I have made mistakes in my life - both physical and spiritual. Of the physical ones, my worst example was going out on a thin branch after a Santa Rosa plum and a crash about 15 feet to the ground. I ripped open my knee on a barbed wire fence I was right next to. My radius and ulna did not survive the fall. I learned how painful setting a bone can be and having my gashed knee stitched up. Poor mother - all the worry I gave her. I feel for any mother of boys - who have a propensity for learning the laws of gravity the hard way.
Those two bones are now knitted back together and I only occasionally feel them when a storm approaches and there is a sudden drop in the barometer. My knee still sports a lovely purple scar that I get to look at every time I sit down while wearing shorts.
Spiritual scars go with you throughout the rest of your life. The effects of sin never leave you - even though the repentance process may have been invoked. Sin is like a nail being driven into wood - and then removed. You may have pulled the offending nail out - but the scar of the event is still there. There is utility and learning that comes from the Savior having those earthly scars from His great "event" still with Him. It is a reminder (mostly for us, I am sure) of what He did for us. Though little has come of my earthly scars (no lives were saved or great heroic acts were accomplished by them), I expect that they will go with me throughout the eternities as a reminder of my telestial sojourn and period of physical and even growth.
Here are some great words to live by from the man I consider "my Prophet" (the one who was instrumental in helping shape my spiritually formative years):
(clearing throat) As a GIRL, I could hold my own with ANY boy climbing trees, jumping bikes off of home made ramps, and even got chosen over THEM to be on teams when it came to picking before the game began. I can throw a fast ball that would take your head off to this day. Yet, I was a head turning high school cheerleader who can also drill a football into your gut thank you very much. So, make sure you feel sorry for the mother's of boys AND girls who play rough.
ReplyDeleteNow that we've got that straightened out, I really like your post. It's VERY GOOD advice that not enough people take.
By the way IRAQ, this is the kind of guy I imagine you to be in the video link below.
Thanks for all the hard work you do here. It's fun being whacked out with you some days! LOL Looking forward to your temple scripture and hope you had a spirit filled day in the Houston Temple. God bless.
https://youtu.be/y0NyTZPH5q4
Sorry Iraq, but I have to disagree completely with your post. I KNOW from personal revelation that our sins can be COMPLETELY washed away. It is a powerful truth about our Savior's atonement. The following quote is from Linda S. Reeves talk in the last conference.
Delete"A few months before President Boyd K. Packer passed away, general priesthood and auxiliary leaders had the precious opportunity of having him speak to us. I have not been able to quit thinking about what he said. He shared that he had searched backward throughout his lifetime, looking for evidence of the sins that he had committed and sincerely repented of, and he could find no trace of them. Because of the atoning sacrifice of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, and through sincere repentance, his sins were completely gone, as if they had never happened. President Packer then charged us as leaders that day to testify that this is true for each one of us who sincerely repents."
Now hold on a minute. You are correct to a certain degree regarding President Packer's testimony. And this is NOT a confrontational reply at all.
DeleteAlma and the Sons of Mosiah did great damage to the Church before the angel intervened. Testimonies were destroyed. Lives and future generations were altered. The effect of their sins rippled out and who knows how far?
They tried to do all they could to repent and repair the damage but did they do a complete clean up so that the effects of their sin were completely gone? Who can answer that for certain because the Nephites still ended up corrupt and destroyed.
Yes, each of us individually can repent and be made clean and holy by God but the effects of our sins are still out there somewhere affecting people's lives long after we may have forgotten about it.
I remember meeting up years later with a girl I went to school with. What took me by total surprise was her memory of me being mean to her one day, taking her soft drink away from her and drinking the whole thing! She's never forgotten that unkind act but I did. Had no recall of it. I felt so ashamed that I ever did something like that and it's certainly not something I would do today. But that's how she remembers me! And I could tell that she thought that's the way I still was because of that memory. It's stamped on her life and memory of being wronged and it started with me.
And I believe if we haven't prayed for what we've done to others to be repaired after having done all we can do, we may still have to pay the price for a period of time going and finding these people and asking their forgiveness for the way we've affected their lives and their posterity if the Lord doesn't intervene.
And it's written God will balance the scales. All will be recompensed for the wrongs done to them.
Now IRAQ, you can keep your scars and bunged up body, I for one, am thrilled with the thought of a perfect body, chocolate with no adverse affects, and goodbye to cellulite forever.
Yes, annonymous above is correct regarding the Atonement and Repentance. Our sins can be washed away 100% so that the Lord "remembers them no more". Of course we still have gray matter in our heads, and can remember our sins. They can serve as a reminder of our "old selves". Some physical reminders such as tattoos & piercings will also remain, but the important thing is that THE LORD WILL REMEMBER THEM NO MORE. The nail pulled out does NOT leave a mark to the Lord. That is the important thing to remember.
DeleteYesterday it hit me. In D&C 112:24-25. Absolutely chilling to the core.
ReplyDeleteSo.....the FIRST sign we are to be looking for is something happening with the Church that sets off the chain of events that come at us like a run away freight train until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
A day of: vengeance, wrath, burning, desolation, weeping, mourning, lamentation. AND as a WHIRLWIND it shall come upon ALL THE FACE of the earth!
"And upon MY HOUSE SHALL IT BEGIN and from MY HOUSE IT SHALL GO FORTH. FIRST AMONG THOSE AMONG YOU, saith the Lord...." unquote
"FIRST AMONG THOSE AMONG YOU SAITH THE LORD, WHO HAVE PROFESSED TO KNOW MY NAME AND HAVE NOT KNOWN ME AND HAVE BLASPHEMED AGAINST ME IN THE MIDST OF MY HOUSE SAITH THE LORD!"
This is about us within the rank and file of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints beginning with the Quorum of the Twelve FIRST if I'm not mistaken after reading the entire section and then to the rest of us, especially verse 12 and 14. Hey, the Lord says it to the Twelve, not me!
So WHAT is that trigger event going to be? The Wasatch Wake Up Earthquake perhaps? I don't know but my only guess is that the epicenter of this event has to be Salt Lake City, UT because this is the location of His House, His Apostles, and His prophet and His people.
I can't speak for anyone else, but this scripture scares me to death more than any other.
And what a calling laid on the shoulders of Thomas Marsh in 16-17!
And what a statement from God standing by His prophet in verse 15!
Anyway, I would welcome any thoughts/ideas/suggestions/lively discussion/guesses as to what the FIRST event will be that goes forth from The Lord's House.
Thanks and God bless all.
Yes I do not believe it is a wake-up earthquake for salt lake valley but the large one that is overdue that will topple my old brick house to the ground. I will prepare as much as I can for this.
ReplyDeleteYou could be correct. When the big one happened, it's the only one Spencer from VOG spoke of AND some of the apostles were killed. Do not fear! God will either hold up your old brick house or get you out of there before it collapses if you are true and faithful and your work is not yet finished.
DeleteI just prayed for you and your old brick house situation. God heard and He will take care of the rest. God bless you neighbor.