Hey there, everybody. Welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood. Scott Durfey here, as always joined by my sweetheart, Debra. What's up, babe? Hi, everyone. How about my friends? How are you? I'm good. I'm actually kind of comfortable and. Calm right now, I might be able to shut my eyes and nap. Please don't do that. Yeah, you do look comfortable in my leather chair. I have this beautiful leather chair that Deb bought me for Father's Day sitting
here in my office. And, you know, in the entire time we've been doing this podcast, I'm sitting in my office chair and David was sitting there for the first three years and now you're sitting there, which I'm fine with. I love that. I love this chair. It is comfortable. I know. Yeah. I'm a little sad. Yeah, why are you sad? Well, I got news. We got news recently that one of our friends and alcoholic synonymous died from an overdose. That is so sad. It's not uncommon.
No. Unfortunately, but so sad, you know, just we just don't know. Right. You just don't know what drives a person, what what what battles, what demons we carry. It's just so hard sometimes, Deb, to be involved. You know this, you're involved too, but it's just so hard and so heavy sometimes to be involved and just see the wickedness and the throws of addiction. Oh, insidious. I think that was the thing you said the other day when I told you about that. Insidious disease. Yeah.
So sad. I know, right? It's heartbreaking because these are people we love, love, love and care about. Yeah. Yeah. So heartbreaking. Another one that we're close to and know quite well is battling addiction in the deepest, darkest, even today. You know, going through detox and rehab and a bunch of other things and, and so many
others. I mean, just countless. And, you know, oftentimes, Deb, I think, I think you and I, we come across as this happy -go -lucky, you know, we got it made and, you know, from the outside looking in, maybe it's not always as though it seems. It's an illusion. It's an illusion. It's not always what it seems, right? If you really knew. You had the glass wall into the
lives. You know, as I listened to the last week's podcast and I don't typically like, I'm not a big fan of listening to myself, but I just, I had had a few people reach out to me and say, gosh, Deb, that was so amazing. Of course. lot of them's family and friends but they were just cheering me on but I thought I hope I did not come across as knowing everything or this facade of we have this perfect little life we sure make
the best of our life. And we definitely have our challenges and messes and yeah, well, we make the best of our life today. Absolutely. That doesn't mean tomorrow we will. And it doesn't mean that sometimes, even since we've got our stuff together, that we still have those those dark feelings and days and troubles and and we respond to the accusations of the accuser. I do. Yeah, I think we all do. And we we have this.
belief that, you know, my, my mom was the queen of keeping positive affirmations all over the house. And she was always think positive, think positive and it's a great, you know, thing to think. Definitely better to think positive than
not, right? It's true. It's true. But anyway, I just, I think one of the things that made me reflect this past week was just thinking about how much we put on the emphasis of we have to put on our best and look our best and and be our best and yeah that's that's all good but we're not always our best and I think we need I need to remember that we can bring our mess and our brokenness among the you know the saints we can bring them among each other and it's interesting
today I had an experience. I was talking to a lady that she was telling me about someone in her life who's battling alcoholism, and she is completely foreign to the idea of the disease or anything. And I all of a sudden became the expert for some reason. And I kept saying, hey, this is an insidious disease. And I just thought, I am not the expert. I am not the expert at this. But the one thing I did tell her is there is
hope. There is hope. And you know, she was telling me about how much this gentleman was just trying to keep it from the family and how the family is finding out now and his kids are finding out and active members of the church. And that was me. you know, the active member of the church that's trying to, you know, live my secret somewhere else and not let anybody know. You know, we had actually originally planned tonight a topic for
the podcast. And before we get too far into our topic today, there's a couple of other things I want to say. But Deb, this is exactly what we need to talk about right now, because we're all kind of there. We're all just at spots where There's just things we just don't want others to know. And it's okay. We should put our best foot forward. I get that. But sometimes do we put our best foot forward at the expense of being real and being able to be in that powerful relationship
with our Heavenly Father? Well, and I think even being authentic. I love that on the medallionship in AA, it says, to thine own self be true. And I think that is such a critical even piece of doctrine that we all can kind of put in front of us is just be true to you. You know, honesty is literally where we get free. The truth will set us free. And it has definitely set me free. I mean, I remember knowing I was taking certain stories and certain things to the grave. I was
not about to expose any of that. What would people think? I mean, I was raised in this facade of perfection. I hate to put a label on it, but I remember we were on a river rafting trip one time. As a family, we always did, and we went with a whole bunch of people from... our hometown and there was a lady that had been divorced and had a lot of kids and she says, what was it like being raised in such a perfect home? And I giggled. I was like, perfect. What are you talking about?
