Last night when everyone else was in bed, Everett came in to talk to us.
He told us he was worried because he still didn’t know how to repent.
Two weeks ago he confessed to us that he had stolen a couple toys from his buddy Jace last fall when we went to their second home in Brigham City. We had talked to him about it then and told him he needed to make it right.
Shame on us – in those two weeks we hadn’t given him a chance to do that (we told him we’d give him extra chores to earn the money to replace the toys he took).
And two weeks later his little heart was still suffering. We talked to him about the steps of repentance: 1) Tell the right people what you did wrong and ask for forgiveness(Mom & Dad, Jace and his parents, and Heavenly Father). 2) Promise to never do it again. 3) Do everything you can to make it right (earn some money, replace the toys). 4) Forgive yourself and not feel bad about it anymore.
Everett knew he’d done steps 1 & 2, but he was still stuck at #3, and it was just eating him up.
So we talked about it, we promised him we would help him make it right. And we told him to say an extra prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help him feel the spirit so he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.
So he went back to bed, and the next thing we know, we hear him praying out loud – it starts off as a normal enough prayer, and then his little voice breaks, and he says
“please help me to feel the spirit so I can feel better. And please help the Reimann’s not to hurt me when they find out.”
Oh good grief! Melt a mama’s heart! I had to go in and give him a long cuddle to help his little heart feel better.
Today we will report the problem to the Reimann’s and try to get it resolved. (We’ve assured Everett that no violence will ensue).