Farewell

The Principle of Hearts, Faith & Repentance

Tahsha Tavoian – September 20, 2009, Malad 7th Ward, Malad Idaho Stake

I’m so grateful Bishop Jeppson is speaking with me today. This is a tender mercy from the Lord. Bishop Jeppson and his family hold a special place in my heart. All throughout high school, when I was on student government and in charge of prom one year, Brian and Anita helped my class with our homecoming floats and prom decorations and even this year helped me with my class’s five year reunion by catering for us. Anita makes the best ever Dutch oven potatoes! I hope that you will carefully listen to his words I know he will have sought the Lord’s guidance in selecting a message to share with us today.

As most of you know, my name is Tahsha Tavoian. I am the oldest daughter/child of Max and Shaila Tavoian. I graduated from high school a little over five years ago. I moved to Logan attended Utah State and graduated from there with a degree in biology. I’m about to embark on a new adventure serving the Lord in the Melbourne, Australia.

In college one of the most challenging courses I enrolled in was an upper division medical physiology course with a laboratory component. Today I would like to share with you one of the labs we did and the temporal and spiritual lesson I learned from this lab. I would also like to share scriptural and personal examples to exemplify the spiritual aspect I learned from the lab.


For this lab each student was given a live northern leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens). Basically what we did, without going into the details of the preparation, was cut open the frog and lifted the live beating heart out of the frog, keeping all arteries and veins connected. We tied it to a transducer to measure the electrical activity, beats per minute that changed as different drugs entered into the heart. One of the drugs we placed on the heart was epinephrine (adrenaline). As the epinephrine entered into the tissues, the heart would change from a constant steady beat to a fast, almost flutter motion. We could then add Ringer’s solution to wash away the drug and bring the heart back to constant, steady beat. Another drug we experimented with acetylcholine. If two drops of acetylcholine entered the tissues of the heart, it would beat much slower, almost stopping. The principle of heart I learned is when substances enter the heart, it will experience a change.

This not only applies to the physical but also the spiritual nature of the heart. For example, as light and truth to enter our hearts we increase in faith naturally producing what the scriptures call a mighty change of heart, also known as repentance. This faith in the Lord must precede the desired change, true repentance. Just as applying the drugs to the heart preceded the desired change in the heat beat of the frog. If we truly seek to put away sin, we must first look to Him who is the Author of our salvation (Benson, 1989). To help us understand this important relationship between faith and repentance we can turn to Enos from the Book of Mormon and to Joseph Smith of our dispensation.

The Example of Enos

Enos’s faith building experience is a pattern for us to follow. First Enos heard the gospel from his father, just as you are hearing it in church today and in your families at home. However, it is not enough to just hear the word as if that alone could transform you. You must take seriously what is taught, consider it carefully and study it out in your mind. As the prophet Enos learned, we must let others’ testimonies of the gospel “[sink] deep into [our] hearts.” Once he had done this, Enos began to experience a mighty change of heart followed by a reformation of behavior. His soul began to hunger and his heart desired to know for himself whether these teachings were true and where he stood before his Maker. Enos records in his own words, “I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul, and all the day long did I cry unto Him, and when night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens”. It didn’t come right then or all at once but after the “wrestle which [he] had before God” by the power of the Holy Ghost, Enos did receive a witness for himself. There came a voice unto Enos saying: …Thy sins are forgiven thee…thy faith [in Christ] hath made thee whole (Enos 1:1-8).

Did you notice the pattern and the relationship between faith and repentance? First we must hear and study the words spoken by the mouth of His servants the prophets and let it sink deep into our hearts; our souls will hunger and desire righteousness; we must cry unto the Lord in mighty prayer and supplication for our souls, and then because of our increase in faith in Jesus Christ as we truly repent our sins will be forgiven.

The Example of the Prophet Joseph Smith

The second example to consider comes from Joseph Smith. His mother, Lucy, reported that the boy was given to serious reflection and often thought about the welfare of his immortal soul. He was especially concerned about which of all the churches proselyting in the Palmyra area was right. As he explained in his own words:

“During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit…So great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong…

Studying from the book of James, Joseph read: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of god, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). Joseph recounts, “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again. At length Joseph came to the conclusion the he must either remain in darkness and confusion or do what James directs, that is, ask of God (JSH 1:8, 11-13). The next day Joseph knelt in a grove of trees and privately offered up the desires of his heart to God. Recall the miraculous vision that followed. God the Father and Jesus Christ called the 14-year old boy to be their prophet that would bring about the beginnings of a marvelous work and wonder of restoring the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ to the earth.

Did you notice the pattern? First Joseph heard the word spoken by the mouth of the prophet James. Joseph let the words enter his heart with great power and force. He hungered and desired further light and knowledge hence Joseph called upon his God in mighty prayer. And because of his faith, Joseph saw the Father and the Son.

My Personal Experience and hymn #192, He died! Behold the Great Redeemer died

On a much, much smaller scale, I would like to share with you a similar sacred personal experience I had in this very chapel. When I was about 14 or 15 I was your average teenage girl. I attended young women’s and seminary. We read scriptures together as a family. I had been hearing the gospel at church and at home. In my prayers I would ask to know my Savior and better understand the atonement. I wanted to make sure that I was in good standing with the Lord. Sometimes I prayed fiercely and other times haphazardly. With my request in the back of my mind, I went about life, at times forgetting about what I had said in my prayers, then in a sacrament meeting much like today, we sang the hymn #192, He died! Behold the Great Redeemer died. In particular the second verse seemed to penetrate my heart: Come, Saints, and drop a tear or two for Him who groaned beneath your load; He shed a thousand drops for you, a thousand drops of precious blood. In my mind I saw images of the Savior on the cross with blood from his hands, wrists, and side dripping to the ground. It was almost as if I was there. For a moment I felt a peace burning inside me and very quietly I heard or perhaps felt the words, “Tahsha I did this for you.” It seemed as if the Savior was right next to me. The experience lasted only a few moments but now the Savior and His atonement become very real to me. I knew at that moment I was in good standing with the Lord. I have reflected upon this experience again and again. It has sustained me during the last five years while I have been away to college. I have applied it to many situations. My sacred experience wasn’t anything of the capital letter sense, but of the everyday, little by little, a simple witness that increased my faith and my changed my heart. I promised the Lord that day to be more holy, more obedient and to always be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Now with these examples in mind, can you think of a time in your life when your faith was increased because you allowed light and truth to enter your heart which wrought a mighty change in you and in your heart…when you no longer desired to do evil but to do good continually (Mosiah 5:2)?

If you cannot recall an experience right now, I urge you to think about it for a little while and then to kneel before the Lord as Enos and the boy Joseph did and ask in faith, nothing wavering, and I testify He will bring to your remembrance experiences you have had and bless you with new ones to fortify and strengthen your faith.

I bear you my testimony that God the Father lives. I testify the Savior lives. His Atonement makes possible our being purified as we keep his commandments and our sacred covenants. I testify that the Holy Ghost will carry light and truth into our hearts if we will allow it and we’ll experience a change of heart. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.