The Blessing of Repentance

Jarom and I taught a lesson in our 12-13 year old Sunday School class today that was on the blessings of Repentance.  I came across this story while preparing the lesson and liked it so much I thought I would share...

"A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill? Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 bill to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.  He then asked "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "what if I do this?" and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.  No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.  It was still worth $20.  Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.  We feel as though we are worthless.  But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes.  To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him. In other words, the worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are, but WHOSE we are.  We never lose our worth!

I am so grateful for the Atonement, and the opportunity we all have to repent of our sins, and draw closer to the Savior and our Heavenly Father.  I love having this calling to teach with Jarom.  This year we are studying "Preparing for Exaltation." Sometimes I think we learn more than our kids do, but it has been a good learning experience for us and a great reminder of the things we need to be doing in our daily lives to remain true to the covenants we've made so we can be worthy to live with our Heavenly Father again someday.

The Church is True.

And now a few random pictures for good measure...

 Real Salt Lake game...

And this one, just because it is so precious.... 

Celebrating Jacie's 17th Birthday with some Wingers Asphalt Pie...
I can't believe my baby sister is 17 years old!

And last but not least, my kid brother, because I miss him,
even though he steals my sunglasses...

This past week, was Jaroms "spring break" so he didn't have his night math class at all this week.  It was so nice to have him "back" again.  :)   Since the weather has been so amazing, we had a picnic in the park, and last night we were able to go to a Real Soccer game at Rio Tinto Stadium and had a bon fire with our friends Welcker and Mare.  I even did some spring cleaning this week thanks to some suggestions found on pinterest....

And in case anyone needs a good laugh, this video is hillarious....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jouORmNWu1Y

Cheers.