And I just think, you know, sometimes we put that perfect label on so many other people because it looks so perfect from where we're sitting. But I think if we had that gift to be able to see into the hearts and I think there's been a few conference talks on this. If we really knew the challenges and struggles people we're going through, we would feel and act so different.
Which we go back to the, you know, first and great commandment, love the Lord thy God and second is like unto it, love your neighbor as thyself. And I think, you know, there's a lot of wisdom in those two commandments in and of themselves is just love. It's what the world needs more of. Love, sweet love. Exactly, like the song says. Yeah. Well, I don't know. I know I felt that way. I know you have felt that way. We had a discussion tonight, Deb and I, and Deb's
brought up a valid concern. She's like, Scott, we don't want people to think that we've got this whole thing figured out. You know all we have figured out is that I'm not I'm not the issue Jesus Christ is the issue His atonement is the power by which I gain any kind of relief from the bondage of self And it's okay. It's actually in divine order that it is indeed that way you know you're talking about a river trip and You know, just the way people sometimes see
us and stuff like that. Deb, I had one recently. And I'm just going to admit it. This is me being extremely vulnerable. I had a meeting yesterday with three really, actually five pretty important men in my life. Three members of a state presidency
and two other. Institute teachers for the stake and I'm looking at these men, you know, they Once a stake president just such an amazing man that the the first counselor the second counselor I think rather I don't know which counselor but We actually went to high school together and I see him and I just think, oh my gosh, that guy has just got it all figured out and he's in the right spot, doing the right thing at the
right time. And then the other two Institute teachers too, Mark and Benoit, just wonderful, wonderful men. And Deb, by comparison, I don't hold a candle to any of those guys in my own mind. And this is the thoughts that's going through my head yesterday as I'm in this meeting because, you know, and I know why. Right? I know that first off, the things that I'm thinking are lies. Second off, I know that these lies come from the accuser. I know that I'm listening to the
accuser. I know I'm being accused. And I'm listening to that. But I feel unworthy. I feel like I don't measure up. You know, sometimes we ask, am I too broken for Jesus? You know, have I gone? And it's not necessarily, have I gone too far? But sometimes it is, have I gone too far? Boy, I have pictures to go with those words. I felt like I had gotten too far and there's still times when the accuser will get my head and I'd be questioning myself and thinking Scott You're
a fake. You're a facade. You have gone too far You know the stuff that you teach and the stuff that you testify of is just for them Not you, you know, you know in that same sense of Having that fear that you know, do I have to fix myself before I can go to church? Do I have to make myself right? Do I have to you know? The other thing we have to remember is that we are all broken. Well, there seems to be very little sometimes
comfort in numbers. There's comfort numbers when we're putting on the happy side of ourselves, you know, but when I'm feeling that way, when I'm feeling like down on myself, when I'm feeling like I am too far gone, like I am, and I still feel that way sometimes, babe. When I'm listening to the accuser and when I do I don't feel like there's strength in numbers for me there, right?
