The Lost Sheep

 I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All of my childhood I sang "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam" and "Popcorn Popping". We had family scripture night and attended church regularly. My parents taught me that I am a child of God. They did everything they were counseled to do. There came a time when I reached my young adult years and I left the church. I put myself in all kinds of situations that got me in trouble. I got to a point in life where I saw no way out of the hole I had dug for myself. I felt hopeless and "too far gone."

 

I don't know what it is like to be a parent. I don't know the heart ache that comes when your child strays from everything that you've tried to teach them. I don't know what it's like to have sleepless nights worrying whether or not they will come home.

 

Despite all of this, there is one thing I do know.

I know what it's like to be that child that is worried over, prayed for, and desired to come back home.

 

I know what is needed from parents to make it back onto that straight and narrow path.

 

I don't know the situation your family may be going through with a child that has strayed off that path but I only have one piece of advice for you. LOVE THEM.

 

I know the power that unconditional, non-judgemental love can have on oneself when feeling as the one lost sheep. I can testify that it will have more of an impact on your child than yelling, punishment, or disownment. Christ, our perfect example, showed us what to do when we have a child that strays. Through the parable of the one lost sheep out of the 99. "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?"

 

Why would he expect any different from those with children? Doesn't he expect us to love them despite of their weaknesses, trials, and shortcomings?

I know there are many Latter-day Saint parents around the world who have a child that has gone against everything you taught them. I was one of them, and I know many others that have left. This is my plea to you as parents. Love your children as Christ loves them. The Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to all of us, including your child. Keep praying. Keep fasting. Rely on the merits of your Savior who knows the heartache you feel and the despair your child feels. Trust in Him.

I am a witness of the unconditional love my parents showed me through my mistake making years. They triumphed in my small success, rather in my failures. They savored the time I did spend with them and made me feel like I was loved, despite the life I lived. The most meaningful thing they have done since I came back is forgotten all the pain and heartache that I had caused them. They "remembered [my] sins no more." I will never ever forget what they did for me.

Your child needs you. Don't give up on them. The scriptures say, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" What if that one soul is your child?

As long as the days, months, or years may seem, I can promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that your love with never be wasted.