(Handout made by me...)
I asked a young woman to hold a large rock in the air, extending her arm out from the shoulder while I told this story.
A group of young women were hiking in the mountains and had stopped to rest before starting the climb up a long, steep hill.Julie was the strongest hiker in the troop and was usually out in front setting a pace that was sometimes difficult for the rest to follow. On this day some of the young women decided to play a trick on her. While she was resting and enjoying a drink, they quietly opened her pack and hid a large stone inside.When the rest period was over, the young women put the packs on their backs and started up the steep mountain trail. At first Julie was not aware of the extra weight she was carrying, but after a while her pack began to feel heavy and she started to tire. For the first time she could remember, she was forced to drop back with the slower girls in the rear of the group.It was not until she had almost reached the top of the mountain that Julie discovered why her pack felt so heavy and why she had become so tired. She was angry at first, but then she realized that her friends were only teasing her for being a strong hiker. She laughed with the others about the useless stone she had carried so far up the mountain.Once the heavy stone was removed from her pack, Julie felt strong again and was soon walking in her usual place at the front of the group.
When I was done telling the story I let her put the rock down and asked her is her arm was tired and let her describe what it was like to hold that big rock. Then I told them although we do not usually carry stones about, we sometimes carry other kinds of weights that are as useless and tiring as the stone Julie carried. The stones or weights we carry are our sins.
Point of Safe Return" Pres. Dieter F. (April 2007 Conference Address)
Satan will try to make us believe that our sins are not forgiven because we can remember them. Satan is a liar; he tries to blur our vision and lead us away from the path of repentance and forgiveness. God did not promise that we would not remember our sins. Remembering will help us avoid making the same mistakes again. But if we stay true and faithful, the memory of our sins will be softened over time. This will be part of the needed healing and sanctification process. Alma testified that after he cried out to Jesus for mercy, he could still remember his sins, but the memory of his sins no longer distressed and tortured him, because he knew he had been forgiven Alma 36:17–19It is our responsibility to avoid anything that would bring back old sinful memories. When we continue to have a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” Nephi 12:19 we may trust that God will “remember [our sins] no more.” Mosiah 4:2–3.
My dear brothers and sisters, my dear young friends, when the captain of a long-range jet passes the point of safe return, and the headwinds are too strong or the cruising altitudes too low, he might be forced to divert to an airport other than his planned destination. This is not so in our journey through life back to our heavenly home. Wherever you find yourselves on this journey through life, whatever trials you may face, there is always a point of safe return; there is always hope. You are the captain of your life, and God has prepared a plan to bring you safely back to Him, to your divine destination.The gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ provides us at all times and at all places with the blessings of repentance and forgiveness. Because of this gift, the opportunity to make a safe return from the disastrous course of sin is available to all of us.For this I give thanks to our Heavenly Father, and of this I bear testimony with all my heart and soul in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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