Repentance
“He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).
My first winter break from college was in 2008. I had come home from Utah State for almost a month. During that time I got to bond a lot with the family and also relax and participate in my favorite activity...Popcorn and a Movie. At my house when its night time, we all gather around and my mom makes like a million batches of kettle corn and we each get a soda pop. I can not express to you how in LOVE I am with soda....I have the biggest crush on pop, and it is just something I can not get over.
Sadly to say my winter break came to an end and I was all packed and ready to go back to Utah State. I was going to miss those nightly Soda pops though. I had already snuck a few into my car, when my dad came out and handed me one. I was so excited because my dad had noticed how much I LOVED soda pop. So naturally I treated this one with care, because it was from my dad. I put it right in the cup holder and started the drive. When I had reached the halfway mark, all I could think about was how thirsty I was, BUT I could not bring myself to drink the one my dad had given me, it was to special. So I left it in that cup holder. A few weeks went by, and I realized it was happy hour at SONIC, and I just could not pass it up. So I went and got my route 44 strawberry slush. After getting it I realized that I did not have room for it, reluctantly I took that soda can my dad had given me and put it in the back seat. After having it roll around for a few months, I had moved the can of soda to the back window, I thought I was so clever because I had some "food storage" in my car for when I got really thirsty.
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| Always stop to hear the still small voice |
It was finally summer, and I was moving apartments. The soda was still there, and I saw it! I had the most distinct feeling come into me, the thought was "SISTER VATERLAUS, MOVE THAT CAN OF POP." All I could think was seriously? The Holy Ghost is not going to waist his time on pop, and so I ignored it. This happened the next day to, and once again I though I knew better. On the third day I walked out and had no such feeling, and felt like I had won, that it was not a big deal...
VICTORY was not mine that next day, I went out and the can of soda had exploded EVERYWHERE. Please remember that I was in the process of moving and so everything I owned was sticky. I tried to clean it out myself, and I failed. All I could think was I should have listened. Luckily I had my brother Mitch and my best friend Rica come and help me clean my car out because I could not myself. It took a LONG time, and it was not a fun process. However with time and hard work the car was clean. The only thing that was left was the smell, and it did not go away for weeks. I kept thinking I have cleaned and cleaned but the smell is not gone. I was still frustrated about it while sitting in Sacrament one day, and I had flipped randomly to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 58:42. After thinking of that scripture, I walked out to the car and opened the door, I took a big deep breath and found that the smell was gone!
Through all of this I realized, this was like the repentance process. I had something that was so special to me, a soda pop,which could be compared to a covenant. When I choose to ignore our covenants or put them in the back seat, we tend to forget about them. I even went as far as to ignore the Holy Ghost when I was prompted to move it. When it was all said and done, I could not clean it up myself. I had to have help, just like when we sin. We must always turn to our Savior, if needed we can have Bishops, Stake Presidents, or parents help us. The thing to remember is we must always keep our covenants in the front cup holder. We must never put them in the back seat, and always listen to the Holy Ghost. After we sin, we need to know, that if we have done everything we can to repent, then the Lord does not remember the sin, and neither should we!
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| Come unto Christ, and he will help you! |
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