Is It Ever Too Late?

I was recently going through my phone pictures and deleting stuff because my memory was full. I guess it’s a consequence of my document everything philosophy. In the process, I came across this beauty and just couldn’t delete it.

file this under 'too short for this weight'

It’s a screenshot of my electronic health record for a new patient I was seeing about a month ago. Check out the weight and height data: there isn’t a misplaced decimal or typographical error here. As part of my evaluation of her, I asked her why she was here. She said it was because of her weight and wanted to be evaluated "before it got out of hand”.  

She easily won the “understatement of the week” award. Maybe I should have just stood up and said “Elvis has already left the building” and walk away.  But this lady still had hope that her disease could be treated. It’s hard to walk away from that kind of courage--even if the BMI is 70.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one that can’t turn my back on the hopeful penitent.

Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me. Mosiah 26:30

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. D&C 58:42

As I read it, this is not a “limited time only” offer.  Joel, a prophet of Judah, foretold some pretty awful things that would  accompany the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that, while describing the war and desolation that would precede the great and dreadful day, he also gives us cause for hope. Joel points out that the Lord would be there waiting until the last possible moment for men to turn to him:

. . . rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for his is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness . . .  Joel 2:13