Hey there, everybody. Welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood. Scott and Debra Durfey here, season four. What's up, Deb? Just happy to be here. Happy to be here too. So here we are, Deb. It's pretty spring weather we're having today. Plenty of rain. I guess it's not too pretty. Don't make the flowers grow in the grass. That's what they say. That's what they say. And we have a wonderful opportunity
at the end of this week. And I would be remiss if we didn't mention this, but it's Mother's Day coming up. This episode will come out ahead of Mother's Day. It's appropriate that today we're... talking about who we are and whose we are because we have heavenly parents and I think it's important that we recognize that perhaps and you know maybe even Sunday we won't talk too much about it just out of reverence but maybe on Sunday we can even think a little bit about
our heavenly mother. I always think of oh my father when the line in there that I have a mother there warms me. I love that line. Well, and you're a mother dub and my favorite job I've ever had and you do a wonderful job next to grandmother now we had a we had a whole bunch of kids over yesterday and That's that's that's the highlight of our week, you know to 100 % Chaos and screaming
and noise and mess and spills. What's those little ones running around and glorious all of that We've received some feedback and some input. I don't know feedbacks. Yeah, we've received some feedback too. And the feedback has been positive, Deb. A lot of people are just super grateful that you have joined the podcast. They love your perspective. I do as well. And so again, Deb, a lot of feedback. People are loving it.
People are loving having you here. And just for those of you who maybe would love to send or would like to send us an email and communicate with us, we invite you to do that. We try to respond to as many as we possibly can. if you have a question that you'd like for us to answer here on the podcast, we'll do our best to do that as well, but you can do that at heredeemsusatgmail .com, heredeemsusatgmail .com. So Deb, here we
are, season four, episode three. In episode three, we really begin now to dive into the things that can help us to understand how it is that we put on the atonement of Jesus Christ, why we wanna put on the. the atonement of Jesus Christ, but even all of that is several weeks down the road. Before we do any of that, we really need to understand some core principles, some very basics about
ourselves. You know, we have some core principles that we just kind of default to, and sometimes some of those core principles really fall in
line with our identity, you know. I talk to people all the time, you talk to people all the time as well, sweetheart, that, you know, when we think about, okay, who we are, if I were to ask somebody, not you, Deb, but if I were to ask somebody, who are you, oftentimes, you know, I'll get the story of their career or maybe a story of their past that they use to define themselves today. And I mean, what are your thoughts around
identity, sweetie? Well, it's ironic that you say that because it takes me back to one of the first corporate events I went with you. And there are all these people that are, we're at this gala dinner and people are asking me, so what do you do? And I immediately went to, I'm a mom, we have seven kids. I have like, I think at that time I had like two grandkids and you looked over at me and you're like, they mean what do you do for work? And I remember feeling so silly
about answering that. But when people ask me who I am, that is the very first thing I have ever said. And even as a young child, I remember people asking me, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I said, a mom. And they're like, no, like for work. And I said, mom's work? I want to be a mom. So that's honestly where I went to when you said that. But I think I think where we're really going with this is identifying
who we are and whose we are. I think that's really one of the things that I've really had to push pause and kind of slow down and really ask. I mean, we all know that I'm a child of God. We know the primary answers. But the primary answers is really where the thick doctrine is. That's really true. The problem is sometimes though
is believing it. Yeah, and believing it above our other identities I believe that sometimes and this is you know We're gonna get into our our pre -mortal existence here in a minute and all the things that took place there but I think one of the things that the accuser really tries to do is to is to cloud our identity to give us new identities or other identities or or pseudo identities things that we really aren't but we believe we are like broken for example like too
