Written By April T Giauque
Kristin M Yee Oct 2024
Picking up a brush, spreading color on a pallet, and looking at a white canvas, thinking, “I will do my best to paint thee, dear lord,” would be an overwhelming endeavor. In my small contribution to faith in the world by writing and publishing my own story, I understand the world and the growth of that journey. Since my skills and gifts are in the written world, I can understand the journey of Sister Kristin Yee.
She felt this prompting to paint the Savior. She kept moving and left the possibilities to him. Sister Yee said, “I prayed, pondered, researched, sketched, and was blessed to find help and resources. And what was a white canvas started to become something more. I just had to try again and again and again.”
As Christ’s form and face shaped the canvas, Sister Yee was ready to protect the oil painting from dust and dirt. She waited until the painting was dry to apply the varnish. Well, she thought it was completely dry. As she applied the varnish, she noticed the hair in the painting start to change, smear, and dissolve. She immediately realized that she had used the varnish too soon; that part of the painting was still wet! She had literally wiped away a portion of my painting with the varnish.
I understand the sinking feeling of losing months of writing to an electronic glitch and having your chapters vanish into the electronic graveyard with no hope of recovery. Writers are left with scraps of notes and memories that they try to reconstruct the beauty that has once been, but tears, frustration, and a blue can wash over them, making them feel as if they are sinking to the bottom of the blackest ocean, never to catch your breath again.
For Sister Yee, she was devastated. She reported, “Sick and crying, I called my mom. She said, ‘You won’t get back what you had, but do the very best you can with what you’ve got.’”
This step of calling out to a parent and then calling out to our Heavenly Parent, Heavenly Father, is the best step. Sister Yee prayed, pleaded for help, and painted through the night to repair things. She said, “And I remember looking at the painting in the morning—it looked better than it did before. How was that possible?”
With God, nothing is impossible! The simple truth was, “He was not done with the painting, and He was not done with me. What joy and relief filled my heart. I praised the Lord for His mercy, for this miracle that saved the painting and taught me more about His love and power to save each of us from our mistakes, weaknesses, and sins and help us become something more.”
“To repair the ‘un-repairable’ painting,” Sister Yee shared that she invited him into a personal and deep space within, pulling out the deepest love and gratitude for [our] Savior intensified as she sought to work WITH Him. She reached out to Him and helped her to work on her weaknesses and to be forgiven for her mistakes.
If you have had that sweet and tender moment with the Savior, it is deeply powerful—life-changing. Sister Yee said she would be forever grateful to her Savior that she can change and be cleansed—as we all can. “He has my heart, and I hope to do whatever He would have me do and become.”
A KEY factor in having the Savior with us is repentance. It allows us to feel God’s love and to know and love Him in ways we would never otherwise know.
The redeeming power of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest promised blessings of our covenants. Ponder repentance as you participate in sacred ordinances. Sister Yee said, “Without it, we could not return home to the presence of our Father in Heaven and those we love. He holds the power of redemption and resurrection. It is a miracle He loves you and me in this way.”
I know that it is possible to be redeemed. God loves all His children no matter what you think or your actions. Satan tells you over and over that it’s not possible to be redeemed, that you are an exception to God’s love. Those are lies! He will continue that lie, telling you that the Savior’s atoning power can never be for you because of what you are struggling with or because of what you’ve done. That is Satan’s biggest lie to us all. Don’t listen to the doubt, the fear, the lies of Satan!
Sister Yee testifies that NO ONE is beneath the Master’s reach. The Savior “descended below all things” and is in a divine position to lift you and claim you from the darkest abyss, and bring you into “his marvelous light.”
“He has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.”
There is a reaching and a work on our part to go and walk toward the Savior. Just as it required work and pleading for heaven’s help to repair Sister Yee’s painting, it takes work, sincerity of heart, and humility to bring “forth fruit meet for repentance.” It’s on us to take the step.
These fruits include exercising our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, offering God a broken heart and a contrite spirit, confessing and forsaking sin, restoring that which has been damaged to the best of our ability, and striving to live righteously. Sometimes, we may not be willing to look inside ourselves and see that which really needs healing and repair because of our fear and lies that Satan is telling us. WE must stop that voice and look to God.
Sister Yee spoke of “defending ourselves from things that might do us good.” I stopped for a moment and pondered what she meant by this. I thought each time I made poor choices, I blocked the Savior's desire to bless me. Each time I “defend myself from those things that might do me good,” am I doing that because I feel that I am not worthy of Jesus’s love? Do we feel that He doesn’t care or wouldn’t care about us? Remember that God desires to bless us!
Sister Yee pleads with us to lay aside any “weapons of war” that we’ve consciously or even unconsciously taken up to defend ourselves from the blessings of God’s love. These are the weapons of pride, selfishness, fear, hate, offense, complacency, unrighteous judgment, and jealousy—anything that would keep us from loving God with all our hearts and keeping all our covenants with Him.
“Repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power. And oh, how we will need His power in the days ahead.” —President Nelson
Sister Yee reports, “Like my painting, the Lord is not done with us when we make a mistake, nor does He flee when we falter. Our need for healing and help is not a burden to Him, but the very reason He came.”
The Savior Himself said:
“Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.”
“Mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.”
Sister Yee’s invitation is the same as the Saviors! Come—come ye that are weary, worn, and sad; come and leave your labors and find rest in Him who loves you most. Take His yoke upon you, for He is gentle and lowly in heart.
I love her sweet and tender counsel: "Be patient with yourself, keep your covenants, repent often, seek your leaders' help if needed, and go to the house of the Lord as regularly as you can. Listen for and heed the promptings He sends you. He will not abandon His covenant relationship with you.”
Elder Christofferson emphasized it in this way,
“Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something refining and holy in such striving. Divine forgiveness and healing flow quite naturally to such a soul.”
Remember these words from Sister Yee, “Each day is a new day filled with hope and possibilities because of Jesus Christ. Each day, you and I can come to know, as Mother Eve proclaimed, ‘the joy of our redemption,’ the joy of being made whole, the joy of feeling God’s unfailing love for you.”
I can’t wait to share this with you on Thursday at 6:30 pm Mountain on the Beacon of Light Podcast from the Pulpit.
Come check out all the resources about Sister Yee for free here:
Comments