Episode 95 - A Look at Repentance
Episode 95 - A Look at Repentance
Hello, my friends.
Welcome to this week’s podcast. I am so excited to be here and to share this week’s episode with you.
I wanted to let you know about something I am doing this year in my Seasons of Joy Community Facebook Group. I am going to go live once a month in my community to do Ask Jill Anything. This is where members of the community can ask questions about anything they are struggling with. This is a free community to help people see the power of faith-based life coaching.
I have included a link to join the community in the show notes. I would love to have you join us so come and see what it is like.
I also wanted to let you know of an upcoming one day workshop called, "Navigating Midlife with Grace: Strengthening Connections with Yourself, Others, and God.” I am still working on solidifying a date but it will be in March sometime. The purpose of this workshop is to help empower women of faith in the midseason of life as they work on deepening their relationships with themselves, others, and God, and providing them with practical tools and strategies to do just that. This is an opportunity to gather with other women of faith in a safe and supportive space to share experiences, and connect with one another.
Watch for more details to come in the next couple of weeks.
I am also going to be releasing my 100th podcast episode in February. I can’t believe I will hit 100 episodes and I want to do something special to celebrate. I am going to be doing a special giveaway as we get closer to watch for more information about that so you can celebrate with me.
Now on to this week’s episode.
Over the last year or so, I have reflected on an experience I had almost 10 years ago. It was a significant event in my life that has shaped my perspective. I have even spoken about it a little bit on this podcast.
My youngest daughter, my sister-in-law, and myself got lost while backpacking with family. We didn’t have a map and we had lost the trail. Our view was limited. We could only see what was in front of us–thickening brush and trees. We wandered in the wilderness for hours. In order to find our way back, we came to understand that we needed to get up high enough so we could see the bigger picture–where we were and where we needed to go. We were finally able to find our way to the top of a mountain. Getting up to higher ground allowed us to see out. From that vantage point, as if drawn on paper, we could see the giant circle we had been walking in. Then we could see exactly where we needed to go to get back to our camp.
As I have reflected on this experience again and again, I believe it illustrates the power of gaining a higher perspective. When we are stuck and lost at the bottom of our mountain in the thick of unmet expectations, frustration, shame, blame, anger, disappointment, hurt, and hopelessness, we lose our perspective. We repeat patterns that don’t serve us. We lose the ability to see as our Savior sees which prevents us from feeling as He feels and doing as He does and intentionally living a life we love.
I believe that applying coaching principles can help us gain greater perspective. Understanding our thoughts and what they are creating for us can be very powerful.
However, over the last year or so my perspective around my experience getting lost in the mountains and what I have taken away from has grown even more.
There is a word that we are all very familiar with that actually means a change of perspective. It is the word repentance. We often associate this word with sin, going against the law of God. But I would add that sin is anything that turns us away from God. Separating us from God. Being out of alignment with God. Even our individual woundedness can separate us from God if we allow it to.
The Bible dictionary explains repentance this way. The Greek word for repentance “denotes a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined.”
I love this explanation so much. Turning toward and aligning with God so we can see as He sees. There have been points in my life when my vision has been clouded and I needed a fresh new view about God, about my children, my spouse, and about myself. I needed to turn my heart and will to God. I needed to get to higher ground so I could truly see and feel and act as the Savior would. Getting to higher ground allows us to get a better perspective–a fresh view. This is Repentance.
This fresh view helps us to co-create paths to the top of the mountain where we are aligned with Him–the giver of all good things–peace, understanding, compassion, love, contentment, joy, and even forgiveness. Those emotions come with a higher perspective.
It doesn’t mean we are always going to stay at the top of the mountain all of the time. Our entire journey includes going up and down the mountains of our life. The scriptures tell us that It is ALL for our good. The time we spend at the bottom of the mountain is what makes the peaks and vistas even more spectacular.
We really did come to earth to experience the whole mountain–the descent and the climb. The struggle and the beautiful scenery.
For me, understanding the earthly experience this way helps me desire greater perspective. I truly want to see, feel and do as the Savior would. But at the same time, I don’t panic when I find myself at the bottom of the mountain because I know that there are paths back to Him. At the bottom of the mountain is actually where I come to know Him.
Finding the path does take me turning to Him. Not beating myself up for being at the bottom of the mountain but taking the next step up towards that higher ground. Knowing that I am not alone on my journey here because the Savior is the one that helps us create our path back to Him.
He descended below all things. He descended to the bottom of the mountain so that He could succor us. He knows what the bottom of the mountain is like. He has been there. He has felt the disappointment, the frustration, the anger, the sadness, the heartbreak, and the hopelessness. We aren’t lost to Him. He knows exactly where we are on our mountain. His arms are “outstretched still.” He wants to help us gain greater perspective in order to move us up the mountain to see, to feel, to do, and to become as He is.
