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[♪ Music香

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Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus

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share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks.

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This is Abbe and Amy.

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Let's jump into it.

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Today's talk is the Joy of Our Redemption done by Sister Kristin M. Yee, Second Counselor

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Relief Society general president. And I would love to start by paraphrasing the story of her

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doing a painting. She was prompted to paint a picture of Jesus Christ and she felt unequal

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to the task, like how is she going to capture his spirit? This is not a self-deprecating comment.

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I am maybe the worst artist that I've ever encountered. And I say that because I am so

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in awe of the works that people can create and capture, something like the Savior in art form.

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And we all got to see that finished product eventually in the course of this talk. And I

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was just like, she's got some art background, some experience, she's really good at things.

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But to do this task, she was feeling like a little uncertain of, rather than just jumping in,

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she took some time to research and ponder and pray. And then she began laying down paint on

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the canvas and tirelessly works and adding and adding, and then she feels like the work is done.

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The last thing to do must be oil, right?

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Must be.

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She puts a varnish over it. And when she did that, because the underneath canvas wasn't actually all

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the way dry, it caused the painting to start to disintegrate, particularly the hair of Jesus

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Christ. And so, like any of us would, she started crying and she thinks to call her mom, again,

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pretty natural instinct. And she was so devastated. So she works through the night and paints it again,

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leaves the work behind, goes to bed. And then in the morning, she comes back to look at it.

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And in her opinion, the painting was better than it was before the first take.

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My opinion too, it looked fantastic.

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I wonder what it looked like before.

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She has pictures if you look online.

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I would love that. That's good reference. So her quote is,

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what I thought was a mistake without men was an opportunity for his merciful hand to be manifest.

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He was not done with the painting and he was not done with me. She was joyful and so relieved.

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Praise God for his goodness. And just grateful for this experience because it taught her more

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about his love and power to save each of us from our mistakes, weaknesses and sins,

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and to help us become something more. And obviously there's so many layers to this story

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that we can learn from and relate to our own life and our own experience. So let's use that

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as the backdrop to dive into what I think could be a great discussion on repentance, mistakes,

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changing and being cleansed through Christ's atonement. One thing I will say as a kickoff is

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the fact that she was getting ready to do that varnish layer does mean that through this pondering

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and prayer and the efforts that she put into it, to me meant that she thought that the work was done.

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Right. She's too meticulous to be like, well, that's as good as it's good. That's it. I'm giving up on it.

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Wow. That's his hair gone. And then look what she ended up with. I love that. And I love how he just

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eased into that and the light where it's shining on him just the right way. It's incredible. But to me,

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it is a beautiful picture. It is. And she's done the best that she can do in her mind.

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And so when she committed it to, and she said, this is done and she varnishes it, it's so like

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all of us do. We're like, this is the offering that I can give to you. It's the best that I have.

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And he's like, in his way, he's like, there's more that you can give me. And in that way,

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what she saw was the hair dissolving, disintegrating and turning into nothingness. And

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what he gave her was an opportunity to improve even upon what she thought was her best.

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Seriously, it boggles the mind. I love this part, Abby. So I dove into this. As Elder David

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Abed-Nartot, we can receive an ongoing remission of our sins through the sanctifying power of the

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Holy Ghost as we truly and sincerely repent. The redeeming power of Jesus Christ is one of the

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greatest promised blessings in our covenants. Ponder this as you participate in sacred ordinances.

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And then he says, this can be an action item for the week to help each of us ponder the redeeming

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power of Jesus Christ through sacred ordinances. In this talk, she actually did quote him,

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Elder Abed-Nartot, on this. He speaks on this topic so well. When I think of him,

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I think of his talks that he's given in this. And so in her footnote, it references Elder

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Abed-Nartot's conference address from April 2016, where he further teaches about the ordinances.

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And he reminds us what their roles are. Holy ordinances are central to the Savior's gospel

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and in the process of coming unto him. He reminds us that ordinances are sacred acts that of

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spiritual purpose, eternal significance, and are related to God's laws and statutes.

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Well, in addition to that, he reminds us of by what power they come to us by.

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Love that. That's so him, right?

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Let me quote where it points that out. It says,

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All saving ordinances and the ordinance of the sacrament must be authorized by one who holds

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the requisite priesthood keys. The ordinances of salvation and exaltation administered in the

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Lord's restored church are far more than rituals or symbolic performances. Rather, they constitute

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authorized channels through which the blessings and powers of heaven can flow into our individual

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lives. I love that, Abby, because he talks about authorized channels. Yeah, that stands out. Let's

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stop and talk about that for a sec. I think we all want to need the blessings and powers of heaven

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to flow into our individual lives. Elder Abed-Nartot's talk always retain a remission of your sins as a

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great resource to Sister Yi's talk because it lays doctrinal foundation of us being able to access

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God's power and in receiving continually a remission of our sins. I love that. There was

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another line in there. Yeah. Jesus Christ's atonement is the channel. Did that stand out?

