The Joy of Our Redemption
Jesus Christ’s love and power can save each of us from our mistakes, weaknesses, and sins and help us to become something more.
About 10 years ago I felt impressed to paint a portrait of the Savior. Though I am an artist, this felt a bit overwhelming. How was I to paint a portrait of Jesus Christ that captured His Spirit? Where was I to begin? And where would I find the time?
Even with my questions, I decided to move forward and trust that the Lord would help me. But I had to keep moving and leave the possibilities to Him. I prayed, pondered, researched, and sketched and was blessed to find help and resources. And what was a white canvas started to become something more.
The process wasn’t easy. Sometimes it didn’t look as I had hoped. Sometimes there were moments of inspired strokes and ideas. And many times, I just had to try again and again and again.
When I thought the oil painting was finally complete and dry, I began to apply a transparent varnish to protect it from dirt and dust. As I did, I noticed the hair in the painting start to change, smear, and dissolve. I quickly realized that I had applied the varnish too soon, that part of the painting was still wet!
I had literally wiped away a portion of my painting with the varnish. Oh, how my heart sank. I felt as though I had just destroyed what God had helped me to do. I cried and felt sick inside. In despair, I did what anyone would typically do in a situation like this: I called my mother. She wisely and calmly said, “You won’t get back what you had, but do the very best you can with what you’ve got.”
And I Partook, by Kristin M. Yee
So I prayed and pled for help and painted through the night to repair things. And I remember looking at the painting in the morning—it looked better than it did before. How was that possible? What I thought was a mistake without mend was an opportunity for His merciful hand to be manifest. He was not done with the painting, and He was not done with me. What joy and relief filled my heart. I praised the Lord for His mercy, for this miracle that not only saved the painting but taught me more about His love and power to save each of us from our mistakes, weaknesses, and sins and to help us become something more.
Just as the depth of my gratitude for the Savior grew as He mercifully helped me to repair the “unrepairable” painting, so has my personal love and gratitude for my Savior intensified as I’ve sought to work with Him on my weaknesses and to be forgiven of my mistakes. I will forever be grateful to my Savior that I can change and be cleansed. He has my heart, and I hope to do whatever He would have me do and become.
Repenting allows us to feel God’s love and to know and love Him in ways we would never otherwise know. Of the woman who anointed the Savior’s feet, He said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” She loved Jesus much, for He had forgiven her much.
There is such relief and hope in knowing that we can try again—that, as Elder David A. Bednar taught, we can receive an ongoing remission of our sins through the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost as we truly and sincerely repent.
The redeeming power of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest promised blessings of our covenants. Ponder this as you participate in sacred ordinances. Without it, we could not return home to the presence of our Father in Heaven and those we love.
I know that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is mighty to save. As the Son of God, who atoned for the sins of the world and laid down His own life and took it up again, He holds the power of redemption and resurrection. He has made possible immortality for all and eternal life for those who choose Him. I know that through His atoning sacrifice, we can repent and truly be cleansed and redeemed. It is a miracle He loves you and me in this way.
He has said, “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” He can heal the “waste places” of your soul—the places made dry, harsh, and desolate by sin and sorrow—and “make [your] wilderness like Eden.”
Just as we cannot comprehend the agony and depth of Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross, so we “cannot measure the bounds nor fathom the depths of [His] divine forgiveness,” mercy, and love.
You may feel at times that it’s not possible to be redeemed, that perhaps you are an exception to God’s love and the Savior’s atoning power because of what you are struggling with or because of what you’ve done. But I testify that you are not beneath the Master’s reach. The Savior “descended below all things” and is in a divine position to lift you and claim you from the darkest abyss and bring you into “his marvellous light.” Through His sufferings, He has made a way for each of us to overcome our personal weaknesses and sins. “He has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.”
Just as it required work and pleading for heaven’s help to repair the painting, it takes work, sincerity of heart, and humility to bring “forth fruit meet for repentance.” These fruits include exercising our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, offering to God a broken heart and a contrite spirit, confessing and forsaking sin, restoring that which has been damaged to the best of our ability, and striving to live righteously.
To truly repent and change, we must first be “convinced of our sins.” A person does not see the need to take medicine unless they understand that they are ill. There may be times we may not be willing to look inside ourselves and see that which really needs healing and repair.
In C. S. Lewis’s writings, Aslan poses these words to a man who has entangled himself in his own devices: “Oh [humankind], how cleverly you defend yourselves [from] all that might do you good!”
Where might you and I be defending ourselves from those things that might do us good?
Let us not defend ourselves from the good that God desires to bless us with. From the love and mercy that He desires us to feel. From the light and knowledge He desires to bestow upon us. From the healing that He knows we so readily need. From the deeper covenant relationship He intends for all His sons and daughters.
I pray we may lay aside any “weapons of war” that we’ve consciously or even unconsciously taken up to defend ourselves from the blessings of God’s love. Weapons of pride, selfishness, fear, hate, offense, complacency, unrighteous judgment, jealousies—anything that would keep us from loving God with all our hearts and keeping all our covenants with Him.
As we live our covenants, the Lord can give us the help and power we need to both recognize and overcome our weaknesses, including the spiritual parasite of pride. Our prophet has said:
“Repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power.”
“And oh, how we will need His power in the days ahead.”
Like my painting, the Lord is not done with us when we make a mistake, nor does He flee when we falter. Our need for healing and help is not a burden to Him, but the very reason He came. The Savior Himself said:
“Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.”
“Mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.”
So come—come ye that are weary, worn, and sad; come and leave your labors and find rest in Him who loves you most. Take His yoke upon you, for He is gentle and lowly in heart.
Our Heavenly Father and Savior see you. They know your heart. They care about what you care about, including those you love.
The Savior can redeem that which was lost, including broken and fractured relationships. He has made a way for all that is fallen to be redeemed—to breathe life into that which feels dead and hopeless.
If you are struggling with a situation you think you should have overcome by now, don’t give up. Be patient with yourself, keep your covenants, repent often, seek the help of your leaders if needed, and go to the house of the Lord as regularly as you can. Listen for and heed the promptings He sends you. He will not abandon His covenant relationship with you.
There have been difficult and complex relationships in my life that I have struggled with and sincerely sought to improve. At times I felt like I was failing more often than not. I wondered, “Did I not fix things the last time? Did I not truly overcome my weakness?” I’ve learned over time that I am not necessarily defective; rather, there is often more to work on and more healing that is needed.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught: “Surely the Lord smiles upon one who desires to come to judgment worthily, who resolutely labors day by day to replace weakness with strength. Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something refining and holy in such striving. Divine forgiveness and healing flow quite naturally to such a soul.”
Each day is a new day filled with hope and possibilities because of Jesus Christ. Each day you and I can come to know, as Mother Eve proclaimed, “the joy of our redemption,” the joy of being made whole, the joy of feeling God’s unfailing love for you.
I know that our Father in Heaven and Savior love you. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. He lives. Through His atoning sacrifice, the bands of sin and death were forever broken so that we might be free to choose healing, redemption, and eternal life with those we love. And I testify of these things in His name, Jesus Christ, amen.