Talk #18 - C. Scott Grow, Sunday Afternoon Session
This talk was selected by Emily, it is 10 minutes in length ... simple in length - but ever so full in its message. 'There is no sin or transgression, pain or sorrow, which is outside of the healing power of His Atonement.'
I absolutely LOVED this talk, because it is SO applicable to every single one of us. The way he talked about his brother made me think of my own brother and how real the atonement was for him. When he was about 12 years old, he decided to leave the church. He stopped coming, going to YM, praying, and decided that he wanted to be "different" from all the other people in Provo and so he wasn't going. He went away for a lot of years. He would say things sometimes, knowing it would bother my parents, or me, or others that were close to him. We prayed for him everyday, hoping that one day he would come back. This past year he joined the army. While he was in training out in VA at Fort Lee, I heard that he had started to go to church. He even had joined the choir! What?! I thought to myself - had he really changed or really decided church was important. I was impressed, and yet didn't really fully understand the full change of heart. Not til one day when I had the chance to go see him. It was his 23rd birthday, and also his graduation from training, on June 16, 2011. We had been down at the beach and so left early to come back home and stop and meet him for lunch on this special day. As we pulled up, he came around the corner to see us. I barely recognized him. Where had my long LONG (as in to the waist) braided hair with big earrings brother gone? Where was the guy with the big huge tatoo going down his back that screamed that he was different and not a member of the church go? Who was this clean cut, very muscular, very HAPPY boy come from, that had the light of Christ back in his eyes, as opposed to such a blank stare I had grown so used to for so many years. He picked up my little Cash, excited to give him his present he had found. He had picked out an army shirt and pants that were just like him, with a cap for his head. But wait - there was more. He handed my little 3 year old boy some dog tags, and told him that they were like the dog tags he wore around his neck. Cash responded "but I am not Alex....they shouldn't say your name." Alex responded, smiling and with a little smirk - "your's says your name on this one, I had it made just for you!" Then Cash asked - "but what does this one say?" Alex looked down and in the voice of an angel in my mind said "that is the most important tag I wear. It says I am a Mormon"!
ReplyDeleteTears flowed down my cheeks as I watched this little interaction, and as Cash was so happy and proud to now have his tags and be able to say "these say I am a Mormon!" But more, because I saw first hand the light of Christ and the power of the atonement and how it had changed my brother. He was seriously glowing to me, and after so many years of not having this I felt in a way like the prodigal son's father - just wanting to reach out and HUG him and welcome him back and LOVE HIM!!!! Each time I think of this experience it brings tears to my eyes and gratitude in my heart for a loving HEavenly Father who never gives up and is always ready to welcome us back. As I reflect on this talk I also think about how much the atonement needs for me personally. Maybe I have never left the church or made such serious or public sins that are out for the display of others, but I have made so many mistakes too, and the atonement is there for me each day if I use it. It is there for all of us and I imagine him cheering and wanting to hug each of us like I hugged my brother that day when we realize our own mistakes and take the steps to recitfy them. I have been thinking a lot lately about how my patriarchal blessing states that I have a certain gift or blessing of something, and yet how I feel it is something I struggle with on a daily basis and am always having to repent of - I wonder still why it says it is my blessing to have it, when I feel it is such a trial and one of my biggest things I am constantly needing to work on. I am grateful for that loving Heavenly Father, who does allow us to fix things again and again, and to use the atonement however often we might need. This talk was truly inspiring, and like his brother and my own, we all know of those who have left and come back. They are great examples to all of us that the atonement is real. I pray that I might use it a little more, and be a little better each day so that I can become more like him. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves me so perfectly when I am so imperfect.
ReplyDeleteThank you Emily for choosing such a beautiful talk with such a powerful message! Thank you so much Steph for sharing your own brother's story and your personal insight! Truly I am a better person when I take the time to sit down and listen to these talks and then learn from the spirit and learn from you all!
ReplyDeleteI loved two lines that really impressed me in this talk ... "He continued his self-destructive behavior for more than a decade, but the Savior had not forgotten or abandoned him. "
I love the truth that the Savior never forgets us - the Savior never abandones us ... we can choose to step away from him, ignore him, or even rebel ... but HE never forgets or leaves us. Truly that is a comforting truth! I was reading this morning about Joseph in the Old Testament - and even when he was put sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites - it says 'God was with him' .. and then when he was in Egypt working for Pharoah - 'God was with him' and when he was seduced by Potiphar's wife he told her 'I can't sin against God' ... it wasn't just he couldn't do wrong - but he couldn't do wrong against God ... as much as God was with him - he was also with God ... then it goes on to say that God was with him in jail, then when he stays for 2+ years (yes no complaining by Joseph there - because he knows God is with him) then he gets out and rules Egypt -- again God is with him. It just really impressed me today as I read that - that God is with me. He really is - he doesn't forget or abandon me no matter what ... then on the other side of that - I should not sin ... not just because it is wrong - but like Joseph, I have no desire 'to sin against God' and to hurt my companion, my friend, my Savior.
Truly I was touched this morning - and thought the next time I am tempted that I want to think 'this sin is against God' .. I do believe it will help me refrain from indulging in something I know isn't best - if I know it will hurt my God.
The other portion I love is the truth that the atonement is available to all and it can relieve so much pain/grief/torment ...
"the Atonement is available to everyone all the time, no matter how large or small the sin, “on conditions of repentance."
Because of His infinite love, Jesus Christ invites us to repent so that we will not have to suffer the full weight of our own sins:
“Repent—repent, lest … your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;"
Additionally, this was a new concept for me ...
"As the Only Begotten Son of God, He inherited power over physical death. That allowed Him to sustain His life as He suffered “even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great [was] his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.”" I never thought about the level of pain that he suffered was something that no mortal could withstand - that makes me so grateful and makes my heart hurt too - for our older Brother that loved us 'his people' so!
Lastly, this is a beautiful HOPEFUL TRUTH ... "When we sin, Satan tells us we are lost. In contrast, our Redeemer offers redemption to all—no matter what we have done wrong—even to you and to me." I want to listen to the voice of our Redeemer!
Thank you for the opportunity to learn and be touched and for the renewed courage to try harder and to repent quicker as I am grateful for the GIFT of the Atonement and the agency to choose it.
I too love this talk for its simplicity and hope. I had an uncle who had been inactive for 50 years come back to the church recently. His first wife died and he met a Mormon woman 6 years ago. They dated, eventually married and She brought him back, encouraged him and they are going to be sealed next month. No one ever thought. This talk reminded me that we never know, we shouldn't judge but love everyone, be an example, and continue in faith and prayer. I'm so grateful that I can choose to be better each day and for the gift of the atonement when I mess up. This talk encouraged me to open up my vision and faith for all!!
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