Being an In-law

I really liked and appreciated what Harper and Olsen (2005) stated about becoming an independent couple and yet having a healthy relationship with in-laws. He talked about how when a couple marries, they need to have and establish their own sense of identity. Moving away and having a reasonable distance from in-laws is one thing couples can do to help them establish themselves as a couple and create and establish their own family and family rules. Having the in-laws be understanding and encouraging of the couple creating their own identity is critical. Parents from either side cannot be pulling the couple from either side or direction. In-laws also need to be courteous and not try to make their child feel guilty for not coming to every single family function or spending all of their time with them. Parents need to be there to love and support their children and not try to guilt them into continual submission. 

My husband and I experience some of these issues with my parents. There was a family reunion vacation that my side of the family was having. Many of my family members pressured and made us feel guilty if we didn’t go. We finally ended up going and there were a couple of days of the vacation where we just wanted to spend some time alone as a family. My family then scolded and got upset with us that we weren’t spending all of our time with them. My family also gets really upset if we even appear to favor my husband’s side of the family. My parents blame any lack of a relationship between me and them and my husband and them on me. On my husband’s side of the family, he is/was very dependent on his family. We were living with his mom when we first got married and it was difficult to get him to agree to move out. To try to get him to move out of state to go to school, was like pulling teeth. He wanted to stay in Utah because his family was there. We were spending time with his family multiple times a week. Once we finally moved away, our marriage got better and improved since we were finally able to turn to each other rather than him turning to his family for help. Having that distance as a couple is so needed and necessary in order to establish and have a good relationship with your spouse.

Family Councils

  No vote

I really liked what I had read in M. Russell Ballard's (1997) book about counseling with our counselors. In the chapter, he talks about how each branch in the Church has council meetings. Where everyone in the Presidency meets together and discusses the needs of the people that they preside over. Each person brings their thoughts and ideas to the table. They have a discussion of the different ideas. Based off of what was discussed and the Spirit, the President then makes the decisions that he feels is needed and necessary for those that he is serving. He doesn't just do it alone, he relies on the help and knowledge of those around him. 

This really reminds me of and makes me think of families. I think that if families also held councils, that they would function even better. Families can gather once a week and can discuss a variety of things. They can talk about something that may be happening in the family, everyone's feelings, family rules, or fights that take place. They can then talk to each other and bring in everyone's account. Then make the adjustments needed based off the family's needs, to help the family continue to function. This also helps create a place and environment where everyone can say how they feel without worry of getting into trouble and so that they know that what they say and how they feel matters. This can really help bring harmony into a home. My husband and I do this once in awhile. We don't do it every week since we don't need to quite yet. However, having these times and moments to discuss the needs of our family, really helps us to make the best choice that fits everyone's needs.

Emotional Infidelity

I really liked the story that Matheson (2009) shared in his talk. He gave the story about Jane who had gotten especially close to a male coworker. Her family and friends expressed their concern with how close they had gotten and how much time they had been spending together. Jane continued to defend herself saying that she was doing nothing wrong. She was looking in the aspect that she had never been intimate with the coworker. Then one day, her sister asked her a series of questions in the which, when Jane answered, showed her that she was turning to her coworker far more than she was to her husband. She had been pulling away from her husband and her marriage. After this conversation with her sister, she cut it off with her coworker. She stopped meeting him for lunch and talking to him online. She then started telling her husband everything that she had originally been telling her coworker. Her husband had been hurt by her emotional infidelity and it took time for them to rebuild their trust and their relationship. He then went on to talk about the importance of giving our spouse EVERYTHING. ALL of our heart and mind. 

This can be very difficult as we may connect with other people in some ways better than others. I know for me, this was almost an issue. I had a crush on my husband and another guy at the same time. In fact, they had actually both been companions on the mission. We all served in the same mission. My husband was still on his mission while the other guy and I were up here at BYUI for school. Since we were close by, we hung out a lot and developed an emotional bond. However, my feelings for my now husband, were stronger. The other guy knew my feelings and even tried to propose and get me to marry him before my husband got home. I said no. Though I was emotionally connected, I also knew that he was too toxic for me. My husband came home and we started dating. I would only text the other guy as long as it was in a group chat with my husband. While my husband and I were dating and even right after we got married, I found myself wanting to talk to the other guy since we understood me in a way that I felt like my husband didn't. Part of me was tempted to hide it from him. However, I turned to and told my husband instead and we would have a good conversation. My husband eventually asked me to permanently cut off contact with the other guy and even blocked his number on my phone. I happily did it for my marriage and it has really helped strengthen my marriage since the other guy isn't around to put a rift in it. It was hard to lose a good friend, but so rewarding in the end. It is SO important that we really do give our spouse EVERYTHING that we have to offer and to not split it.