I feel like that I'm alone that I'm Isolated, you know and all that other stuff now I know that there's a way out of it and I know how and that's the whole point In fact, I think that's the point to our podcast Isn't that to help all of us you and me and and those of us and and here's the thing When I say, and those of us, and so when I say those of us who understand this, I'm literally talking about all of us, because by design, and we're going to talk about
the fall of Adam and Eve and how that all plays into our growth and our opportunity to put on the atonement of Jesus Christ in its fullness in a few weeks. But, you know, in our fallen -ness, that's where we find that we have that need for Him. And that's where we find that he will meet us, kind of even meet us in our mess, right? And that's all he's asking is to come to him. Yeah, you're right. Come to him. That's all he's asking is to come to him. That reminds
always of the scripture, right? This is Dave's, I think this is Dave's favorite scripture. This is Matthew 11 28. I'm just going to read it. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I think that's great and important for us to understand, but how does that happen? And he goes on, I said 28, but I'm going to go all the way through 30. Take my yoke upon you. So he's asking us to take
his yoke upon us. What does that mean? So when we take his yoke upon us, think that through for just a second and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy. and my burden is light. Deb, you were raised on a little farm and you had cattle or whatever, cows, I should say. We did have cows. And you'll understand this. You know, I was raised on a little farm and we had horses. And, you know, maybe this
kind of applies to both. But when they use when when the term yoke is used in there. A yoke is something that is used to bind two animals in that case together. And if that's the case, you know, if we're using this yoke, and if Christ is asking us, inviting us, take my yoke upon you, He's not asking us to pick up a heavy yoke and carry His yoke, He's asking us to yoke with
Him. And as we yoke with him, then that power or that strength is more evenly distributed where we are actually able to take on his attributes and strengths through yoking to him. And how do we do that? He gives us a key to that in verse 19. First off, he gives us the, well, he says, learn of me, for I am meek and lonely of heart, and you shall find rest in your souls, for my
yoke is easy and my... Burden is light so you shall find rest in your souls you know one of the things I think of and this is well is I think about when my burden feels heavy and I feel exhausted because I'm one of those that keeps going and going and going until I hit pure exhaustion and there's some days I want to take my yoke and just throw it I Literally, I literally just want to go just carry this I want to lay down and cry yeah, I don't I mean and I think I think
It's because sometimes I feel like I'm the one that needs to go, go, go, you know, do exactly what I, you know, do all that I can do and then and then ask for help. But it's it's past that point. But, you know, the one thing that I do love and that I know and that I can testify of is that in our mess and in our chaos and in our points of chaos. that when we literally seek Him, He meets us in our mess. He literally will
come to us. You know, and it's, I have, I've got numerous pictures to go with those words that, man, when I get to that fallen place of, I just can't do this anymore. I feel Him. I know He is there. And He lives. Have you ever noticed this I have and I think you probably will be able to relate to this But have you ever noticed that for example when I when I first got sober I had tried to get sober a million times Probably not much of an exaggeration, right? I tell people
Quitting was not a problem for me. It was staying quit that was hard for me. But but I but but when I was going through that process I I felt broken And there is part of me that is in that process. There's part of me that is broken in that process. Broken to not be able to, I'm just not able to put the connected pieces to be able to make the connection to be able to align my will with Heavenly Father's. And when I realized, what I realized was that as I began, well, let
me just step back a second. I thought, For example that I had been left alone that he wasn't there for me that I needed to go a certain distance before I would be able to earn his Help and assistance in my life now. I grew up with a testimony You know that you know conversion came for me much later than my testimony did but I grew up with
a testimony I knew that Jesus was Christ. I knew that he lived I believed in my Heavenly Father and all of this through all of the deep dark days of my addiction But because I felt like I needed to achieve a certain amount in order to be worthy for even his help. What I realized, Deb, is after I had achieved a little bit of sobriety and I had come more to myself, what I realized is that Jesus had entered my story long before I ever realized it. Long before.
And I and I think that that's probably the case for each of us that he's somewhere already in that darkness He's somewhere already in that despair. He's somewhere already in that I'm not good enough or I don't measure up well enough or I or I or I whatever he's already somewhere in that story and it's It doesn't take much to find him there. Yeah, we got to do is look. Yeah, or you know turn our direction of, you know, look up. Yeah. I mean, we hear that in conference
talks to turn on the light. Look up. Just look to me. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, want to nail. Yeah. Yes. Turn to me. I remember a time I was going through some really, really difficult things. And I had it was before I had met you. And I remember thinking, my life is so destroyed and so distraught. And there is no way. I mean, I had just received some news that had absolutely devastated me. And I just thought my life was
crumbling. And I remember at that time going, the American Fork Temple, the Timpanogos Temple
had just been opened. And I remember walking in there so heavy, my shoulders were like... just so burdened with the news and the information that I received and I just thought I don't know how this is ever gonna be fixed and I went through and and pleaded and prayed and I did an endowment and I went into the celestial room after and I just again just poured out my heart and Pleaded with the Lord to just please somehow And you know, I'll never forget that day that I walked
out of that temple. Absolutely nothing had changed. The news wasn't different, the information wasn't different, how I felt was completely changed. And I remember walking out of that temple thinking, I just witnessed a miracle. There is nothing in my story that had changed at all. I still had the terrible news. I still had the mess. I still had all of that. But I remember walking out of that temple thinking, I just witnessed
a miracle. I am a totally different person walking out of this temple than I was walking into that temple. That's how He changes us. I mean, I brought my mess, as terrible as that sounds, but I brought that into His house and He healed me. He yoked with me. I will never forget that. It was shortly after my grandmother had passed away, and I remember thinking, I don't think I'd be more surprised if my grandma was resurrected right now because of that miracle that I had just witnessed in
that change of heart. Such a huge blessing, gift. Such a gift. No doubt. Well, and I think though that, Deb, that's a... Prime example of how he meets this inner mess. In fact, that's kind of not kind of that's that's what he was born to
do. That's why That's one of the reasons that he actually came here in Isaiah 61 this this reminds me This is a scripture that we hear often for those of you who are chosen listen to the chosen This is a scripture that they often pray together, but but it really I I think speaks
to Deb Exactly what you're talking about. So this is an Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1 and it says the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound That's why The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings This is him. This is the spirit of the Lord.