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Those two things, right? The authorized channels and Jesus Christ's atonement is a channel.

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As the son of God who atoned for the sins of the world and laid down his own life and took it up

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again, he holds the power of redemption and resurrection. I love this because Christ holds

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the power of redemption and resurrection because he went through with the atonement. He could not

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hold the power of these things had he not come down, taken up a physical body, and performed it

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in the flesh. So many times we're going through a trial that we'd gladly give up if given the

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opportunity. We aren't just handed experience and a gift bag. We have to go through the thing,

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then we do have the gift of experience. Here Jesus shows us how he literally holds the power

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of these processes, meaning he went through them in the best way and fulfilled the will of his

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father in heaven. It also reminds me of, as we look at our life's trials, this reminds me of Alma 712

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where it said, he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his

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people and he will take upon him their infirmities that his bowels may be filled with mercy

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according to the flesh. There we are again, that he may know according to the flesh

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how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

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I think it's so incredible. I caught a couple episodes of The Chosen. I'm not like a watch it

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right when it comes out. I kind of need a few behind them so that they can come. This is what

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also sparked it. The first presidency devotional just aired on Sunday and then right after that,

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they aired The Nativity and my husband's like, I haven't seen a better version of that done

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and it is so well done. I watched the baby Jesus being laid in the manger and I thought,

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he came such an innocent person with no knowledge, just like he was going to ask us to do.

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They could have made him a 12-year-old. I don't know. There's just so many scenarios,

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but I'm like, he truly does know everything that we're going through because they teach him how

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to walk in a moment in that little film. And I'm just like, everything that we have to go through

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from life to death and joyful moments and the hard moments, the persecution, the hard work and the

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family relationships and all of the things. That's what I took away from the watching of it on this

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last Sunday is just like, he gets it because he's experienced it all and he's never asked us to do

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something that he hasn't done for himself. Right? That right there says it, he's done it

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all so he knows how to succor us. It's very humbling to read that scripture.

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06 It's good to sit and reflect on it. I'm really grateful that this is,

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the timing of this is happening right during this Christmas season.

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06 Yeah.

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06 Maybe to ask a question, what do you think that it means when Christ asked us to bring forth fruit,

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eat for repentance? Or like, if I say that differently, what does it take to repent?

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06 Sister Yee said this, these fruits or actions include exercising our

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faith and trust in Jesus Christ and in His atoning sacrifice, offering to God a broken heart and a

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contrite spirit, confessing and forsaking sin, restoring that which had been damaged to the

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best of our ability, and then also striving to live righteously. 07 I like that line, restoring

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to the best of our ability. That's not going to be a perfect fix just as the picture scenario,

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but the best that she could offer in that moment, the best that we can offer in those moments.

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08 Absolutely. To truly repent and change, we must first be convinced of our sins.

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A person does not see the need, I love this, a person does not see the need to take medicine

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unless they understand that they are ill. A favorite quote by C.S. Lewis from a favorite

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character, Aslan, is this, oh, humankind, how cleverly you defend yourselves from all that

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might do you good. 09 That's a good character. That was brought up in Annette Dennis's talk.

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She had us thinking about this book and I'm fond of this book because I can't really talk about.

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010 I know. Aslan without crying?

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011 No, I can't. I'm like a psychopath, but yeah. I was never into those stories,

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but it was in teaching my own children a couple years back and I'm seeing all the symbolism

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in that book and I just break down the tears. My kids are still thinking about this

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lion, Aslan, and I'm like, no, this is our savior. And each of these kids are representing

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personality characteristics that we all have to perfect and rein in, you know, all of this

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balance. But anyway, that's a different topic. We're not literary whatever's here, but anyway,

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you mentioned that and I'm going to get thinking like, man, I learned something from that book.

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So, wow, that was so true. Sister Yee possesses a wonderful, she poses a wonderful question herself,

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something that we can use to self-reflect. Here's what she says, where might you and I be

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defending ourselves from the things that might be doing us good?

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012 So I feel like that is an action item for us to be thinking about just as we go throughout our

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week because sometimes it's a little more than, I mean, the Spirit can help you and it can come to

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you in just a second or throughout the course of living your life that week.

