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Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, speaks at the Saturday evening session of general conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 5, 2024.

Photo supplied, Intellectual Reserve

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Ryan Comer

Ryan Comer, Standard-Examiner

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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may remember a talk given by Elder Patrick Kearon in the April 2022 general conference of the church.

At the close of the talk, which was titled “He is risen with healing in his wings: We can be more than conquerors,” Elder Kearon said:

“Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. (Luke 4:16-19) And he’s really good at it. In fact, he’s perfect at it.”

Those words came to my mind as I pondered an address delivered by Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency of the church, at the October 2024 general conference.

“Jesus Christ’s love and power can save each of us from our mistakes, weaknesses and sins and help us to become something more,” reads the subhead to her address, titled “The Joy of Our Redemption” on the church’s website.

Sister Yee’s talk was a powerful reminder that no matter how broken we think we are, no matter how badly we think we have messed up, all is not lost. The Lord has the power to do things we can scarcely imagine, and if we repent, and come unto him, we can see his atoning power manifest in our lives. Truly, as the prophet Jeremiah said, “there is nothing too hard for” the Lord. (Jeremiah 32:17)

Beginning her talk, Sister Yee spoke of an experience she had working on a project. As she was just about finished, she made a mistake that she worried had ruined the whole effort. Thankfully, she was able to make it look even better than before the mistake. It was the perfect story to illustrate how no matter how broken or how far gone we may think we are, we are not beyond the power of Christ to not just heal us, but to make us even better.

“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. (Matthew 19:26) 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.’

“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. (Alma 26:35-36) He has my heart, and I hope to do whatever he would have me do and become.”

Sometimes words don’t do justice to the emotions that someone feels. If you watch this talk, you can see just how devastated Sister Yee must have been when she thought she had ruined something so sacred. I can only imagine the thoughts that might have been racing through her mind. “God inspired me to do this. He helped me to accomplish it. And then because of my weakness I messed it up. How could this happen? How could he allow this to happen?” But, of course, varnish applied too soon is hardly too difficult a problem for he who created the earth. What seemed like a devastating blunder was just a mere opportunity for Christ, who essentially said, “Just watch what I am capable of doing.” How could this have happened, Sister Yee might have asked? Do you suppose the savior knew that there was an opportunity to teach her something about his love and power, and that it was a lesson that would truly be meaningful for her, and so he inspired her to create the painting? He knew she would make the mistake because he knows everything, but that mistake provided an opportunity for her to learn the lesson he wanted to teach her. It’s the perfect story to illustrate how we should never, ever underestimate the Lord.

A critical requirement for the savior to fix what we think is unfixable is repentance. Sister Yee said:

“Repenting allows us to feel God’s love and to know and love him in ways we would never otherwise know. (Alma 22:18) 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.’ (Luke 7:47) 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 (John 10:17-18; 3 Nephi 9:22) and took it up again, he holds the power of redemption and resurrection. (JST, John 1:16; Jacob 6:9; Moses 1:39) 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. (Alma 12:33-34) It is a miracle he loves you and me in this way. (John 3:16)

“He has said, ‘Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?’ (3 Nephi 9:13) 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.'” (Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 58:10-12; Ezekiel 36:33-36)

Repentance isn’t always easy, and we sometimes have a tendency of looking at it as a punishment. But when I read Sister Yee’s words, I think of repentance as a gift. It’s something we have the opportunity to do because of the savior’s atoning sacrifice. It’s what we need to do in order to “truly be cleansed and redeemed,” to have “the places made dry, harsh and desolate by sin and sorrow” healed. Sister Yee said it’s “a miracle” that the savior loves us in that way, and it truly is. It’s a miracle that he loves us so much that in order to help us to be able to repent, which we need in order to reach our true divine potential, he suffered as he did, even unto death. How can one not jump at the opportunity to repent? Is a man who would do all that for you – for everyone – not someone you would want to live with, along with his father, for eternity?