This is my father's Mission for me to carry out is to breathe hope into the hopeless Fix that which seems unfixable. Yeah, which goes to The next scripture that we always quote at Institute. One of our favorites, I should say. In Alma 7, 11 and 12, and he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. And you always pause and say. of how many kinds. And I will continue to do that. Yes. Because it's important for us to know, you know, because
we think we're exempt somehow. And we think that, you know, this is I want you to finish reading this, but we also think that the scripture. Well, it is the scripture is actually about Jesus Christ's atonement his atonement and oftentimes what we think Well, yeah, that's talking about sin. Well, of course, it's talking about sin, but it's talking about so much more than just sin This is where our broken pain and afflictions and pains What how many pains every kind how many afflictions?
Every kind. Yeah. Abuses. Yeah. All kinds. Any and all. And it's such a good reminder for me to hear every. How many kinds? Every. But I'll start again. And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people. And he will take upon him their infirmities.
You know, one of the things that always brings peace is to lose those bands of death because if any, which I'm sure all of us have had someone dear to us pass away, there is nothing that brings more hope than knowing that one day we will be with our loved ones again. That is the only reason why there is not so much despair and grief and pain. And I went to funerals where there has been not that belief. I remember watching a mom almost crawl into a casket with her 12 -year
-old daughter. And I just thought, there's hope. There's hope. Don't give up. There's hope. Sometimes
it feels easy to give up though. I know sometimes we all get there I mean and throw the yoke and there's so much to you know and as again when we get I'm really anxious and excited to talk about the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve and how this all plays into this and how it's all part of Heavenly Father's plan which is really sometimes a little bit difficult for us to understand how can this pain how can this confusion how can this feeling of brokenness and despair and
and and bondage and all of this how can this all be part of Heavenly others plan well it is and you know the invitation is is to come unto me so that I can heal you so that I can help you be right so that I can fix the un the brokenness with that you feel within you or that you think you see within you know really none of us are broken yeah there's nothing broken about any of us we see it that way because we have discomfort in this life because we have pain because we
have trial because we have opposition But none of us are really broken. But when we feel that way dub Then we feel like we're not worthy. We feel like we need to qualify ourselves in some way Often and I'm not speaking for everybody. I don't I'm not qualified to do that But but but oftentimes we feel like that there must be something that I need to do before he will enter my story. But that's just not the case. He's in our story, even when we don't know it. And
Elder Holland kind of reminded us of that. Remember that talk, Broken Things to Mend? Oh, yeah, I love that talk. What was the last one? Love that talk. Have you listened to it recently? No, but I'm going to. OK, I'd listen to. This is one of those that's kind of one of the if I'm sitting on an airplane, which I do frequently flying somewhere, this is one of the ones that if I can't think of anything else, man, this is this
is one of my go tos. This is one of. Several but definitely one of my go -tos in that he says invites us to he says and I quote come as you are a loving father says Acknowledge your mistakes, but don't be immobilized by them And we could also say, you know, and I'm paraphrasing when I do but acknowledge your and then you plug it in is it mistakes is it feelings of inadequacy acknowledge it but Don't be immobilized by it because we have the means to make you better.