far gone for example, like my I, you know, not enough. Yeah. Boy, oh boy. And I go there still sometimes, sweetie. Me too. Because I deal with the effects of the fall, and we'll talk about that in a couple of weeks too, but because I deal with the effects of the fall, and because of the spiritual death that I experience, it's sometimes difficult to really remember who I
am. And when I get tired, when I get hungry, when I get angry, when I get lonely, and tired, in recovery rooms, that acronym we use is HALT, hungry. angry, lonely, tired. And when I get hungry, angry, lonely, tired, and sometimes when my dis -ease is prevalent in my life, then I... then my mind and my identity can become clouded. I see myself as less than sometimes or not good enough still. And I've been dealing in sobriety for 26 years with trying to change and understand
my real identity. And I really do understand my real identity, but to be able to incorporate that into every thought and every day and everything that I do is just extremely difficult for me. You know, I also think that sometimes our answer is different based on our audience. Sure. Because depending on who asks the question, tell me about you. I was doing interviews today, ironically
enough. Yeah. And it's interesting when you ask that question, when you're in a workplace, when you're in a church, when you're in public, when you're whatever. But those answers, for me, I mean, as you were sharing that, I thought, you know, my answers change. Depending on where I'm at, if I'm in the workplace, my work hat goes on and I'll tell you what I do for work. Yeah. And I'll tell, you know, so it's, it's interesting that we, we, I, I'm not going to take anybody's
inventory, but I have multiple identities. Yeah. That's interesting. And I think it's important that we differentiate though, what we do is not
who we are. Exactly, but that's hard to remember sometimes sometimes sometimes it is you know, I I just got back from I I'm a public speaker and I just got back from a big event that we did in Denver and I'll have another one coming up here in a little bit and it was in Detroit and Dallas and and New York and several other places recently doing this and well I'm doing that that is kind of my identity, you know but But my real identity, Deb, that's what's really
important. My core identity is what's important. So let's talk about that for a minute. Who are we really? And you said it, it's important to know who we are and whose we are. I love what David used to say, our previous co -host who's now preparing to serve a mission, but I love what he used to say. He'd say, Scott, our identity determines our eternity. our identity determines our eternity. I heard that from David Durfee. I don't know if he got that from somebody else.
I attribute it. I'm sure he did. He quotes a lot of things. Well, I don't think so. I attribute that wholly to him. But, you know, what does that mean that our identity determines our eternity? Well, I think it is based on faith. Who do we really believe that we are? And who do we have faith? I mean, what faith do we have of who we can become? So I... But yeah, I can see where
that is very relevant. Yeah. Well, you know, one of the things that we know through restoration scripture, you know, we do have accounts of this and so forth in the New Testament and even the Old Testament, et cetera. But we know that we are literal children of heavenly parents, Deb. Yeah. Literal children of heaven. You know, recently I was doing a scripture study, listening to a podcast, and it hit me again like a brick. And you hear this a lot, but we are literally divine
descendants of a God. Spiritually, we are like first -line descendants. You know, we think about our mortal existence here and we have generations of DNA and RNA through both moms and dads and generations and generations going back of, you know, our mortal state of all these different characteristics and stuff. But if you think about, and we're only here for a hundred years and that's if your president Nelson or if you're lucky.
I mean, there's some people that have gotten well over a hundred years, but I just think of it in an eternal perspective. And I remember as a child thinking that it was the most bizarre thought ever. But as I get older, the eternal perspective is a lot different for me now. My understanding is a little bit different. And to think that my spirit literally was my Heavenly Father and my Heavenly Mothers. Like I am their first, I mean not first child, but direct child.
