*Today at church all the talks were about repentance and forgiveness. The youth speaker gave great scriptures and quotes. The second speaker gave good advice about forgiving others (and repenting for harboring bad feelings). He told of his neighbor that shares his back fence, who they call "Angry Lady." She called the police while our friends had their children in swimming lessons in their back yard, with a professional teacher, and their mom there too, because their son was screaming. There were other difficult instances with this neighbor. He shared their journey to learn to forgive. The third speaker spoke about how to forgive yourself after repenting, and shared his own story of growth. I was reminded of an article I read which asked what the most important thing was to teach your youth before they serve a mission, and the author said it was how to repent. I think teaching how to repent gives a person the knowledge that making mistakes is not the end of the world--it's actually part of the plan--and there's a way already provided for us to overcome our sins, by turning to and trusting in Jesus. This gives me so much relief, and freedom from perfectionism. And having missionaries who know how to repent will help those they serve to be able to do it, too. Faith, then repentance. I'm pretty sure that the first two principles of the gospel are these for a very good reason.
*We sang the new hymn 1004, which is "I Will Walk with Jesus." With the thought of the repentance talks in my mind, we sang, "I will trust in Jesus. I will hear His call. He will never leave me, even when I fall. Jesus gives me power, lifts and comforts me, Helping me to live and grow eternally. As I walk with Jesus to my home above, He will bless me with His Spirit, and fill me with His love, Change my heart forever and help me clearly see. I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me."
*Today was my sweet Ben's birthday. We had his sister and their family in town and it was so nice to celebrate with them.
It was a delight!
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