In my studies, I have fallen in love with 1 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon. This is a book of scripture that we use in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. Up to this point in the Book of Mormon we have learned of a family that is fleeing Jerusalum because of religious persecution. Lehi is a prophet and he had a vision from God. His son Nephi wanted to understand his father’s vision for himself.
In verse 1 of 1 Nephi Chapter 11, Nephi teaches us what to do when we are seeking to find answers, gain perspective, or navigate a way up our personal mountains.
1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat apondering in mine heart I was bcaught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high cmountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.
Nephi teaches us that, along with the Spirit of the Lord, there are 3 things that are required for seeking personal revelation or gaining greater perspective.
1. Desire
2. Belief which is Faith
3. Stillness/Pondering
Desire + Faith + Pondering => Looking
Looking => Spirit => Perspective
Again, I believe gaining perspective is a form of repentance which is “a fresh view of God, of ourselves, and others,” a turning towards or looking towards our Savior.
So here is something to consider, could it be that Nephi was actually “repenting” before he was able to gain greater perspective, understanding, or personal revelation? Could repentance also include seeking/looking for personal revelation?
It also tells us in chapter 11 that Nephi is taken to an exceedingly high mountain.
There the Spirit testifies of Christ and then promises Nephi that he will show him what Nephi desires, which is the interpretation of Lehi’s dream, because of his belief in “the most high God.” And the Spirit also tells Nephi that this will be a sign that something greater will be shown to him. He will be shown the Son of Man, the Savior, Jesus Christ, so that Nephi can also bear record and testify of him. Perspective builds and grows as we exercise faith.
The very next thing that is required of Nephi is to LOOK. This action word is mentioned 8 times by the Spirit. The word LOOKED, which is what Nephi did, is mentioned 10 times. Because he looked many amazing things were shown unto Him.
My other favorite scripture in this chapter are verses 16-17. The Spirit of the Lord says unto Nephi, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” And Nephi answers, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.”
He didn’t know everything but he knew that God loves his children that is why he was seeking greater understanding and perspective. Because he knew this truth, he would be able to learn line upon line, precept upon precept as he continued to look.
Many times, we consider repentance as part of the process of having our sins forgiven in order to become clean. I believe that is part of what repentance is but I believe it is only part of what it means.
We are told many times in the scriptures and by the words of the prophets to repent daily. I have found this so interesting. Most of the people I know, including myself, aren’t going around sinning all of the time. Are there course corrections and changing of behavior that is needed? Of course. But on the daily, we are not sinful creatures. Then why is daily repentance a commandment? I believe it is because of what I have been talking about–change of perspective, greater understanding, and personal revelation.
I believe that this commandment of daily repentance is more of a gift than a chastisement. Loving Heavenly Parents knew that we would need to shift our perspective and gain greater understanding while learning by experience on earth--in our relationships, in our jobs, in our parenting, in our communities, and in our fatih.
One of the most powerful things that help us in expanding our perspective is how we feel.
Our emotions are a gift from God and can serve as clues or messages, guiding us towards greater perspective.
I wanted to see the definition of look and I learned something very interesting. There is the meaning that says to look is to move our gaze in a certain direction. That was what Nephi was asked to do. He was invited to look towards what the Spirit was showing him. It also means to turn your eyes towards something in order to see, to face in a certain direction, to watch, to seek, to search.
Another definition is to have the appearance or characteristic of something. Isn’t that interesting? Who are we asked to become like? To resemble? To appear as? The Savior. As we look to Him, he helps us become like Him.
To truly look, we must not only move our gaze in a certain direction, but also seek to understand the appearance and characteristics of what we are looking at. In striving to resemble the Savior, we must chart a course through the brush and trees of negative emotions, which are an integral part of our earthly journey. However, we need not navigate this journey alone. The Savior walks alongside us, inviting us to take His yoke upon us so that He can help us navigate our way up the mountain. If we focus solely on the bottom of the mountain and believe that we must go it alone, it can be difficult to see a way out of the trees and brush. With the guidance of our emotions with the help of the Savior, through the Spirit, we can find our way to a higher perspective.
How can you use this principle of repentance to gain “ a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world?” How can it help you change your heart? How can it help you hike up your daily mountains?
I have created a graphic for you that illustrates this concept that I believe will help you understand this concept a little more and I would love to share with you.
You can find the link to download it in the show notes.
That is all I have for you today.
Thank you for being here and have a joyful week.
Mentioned in the podcast:
Bible Dictionary Definition of Repentance
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