That is so impactful for me to remember. How does knowing that change our life though? I think for me, again, I go back to President Nielsen's talk about thinking celestial. It's like there's so many things that happen in this world right now that trip me up. that I spend so much energy and effort on that it's it's like why am I letting something that is going to last a week a month a year trip me up so bad or affect me so I don't
to affect me eternally. And sometimes I feel like it could because of the energy that I give the story or the situation. I remember as a young child going through things that I didn't understand and as a teenager going through things that I knew was not fair. And I literally identified by those events that happened to me, like I am this or I was this. And I It helped me when I could say, I am a literal daughter of divine. This is just a story. What has happened in my
past or what is even happening now? I mean, I think about life and how hard it hits us with addiction, abuse, divorce, being fired, being laid off, losing a child, losing a parent. I mean, life's hard. It's unfair. difficult. I don't know that I could get through this life without understanding the eternal perspective to go. In the end, it's going to be glorious and wonderful. Jesus came here for us. and God
had a plan. Well, you know, in the pre -existence, right, we can talk a little bit about what happened there. We know that there was a war in heaven, right? We know that Heavenly Father's plan, it wasn't Jesus' plan, but we know that Heavenly Father's plan included his firstborn. We know that he had prepared from the foundations of the world, as we read in Scripture. But we also know that Satan tried to overthrow Heavenly Father's plan. Heavenly Father didn't say, give me two
plans and we'll vote on it. Satan tried to, through his rebellion, tried to overthrow. Willingly. Right, overthrow and thwart the plan of salvation, the plan of happiness. And it's important that we understand and know that when we participated in that council, in that war in heaven, that we were foreordained. You know, there were certain things that we were foreordained to. We know, we've talked about this in past podcasts, in past seasons, we know that we made covenants
in the pre -existence. We know that we were foreordained in the pre -existence. Let's go to, in fact, let's go to, let's go to Abraham chapter three, verse 22. This is in the Pearl Great Price, Abraham chapter three, verse 22. Do you have that, babe? Okay, Abraham 3, 23 -26, And God saw these souls, that they were good. And he stood in the midst of them. And he said, These I will make my rulers. For he stood among those that were spirits. And he saw that they were good. And he said unto
me, Abraham, thou art one of them. Thou wast chosen before thou wast born. and there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him, we will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell. Okay, so stop right there for just a second. So just kind of recap
what's happening for us here, sweetie. God's saying, look at all these spirits that are good, that's what I'm hearing from here, and that we were preordained. I mean, he's saying Abraham was preordained. Right, and he identifies Jesus Christ in verse 24, and there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him, we will go down. for there is space there, and we will take up these materials, and we will make an earth whereon
these may dwell. And these that may dwell is us, right? Yeah. Yeah, continue, 25. 25. And we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. Okay, stop right there. To our listeners, I want you to... to circle and we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all the things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. We will prove them herewith. So what are the things, all the things that the
Lord God shall command us? We're gonna get there, we're not gonna answer that question in this podcast today. But that should be a question that we focus on and are wondering about and pondering about and maybe even seeking answers for on our own. What does that actually mean? What does that actually mean? That we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. And then in 26. And they who keep their first
estate shall be added upon. and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom. With those who keep their first estate and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. What are these estates? First estate, second estate. So when we talk about first and second estate, what we're really talking about are the places that we've lived. Our first estate, we lived as spirit children with heavenly parents.
We participated in a council of heaven. We made covenants. We were foreordained to do something. And there's power in that foreordination. I mean, I think that if I'm ordained, I don't know how that ordination, foreordinations took place. I think we were all. foreordained at some level
to some degree for some things. I think if I read my Patriarchal Blessing, which is a great source to help me get a glimpse of my identity, there are certain things in there I think that I was foreordained to do and become and so on. And Deb, and I think that And again, I don't know if hands were laid on heads or et cetera, but I know that that ordination, that the word ordained is used intentionally. And if I was ordained of God, how can I mess up? How can I
lose? I know that there's a long time ahead of me and I know that we all make mistakes, but if we're really for ordained, I just don't, I think that he sees the beginning from the end and he sees us getting it and making it, regardless of the things that we're going through here. We will eventually align with his will so that we can have that four ordination bless us, not just in this life, but in eternity. Well, the other word that comes to me when we talk about
this is the infinite atonement. Because it's not just for this life, but it is infinite. And I'm so grateful to know that as well. I actually do know that we lived in the pre -existence. When I had Jessica, my oldest daughter, she talked very early. And she would often tell me at night when I would put her to bed or whatever, she goes, Mom, I want to go home. I said, Oh honey, you are home. We're at home. This is your bedroom. This is our house. We're going to go. No, I want
to go. I want to go back home with him. Lee father. I want to go home. And I kept thinking, what does this child know? And I do know that she did not have a veil because she knew where she came from and she was homesick and she kept saying, mom, can we just go home? Can we just please go home? And it scared me as a young mom. I'm in my mid twenties and it, and it, made me a little bit nervous. And I was like, is she going
to pass? What is happening? And as time goes on, she's not quite three and I'm expecting our second child. And we didn't know at that time the gender. And I said to her, Jessica, do you want a baby brother or a baby sister? And she looks at me like a two -year -old attitude would and said, mom, I already have a brother. I want a sister. And I said, really, who's your brother? And she says, Jesus, don't you remember him?