Dreams

I loved what I read and learned in Gottman's (2015) book this week! He talked about how a lot of disagreements couples have, are actually because of unacknowledged or unexpressed dreams. He gave an example of a couple with different opinions about a kept house. The wife preferred the house tidy because growing up, her childhood was chaos. The house was a mess, she had no clean clothes to wear and her parents would often forget to pick her up from school. So to her a tidy home is a place where her kids can feel secure and at peace. For the husband, his mother always kept an extremely tidy home and was worried about appearances. She would constantly nag him to keep it clean. So to him, a messy home is a home of freedom and not nagging. There is usually a dream, no matter how big or small, behind an action of a spouse. So Gottman encouraged spouses to have those discussions. He said that it may not fully resolve the problem, but at least there would be a greater understanding.

This concept just BLEW my mind! I started to think about my own marriage and where this might be the case in my own marriage. Keeping a clean place is also one for my husband and I. I like to keep a clean apartment because growing up, my life was basically completely controlled. I was even told how to feel and think. If I thought or felt differently, I was reprimanded and told how I was "actually" feeling. So to me a clean home is something that I actually get to control. And I want an environment that is clean and safe for my kids where they can be free to be themselves and feel security. For my husband, he and his family only cleaned up the house once a week. They spent the rest of the time with each other. So for him, a messy house, is a home where the family cares more about each other than appearances. I'm going to continue to use this technique when my husband and I aren't seeing eye to eye on something so that we can gain a better perspective of where we're coming from.

Marriage Equity

In Goddard's (2007) book, he mentioned about how couples in today's society try to reach marriage equity. He says that most couples try to reach this by splitting up and designating chores between the two. He mentions that this tactic is not very effective since it encourages "score-keeping" and to keep a tally of their contributions. This can actually cause further conflict in a marriage when spouses start to argue over chores that didn't get done, who was supposed to do them, and the lack of help getting something done when the other person may be swamped with work. He then goes on to discuss that it's best for both individuals to put in all of their effort. 

This reminded me of one of my marriage classes. My teacher talked about how couples can't give or do 50-50 because it just doesn't work and conflicts arise. He said that the best thing that a couple can do for their marriage is for both of them to give 100%. To give their marriage and all of their efforts their all. By giving your marriage your everything instead of only part of it, you help strengthen your marriage and there's less likely to be any fights over someone not doing enough or doing their part. I've also seen this in my own marriage. When my husband and I first got married, we would do what we felt to be our part and then leave the rest for the other person. However, some of those other things then didn't get done and we would then end up fighting about it. Lately however, we have been better about giving everything our all. Fights have gone down a lot and everything is getting done. It really does work best to have both give their all rather than waiting on each other or dividing everything up to seem fair.

Update From Last Post

So last time I talked about how I would thank my husband for each and every individual thing that he did and it worked wonders that I didn't even expect! For example, my husband had come back from a week long work trip. He woke up and a fairly early/late time the next day and took our son out to the front room so I could continue to sleep. Not only did he take him out, but he also got him ready for the day! I was so grateful for that and I thanked him for letting me sleep and getting our son ready. My husband then proceeded to do it for the next two days! And each time I thanked him. He also started helping clean up the apartment a lot more. He would ask me what I needed done or he would just find something that needed to be done and do it. Again, I thanked him for each thing individually. It seemed that he really appreciated being appreciated and that got him to want to do more. I have yet to ask him though. However, we have been fighting a lot less about chores and I haven't nagged him at all. I didn't need to. Our marriage has definitely improved and gotten a lot better since I started doing this and I plan to keep it up!