And the means to make you better is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Yeah, the power available to us through Atonement. You know, I think, you know, as you were talking about that, I just thought about some of the things that we put upon ourselves. And then as a parent or even a grandparent that I that I'm like, Oh man, that didn't turn out the way I thought it was going
to turn out. I thought that I was going to be a mother of 21 and have 400 grandkids and just sit in a meadow and just play with children all the time and things would just be lovely. I'm stuck on mother of 21. Well, it's all I ever wanted to be when I grew up. And I mean, it's so interesting because now I am definitely, I'm not a mother of 21. But sitting in a meadow with children was basically all I ever wanted to be.
Then I also had this expectation of where I wanted my children to be as they grew up and went on their marial way. And sometimes I have to take that to the Lord and say, Heavenly Father, I am illusioned. thought that this kid would end up like this and I thought this grand kid would do this and I thought you know these expectations that I place on them and you know it's not just that well being a mom and a grandma is painful sometimes and a dad and grandpa and a friend
and a All of that, I get it. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we've had this conversation multiple times before because, you know, there's a problem sometimes when we go down those roads of listening to the accuser, you know, my kids aren't doing this and so that must mean that about me or my
kids aren't. aligning or you know what I mean and it's so many times we take that as a personal indictment on our parenting skills on the way we lived our lives and so on and so forth and maybe rightfully so you know maybe there's some reason maybe there is some of some of the maybe some of the challenges that my kids faced are a direct result of the the life that they lived growing up Maybe. And maybe not. Well, and maybe
not. But the point behind all that is, is then the accuser really gets his grips on me because I believe that sometimes. Yeah. You know, we've talked about that and you've had to talk me off the emotional ledge sometimes because I really do have in the past and sometimes I still do. This is not something that I've been able to
overcome completely. But I'll remind myself of you know what Scott you didn't do family home evening when you were when your kids were little But your parents did you know what yeah, I know I know and and that's that's that's that's the point right? But the the the accuser doesn't tell me but your parents did the accused were tells me you screwed up Scotty You made a big
mistake here, which is true. I did screw up, and I made a lot of mistakes, but that's not the point The point is, is it's not me to save them anyway. It's Jesus. It's His power. It's the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's a relationship with Heavenly Father. Now, there's challenges. There's no question. But He meets them and meets us. No matter where we are in our story, He's there. Yeah. That mercy and that grace is such a gift. Do you remember the story of the prodigal,
the prodigal son? Right? Sure do. Two sons, actually. So the one asked for his inheritance early and goes off and lives riotous living and probably looked a lot like my life at one point. And then he ended up, again, probably metaphorically, like at one point in my life, eating with pigs. He was eating, you know, with the animals. and finally decided, I'm gonna go back to my dad and just ask him if I can just be his servant. But the father, his father met him before he
even got home. His father saw him a ways off and ran out to meet him and fell upon him and kissed him on his neck and brought him back in and told everybody, kill the fatted calf. And I'm paraphrasing, I'm not reading this. So if I'm leaving things out or getting things a little bit inaccurate. However, the point's still the same. The father brings him in, but the father ran out to meet him. He didn't wait for his son
to get in. He ran out there to meet him. And when the son came in, he just says, I just want to be a servant, Dad. And he's like, no, you're my son. You inherit what I have. And I think that that's, I know that that's what... Heavenly Father's waiting for us to do, too, is to just turn and make movement towards Him. But even before we do that, His love is drawing us forward. Yeah. I also love the idea of being literal direct descendants of the divine. I love that. I don't
know why that's so impactful to me. Because you think about the generations of ancestors that we came from and all the lines of people, grandparents and their parents and their parents and how we came through a lot of disease, a lot of carnal. Oh my gosh, yeah. All of the things that we experience on this earth. And our bodies fill it. I mean, our bodies do things while we're in this mortal state. But this is our temporary home. This is
not our eternal dwelling. And I love when I can think celestial, like President Nelson has said, and go, that's not our ultimate destination. Our ultimate destination is to return home to
our Father. Who will welcome us when we're halfway running down the the path with open arms that the the exact quote from Luke 15 20 is but when he saw him a great way off a Great way off is the adjective His father saw him and had compassion on him and ran Didn't walk but ran I can I would do that for my son I think your father would do that for you too. I know my dad would. And my dad did, in fact. And fell on his neck and
kissed him. And I know a loving father in heaven who loves us perfect and sees us for not who we are today, but who we are in eternity. I know he does that too. I know he does that too. And I know that we don't have to wait. We don't have to get perfect. We don't have to be living a life that we think fits a mold in order for him to be available to us. He's waiting. He's wanting. I love this again from, now this is another one of my great, another one of Elder Holland's great
talks that I love. This is from the talk. the laborers in the vineyard from April of 2012 conference. And this is what he says, however late you think you are, however many chances that you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. Divine, you are divine beings, direct descendants. That's who we really are and when we are a great way off he will run to us Yeah, and fall on our neck
and kiss us and bite us home. Yeah Yeah Yeah, we're not earning a place there. Yeah, we already belong we just need to align with it Well, you know and then the other thing that I think that we learned from the prodigal son to us that he doesn't delay his embrace He doesn't withhold his love until we get to the property boundaries. His embrace is not delayed until we're worthy even. It's extended because we're His, simply because we're His, Deb. I know, back to the divinity.