Like, duh, mom. And I kind of looked at her and she said, and Heavenly Father was really sad when I left. And I'm looking at this child, now I'm dumbfounded. And I'm like, what else do you know? What else did he say? And I said those exact words. I said, what else did he say? And that little two -year -old raised her little right hand and looked me in the eye and she goes, remember my son? I remember that moment thinking I did not teach her this. This child came with
a message for me. And today she's 38 years old. She does not remember this at all, but I will never forget that experience. Never as long as I live. And those remember my son has always reigned true. And then I just thought, man, she must've been incredibly valiant. And then as I thought about this, I'm like, why did I get that gift of that sweet, innocent, pure message?
I was there too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we all were there and we were all under, while we were there, we were somewhat influenced by the accuser. At least he had some sway while we were there. But we know that, we know that not only was Jesus there, But his atonement was already blessing
us, Deb. Even though it hadn't quite taken place yet, and it wouldn't for quite a long time based on our time frame, we know that Jesus Christ's atonement was able to bless us even there, to help us remember even there who we are, and why we were here, and what we were created to become. Let's go to Revelations chapter 12 real quick. I'll read this. This is one that we read quite frequently, kind of helps us to grasp the importance and the power of Jesus' atonement, even before
the beginning of time. I'm gonna start in verse nine and that great dragon. So now, verse chapter 12 and other chapters around this here in Revelations are primarily dealing with the preexistence. What happened in the preexistence? And in verse nine of chapter 12, it starts out, and the great dragon was cast out. We know that was the devil. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world and was cast out onto the earth and his angels were cast out
with him. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accuse him before God day and night. And they overcame him. So we know the accuser, he was there, he's here. He was cast down onto the earth with who? With a third of the hosts of heaven as we know through restoration scripture and revelation.
We know that he's here and that he was accusing us not just here, but he was accusing us there. What do you think he was accusing us of? You know, and this is something I think about constantly. What does that even mean, the accuser? Well, I've got some pretty big words to go with those things lately. You know, when I think of myself lately or ever, whenever I think of myself, it's just not being enough. Who do you think's putting that in my head? The accuser. I'm being accused
of what? Of not being enough. When I am accused of, you know what, Scott, you're just trying to do something. You've gone too far. You're trying to do something that you can never receive redemption for. That's the accuser putting that in my head. Scott, you're broken down too much. You're getting old. You're not worth much anymore. That's the accuser putting that stuff in my head. If I really understood my true identity and held fast to what that meant, then my life would be
different. But then how do we overcome them? How do we overcome him there is the same way that we overcome him here. And it's interesting that we were able to overcome him there because of an act that would take place here much later in time. And they, verse 11, and they, meaning us, overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. So even then we knew that Christ, the blood of the lamb would be what redeems us. redeemed through his blood.
That's the whole title of the podcast. Why we call it that is we are literally redeemed through his blood. We were redeemed even there. We overcame the accuser even in the pre -existence by the blood of the lamb because of the blessings through Jesus Christ available to us from his atonement and the word of their testimony. We had testimony. We believed it. We believed in Christ's atonement. We believed in order for the blood of the lamb to help us overcome the accuser, we had to have
a testimony of that. And there was some sort of conversion, I'm sure, as well in the pre -existence to that. And they loved not their lives unto the death, David used to always say, and they were willing to go to the wall. They were willing to go to the wall because of their beliefs, because of what they had. come to know that through the blood of the lamb, they're able to overcome the accuser. So what does that mean to me today is that I got a lot of accusations coming my way
constantly, Deb, constantly. And I don't know if it's just my head's messed up or I don't know. But I constantly am in this battle of, Scott, you're not good enough. Scott, you just don't measure up. Scott, you're a fake. Scott, you're a liar. Scott, you're just trying to make people believe something that's not true about you and all of these types of things. None of that's true. That's accusations coming from. the accuser, how do I overcome that? I overcome that through
the blood of the lamb. And I did it there, I can do it here. It was easier for me perhaps, and I don't know this to be true, but I'm surmising it was, it was easier for me to do it there because I had a complete grasp on my identity. Coming here, I'm not like Jess when she was two years old. I've had a veil from day one, as far as I know. And so I have forgotten that. And it's been, so it's in those rememberings. I think