Pride In Marriage

I really liked and appreciated what Goddard (2007) shared in his book about having pride within our marriage. He talked about how in many marriages, spouses blame each other for the problems that they are having. If they are having a disagreement, or a fight about something, they will blame the other for being selfish and not bending to each other's will. Or if their spouse does something that they don't like, they use that as a way to find fault in their spouse and only continue to blame them further. Eventually, their own prideful thinking rewrites and overrides all of the good and happiness in a marriage and replaces it with blame and contempt. He continued on saying that we must let go of pride, if we want our marriages to live and thrive and for us to find joy in them. 

In a sense, I have been guilty of this as well. I get really upset with my husband for not doing, what I feel, is his part. He works hard at his construction job and comes home tired. And I understand and acknowledge the fact that he does. However, after he comes home, he just plays video games for the rest of the day. I complain to him because I feel like he is being lazy and just leaves everything else to me. Not only do I have to do homework, but I also have to take care of the baby, and clean up the apartment which is usually his mess. When we get into "discussions" about it, we essentially blame each other and talk about how we both do a lot and how the other isn't appreciating that. Something that I want to try to do this week, is to let go of my pride and entitlement to my husband's time when he gets home. Instead, just show how much I appreciate him and not look at or see how I may have done more than he has. One way that I plan on doing that is telling him at the end up of the day how much I appreciate everything he did. And list off everything that he did while thanking him so that he knows that I do notice the things that he does and appreciate them individually rather than give a blanket thanks. 

Turning Toward One Another

I absolutely loved the principle that Gottman (2015) shared of spouses turning toward one another. In one of his points, he talks about and discusses social media and the "digital world". It is so easy to reach out to connect with and talk to people who are far away and that we may not get to see very often. We can get so wrapped up in social media and what is happening outside our home, that we neglect what is inside our home. We can become checked out and not present to our family and those that are right beside us. For example, we can end up spending more time working on our relationships online that we can neglect our kids who wanting and needing our time and attention. 

As I read this chapter, I personally felt like it spoke to me about mine and my husband's marriage. My husband and I both have a really bad habit of turning toward and spending more time with our phones or computer than each other. My husband will get home from work, tired, and will spend the rest of the day playing games on his computer. I spend all day doing homework, cleaning up the apartment, and taking care of the baby. Even well after he gets home. When I finally do have free time, which is usually after the baby goes to bed, I immediately hop on my phone and I'm on it until I go to bed. My husband and I don't leave very much room for each other. And I've noticed that we tend to not be very good about noticing each other's bids in an attempt to have some time to do what we want. I think that being better and really making a more concerted effort will really help our marriage. I think that this principle is very beneficial for any couple who feels that they aren't getting the time or attention from their significant other that they are needing or seeking. I challenge you to make that attempt and try to turn toward your spouse or children more than to your phone.

Marriage Love Map

I really learned a lot in Gottman's (2015) book about the love map. It really is so important that we are continually working on our love map of our spouse. Our love map is everything about our spouse. Their likes, dislikes, goals, ambitions, etc. Gottman poses really great questions for us to ask our spouse. Such as asking about important parts of their past, and what is going on in their present. Their likes and dislikes. As well as open ended questions about how they feel with different aspects of the future. This really helps you to continue to get to know your spouse. Not everything about your spouse stays the same. A lot of it changes over time, so it's important that you keep up with those changes so that you can better help meet your spouses needs. Especially during big changes in family dynamics such as having children or even moving. This was very evident in my own marriage. My husband and I have had a happy marriage and we would go on dates regularly. Then our son came. The first couple of months was really hard. I was trying not to, as Gottman (2015) said, leave my husband behind. I struggled to figure out how to balance taking care of my son and husband and fulfilling both of their needs. My husband and I also almost never go on dates. So our marriage really struggled for a little bit until we got talked it out and relearned each other and our needs. I was also able to finally find the balance between the two men in my life so that everyone was happy. But making sure that my husband and I really knew each other, really helped.

We Need Humility

In James 1:5 I learned that we must be humble if we want to receive any answers from the Lord about questions that we might have. If we feel like we already know the answer and are just asking just because, or are prideful in any other way, then we won’t be able to receive answers. What’s the point of the Lord answering our questions, if we don’t listen to what He has to say or just ignore anything that He says? We must have an open heart and mind to be able to receive the blessings of the richness of the gospel and the insights that He has to share. We must make ourselves willing and spiritually hungry to be open up enough for Him to even be able to talk to us and enlighten our minds and our understanding. Pride really just gets in our way and stunts our growth in just about every way possible.