We're His. Simply because we're His. So, I don't know. What does it look like then to come to Him? How do we do that? So we've talked about That it's important that we do we've talked about that he'll meet us in our mess So but but but what is coming to him actually look like then? Well, we often ask that question in our Institute class that says when he says come to me where Does he want us to come to him? So he's well,
let's talk about let's read it. Actually. Let's let's go right to the scripture Let's go to this is Doctrine and Covenants section 6 Verse 36. Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. So the more we strive to look unto Him in every thought, have you ever done that? I've tried. Have you? I really have tried. Yeah, I tried it too. Before, I'd never tried, but I tried it too. I tried it all during Holy Week this year. And I wasn't good at it. Me either.
But it made a difference in my life to even make the attempt. Effort. Yeah, right. So look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. So it seems, though, you know, we're talking about doubts and fears. Everything that we've talked about could probably be categorized in one of those two categories, doubt and fear. I'm not good enough. Fear and doubt, actually, right? What would others think of me? Fear. And doubt, I guess. You know, anytime I'm listening to the
accuser, I'm afraid and I have doubts. So how do I overcome that doubt and that fear as I look unto him? How do I look unto him? He tells us in the very next verse. Behold the wounds which pierced my side and also the prints of the nails in my hands and my feet. That's it. Be faithful. Keep my commandments and you shall inherit the kingdom of. Heaven. So how is it, Deb, that we look unto him in every thought? Where do we look? Where do we see him? The wounded Christ. The
wounded Christ. Yeah. Was it Elder Holland? Yeah. That said, we worship the wounded Christ, right? Elder Holland's getting a lot of airtime on our podcast tonight. And I think that I love that because. Well, we love him. Oh, man. Yeah. Coming unto Christ is not something that's a one and done. It's not something we achieve, right? It's an ongoing effort. I think it's daily and for me, by the second. Sometimes, right? Yeah. That's how I find more Jesus. Yeah, like we talked about
last week. Yes. It's like one of those things that it's like today at work. I think that's my biggest place of offense because I get frustrated with certain situations and then my thoughts go. Oh, that's not very Christlike. That's not very kind. Those aren't very kind thoughts. So it's it's literally minute by minute. And I have to go. Whoops. I messed that up. Thank you. I'm going to try again. Yeah. But he changes us along the way. Yeah. He you know, if we seek him. Yeah.
Yeah, it's ongoing. It's an ongoing. It's an ongoing turning of the heart, I guess, so to speak, right? You know, I think there's a couple of things that we probably should point out that can be extremely helpful. And we're going to talk about these things as we go through the podcast, as we really talk about, OK, how does then the atonement of Jesus Christ make all of this available to us? And how do I access these blessings? And how do I qualify for these blessings?
