A piece of humble pie! Reminder of the week :)

    One of my favorite verses in the scriptures is the one of the Savior performing the Atonement and he says, “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mark 14:36). 

     I think the most powerful thing about this verse is the fact that the Savior was in so much pain and sorrow as He took on all of our sins, pains and afflictions that he cried out to the Lord asking Him to take it away, but He said if it God’s will then He will do whatever is His will for Him. The Savior is the greatest example of humility and charity. As I reflect on my own life and my own selfish desires I always think back and visualize this passage of scripture. We need to always humble ourselves before the Lord, whether it be with obeying a certain commandment or repenting of a sin we must be humble. Being humble is not an easy attribute to attain just because the natural man is all about pride but if we pray to be more like the Savior it is possible! I am grateful for that reminder this week because it is something that I was really in need of.

5 months home and what an adventure its been!

Welp,
I have been home from my mission for about 5 months now and wow what an adventure its been. Adjusting back to life has not been the easiest thing but I have learned so much more about myself, the gospel, the adversary...a lot. I have been at school at BYU-Idaho for the past two semesters and balancing social, educational, spiritual, aspects of my life has often times been a lot to handle but in my online religion class I was reminded of a principle that I am so grateful for and has helped me a lot this week!

   This week, something that really struck me was the principle about forgiveness found in chapter 7 of Luke, when the Savior forgives the woman and it says “Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven” This principle really impacted me for the reason that the mercy and love of the Savior is so great and how really all he expects from us is so simple, to love Him and to follow Him. Forgiveness in my life has been hard sometimes, whether I was trying to forgive others or especially this semester to forgive myself, I have felt the Atonement take over during those times when I felt uncapable to forgive. It’s so crazy to me that no matter how badly we may have messed up, the Savior is always going to forgive us as long as we do our part. I love the Savior and I seek to be able to forgive as he does with each one of us. I am so grateful for repentance, because if it were not for repentance there would be no forgiveness. We mess up but there is ALWAYS a way back....

-Isabel Abreu