Received this gem today -
I wish I would have brought my journal so I could remember what happened this week. I've been taking NyQuil every night which has been awesome haha.
Something I would like to talk about though is that repentance is a
horrible word.
It does not accurately describe the action it represents. Repentance
is joy. You may have noticed that it was talked about a lot at general
conference. Not that it is a surprise of course. (Elder Bednar
reminded us yesterday in our devotional that the conference talks are
NOT assigned. They are NOT coordinated by the prophet, the quorum of
the twelve or anyone else here on earth. Heaven directs and
coordinates the messages that we receive in conference. Also he is
leaving for Sapporo tomorrow.). If you look at the Greek word used for
"repentance" you'll notice a very different meaning in the word. I
believe it was mentioned specifically by Elder Nelson but I can't
remember. Repentance is about a change. It's a about a return to doing
the things that we should be doing and feeling JOY. Notice how often
JOY and REPENTANCE are used together. The devotional on Sunday night
given by Brother Heaton (Who served a mission in Japan), was maybe one
of the best messages I've ever heard. He talked about wanting to be in
the hall of fame for repenters. His testimony of the power of daily
repentance was incredible. I wish everyone could understand what he
had to share.
I challenge everyone to learn to find the joy that comes from
repentance. Learn to love repenting and changing you heart and your
path to line up with what God would have us do. Repentance is a
blessing. Christ did not perform to atonement to be wasted. He didn't
perform the atonement so that we could put our sins in the back of our
mind and simply go on uncaring. He performed the atonement so that we
can feel joy. He performed the atonement so that we can become joyful
penitent saints who love the gospel and act in faith and hope and love
in everything that we do. All of us need to repent. Let us find the
joy of repentance!
horrible word.
It does not accurately describe the action it represents. Repentance
is joy. You may have noticed that it was talked about a lot at general
conference. Not that it is a surprise of course. (Elder Bednar
reminded us yesterday in our devotional that the conference talks are
NOT assigned. They are NOT coordinated by the prophet, the quorum of
the twelve or anyone else here on earth. Heaven directs and
coordinates the messages that we receive in conference. Also he is
leaving for Sapporo tomorrow.). If you look at the Greek word used for
"repentance" you'll notice a very different meaning in the word. I
believe it was mentioned specifically by Elder Nelson but I can't
remember. Repentance is about a change. It's a about a return to doing
the things that we should be doing and feeling JOY. Notice how often
JOY and REPENTANCE are used together. The devotional on Sunday night
given by Brother Heaton (Who served a mission in Japan), was maybe one
of the best messages I've ever heard. He talked about wanting to be in
the hall of fame for repenters. His testimony of the power of daily
repentance was incredible. I wish everyone could understand what he
had to share.
I challenge everyone to learn to find the joy that comes from
repentance. Learn to love repenting and changing you heart and your
path to line up with what God would have us do. Repentance is a
blessing. Christ did not perform to atonement to be wasted. He didn't
perform the atonement so that we could put our sins in the back of our
mind and simply go on uncaring. He performed the atonement so that we
can feel joy. He performed the atonement so that we can become joyful
penitent saints who love the gospel and act in faith and hope and love
in everything that we do. All of us need to repent. Let us find the
joy of repentance!
Bednar said the most miraculous thing being an general authority is sitting on the stand and watching the general topic of conference be played out in front of them. I didn't know that none of it was assigned. I thought the prophet assigned the talks.
It's funny that since our branch has to set up the gym for devotionals, we kind of get to know when someone important is coming. The people were pretty frantic making sure that everything was set up correctly and there were a lot more chairs than usual. And the song we sang was a special one. Of course we didn't know who it would be but we were pretty sure it was an apostle. Apostles are kind of scary when they aren't talking in conference. Haha. At least from the devotionals that I've seen. Or maybe that's just because I've only seen Elder Holland and Elder Bednar talk... They are really bold and direct. It's awesome of course, but super intense. Our sempai have now seen four apostles since they've been here. Which is insane apparently.
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