that I find peace. Those tender, tender mercies that we have, even the comforter that testifies to us. Because I cannot think of that story. I would never deny that, because I knew when she told me. I just wanted her to tell me more. And remember, my son was not a good enough message then. But boy, has it been a powerful message for decades later. That's all I keep, that's all I think of is remember him, remember him. Because a lot of us have forgotten him and there's
been a time in my life when I have. Yeah, well, and there's times in my life when my memory fades a little bit still and it not really... about who I am but you know if I really remember who I am and align with that and I think that's the key is the alignment of that knowledge or alignment with that knowledge of who I am I think that that's where I really begin to find peace you know as I really Get into this is the application of this and really understand that our identity
really does shape our eternity our destiny and all those other things you know it really changes how i view my own trials. It changes how i deal with adversity it changes how i respond to tragedy it changes how i parent and grandparent. and so much more. It changes how I treat others. And sometimes I struggle with that one, but it does change how I treat others as long as I can be focused on my true identity. Yeah, and I think
fear is a big driver in all of this. I think with that, I'm not blaming, but I'm blaming. I think sometimes with that veil, we just forget. And I remember one time I had heard, years and years and years ago when we came down here, we were dismembered from God's presence. And as we come down here and we read in Scripture and we read and listen to prophets and seers and revelators, that helps us. One of the number one words that they use in Scripture and in these
talks is remember. Because we have been dismembered. We're a little lost down here. We're lost sheep. We're wandering. And I think oftentimes if I can just pause and remember and connect to him, it helps me to, again, pushing pause and slowing down my life is such effort. because being busy is my familiar zone. I can go like a crazy maker. Well, yeah, face fear, dealing with feelings
of I'm not good enough. I just wonder how we would deal with all of the things in our lives that seem yucky to us if we really continue to understand who we are and grasped a hold of that, really laid hold of that and made it a part of our lives on a constant basis. You know, I think that's why they say become as a little child. Yeah. Because I think there are children, and we have grandchildren that have, you have big pictures to go with these words, that are literally
fearless. Nothing intimidates them. They'll run right into walls. Nothing scares them. As a matter of fact, one did. He just closed his eyes and ran into a hole. Just fearless. Yeah. Fearless or crazy, one or the other. Knowing who we are, it's really important. You know, it's just if I really understand that I have heavenly parents, that I have a royal birthright, that I was born to be an heir, a joint heir with Christ, as Paul
puts it in Romans. And I just think that it would maybe change how we see the rest of our lives. You know, so many of us, we're dealing with addictions, we're dealing with the throws of the fallen world, we're dealing with abuses. We've been abusers, we've been abused, we've made mistakes, but we're not mistakes. And I think that sometimes when listening to the accuser, that that's where we go, is that, hey, I'm a mistake. I'm just so filled sometimes with shame and regret and worry
and all of those things. But I think, no. I know, in fact, I testify that if we understand and lay hold to that understanding that we truly are sons and daughters of heavenly parents with a heavenly birthright foreordained to become much, much, much more than we can in our human and earthly experience even begin to fathom, I think that it changes everything for us or it can. But we also have to remember the accuser
is in constant pursuit of us. And so if we can have that awareness and have the intention to be able to recognize when that happens and just push the pause button for a minute and go, what's really happening here? Is this real or is this a lie? Well, we may not see ourselves. as we truly are 100 % of the time, but you know who does is God, right? He knows exactly who we are. I love this quote from Elder Uchtdorf. I love this quote from Elder Uchtdorf. God sees us as
we truly are, past, present, and future. And he sees us worthy of his rescue. I also love this part. He went on to say, you may feel that, Your life is in ruins. You may have sinned. You may be afraid, angry, grieving, or tortured by doubt. But just as God's shepherd finds his lost sheep, Jesus Christ, if you will only lift up your hearts to the Savior of the world, he will find you and he will rescue you. He will lift you up and place you on his shoulders, and he
will carry you home. That's beautiful. That's a beautiful promise. Lift you up and place you on his shoulders and carry you home. Life's tough. It's tumultuous. And we think of that almost the way that sounds, that that almost sounds like that that's an ending, that he will carry you home. And I know that it is an ending, that he will carry you home. But Deb, he can carry me home today too. Yeah. He can put me on his shoulders today, too, if I will just align my
will with his. You know, an alcoholic's anonymous. Such a wonderful, beautiful day today in a meeting at noon at the Elano Club. I was able to present a young man who just, I'm going to get him a little bit emotional, who I've grown to love over the last 12 or 14 years that we've been working together. But I was able to present to him a 16 -year medallion 16 years of continuous sobriety. Continuous sobriety. Congratulations. I know. Just such a wonderful, wonderful accomplishment
