![]() ![]() As I left his office, I felt indescribable joy. With some emotion, he told me that he felt it would be fine for me to resume partaking of the sacrament. I will never forget President Lindberg’s compassionate smile when I looked up after I had finished reading. In his October 2016 General Conference talk, “ Repentance, A Joyful Choice“, Elder Renlund related an experience which exemplifies this truth (this is the end of a story wherein he had gone to confess something to the branch president emphasis mine): Your bishop holds keys to help you receive the blessings of Christ’s Atonement. From the experiences I know of, I can promise you that not only will it not be as bad as you fear, it will be a relief. You asked what you can do besides confessing to your bishop, and I’ll address that in a moment, but I feel strongly that you need to go and visit with your bishop. But the Lord wants to to feel love – loved as a soul of great worth, loved as one who will be forgiven until seventy times seven, loved as one whose scarlet sins can be made white as snow. My hopeful friend, only Satan wants you to feel fear – fear that God won’t forgive, fear that you will never be free of this sin, fear of confessing to your bishop. Repentance is a process, and sometimes takes more than personal prayer asking forgiveness ( D&C 58:42-43):Ĥ2 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.Ĥ3 By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them. So if we are to forgive repeatedly, surely he will as well.īut, as the end of your question hints, sometimes, we need help in this process, and it is the bishop’s calling to help us. ( Matthew 18:21-22)Īs far as I can recall and reason, the Lord doesn’t command us to do things he wouldn’t do. All that remains is for us to reach out to him, and keep reaching out to him for as long as it takes.Ģ1 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?Ģ2 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The good news is that the Lord wants to forgive us: Indeed, I would venture to guess that every one of us has done this to some extent. First, let me assure you that you are not alone in this. You have told us that you have fallen into a pattern of repenting, and then repeating the same sin. And as we see at the end of these verses, redemption is on conditions of repentance. ![]() You are of great worth in the sight of God. But D&C 18:10-12 seems especially relevant for you:ġ0 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God ġ1 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.ġ2 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. The Lord reminds us of that in more than one place in the Doctrine & Covenants. Indeed, after all he experienced in order to redeem each one of us, surely his love is perfect and eternal. ![]() I am reminded of these words from Paul, in Romans 8:38-39, given in answer to the question “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”ģ8 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,ģ9 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Įven our sins do not separate us from the love of our Savior. No matter how hopeless you may feel, your situation is not hopeless. I feel it necessary to first address your chosen pseudonym. What can strengthen my faith and help me get over my sin without talking to the bishop? I am scared to talk to him too. I have committed the same sin over and over and keep apologizing but end up doing it again. I am so scared that I won’t feel anything when I pray that I just don’t pray and ask the question I need. I feel that I am so unworthy to receive faith.
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