And what does it cover? And all of that other stuff. But there's a there's a few things that we can begin today with. One, for example, is we can pray. We can cry out. We can cry unto Him. And our prayers don't necessarily have to be the conventional kind of prayers, sweetie, right? I often have conversation, mostly when I'm driving. I drive south to work every day, and usually it's on the left -hand side of me that The sun is usually just coming up over the
mountain. And I often talk to Him, Oh Heavenly Father, thank You for this beautiful mountain. Thank You for this beautiful sky and this beautiful morning. I love having conversation. And please help me to remember who I am and whose I am. I think that's beautiful. And to me, sometimes I think, My most beautiful communions are when
I'm in the deepest, darkest trouble. Right? I mean, and today the deepest, darkest trouble looks a lot different than the deepest, darkest trouble looked 26 years ago before I got sober. So I'll say that. But when I'm feeling down, you know, and I still deal with depression, I still deal with, I hate to say it, but there are times when I still deal with suicidal ideology. And those kinds of things. I'm a recovering drunk.
I'm a recovering alcoholic. And there's just something that's physically not right, I guess. I don't know, spiritually too, right? We know it's a spiritual malady. But I also know that when I'm in those deep, dark times, sometimes
my prayer is just, Father in heaven, help. please just help me please just reach down please just give me relief please you know and it's and it's just a crying more of a crying out more of a just a my heart it sometimes those prayers are not words sometimes those in fact you remember the story of a friend of ours cowboy mike in a and the story's been told and recorded i'm not blowing anonymity has been all over the place. But I heard him tell it. He's a cattleman and
was just really struggling one winter. I won't get into all the details for the sake of time, but really needed to call upon his Heavenly Father and hadn't yet established a relationship, didn't know him all that well. Well, and so he says, all I could do is say, Father in heaven, whatever. But that was him pouring out his heart and he says, and in that moment, I knew God knew me
and I knew God loved me. And I think that. God's no respecter of person, he'll meet us in our mess and he and we don't have to be worthy to have his love displayed to us. There's there's there's no no nothing that we need to do in order to be entitled to feeling His love. Yeah, that made me remember during Holy Week when I was reading through the intercessory prayer of literally
who we are and whose we are. I just love how the Savior was telling, well basically gave this prayer and how this is this is life eternal. He's on this earth telling him before he goes to do his ministry that they may know thee the true, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. That entire prayer, John 17, is such a powerful thing to remember because that right there reminds me of that again divinity of who I am. And what coming to Christ looks
like. Yes. Yes, you know, there's really there's kind of there's a whole bunch of ways You know, we've kind of identified three ways that coming to Christ can look like I mentioned the first one Pray, Deb read mentioned the second one Even a verse of Scripture even just something that becomes our favorite. It gives us hope. Yeah Yeah. I know sometimes when I'm struggling, I quote in my mind, look unto me. Look unto me in every thought. Look unto me. I see that as
an invitation. And it tends to draw my thoughts and attention away from the things that seem to be consuming me and really put them where they matter. So there's that. And I love that you bring up the intercessory prayer. And then there's the third one, which is what? Try again. Yeah, try again. Yeah, when you fall down. Yep,
you get back up again, right? Yeah, exactly Don't give up Yeah, the accuser definitely wants us to be stuck and he wants us to hide even when yesterday was a mess Especially when today's a mess You know this my One of my sponsors in Alcoholics Anonymous, he's passed away, and his name's Big Al. He was not a member of our church. One of my most important spiritual guides that I've ever had. Great man, too. Helped me find a relationship with Heavenly Father that I hadn't
had prior to that. But one of the things that he taught me among so, so, so many others was that Scott, When you're having a bad day, it's okay to start it over at any time. You don't have to wait till tomorrow to start your day over. You can start it over at any time. And, you know, easier said than done. I get it. Easier said than done for me. You know, at first when he said that to me, I thought that's really a Pollyanna cute little statement. But I began
to practice it a little bit. And and as I practiced it, and I still think a big owl when I start my day over, I had to start my day over just the other day at work. I was having a rotten, no good day. I was in another city. Things weren't necessarily going great. And I had to step away and and I didn't get on my knees because it didn't seem appropriate in a crowded place like that. But I bowed my head and I started my day over and invited Heavenly Father in at this time.
And it went a little better. And so I think that's it. Let me interrupt you just for a second, because I remember when I was taught the concept of you can start your day over at any time. And I think of the big red button that you can push and go, start again, like literally. It's just like. Stop, delete, rewind, delete. Like the gong show. I'm going to gong that part of my day off the stage. Something, something. But I remember thinking, and I still do that. I'm like, yep, I'm starting
my day over. I know it's 930 at night, but I am starting my day over. And I've done that numerous times. That was a gift to remember. Yeah, I agree. So pray. Invite the Spirit into our lives through Scripture and then just remember to just start over. Keep trying. Start again, start again, start again. I love Moroni chapter 10 verse 32. And we can kind of end on this Scripture tonight, sweetie. But, yay, come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. And deny yourselves of all ungodliness.
