as
important as that is for me to know that the
atonement of Jesus Christ is at work in my life,
comforting me through double shoulder surgery
in the last eight weeks. Oh, and it's not just
the physical. Because it has, it has affected
you emotionally too. Oh, big time. And mental.
Yeah. And I don't, I don't know that we always
prepare ourselves for what that, what comes,
you know, and then with, with having someone
I love dearly that is going through those challenges
and physically uncomfortable and mentally struggling
and emotionally, like it's like that's wearing
on me, you know, and I have to plead and say,
you know, lift me, help me be his support. I
don't have this magic button to heal him physically,
but how can I support him mentally and emotionally
and spiritually? You know, it's, it's a ripple
effect and we are affected by each other and
how we feel and others around us. Absolutely.
Absolutely. So what I do know is that when I
and I've had this thought I've had this feeling
More than once lately that that feeling of just
oh my gosh. I just want to give up There's just
part of me that's just like, I just want to be
done. Please just let whatever that looks like.
Even if that means you have to take me, let me
be done with this. You know, and it goes, it
comes and goes. And those of you who know me,
whatever, call me a wimp, whatever you want to
call me, I don't care. But that's what I happen
to be going through in some of those times. Right.
But I do know that when I'm feeling that Sometimes
the help and the hope through Christ's Atonement
seems like it's so distant to me. Because the
thing that's in front of me is where my focus
seems to be. And when my focus remains there,
I get more of what is remaining there. In other
words, if I'm focused on poor me, why did I have
to do this? Why can't I just, you know what I
mean? Yeah, get better. Exactly. Or why did I
even have to go through it in the first place?
I'm a healthy young guy. Yeah. I'm not young,
but I'm a healthy guy. In my mind, I'm young.
Right. Literally, you know, I ski, I bike. I
mean, I do all this stuff that guys 20 years
younger than me do, you know. But here I am going
through this and I start feeling for myself and
I feel so distant from any help. I feel so distant
from any hope. And when I start feeling that
distance and we're going to we're going to reference
a talk by Elder Holland here towards the end
of the podcast today where we talk about this.
But when I'm feeling that distance, I know that
nobody moved. I didn't even move. You know, it's
just my perspective, because I've heard often
somebody will say, well, if you're not feeling
the spirit, who moved? And you were feeling it,
who moved? I'm not going to take that blame.
And I'm not going to cast that blame on others.
If you're not feeling the spirit, you didn't
necessarily move. Sometimes that's just the way
it is. But when I don't and when I'm feeling
that despair and I had the wherewithal and the
memory to plead to Heavenly Father, Please just
remind me of my worth. Remind me of my purpose.
Remind me of your purpose. Remind me of your
son's purpose. And all of this inevitably. And
it is literally without exception at some point
I feel some better. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So.
How do we do that? You know, we talk about faith.
We were just alluding to that. We just kind of
went through all the other steps and things that
we've talked about so far in the podcast. We
talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ. To
access the atonement of Jesus Christ requires
us to do something. One thing, what is that?
Repent and come unto me, right? I love the way
it will get into, you know, some high level repentance
stuff today. And I really love the way, Deb,
that you explain this to our students every year
or every semester in Institute. But do you mind
just kind of giving us your perspective on what
is repentance? What does that even mean? Well,
back in the day, growing up, like I said, I attended,
you know, primary and young men, young women,
and I I understood repentance as I've done something
really bad and I need to go confess that I got
to go to the bishop and more mortify myself and
confess my sins. That's literally, I mean, because
there was, there was a step process of, um, I
can't even remember them. They were a bunch of
ours, reconcile and, and I don't even remember
them. Anyways, and so I honestly, when I heard
the word repentance a lot growing up, I was like,
oh, I hope I don't have to repent for this. Do
you know what I mean? I had this interesting
sign of what it meant. And as I studied and as
I... learned, and I even listened to yours and
Dave's podcast to really understand this, and
the divine gift of forgiveness was probably the
biggest help for me to understand that repentance
just means turning our back to what we don't
want and turning our face and our bodies to Jesus
Christ. When I learned that repentance was change,
that I just need to change my focus, change my
direction, change my heart, change my glasses,
you know, my poor, pitiful glasses to my, I can
see glasses. I can see God's hand in my life
glasses. Just change. Just that little simple
thing change that when, and even when President
Nelson said, find joy in daily repentance. And
I'm like, that's a lot of sinning we do if we
daily repent. But realistically, it is a constant
change. And I plead for change. I mean, I know
I am mortal. I know I screw up. I know I mess
up. I know I say things I shouldn't and do things
I shouldn't. I get that. But when I can, when
I know that I can immediately turn my back on
that and say, Heavenly Father, I am so sorry.
Jesus, thank you for carrying this for me, for
dripping this one for me, or whatever it is that
I just get to. It's not a have to, I get to change.
