My Need for Healing

By Adele Wi-Repa, Waikato, New Zealand

Through a sacrament hymn, the Spirit taught me about giving and accepting forgiveness.

Image

people singing at church

Illustration by Michael J. Bingham

I sat in church one Sunday, angry and frustrated. My husband, Aaron, and I had had a disagreement the night before, and I came to church still feeling unsettled and upset. I stayed mad at Aaron through the beginning of the meeting to the sacrament hymn, thinking, “He needs to say he’s sorry.”

As we prepared to take the sacrament, our congregation sang the hymn “As Now We Take the Sacrament.” I stayed mad through the first verse. Then the second verse began: “As now our minds review the past, we know we must repent.”

I stopped singing. I listened to my husband, children, and ward members continue to sing: “The way to thee is righteousness—the way thy life was spent.”

My heart softened. Maybe my unsettled feeling was not about my husband after all. Maybe it was about me.

The hymn continued:

Forgiveness is a gift from thee
We seek with pure intent.
With hands now pledged to do thy work,
We take the sacrament.

There I was being upset, when I actually needed to be humble and seek forgiveness from Heavenly Father—a gift made possible by His Son, Jesus Christ.

I teared up as I looked down the row at our little children. All the anger and tension I had felt, all the blame and resentment that had been making the knot in my chest, dissipated. This moment was about what I needed to do to change so I could seek and receive forgiveness from my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Through a hymn, the Spirit taught me clearly about forgiveness and my need to both receive it and give it.

President Russell M. Nelson has said: “I plead with you to come unto Him so that He can heal you! He will heal you from sin as you repent. He will heal you from sadness and fear. He will heal you from the wounds of this world.”

Sitting there, listening to the words of the hymn and partaking of the sacrament, I felt my need for healing, and I knew where I needed to turn. The truths I learned about forgiveness during that meeting brought me closer to the Lord and to my husband.