The Four Horsemen in Marriage

This weeks reading in my marriage class was really interesting to me. I could actually relate to some of it. I found Gottman’s (2015) Four Horsemen – criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling - especially intriguing and helpful. My husband and I go through the Four Horsemen on occasion. It happens only about once in a blue moon when we’ve been pent-up about something but it does happen. My husband and I will end up going through the four stages where in the end we’re both stonewalling. For different reasons though. He does it because he wants to end a conversation that he feels is going nowhere and doesn’t want to fight. I stonewall because I am afraid of making him upset and I feel like there’s no point in continuing since he doesn’t seem to understand how I’m feeling. However, we made a promise that we would never go to bed angry with each other. So we manage to peacefully talk it out right before we go to sleep. We’re usually always laughing by the end of it. Doing that has really helped our relationship. Doing what Gottman said and not letting the Four Horsemen permanently stay. 

In Goddard’s (2007) book, I really like how he used the story of the Good Samaritan and how it so easily can be applied to marriages. As the Good Samaritan, we need to be prepared for and seek opportunities that become available to us to serve our spouse. When we have the same mindset as the Samaritan, then we are less likely to focus on the negative aspects of marriage. We look for those opportunities to help strengthen our marriage and focus on the positive aspects. By focusing on the positive aspects, it helps us prevent from focusing on the few negative things and from dwelling on them that in turn, ends up destroying the marriage. If we truly love our spouse, then we will do whatever it takes to make sure that we don’t lose that person.

Don't Listen To Society!

I learned something pretty awesome in New Testament this week. I was reading in 2 Timothy 2:4 and this is what I got out of it: If we are truly a soldier of Jesus Christ, then we do not involve ourselves in the misbehaving’s and dealing of society. Society is so cruel! Why would we want to be a part of it? If you don't dress, act, or look a certain way, you're looked down on. Society tries to mold us how THEY want to see us. And it's so unrealistic!! By the time you "catch up", their trends have already changed and you're back to square one and seen as outdated. How is that fair?! The answer, it isn't. We were already made to be and look beautiful. There's a reason we were made the way that we were made.

As a disciple and soldier of Jesus Christ, it's up to us to show and help people realize that there is a better way to be happy. Trying to follow society is never going make you happy. Society is never satisfied. However, the Lord has promised that as we do His will and help others come unto Him, we can be happy! As we follow in His footsteps, we find that life becomes easier and what the world has to say and offer starts to mean nothing. Don't you wish to be happy all of the time instead of just part of the time? I do! And we can find that in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I'm not going to lie, it isn't easy to not listen to society and try to follow suit. I had been harassed, and bullied for THIRTEEN years for not doing my hair and make right or for wearing "ugly" clothing. I was even bullied by immediate family members and people at church too. It wasn't easy. And I still carried a lot of those effects around with me. Until this week. I finally said, "Screw society!" And I believed it for the first time. I have decided that I am beautiful. All of God's creations are beautiful. We just need to see that in ourselves, and then reach out and help others to do the same. As we share more love and have more self-confidence, we can be a disciple of Christ and slowly change the world. We can help create more acceptance and love and work on getting rid of hate and envy. However, it all starts with us. I have more self-confidence then I've had my entire life, and I'm finally starting to actually be happy.

The Wolves of Marriage

This week in Elder Hafen's (1996) talk, he talked about the wolves that like to devour and destroy marriages. The first wolf that he talked about was natural adversity. There are things that happen in our lives that our completely out of our control. Such as the difficulty for some couples to be able to have kids. Some couples can't have kids at all. Or even the adversity of the husband or wife losing their job. These difficulties can only destroy a marriage if you let them. Our adversities don't define our marriage. Our responses to them however, do. During times of adversity are the times that we need to turn to and count on one another the most. Never blaming the other as that will only make it worse. Coming above those adversities helps make us and our marriage stronger. 

The second wolf is the wolf of our own imperfections. This is one that I also struggle with myself. I constantly see and point out my flaws and criticize myself for them. It drives my husband crazy that I do this. He never dwells on my imperfections. Just as I never dwell or point out his. We don't let it destroy our marriage, however, we let it destroy ourselves. We get depressed and constantly berate ourselves for our imperfections. We then turn to the other for love and encouragement. We lift each other up and we make it so that this even helps strengthen our marriage rather than destroys it. We don't let these moments weaken our marriage. 