that he aligned with. The accomplishment, not his, the accomplishment in AA we identify as his higher power. But he had to align with his higher powers will and in aligning with his higher powers will to allow that to come in to his life, he has been truly carried home. This young man has a twin brother who died from an overdose. A twin brother who died maybe 16 years ago or
12 years ago rather from an overdose. And just so many reasons, so many things that come at us that will distort the view of who we really are. If I look in the mirror, I see something. But if I look in the mirror with eyes, with maybe just a glimpse that Heavenly Father can bless me with, I can see something great, an opportunity to be with Him. in spite of all of my earthly experience, in spite of my 19 years of terrible addiction, in spite of my multiple divorces,
despite of, and on and on and on it goes. I have plenty. I have plenty to accuse myself of, and Satan knows that, but my identity. My true identity, if I can remember that, that helps me in my eternity. I'm a believer that the accuser works quadruple over time on you. I definitely know, and I read your patriarchal blessing and I know who you really are. And I get to see that differently than you get to see that. So it's a gift for me to be able to see differently than you see.
That's interesting that you'd say that because I wonder if Heavenly Father helps us see ourselves through other people's eyes sometimes. Yeah, because there's often things you think I can do, things I can do I can't, like do a podcast and teach Institute. Yeah, look at you now though. But you've always been my cheerleader and I think it's important to surround yourself with good
friends. I think it's really important to have somebody to yoke with, and we know to yoke with Jesus Christ, but to yoke with physically here. I think it's important. And even if you don't, to always know that our Savior is always, always there. But it lifts, it helps. Even listening to good podcasts. I mean, literally, I'm a podcaster and I don't listen to ours. Or anything that will remind us of our heavenly home. Exactly.
I travel a lot for work, and there are things that I take with me that remind me of home, you know? And I don't take them for that reason, but there are things that remind me of home, remind me of who I am. I touch base with you every day, multiple times, and I need to know where I belong, and I need to know where I'm connected, and I need to know those things where we have that even on a grander and greater scale with our heavenly. parents. You know, we just
have that. And it's just a matter of our making an effort. Heavenly Father really wants to be in our lives. And it's a matter of us making that effort so that he can. He really wants to. And there's nothing we can do to make him mad. And there's nothing we can do to cut ourselves off from his love. And it's just constantly there for us. And again, So why do we talk about this as we kind of wrap things up tonight? Why do
we even care? Again, why is it important that we understand who we are and whose we are really? You know, the answer to that might be obvious. If we really understand that we are children of heavenly parents, that we have a royal birthright, and that royal birthright, Deb, means that we are entitled to go through this life, learning our lessons, and though they may be hard, learning them and understanding that as we're taught, and I think I'll just turn to it in Ether chapter
12 verse 27. It's one of my favorite scriptures. And I think you're the first one to introduce me to this, but if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. We all have weakness, and you know he doesn't say weaknesses. Right. He says weakness. Yep. And we're gonna talk about what that weakness is specifically in a couple of weeks. Yep. But he says, I give unto them weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble. And my grace is sufficient for
all men. For how many men? For every one of us. God's grace is sufficient for all of us. My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves. So there's the condition to humble ourselves before him. And if we humble ourselves before me and if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things
become strong unto them. I just think that understanding that, yeah, I'm Scott Durfee, and I have earthly parents, and I have identity attached to that, and through that, there's certain things, there's certain birthrights, there's certain reputations, there's certain, maybe even... curses, I don't know. I mean, we all have this earthly DNA, RNA, but we have more importantly divine DNA. We are
truly His. Yeah. I had a sponsor tell me one time I was working with her and I remember her saying, because I was telling her about my character defects and all the things that I was weak in. And this is when this scripture came up and it reminded me. And she said, Deb, You know, there is opposition in all things. And she says, you think that when you read this, you know, you think you have this weakness here. Well, what's the strength of that weakness? What's the opposite
of that weakness? Because I promise you, God has that's in store for you as well. God has that. right here ready to bless you with it once you humble yourself to take that weakness or whatever it is that's troubling you to make those weak things strong. And it's true. I could give you multiple, multiple examples of where that weak piece has become literally my strength.
