I hope you all had the most amazing week!
Heavenly Father has given us the Greatest Gift of all. Before you read what I feel that gift is, I invite you to ponder what you feel that gift would be in your life.
The Greatest Gift Heavenly Father has given us, I feel, is His only Begotten Son. Jesus Christ is our gift. Jesus Christ had a much greater purpose than to just come to Earth and minister. Knowing that Our Father in Heaven truly created a plan for us, we come to understand that we need a way to return to our Father in Heaven. We need a way to become clean when we are feeling distant from our Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ is the Gift.
Our Savior Jesus Christ performed the most infinite miracle that we could possibly utilize in our life here on Earth. As I have come to grow an understanding of the true and infinite power of The Atoning Sacrifice Jesus Christ made for you and for me and for each of Heavenly Father's children, I have come to realize the importance of repentance. The importance of turning outward towards Christ with faith to truly become converted (committed to the Lord and His ways). I want to share with you part of an email I sent to my mission President this week from a study I had the opportunity of doing with him. I was invited to study a talk given by our Prophet Russell M. Nelson, "We Can Do Better and Be Better."
I would have to say the most powerful thought I took away from this talk is , "When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." This taught me that not only is repentance stronger when we "couple it with faith, but repentance is not possible without the principle and action of faith. There are 5 main principles taught in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Faith, Repentance, Keeping Covenants, The Gift of The Holy Ghost & Enduring to the End. I always thought these were principles that could be worked on separately, individually. But they are not. They are designed ONLY to work when coupled and utilized together. The way we truly magnify our calling ad missionaries is to truly magnify our ability to LIVE these principles "together". I also love the emphasis placed on the simple truth that it is a CHOICE. Faith, Repentance, it's all a choice. But when we choose to have faith and choose to repent, we not only grow closer to Our Savior and Father in Heaven, but we CHOOSE to follow him as well. The choices we make and the principles we utilize now in our lives need to be done with a sense of futurity and an Eternal Perspective of this great plan of truly Changing, Growing & Becoming.
Repentance is not an event it is a process. As the Savior Suffered and took upon himself the pains of each of us as individual children of Our Loving Heavenly Father, I can testify with assurity in my heart that He had a perfect knowledge and understanding of how to couple these principles with a sense of futurity. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was not an event, it too was and is a process.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH. I am so beyond grateful for the Love and support you have all given me. I am thankful for My Savior Jesus Christ and for His Atoning Sacrifice. I am grateful for the opportunity to Serve a mission and to grow my ability to share the Light of Christ with those around me. This is such a blessed work and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be a part of it.
Have an amazing week!!
- Elder Shua Newbold