The final wolf that he talked about was excessive individualism. This is very prominent, especially in today's society. My parents raised me to be completely independent. If I was dependent in any way, I got scolded. When my husband and I were engaged, we were visiting my parents. My husband loves to help me so I would let him help me with even the smallest of things. Even like getting up. My mother then pulled me aside and scolded me for being so ridiculously dependent. However, my husband hated the fact that I was so independent. He wanted to be able to help me and most of the time I wouldn't let him. Mainly because I didn't want anymore ridicule from my mother. This put a strain on our marriage. We finally talked it out and decided that it was best for me to not worry about my mother and let him help. So I do and our marriage has gotten a lot better. I can still do everything on my own but it makes my husband happy. We can't expect our marriage to strengthen, if we don't give our spouse the opportunity to serve us.

Be Rid of the Inner Man

In Romans this week, I learned about how much God hates the inner man withing ourselves. Don't get me wrong, Heavenly Father absolutely loves us as His children. He does anything and everything for us that He possibly can. He will always love us no matter what we do. However, He hates the inner man within us. The inner man is selfish and carnal. Seeking to please men more than God. The one that also loves the things of the world and man more than Him. He even hates it when we put others before Him. That we would bend over backward to please our fellow men but not Him. Such as following high end fashion trends and following cliques and crowds. When all we want to do is look good in the eyes of men. Even with being the pleaser of men, we still are also cruel to many of our fellow men. We belittle and hurt in an attempt to help ourselves feel better and look good to others. We must overcome this inner person within us. If we don’t, then we can’t become true disciples of Jesus Christ. A true disciple of Christ would never be so selfish and harmful to our fellow men. Those that do follow Christ, would do anything to be like Him and to love our neighbors no matter who they are. We either serve Christ or the demon in us. However, it’s so much better to be loved by God than by men. Men can make their love conditional whereas Heavenly Father loves us no matter our flaws. He is our Father, and we should give Him our all. 

Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

This week we went over and discussed the legalizing of same-sex marriage. We read over the document on the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. In this article, we see that same-sex was legalized based off of opinion. I had one classmate talk about how she felt that the Supreme Court had overstepped their bounds. They were basically having all of the states change their policy to legalize gay marriage even if that state voted against it. There were states that legalized it beforehand and there were states that weren't ok with it. Because of that they were forced to allow and accept it even though it was against people's votes. Marriage for thousand of years has been has been defined by man and woman. Ever since the beginning of the earth, that is how God intended for marriage to be. All throughout time, we have known that same sex attraction was not intended by God. But now, society has become very lenient on it. Changing the definition of marriage can be seen as a threat not onIy to marriage but to families as well. Children are affected by not having the opposite gender parents.  

One difficulty with society today is that if you don't agree with them or follow the trend, then you are essentially an awful person. You are denying people their rights or it's also just because you're thinking differently then how they are or how they want you to. Being able to stand up for your thoughts and beliefs can be very difficult. However, it's important that we stick up for what we believe. There are many benefits to have opposite gender marriage. Children especially should be the focal point. There have been countless studies showing that children with opposite genders thrive more. The advantage of having opposite gender is that you get two very different viewpoints. Men and women think and react very differently. By having both of those, really helps a child be able to learn and understand differing perspectives and way of doing things. 

Something that I liked from Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)  was, "There are untold references to the beauty of marriage in religious and philosophical texts spanning time, cultures, and faiths, as well as in art and literature in all their forms. It is fair and necessary to say these references were based on the understanding that marriage is a union between two persons of the opposite sex." What I loved about this is the fact that it basically indicated that opposite-gender marriage is part of the beauty of marriage. There are just different aspects of this type of marriage that just can't be replicated by any other type of marriage. 

My husband and I have seen the many different types of blessings in our marriage. Because we are different, we both bring things to the table that complement one another. For example, with our son. My husband is one of the youngest in his family so he isn't used to a constantly crying child. The mother nature in me has helped me to be patient with our son and show him the love that he needs. With the fact that I am able to calm our son down, my husband can then come in and help me entertain him and give him the love that he needs. My husband just doesn't have that inner nurturing that a mother does. So it's been great that we are able to give our son both of what he needs.  