Right. It's been that way for me too. I used
to see repentance the same way you did, or the
same way you just explained it. We can't be alone.
No, I think that's, I know we're not alone. I
don't know how many hundreds, maybe thousands
now of Institute kids that we've taught over
the last five years in our Institute callings
at BYU, but I bet every one of them have felt
that way. And all the other leaders have felt
that way and every leader that I've ever served
with and elders corn Presidencies and other capacities
has felt that way and every leader that you've
ever Served with has felt that way and I have
state presidency friends and and so on who feel
that way And all of that too, so I know that
we're not the only ones that feel that way I'm
grateful that I would I have been able to change
literally, change that perception of repentance
because I totally misunderstood it. When I saw
repentance that way and when I would hear things
and President Nelson said that since my perspective
has changed when he said that we should find
joy in daily repentance, my perspective had already
changed about that. But when I would hear things
akin to that, prior to that and prior to my perspective
around repentance changing much the same way
yours did, I would feel an indictment. Felt indicted
like I was getting in trouble every day, you
know, well, of course I make mistakes every day
So what am I supposed to count my mistakes and
then take them to the Lord and say here's where
I screwed up again You know, yeah, but you're
getting bullet point two three four sure proud
of me. Here's this one again sure proud of me
Here's that one again sure proud of me. Here's
this one again again again again again human
again, right and and I know Now, that that was
never his experience. That was my experience,
but my experience based on a lie. Based on a
lie. So, when I think of repentance today, I
think of repentance today like nurturing a relationship.
That's what repentance is to me today. When I
am in the posture of repentance, I am in the
posture of nurturing a divine relationship with
heavenly parents and a savior who, as you said,
died for me, who suffered all, all of my iniquities,
all of my infirmities. Why? So he would know
how to succor me according to Alma 7. And you
know what? The more that goes on in this world,
the more I think that garden of Gethsemane must
have been absolutely brutal. I mean, I just look
at the turmoil and the horrific things that are
going on in this world. And I just like, he went
below that. He suffered all things. Way below
that. And I know very little compared to what
has happened and what is happening and what is
going to happen. But the little bit that I know
is huge. It's big enough. And I literally stand
all amazed. It blows my mind. I agree 100 % with
all of that. And additionally, I just want to
re -emphasize, you know, I think so often, maybe
I'm super sensitive, hyper sensitive, I would
even say to this, because I was so hyper sensitive
to the word repentance. Whenever I heard the
word, whenever I would hear somebody talk about
repentance, I felt so indicted. So accused. Interesting,
right? Yeah, because who is the accuser? Exactly.
Revelations 12, the accuser, right? But it's
different today. And you know what had to make
it different for me today is I really had to
go back to the very beginning of the of the season.
Not now, but, you know, in theory, you know,
when I first got into recovery, for example,
you know, my life, taken a nosedive pretty hard.
My life today is pretty sweet compared to what
it was then for sure. And it taken a pretty hard
nosedive and I was really incentivized to do
something. And as I began to really just pour
out my heart and we read about prophets and we'll
read about these guys, you know, ether and we'll
read about Alma the younger and we'll read about
others next week as we dive more into this term
repentance. But when I would hear that word repentance,
I would just recoil, almost gets sick to my stomach.
And much of it was because I was being accused.
Much of it was because I was guilty. We all are.
But there's but there's little hope for me if
there's no change. And I realized that repentance
should create and cause change. But where repentance
really came important to me, Deb, is when I began
to establish and develop a real relationship.
you know not a judge uh versus the accused type
of relationship but a relationship with a loving
father a relationship with a son who loved me
enough to take upon him all of my iniquities
i know like like lehi told jacob his son thou
art redeemed because of the righteousness of
thy redeemer yeah That's me. I'm redeemed because
of Him, not because of me. There's nothing I
can do to earn that. No matter how many times
I feel stressed out about the word repentance
and all of that, there's nothing I can do. The
only thing I can do is continually come to Him
and to remember that it is through the Spirit
that all of these things are made right in my
life, the spirit of the Holy Ghost. And so I
must work to keep the spirit of the Holy Ghost
at work in my life. Yeah, one of the things that
that reminded me of is I'm not earning, I'm receiving.
I love that. I wrote it down and I kept the paper
right here. It's like, yeah, there's nothing
we can do to earn that, nothing. But we can receive
it. Yeah, if we align with it, we can receive
it and like you said it's that relationship when
you put forth effort in a relationship and You're
giving to that relationship. It is inevitable
that you will receive Yeah, inevitable. You can't
stop it the inevitable I have a just a clip from
a talk here from Elder Holland that I want to
play Don't we all? I'm going to miss him. You
know, we had Jack Christiansen here in this very
room several months ago, who's friends with Elder
Holland. And he told me, he says, Scott, he's
not doing great, you know, and we can tell that.
