...I have thought of the Lord’s invitation to come unto Him and to spiritually be
wrapped in His arms.
He said, “Behold, [my arms] of mercy [are] extended towards you,
and whosoever will come,
him will I receive;
and blessed are those who come unto me.”1
The scriptures speak of His arms being
open,2
extended,3
stretched out,4
and encircling.5
They are described as
arms of mercy,8
arms of safety,9
arms of love,10
“lengthened out all the day long.”11
We have each felt to some extent these spiritual arms around us.
We have felt His forgiveness,
His love and comfort.
The Lord has said,
“I am he [who] comforteth you.”12
The Lord’s desire that we come unto Him and be wrapped in His arms
is often an invitation to repent.
“Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men,
for the arms of mercy are extended towards them,
and he saith: Repent,
and I will receive you.”13
When we sin, we turn away from God.
When we repent, we turn back toward God.
The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement
but rather a loving appeal
to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God.14
It is the beckoning of a
loving Father
and His Only Begotten Son
to be more than we are,
to reach up to a higher way of life,
to change,
and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments.
Being disciples of Christ,
we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven.
They become part of us,
shaping the way we think and feel.
...repentance is a blessing to all of us.
We each need to feel the Savior’s arms of mercy
through the forgiveness of our sins.
I am amazed at the Savior’s encircling arms of mercy and love for the repentant,
no matter how selfish the forsaken sin.
I testify that the Savior is able and eager to forgive our sins.
What a marvelous privilege for each of us to turn away from our sins and to
come unto Christ.
Divine forgiveness is one of the sweetest fruits of the gospel,
removing guilt and pain from our hearts
and replacing them with
joy and peace of conscience.
Jesus declares,
“Will ye not now return unto me,
and repent of your sins,
and be converted,
that I may heal you?”16
For most, repentance is more a journey than a one-time event.
It is not easy.
To change is difficult.
It requires running into the wind, swimming upstream.
Jesus said, “If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross and follow me.”18
Repentance is turning away from some things,
such as dishonesty, pride, anger, and impure thoughts,
and turning toward other things, such as
kindness,
unselfishness,
patience, and
spirituality.
It is “re-turning” toward God.
At this very moment,
someone is saying,
“Brother Andersen, you don’t understand.
You can’t feel what I have felt.
It is too difficult to change.”
You are correct; I don’t fully understand.
But there is One who does.
He knows. He has felt your pain.
He has declared,
“I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”22
The Savior is there, reaching out to each of us, bidding us:
“Come unto me.”23
We can repent. We can!
The scriptures do not say that we will forget our forsaken sins in mortality.
Rather, they declare that the Lord will forget.26
Forsaking requires time.
To help us, the Lord at times allows the residue of our mistakes
to rest in our memory.27
It is a vital part of our mortal learning.
With time, we will feel the anguish of our sorrow subside,
taking “away the guilt from our hearts”28
and bringing “peace of conscience.”29
I bear witness
that our Savior can deliver us from our sins.
I have personally felt His redeeming power.
I have unmistakably seen
His healing hand upon thousands in nations throughout the world.
I testify that His divine gift
removes guilt from our heart and brings peace to our conscience.
He loves us. ...
He invites each of us to repent,
turn away from our sins,
and come unto Him.
I witness that He is there
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
It is Well With My Soul
Song by Audrey Assad
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