Forgive

This week I read 2 Corin 2:7 which says, "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."

What I learned from this was that if we don’t forgive and comfort others, then both us and them will be swallowed up in sorrow. If we do not forgive others, then we fester anger, hurt, and sometimes pride. Having such negative emotions constantly bottled up inside of us can make us depressed and upset. We won’t be able to move on and be able to be happy in our lives. We just hold ourselves back rather than let ourselves move forward. You can't blame the other person for the negative feelings that your feeling because you are choosing those feelings. You are harboring them. Harboring those feelings only hurts you. Is doesn't do the other person any harm. I once heard an analogy that says, "It's like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die". So for our own sakes, we have to let it go. 

It’s also so important that we forgive others for their sake as well. There are a lot of people who feel guilty for what they did and want to make right what they have done if they can. However, if you won’t forgive them and let them make it right, then they will be harrowed up in their guilt and they also will not be able to move forward. Think if you were in their shoes and you had done something to hurt someone. You felt bad and want to make it up to them and would want forgiveness. So shouldn't we all give to others what we also seek for?

Divorce

Divorce is really hard for couples to go through but it's so much harder for the children of the family. Just like Elder Oaks (2007) had said in his talk, divorce is a very selfish concept. Granted that there are very legitimate reasons for divorce, mainly the various forms of abuse. However, that is the extent of what makes divorce ok. Other than that, the parents are mainly thinking about themselves and how they benefit from it and don't even ask the kids how they feel about it or think about how the kids are blaming themselves. 

There is a lot of eternal conflict that children go through when their parents get divorced. This was also greatly discussed in the Divorce School For Kids by ABC video. Children feel torn as they don't want to favor a parent, yet parents use their kids against each other. Some children are so hurt by the divorce that they don't want any half-siblings because they are afraid of being replaced. The fact that parents think that they are benefiting their children by divorcing are only fooling themselves. They are hurting, and in some sense of the word, destroying their kids. Children want their parents to stay together and in Elder Oaks (2007) words, "they should be best friends, kind and considerate, sensitive to each other’s needs, always seeking to make each other happy. They should be partners in family finances, working together to regulate their desires for temporal things." (para 20) 

I had two aunts go through divorce. One went through divorce about five times. Her daughter refuses to marry now because of the example that she has seen from her mom. She actually had a very difficult childhood growing up as she didn't get along with any of her step-dad's and they belittled her. My cousin had to turn to my grandparents and they became the parents that she needed because her mom put her relationships before my cousin and wasn't there for her at all. My other aunt has only divorced once, and that is because her ex-husband asked her for one because he was having an affair and wanted to be with the other woman. My cousins didn't blame themselves, but it still tore them apart to see their parents divorcing. It was really hard for them to no longer have both parents with each other and to not have their dad come home. Parents need to do their best to make things work, figure things out, so that their children don't get hurt.

Be Thou Humble

Something new that I learned was in 1 Corinthians 1:27. The scripture says “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”. Here I learned that we must be meek and humble if we want to be enlightened rather than confounded. As long as we think that we have everything figured out and that we don't need God's help, He'll always find a way to help remind us that we do need him and to stop being so full of it. We also must rely on Him in order to receive revelation and take advantage of the Atonement. And we can only do those things by being meek and humble. The Atonement is the greatest gift. It's what Christ and God sacrificed for the most for us. So we wouldn't we use it? I don’t remember where I heard this from or who said it but it says, “God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.” He cannot teach those who are prideful so He helps us to be humble. 

Continually Repent

Something that I learned in Acts that I thought was the most interesting and impactful for me this week was the fact that we absolutely must be continually repentant in order to receive continue to receive power and help from the Holy Ghost. We must be continually repentant by constantly repenting of the things that we have done. When I served my mission in Texas, my mission president had talked about how we need to repent as son as we realize that we have sinned. By continually being repentant, we can stay clean and have the help and power of God in abundance. Christ has always taught that we must not wait for the day of His coming to repent. We must do so and prepare now. For if we wait, it will be too late. And we need all of the help that we can get from Him now. So I encourage everyone to continually repent, even daily, so that you can be in tune with the Spirit.