It's crazy. Well, we often find that definitely in the rooms of recovery that's been my experience as well as I have fought and battled addiction and still participate in my own recovery as well as sponsor and work with others and I'm just grateful to know who I am. If I didn't know who I am, there would be very little point for me. You know, really. Well, I was reading a conference talk today and I took a screenshot and I don't even know who was given the talk. But this was
such a powerful piece of it. And if somebody really wants it, I probably could find it again. I screenshot it at seven o 'clock this morning. But there's a paragraph in here that I just thought
was so important and impactful for me. And it says, brothers and sisters, whether you are carrying the burden of unresolved sin, suffering because of an offensive offense, I'm sorry, suffering because of an offense committed against you long ago or struggling to forgive yourself for an accidental mistake, you have access to the healing and redeeming power of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I think that's ultimately, and I go again back to the sacrament, back to that ordinance
room when we become willing. It's just that peace. That they are willing to take his name upon them. Just willing. That's where I go, is back to that willingness. The only thing I would change about that is where it says accidental mistake. I would take that word out, accidental. Any mistake. Even those that were on purpose. Even those that were on purpose can be redeemed through him. They just can. And I'm glad for that. Me too. Because most of my mistakes were not accidental.
I'm just going to say that. I have a lot of not accidental. Today they are. But in my past, most of my mistakes were absolutely not accidental. They were outright rebellion. And I'm glad to know that because of my birthright, that that can all be made right. Oh, thank heavens. I know, right? Don't you wish you could just take the knowledge you have today and go back to your younger self and just say, it's okay, you didn't
really know. Just have a little more compassion and grace for that younger version of yourself that really didn't understand, that really didn't have that knowledge that you have today and just kind of give them a hug and say, you got this. I know it's hard right now, but you can get through this and there's hope. I think you can. I think we can do that. I think that I can go back and offer just a whole bunch of grace to Scott. Younger Scott. Younger Deb. Yep. And it's important actually
that I do. And understanding my identity actually helps precipitate that in my own life. Without my understanding my identity, I don't know that that would even be possible, Deb. That's beautiful.
I'm glad that you brought that point up. You know, so, you know, maybe this week as we just kind of go through the week, if we don't worry so much about becoming more and we focus more on remembering Him more, remembering who we are more, remembering whose we are more, you know, maybe we could pray to know who we are and who He is. I think it's important. We probably, we haven't spent a lot of time talking about that, but really to understand who we are The prerequisite
to that is to understand who he is. We're going under the presupposition here that we understand who he is. And I know that as we go through the podcast, that that knowing of him will deepen as we become closer to him. And as we do that, we'll have greater eyes to see our own identity as well. That's true. Well, and you brought up, you know, it's important I think that one of the places that we can get a Glimpse of who we
are is through our patriarchal blessing. There's so many other ways to have what are some of the ways you think that we could maybe Mention that understanding who we are understanding developing that relationship with our Heavenly Father Well, my recipe is the scriptures. I dig into them. I feel like numerous times, I feel like I'm reading those scriptures for the very first time. I'm like, how did I not ever see this before? It's, I mean, digging and searching and studying those
scriptures has been so impactful for me. And I absolutely love the temple. There's so much peace there. And it really gives me moment to pause. and to feel, and to just shut off the noise and the chaos of the world, even just being on the grounds of the temple. I mean, you and I love to go over to that Linden temple that is two miles from us, that isn't even open yet. It's still under construction and there's a peace
even in the construction, just being there. So, for me, And of course, that constant prayer. I had little Addie, my granddaughter, have a sleepover with me and we knelt down to pray, to say our prayers at night. And she goes, I now know where my mom gets her long prayers from. I had to giggle. Yeah, so cute. Addie was just baptized recently. That's beautiful. That's wonderful. Well, I know that A lot of us feel disconnected. I know a lot of us think, well, that's great,