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013 Did you have an immediate thought on that? That part stood out to me so much. I've been

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reflecting on a couple of the last podcast just because the way that it works, we don't pick and

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choose which order we do it, we do it sequentially. So something that's been on my mind a lot is

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church callings. A lot of times we think I'm too busy to do A, B or C and we tell ourselves that

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and so we don't feel bad about making that the last priority. But a few different talks have maybe

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think for myself and I'm just kind of curious if that came to you or if that's just a lesson

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that I need to be learning. The most important thing that I can be doing is whatever thing I

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can be doing that's going to draw me closer to Jesus Christ and build and develop a characteristic

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that I want and desire. He knows that I want to grow. I'm not trying to be stagnant in my life

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and a lot of times it's going to be an act of service that's going to be an opportunity to

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have that growth that I need. So I've just been reflecting on how I accept callings,

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how I execute callings and the joy and the time and the effort that I'm putting into that. And

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I was just thinking maybe it's that fight between what Satan wants to tell us,

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you don't have time for this and it's totally fine to say no.

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Nicole Soule- And so easy to do.

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Beth Dombkowski It is fine to say no. I'm not trying to make somebody feel guilty that's like,

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I literally can't do that. But what if you're asking for a blessing of health or protection

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or strength or growth and he has provided this opportunity for a calling and that was going to

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be the answer to the prayer. But you can't see past that because Satan's really good at kind of

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misting that over. Nicole Soule- No, it's true. It's totally true, Abby. I love this part.

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Beth Dombkowski This is a direct quote in her talk. I'll share it. I pray that we may lay aside any

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weapons of war, which I loved when she said that my ears peaked up and I was like, oh, that's Elder

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Christofferson's talk, that we've consciously or even unconsciously taken up to defend ourselves

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from the blessings of God's love, weapons of pride, selfishness, fear, hate, offense, complacency,

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unrighteous judgment, jealousies, anything that would keep us from loving God with all our hearts

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and keeping all of our covenants with him. As we live our covenants, the Lord can give us the help

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and power we need to both recognize and overcome our weaknesses, including the spiritual parasite

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of pride. Nicole Soule- Abby, I feel like Sister Yi is so real in her approach. Like when I'm reading

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her words, she's so relatable to me. A part that I really loved about her talk is when she spoke of

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the difficult relationships in her life, areas where she felt that she was failing. It felt like

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she was learning the same lessons. They just kept cropping up. As we often do in these situations,

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she asked herself, and again, self-reflection, did I not fix things the last time? Did I not truly

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overcome my weakness, which I have totally been there. I feel like I've asked the exact same

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questions. And I love this. This is the gem that she shares from her own life's experience.

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And this is the gem that she shares from her own life's experience. I've learned over time that I'm

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not necessarily defective. Rather, there is often more to work on and more healing that is needed.

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I wholeheartedly echo this. Nicole Soule- Yeah. I've had a lot of walks with you in a lot of

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conversations and you've taught me this process. You can sort things out to a certain point. And

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I think sometimes our bodies just say, that's the work that I'm capable of doing right now.

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I think sometimes time has to pass. And I think she reflected in a way to be like,

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I said I wanted to take care of this thing and I thought I put the work in and I thought I did it.

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And he's like, it's a process. It took a process to get unhealthy in this relationship or

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things were said over a series of years from something that we've talked and discussed

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previously. In a spiritual way, those things can all be made right in an almost immediate sense

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with the atonement. Nicole Soule- Agreed.

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Nicole Soule- But spiritual things seem to be a faster process than healing the physical

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problems. Nicole Soule- For sure.

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Nicole Soule- That spiritual problem. Nicole Soule- Yeah. And DNC explains it that

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the spirit is finer matter. Nicole Soule- Right.

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Nicole Soule- And the physical is denser. Nicole Soule- I just totally believe that

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wholeheartedly. Like when you had discussed that before, I'm like, that totally makes sense. And so

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I think when you ask yourself that question, if you really did put the time and the work in it

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and you weren't holding anything back, then he'll say, no, you did, but you're ready. You have the

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capacity or the tools or the person in your life or something's changed and we can heal even more.

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Nicole Soule- Right. You're ready for the next phase.

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Nicole Soule- We can perfect this even more. Nicole Soule- That's so good, Abby.

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The Lord does teach us line upon line. He rounds out our rough edges one experience at a time.

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Nicole Soule- Yeah. Nicole Soule- Like you said, it happens one at a time. How grateful I am that

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he doesn't feel the need to round them all out at once because I would not recover. He's gentle in

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his correction and we can borrow Christ's strengths and attributes along the way. I pretty much feel,

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for the most part, he lets us set the pace for our own healing. How much of my weakness do I want to

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see? How much do I want to work on? And how quickly do I want to make it through this learning

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experience? I often laugh at myself that I've bit off more than learning healing that I can chew.

