Mosiah 26:19 has certainly been my experience in prayer. Heavenly Father wants to communicate with us. He wants us to ask, to listen, and to seek Him diligently. The more earnestly I have tried to hear Him, the more I have recognized His answers.
Verse 22 stopped me in my tracks. "As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me." Have we any idea of the power in that statement?
I testify that it is true. I was a mess before I turned my life over to my Savior. Looking back, I wonder if I emphasized that gift enough while raising my children. Never has the beauty of repentance been clearer to me than this year as I have served as a temple ordinance worker. Week after week I witness the Lord's work of redemption, and it fills me with hope.
Then I read the phrase, "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." I admit those words concern me. What does "everlasting" really mean? The footnotes didn't bring the reassurance I was looking for.
Then I remembered something I had read just this morning from Elder Orson F. Whitney:
"Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return."
He goes on to say there may be consequences, but they will return. Then comes his counsel to parents:
"Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God."
That phrase—"the tentacles of Divine Providence"—means something to me. It describes exactly how I felt as I found my way back to the Savior. I couldn't always see His hand, but I could feel Him reaching after me, gently and persistently drawing me home.
Do you know what those words mean to a parent with wandering children? They mean I can finally sleep at night instead of pacing the floor, wondering where they are or what they're doing. Before I truly embraced this doctrine, I carried a burden I was never meant to carry alone.
So what about "everlasting"? God's judgments are everlasting because He is everlasting. But this chapter also gives us an equally everlasting truth: "As often as my people repent will I forgive them." There is no quota. There is no point at which the Lord says, "You've used your last chance." As long as there is sincere repentance, there is forgiveness.
That promise comes with a responsibility. Once we have been forgiven, we are commanded to freely forgive others.
Repentance is beautiful. It is worth every effort it takes to reach that point because it leads us back to the Savior.
The final verse reminded me of a beautiful sacrament meeting yesterday. We need to gather our families, teach them, and lovingly admonish them. More than anything, they need to know how deeply they are loved—not only by us, but by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who paid an infinite price for their souls.
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