“Enfolding with Love Those Who Stray,” Ensign, October 2017
Visiting Teaching Message
Enfolding with Love Those Who Stray
Prayerfully study this material and seek for inspiration to know what to share. How will understanding the purpose of Relief Society prepare daughters of God for the blessings of eternal life?
“The reality is that there are no perfect families … ,” said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. “Whatever problems your family is facing, whatever you must do to solve them, the beginning and the end of the solution is charity, the pure love of Christ.”1
Of those who are not participating fully in the gospel, Linda K. Burton, former General President of the Relief Society, said: “Heavenly Father loves all His children. … No matter where they are—on or off the path—He wants them back home.”2
“However wayward [your children] might be, … when you speak or talk to them, do it not in anger, do it not harshly, in a condemning spirit,” taught President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918). “Speak to them kindly.”3
Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy reiterated the Savior’s instruction to those who have 10 pieces of silver and lose one: “Search until you find it. When the lost one is your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, … after all we can do, we love that person with all of our hearts. …
“May you and I receive the revelation to know how to best approach those in our lives who are lost and, when necessary, to have the patience and love of our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, as we love, watch, and wait for the prodigal.”4
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “I have prayed with faith that someone I loved would seek and feel the power of the Atonement. I have prayed with faith that human angels would come to their aid, and they came.
“God has devised means to save each of His children.”5
Additional Scriptures and Information
Faith, Family, Relief