"Humbly confessing to God is required for all sin." p. 202
"As we kneel in prayer to our Heavenly Father, there is great power in praying out loud." p. 202
"Our Heavenly Father knows all of our sins before we acknowledge them." p. 202
"Honestly speaking to our Heavenly Father reveals our desire to return closer to Him." p. 203
President M. Russell Ballard: "The idea of sinning a little is self-deception. Sin is sin! Sin weakens you spiritually, and it always places the sinner at eternal risk." p. 203
CONFESSING TO THOSE WE HAVE HURT
"Confessions are best done face-to-face if possible." p. 205
CONFESSING TO PROPER PRIESTHOOD AUTHORITIES
"Very serious transgressions, such as sexual sins, need to be confessed to a bishop or stake president and resolved with the Lord and with the Church." p. 205
"Once they have repented in the sincerity of their heart, the priesthood leader is to forgive them and the Lord promises He will forgive them. The bishop is not forgiving them personally, but he is forgiving them as to their standing in the Church..." p. 206
FORSAKING SIN
"Forsaking a sin means we will never repeat it..." p. 207
"For some, it may mean changing friends, perhaps changing our employment or what we do with our time." p. 207
President Lorenzo Snow: "Do not expect to become perfect at once. If you do, you will be disappointed." p. 208
"We progress step by step, line upon line, as we shape our character day by day." p. 208
"Unfortunately, we may slip back at times, but let us quickly and humbly return to our knees and move again in the right direction." p. 208
"Once we have truly left sin behind, we do not dwell on it, relish in it, or talk about it widely with others." p. 209
"Focus on the healing power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, not a person's past sins." p. 210
KNOWING WHEN SINS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
"The memory of some forsaken sins may stay with us, but the pain, the sadness, the remorse, the guilt, will go away." p. 211
"The scriptures exhort us to watch and pray always that we may overcome Satan and his temptations." p. 211
"When a sin has been confessed and forsaken, we go forward trusting in the power of the Savior's Atonement." p. 214
LANCE
A week after the funeral, Lance was feeling sad -- sadder than he had felt in a long time. He was missing his grandpa. He had just gotten back a test that he didn't do too well on. Earlier in the week, he and Hailey had had a small argument. Lance still went to the temple that Friday, but he didn't stay to pray. It seems he was just kind of going through the motions. Lance was feeling so blue that he asked someone else in the ward to sub for him for the Sunday School lesson this past Sunday. He just wasn't feeling it.
One afternoon, Lance was lying down on his bed, scrolling through photos on his phone, then he got on TikTok for a few minutes and then spent some time on YouTube. After about an hour, he finally sat up and decided to go for a run. Lance put on his running shoes, shorts and T-shirt. He popped in his AirPods, but he didn't turn anything on. He decided to just run without listening to his tunes.
Lance just kept thinking about how sad and unmotivated he felt. Things weren't necessarily horrible, but things weren't awesome either. Lance felt "meh". As he ran, though, he had the thought, "Did you see what happened back there in your bedroom? You didn't look at pornography. Did you waste time? Yeah, sure. But, normally, you'd have a porn sesh and then feel miserable afterward. Instead, you got up and went for a run." Lance smiled and thought, "Is this what forsaking feels like? Looks like? Maybe I CAN do this after all."
Lance picked up his pace and finished a decent 3-mile run.
When he arrived back at his apartment, he texted Hailey: "Hey. Can we get together later today? I need to apologize for some of the stuff I said earlier this week."
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