Sister Yee continued:

“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’ (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6; Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-9) and is in a divine position to lift you and claim you from the darkest abyss and bring you into ‘his marvellous light.’ (1 Peter 2:9; Alma 26:16-17) 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.'” (Alma 12:15; emphasis added)

Several years ago, I purchased a book called “The Infinite Atonement” by Tad R. Callister, a former Sunday School general president in the church. My wife and I spent our Family Home Evenings each Monday night reading from that book until we had completed it. I recently decided that I needed to do that again, this time with my sons. I was inspired by President Russell M. Nelson’s counsel at the last general conference. The president of the church said:

“I urge you to devote time each week — for the rest of your life — to increase your understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. My heart aches for those who are mired in sin and don’t know how to get out. I weep for those who struggle spiritually or who carry heavy burdens alone because they do not understand what Jesus Christ did for them.”

Sister Yee continued:

“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, (Alma 34:17) offering to God a broken heart and a contrite spirit, (2 Corinthians 7:10; 3 Nephi 9:15-22) confessing and forsaking sin, (Doctrine and Covenants 58:43; 64:7) restoring that which has been damaged to the best of our ability (Mosiah 27:32-37; Alma 26:30) and striving to live righteously. (Doctrine and Covenants 1:32)

“To truly repent and change, we must first be ‘convinced of our sins.’ (Alma 24:8-10) 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. (Mosiah 4:6-9) From the love and mercy that he desires us to feel. From the light and knowledge he desires to bestow upon us. (Alma 12:9-10; 26:22; 3 Nephi 26:9) 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’ (Alma 24:17-19) 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 (Doctrine and Covenants 67:10) — 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 (Jacob 4:13) 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.'”

That last sentence by President Nelson was said during the October 2021 general conference, and I find it ominous. Think of everything we had endured as a society before then, yet we have this prophetic exclamation that emphasizes how much we will need the Lord’s power in the future. I hope the gravity of that warning is not lost. Thankfully, we have the assurance of God’s power in our life to help us, as long as we turn to him and repent.

Because of how much the Lord loves us, he doesn’t just give up on us when we mess up. Think about it. If someone came to earth to suffer and die for you, he must think you’re pretty important. He won’t just give up on you if you fall short and need to repent. Even if you have to repent over and over again for the same mistake. Someone who loves us that much isn’t going to say to us, “Oh, man, I died for you, and that really was terrible, but you messed it up because you messed up.” Us messing up is the reason he came. He knew we would, and he wanted us to have a chance to repent and be forgiven when we did.

“Like my painting, the Lord is not done with us when we make a mistake, nor does he flee when we falter,” Sister Yee said. “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.’ (3 Nephi 9:21)

“‘Mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.’ (3 Nephi 9:14)

“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. (Matthew 11:28-30)

“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. (Deuteronomy 30:20; John 11:25; Ether 3:14; Doctrine and Covenants 88:6, 13)

“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,’ (Moses 5:11) the joy of being made whole, the joy of feeling God’s unfailing love for you.”

As I think about those words, I think of how I react as a parent to my child making mistakes with schoolwork, particularly math. They get down on themselves. They think they should be able to understand a lot easier and not make mistakes. I tell them there’s no need to feel frustrated because they just need to continue to practice. Repetition will help them learn. The more they do a certain type of equation, the easier it will become. If we’re struggling to get past a certain weakness, we don’t need to beat ourselves up and tell us we’re incapable of changing. We just need to continue practicing living the gospel, which includes repenting. The Lord wants us to be changed. Powerful are the words of President Dallin H. Oaks, who said during an October 2000 general conference: “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” The Lord wants us to become better, and I know he can help us, because I know he has helped me. The Lord wouldn’t say to become something better and then make it impossible for us to accomplish that.

Concluding her remarks, Sister Yee said:

“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. (2 Nephi 2:26-28) And I testify of these things in his name, Jesus Christ, amen.”

Contact Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net. Follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rbcomer8388.