Dad, but I can't go to the temple. Well, yeah, you can. You can go to the construction site. You can go to the temple. When there was a period of my life, there had been more than one period of my life when my membership in the church has been restricted. And during one of those times,
I was counseled by my then bishop. You may not Scott be able to go inside the temple in this at this point It was the Timpanogos temple that I lived close to and I had a motorcycle And at nights I couldn't sleep because of the turmoil that I was going through, because of the spirit that was lost, because of how lost I had felt. And there were nights when I couldn't sleep when I would ride my motorcycle up that hill and the light of that temple. And I couldn't go on the
ground. But you can go in the parking lot. And I'd sit in that parking lot, buy a tree, or I'd sit on the road next to it. and I would just look at the temple and I knew this in my mind and I would visualize that the temple is the representation of Jesus Christ here on the earth and I saw that and I developed more hope in him there and I was able to commune more purely just because of me being there and my communion then
was less formal. It was the communion of a of a broken soul, of somebody who was lost, a lost soul, not a broken soul, but a lost soul. And that was my identity then. And as I grew closer and closer, it changed. I think it's interesting because I'm gonna tell on us. Sometimes when we would have... I can cut this, you know. Don't
cut it. Sometimes when we would have arguments or disagreements and things would get a little heated, because we both have pretty strong personalities, you would leave and I would leave and we would find ourselves across the street just west of the Provo, the old Provo, the original Provo temple because we had both been a little hot -headed and we'd end up in that parking lot across
the temple. I love that you bring this up because that's true and again I'd get on my motorcycle and I wouldn't Well, I don't want to lie and I would leave you didn't wear your helmet and I would leave and I would I Would go for a ride and I would ride fast and hard and then and in a couple of minutes or a little longer sometimes inevitably I'd end up at the temple because that's
where I needed to be. I had established that pattern early in my life under the direction of that bishop that I just mentioned to you. And you had under the direction of, I don't know what, the spirit probably because that's been your pattern your whole life. I know that. And one time I'm sitting there on my motorcycle. I'd been sitting there, I don't know, 30 minutes, maybe longer. And I'd been in prayer and I'd been in reflection and I was taking a personal
inventory. and all those things that I hate to do. But I was doing it, and I don't hate to do them. It brings me a great deal of peace. But in the moment, sometimes it's a little bit difficult. And here comes Deb pulling up in her car. And she didn't know I was there. She was there to do the same thing. And she sat in her car for a minute, giving me. She wasn't about to approach me, and I wasn't about to approach her. But pretty
soon we did. And then from that point on, I just knew inevitably that, it's not like we fight all the time, but it's happened more than a couple of times over the years that we have found each other in the parking lot of the temple seeking to remember. We didn't go in, we were ready to go in at that moment. It's a good thing it was closed. Seeking to remember who we are. Yeah, and whose we are. And me seeking to remember who you are. That's important for me too. Me
too. That's important for me too. As we kind of wrap up today, I just wanted to let you know that wherever you are and however you're feeling, you're welcome here. Jesus isn't just waiting for you to clean everything up before you come to Him. He meets us right in the middle of our mess. Boy, are we mess -makers. Well, we are. That's where His grace shines the brightest. So come as you are, broken, hopeful, questioning, searching. You're not alone. Don't forget to
stay connected with us. You can reach us again. He redeems us at gmail .com. And don't forget also to mention to friends. If you know somebody that could benefit from hearing this, send it to them. Please follow us too. That gives us an opportunity for more people to hear us as well. Yeah. We all could use more hope, no matter where it comes from. Well, so next week we'll continue on. We're just following along the course
of Divine Gift of Forgiveness. We're kind of keeping it in conjunction with our Institute class that we began this week. We actually began it last week, but we're gonna begin in classroom this week. Look really forward to that. So just remember that he doesn't just redeem us, he heals us, he lifts us, he transforms us in our everyday lives, in our mess. He meets us where we are. And it's because of who we are. Thanks again
for being with us and for your support. And remember there's always hope through him because you have been redeemed through his blood. We look forward to being with you again next week, and until then, be well.