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Abby- Give me a minute to digest. Nicole Soule- I literally said this last week.

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I was like, Bailey, I got overzealous and I'm in over my head. But the Lord is able to pace me

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and my progression when it feels like it's literally going to swallow me whole. He sends

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me a win or a little miracle that I can finish so that I can finish the war of overcoming one battle

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at a time. That's how it feels for me. Abby- I love that. And something you had said that really

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hit my ears was that in this process, as it's taking a little bit of time, we borrow Christ's

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strength and attribute along that path. If it was a quick process, we wouldn't really have the

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opportunity to become more like him. It'd just be like, yeah, I already have that one. Don't need

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anything else. I think it's beautiful. Sister Yeesh quotes from Elder Christopherson in this talk

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about rounding out those rough edges. I'm going to share that quote. It said, surely the Lord smiles

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upon one who desires to come to judgment worthily, who resolutely labors day by day to replace weakness

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with strength. Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something

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refining and holy in such striving divine forgiveness and healing flow quite naturally to such a soul.

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And when I relate that back to the picture, I mean, every hair on that head was meticulously

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drawn, wiped away, and then redrawn in such a process that it's like, I just think how much

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time that she got to spend with the savior as she was trying to draw in her illness and the thoughts

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that might've been circulating her head. And when I read that, I just think through this, it's not

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a metaphor. The picture was there and then it disappeared in front of her and she had to repeat

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it. I don't really know that that's a metaphor, but well, I don't know. I tried on it and I was

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having a hard time because I'm like, are we the painting? Are we the artist? I feel like we're the

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artist. Right. And our painting is our offering. It is the offering. And the Lord is guiding us.

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Yeah. That's how I feel. And it's not like he was a critic in the thing. He was just saying,

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you can do better. And sometimes we go through life and we put that offering out there and then

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it seems like all of it was for naught and it's taken away from us. And he's like, no, it's just

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an opportunity to rebuild. You did such a great job, but what about if you do it time number two,

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it's going to be even better. Like you said, Abby, how long did she, how many hours did she spend

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with the Lord? And for me, when I read this talk, when I listen to this talk, what it tells me is

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that she spent a lot of time getting to know the Lord. And like our prophet has asked us to learn

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or to, I think it was better understand, to weekly study and better understand the atonement of

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Jesus Christ. And I just feel like this entire talk, this whole painting, how would she ever know

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from the very beginning or the get go that this would be the outcome? A beautiful painting and

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honestly, a masterpiece of a talk that has so much raw emotion in it, so much self-reflection

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and just an invitation for each of us to get to know Christ on a more personal level.

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1.5

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And I think an opportunity, I think she took this opportunity and I would suggest it as an

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opportunity for each of us as another action item is to think back on our lives and the moments that

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we think we're like the current Bush, that we've been cut down and we've wondered why,

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but that enough time has passed that we can see what the purpose was.

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2.5

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Beautiful.

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3.5

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What did the repainting of that scenario, what's happened that you were able to redefine that?

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Was it a marriage that fell apart? Have you had the opportunity to see the growth that you had in

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those struggles and now you're living like a different version of life? Is it the way that

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you're interacting with your children or a family member? It would be interesting for each of us

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to see that. I think that's, I need to spend more time on this and I will, but as I was listening to

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it, just kind of at face value, I was like, there's something to learn about what came of the

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aftermath of losing everything and having another redo and not just being like, well,

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it didn't work out. I'm giving that painting up. Compressing on and continuing the work that has

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been started and moving it farther than it had ever been before.

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4.5 When I look at the painting, I'm actually in awe that it just, and I say just took all night.

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4.5

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That's crazy.

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4.5

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That is like...

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4.5

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That seems like painting ability above her natural ability.

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Yeah. I mean, it's amazing what she ended up with.

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4.5

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Her efforts definitely must have had some angelic amplification.

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4.5

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Agreed.

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4.5

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I don't know, something magical happened there. So do you feel like you've shared what you want to,

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you have something in closing?

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4.5

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Yes. She says each day is a new day filled with hope and possibilities because of Jesus Christ.

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Each day you and I can come to know as Mother Eve proclaimed, the joy of our redemption,

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the joy of being made whole, the joy of feeling God's unfailing love for you.

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I join with Sister Ian testifying, I know that our Father in heaven and Savior love you.

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Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. He lives through His atoning sacrifice.

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The bands of sin and death were forever broken so that we might be free to choose healing,

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redemption, and eternal life with those we love.

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4.5

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Say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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4.5

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Catch you next time.