Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Your Repentance Doesn’t Burden Jesus Christ; It Brightens His Joy”
- Sister Tamara W. Runia | First counselor in the Young Women general presidency
- Sunday morning session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: One’s acting on the invitation to repent brings Jesus Christ joy.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Sister Runia’s message here.
Outline
- One can make it to heaven even when not perfect now. Heaven is for those who have been forgiven and continue to choose Jesus Christ. Sister Runia directs her talk to those who wonder if repentance and forgiveness work for them and who struggle on the covenant path.
- An obedient life is one with repentance. Waiting to be clean enough or perfect enough to go to the Savior is missing the whole point.
- While God does care about mistakes, His focus is on what one does after a mistake. Sin causes pain. Commandments and repentance are the path away from pain. While the Savior always loves all, He especially does when they repent.
- The Savior suffered His Atonement because He loves God’s children. The invitation to repent is an expression of His love. Repentance is an expression of one’s love for God.
- Repentance is the “best news,” and it doesn’t burden Christ; it brightens His joy. God forgives without shaming and is delighted when His children repent.
- Shame says that one “is” a mistake. The adversary says it’s easier to stay in darkness. Satan is the thief of hope. Tell Satan, “Not today,” and put him behind.
- When a broken heart is taken to the Savior, He is immediately there. No one can sink lower than the light of Christ shines. The Savior does not attack worth, and it is constant. One’s worth is always great in the sight of God, no matter one’s decisions.
- Covenant relationships with Christ can help one through mistakes. Although believers don’t have perfect obedience yet, they can try affectionate obedience now, choosing to stay because of love for God.
- King Benjamin’s people had affectionate obedience by no longer wanting to sin. Turning to the Savior allows one to be lifted and healed by Him.
- “If you could hear the Savior praying for you, what do you think He would say?” The love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s is great, as is one’s worth.
- Christ gives light, wraps God’s children in His arms, consoles and loves. “May we love Him continually and choose Him, again and again.”
Reflection questions
What could you do the next time you make a mistake?
How do you show God that you love Him?
How have you experienced Christ’s atoning power in your life?
What can Christ help you with right now?
If you could hear the Savior pray for you, what do you think He would say?
Speaker quotes
- “We don’t stay on the covenant path by never making a mistake. We stay on the path by repenting every day.”
- “You need to hear this, so I’ll say these words out loud: You are not the voice in your head or the mistakes you have made. You may need to say that out loud too. Tell Satan, ‘Not today.’ Put him behind you.”
- “The Savior is forever brighter than the darkness of shame. He would never attack your worth.”
Reference scriptures
- “And now, my son, remember the words which I have spoken unto you; trust not those secret plans unto this people, but teach them an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity.”
- “O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God.”
- “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Invitations and promises
- “The invitation to repent is an expression of God’s love. Saying yes to that invitation is an expression of ours.”
- “Let’s try this. Tonight, before you pray, imagine Jesus Christ close by. He is your Advocate with the Father. Ask yourself, ‘What would my Savior say to the Father about me?’ And then become silent. Listen for that voice that says good things about you — the voice of the Savior, your finest friend, and your Father in Heaven, who is really there. Remember, Their love and your worth are always great, no matter what.”
- “On those days when you feel that voice telling you to hide, that you should hide in a dark room all by yourself, I invite you to be brave and believe Christ. Walk over and turn on the Light — our Perfect Brightness of Hope.”
Stories
- A missionary from Fiji, Elder QaQa (pronounced Gahngah), wondered whether God knows that he loves Him. He worried that because he continues to fall short, God may not know. Sister Runia expressed that when she made mistakes, she used to distance herself from God, thinking, “He must be so disappointed in me.” She’s learned that’s just not true. “If you wait until you’re clean enough or perfect enough to go to the Savior, you’ve missed the whole point.”
- Sister Runia’s daughter sat in a ward where a new priest knelt to bless the sacrament. He misspoke, saying, “That they may do it in remembrance of the ‘love’ of thy Son,” replacing “blood” with “love.” The Savior suffered the pain of His Atonement because of His love for God’s children.
- As mission leaders in Australia, Sister Runia and her husband asked their missionaries, “If you could hear the Savior praying for you, what do you think He would say?” To hear their missionaries’ responses was “one of the most Spirit-filled experiences” of Sister Runia’s life.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Jesus Heals a Woman”
- Related video: “God Is in Relentless Pursuit of You”
- Related hymn: No. 1005, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”
Recent conference talks on repentance
- Elder Christopher H. Kim: “Harden Not Your Heart” (April 2025)
- Sister Kristin M. Yee: “The Joy of Our Redemption” (October 2024)
- Elder Patrick Kearon: “God’s Intent Is To Bring You Home” (April 2024)
Who is Sister Runia?
- Sister Tamara W. Runia was sustained as the first counselor in the Young Women general presidency on April 1, 2023, and began serving on Aug. 1, 2023. Always cherishing the young women of the Church, Sister Runia has said she’s been to Young Women camp more than 20 times and has even been asked to attend as the “camp cheerleader.”