And what a great, impactful man Elder Holland
is and has been and will forever be because the
immortality of the things that he's taught us.
One of these things being that one of those things.
I do not know who in this vast audience today
may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent
in this parable. But however late you think you
are, however many chances you think you've missed,
However many mistakes you feel you've made, or
talents you think you don't have, or distance
from home and family and God you feel you have
traveled, I testify that you have not traveled
beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible
for you to sink lower than the infinite light
of Christ's Atonement shines. Whether you are
not yet of our faith, or were once with us and
have not remained, there is nothing in either
case you have done that cannot be undone. There
is no problem which you cannot overcome. There
is no dream that in the unfolding of time and
eternity cannot yet be realized. Even if you
feel you are the lost and last laborer of the
eleventh hour, the Lord of the vineyard still
stands beckoning. Come boldly to the throne of
grace and fall at the feet of the Holy One of
Israel. Come and feast without money and without
price at the table of the Lord. My beloved brothers
and sisters, to those of you who've been blessed
by the gospel for many years, because you were
fortunate enough to find it early. And to those
of you who have come to the gospel by stages
and phases later. And finally, to those of you,
member or not yet member, who may still be hanging
back, to each of you, one and all, I testify
of the renewing power of God's love and the miracle
of His grace. His concern is for the faith at
which you finally arrive, not the hour of the
day in which you got there. So if you've made
covenants, keep them. If you haven't made them,
make them. If you've made them and broken them,
repent and repair them. It is never too late,
so long as the master of the vineyard says there
is time. Please listen to the prompting of the
Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very
moment, that you should accept the atoning gift
of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the fellowship
of his labor. Don't delay. It's getting late.
that we have to deal with, that the things that
come by way of the fall, the things that sometimes
can confuse us, that it's less confusing if we
are in constant pursuit of a relationship with
Him through the Holy Ghost. Yeah, and it doesn't...
He always magnifies my effort. You know, I feel
like I put forth a little effort, and sometimes
even when I feel like I'm putting forth a lot
of effort, it comes back to me tenfold. I mean,
it's like one of those things that I can't, you
know, get ahead. Not that I will ever, not that
I'm... truly trying, but he just magnifies our
efforts. He magnifies what we do. And it's so
sweet to be able to be a recipient of that. Another
quote from President Nelson. And I don't know
where he said this. I didn't write it down. Maybe
I'll have to find that and we'll readdress it
next week. But when coupled with faith, repentance
opens our access to the power of Jesus Christ's
atonement. When coupled with faith, so last week
and the week before, right? And it's actually
the doctrine of Christ, right? Faith, repentance,
baptism. Fourth article of faith. Exactly, exactly.
Exactly. So when coupled with faith, repentance
opens our access to the power of Jesus Christ's
atonement. Jesus Christ's atonement will heal
all things. It'll heal me. It'll heal you. And
sometimes that healing is in giving us the strength
to deal with or to potentially overcome. Next
week we're going to talk way more about repentance.
We need to talk about what repentance is. Sometimes
it's important to... understand first, though,
what repentance is not. Next week, we will talk
about what repentance is not. We've talked about
this in every single season that we've done this
in the past, but we're going to do it again as
we move into what is repentance and to remember
that repentance is the way we make connection.
It is through repentance that we establish and
maintain a relationship with our heavenly parents
and our heavenly family. and that we have the
opportunity to have Christ's atonement heal our
lives. So as we close today, we just want to
say that wherever you are and however you're
feeling, you're welcome here. You know, Jesus
isn't just waiting for you to clean everything
up before you come to Him. He meets us in the
middle. in the middle of our mess and our tumultuous
times. That's where His grace shines the brightest.
So come as you are, broken, hopeful, questioning,
searching. You are not alone. And you know what?
We'd love to stay in contact with you or connected
with you. If you have any thoughts or questions,
you want to have stories you maybe want to share
or questions you'd like us to address on the
podcast or even just privately, please email
us. He redeems us at gmail .com. We actually
We also really appreciate any feedback. We got
some important feedback from you, Brig, this
last time and appreciate it very much. Thanks
so much, Brig. We love him. We love you, Brig.
And if this episode touched you or touched your
heart, we hope that you would share it with someone
you love, anyone that could use a little bit
more hope right now, and faith. A little hope
and faith in these tumultuous times. I keep bringing
up that word. I like using it, I guess. You Googled
it, you might as well. I did Google it. Yeah,
next week we're going to talk about more about
repentance. Again, I just mentioned that. But
even more than that, I hope that we get the big
picture of things. The big picture of things
is that we talk about how the Savior doesn't
just redeem us, He heals us, He lifts us, and
He transforms us in our everyday lives. Well,
we're so grateful for Him. Thanks for being with
us. And remember, there's always hope through
Jesus Christ because you and I have been redeemed
through His blood. Thanks everybody. We'll see
you next time.