And I think that that's another way that we really can come unto Him, is by denying ourselves of ungodliness. How do we do that? We go back to those three things that we just talked about. We pray, we invite the Spirit into our lives through scripture study, and we just keep getting back up. Yeah. And you know, we don't always have to be in pain to seek Him. We don't always have to... I mean, I love the word broken in the way that a broken heart is an open heart.
And I love when the analogy of just being willing and every Sunday when we listen to those sacrament prayers, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy son. Just that willingness is part of that open heart. that broken, open heart. I love being able to commune every Sunday in that ordinance room and take that brokenness and just be willing. I think that's part of the try. I try again, just be willing. It's so critical. Well, you know, he's not surprised by our weakness.
He's absolutely committed gave his life in fact as a demonstration of it to lift us and heal us and walk with us as we go I reminded of the quote from President Nelson from the power of spiritual momentum one of your favorite talks I knew you would Jesus specializes in saving the lost lifting the fallen healing the broken -hearted and strengthening those who are weak. There's hope in Christ because He's always there,
Deb. Yeah, and I know that. I have lived my life long enough to testify of that, and I am so grateful I know that today. I am so grateful because there have been those moments where I have literally felt Him lift. I remember a time in my life where I felt Him put me down. You know, you hear about the footprints in the sand. And I remember that physical feeling of, okay, you got this now, Deb. And I knew he was there. I knew he was there. Carrying me. Because there's times it was just
too burdensome and too heavy and too hard. Yeah. I think it's important we remember, too, that we don't have to be worthy to come. Come unto me, all ye that labor. There's no worthiness there. Thank heavens. We don't have to be worthy to come. We come to Him to be made worthy, to be made whole. And I think that's really important for us to remember. So, you know, this week, as we kind of wrap up the podcast tonight, just as an invitation this week to come unto Christ
as you are. Let Him meet you in your prayers, your thoughts, your struggles. Even broken faith, Deb, is still faith. Even faith with questions is still faith. We should have questions. Questions are good. I think the thing that has been the heaviest on me, and I wouldn't call it heavy, but I feel like the thing that I have been reflecting most on is there's hope for everyone. There's
hope. I mean, there were so many years that I felt Like there was just no hope For me and to the point that I had gone through that the steps of repentance I had gone through all of that, but I felt like even some of my challenges that were coming at me were Because of choices I had made I felt like this is the consequence I did this so I deserve this I did this so I deserve that it's such an interesting mindset and I think my plea is If I could say anything to anyone
that's going through that same heavy burden is, there is hope. And He hears and answers us. He knows us. He knows my name. He knows everyone's name. We are literally His. Well, as we kind of wrap things up today, we just want to say that wherever you are, however you're feeling, you're welcome here. Jesus isn't just waiting for us to clean everything up before we come to Him. He meets us right in the middle of our mess. That's where His grace shines the brightest.
So come as you are, broken, hopeful, hopeless, questioning, searching. You're not alone. Deb was right earlier. She mentioned that we'd received some comments and feedback around welcoming Debra to the podcast. You've done such a great job already, Deb. We just want to encourage you to stay in touch with us, share your stories, ask your questions, and let us know your thoughts.
He redeems us. He redeems. us at gmail .com we read every email we respond to as many as we possibly can I had a great conversation with the gentleman from Canada actually via email this past week and then just encourage you to keep doing that and if this episode or any other episode has touched your heart in any way we hope that you'll share it with someone you love and care about Maybe a friend or a family member, anyone who could use a little more hope right
now. And who couldn't in these tumultuous times, as President Nielsen says? No doubt. So next week, we're going to talk about how the Savior doesn't just redeem us. He heals us. He lifts us. He transforms us in our everyday lives. He meets us where we are. We hope that you'll join us. Thanks again for being with us. And remember, there's always hope through him, because you have. and I have been redeemed through his blood. Thanks for being with us. We'll see you next time.