REPENTANCE = A MAGIC ERASER

Good mornin' folks.  Today I have decided to talk about repentance.  Repentance is where we seek forgiveness from something we did wrong, or more specifically forgiveness from sin. There are five steps to true repentance.  First you must acknowledge that you did something wrong.  You can't say sorry to your mom for stealing a cookie if you don't feel like it was a bad thing to do.  Second is to confess your sin to your Heavenly Father.  This means you need to pray and tell Him everything you did wrong.  Then you need to ask for forgiveness, both from Heavenly Father as well as anyone else who might have been hurt or offended by what you have done.  After asking for forgiveness doing whatever you need to to make it right with them.  This is called reconciliation.  To reconcile stealing a candy bar from the store, you would either take the candy bar back to the store and tell them you stole it, or give them the money that would pay for it.  Once you have done all you can to fix the problem you must do all you can to never do it again.  Sometimes this is very difficult, but if you turn to the Lord in prayer He will help you with whatever problems or challenges you are facing.

In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named Enos had been taught by his father to follow the Lord.  He was out hunting one day and his thoughts turned to everything he had done wrong.  While alone and thinking of everything he felt that he should repent, so he knelt down and prayed to Heavenly Father.
 

He said:

"I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins."
-- Enos 1:2

Often we find that true repentance takes quite a bit of effort and it can sometimes be quite a struggle.  I know that when we are brought down in humility, and we call upon God in repentance, His love for us is enough to have Him help us through anything we will ever have to go through.  He suffered everything for us so that He would know how to help us.  This is how repentance and prayer can work just like a magic eraser.

"But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning;
wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works
among the children of men;
for behold, he hath all power
unto the fulfilling of all his words.
And thus it is. Amen."
-- 1 Nephi 9:6