I am an 85 years old widower. I was married to my dear wife for 66 years. I am a former Baptist minister. Thank you Elizabeth for your Faith and testimony. We must all be born again. Repent and Confession with a Contrite spirit. Your enduring faith and the repentant process is admiral. God bless you. I am currently the Ward organist and a Ward missionary. We joined this Church 53 years ago and my wife and I were Sealed in 1972. This Church is TRUE.

"We raised our hand in the premortal life and we agreed to fail miserably." I love that!

I have two brothers that have been excommunicated. They are both talking about being re-baptized. I'm so proud of this sister. When members are excommunicated we need to love them back into the church.

I had an interesting thought come to me one day during a disciplinary counsel (Old Terminology) when I was Bishop - not proclaiming its doctrine - but the thought was to think about how wonderful the Savior really is - When we make covenants with Him and then violate those covenants to the point that we are hurting ourselves by having that accountability - how Merciful, How wonderful is He, for then being willing to "let us out" of the deal so we do not have the weight of those covenants working against us. Rather He allows us to "exit our spiritual contact" with Him and regroup and repent and then prove to ourselves we are ready to again renew our original covenant. So powerful!

Was excommunicated for almost ten years. It’s a lonely and tough road. Glad I’m back. I don’t wish it on anyone and if you’re thinking about leaving, don’t. Stay on the covenant path. I lived in sin constantly while away. Choose Jesus Christ, His church has the fullness of His gospel and it has been restored again on earth through Joseph Smith. When Jesus asked his apostles if they would leave him, Peter replied, where will we go? You have the words of eternal life. Don’t leave Jesus Christ’ church where the words of eternal life are taught through the principles, ordinances and power thereof.

When you think of excommunication as a way to bring your accountability in line with with where you are at in the gospel then you realize how beautiful that is.

The Spirit is strong with this one. Amazing how the Spirit rejoices when a daughter returns to the fold. Thanks Saints Unscripted!

AMEN Sister! I, too, have been there and everything you shared is so true. Thank you for reaching out and sharing so emphatically! Many people will benefit from your wisdom. I just wish I hadn't been so rebellious - standing my ground that if the branch presidency would have run amok if they had experienced the same things that I had experienced. I kept spewing justification for my actions and welcomed excommunication to put it all behind me. My parting words were something like this : President, I still have a testimony and when I am ready I will return to the church. Unfortunately it took me about 12 years to do so, and my second (and current hubby of 40.5 years) performed the baptism. During my apostasy I was approached by several people who expected anger and a "spilling of the beans" regarding temple activities. I would politely tell them that I would not sully the sacred covenants I had willingly made and then handed them information to contact the missionaries - explaining that they should investigate and determine if the gospel is true, and work toward entering the temple themselves. What brought me back? Our daughter did. When we discovered I was pregnant in 1984 I knew I could not raise a child without the gospel in my life. It created some angst for my hubby (non member and contentious at that time in his life), but he has the most awesome conversion story and the rest is history! God is good and repentance, pure and simple, is the way to peace.

It’s impossible to explain what it is like to be excommunicated. It’s the most dark, empty feeling ever. Like the guest said you don’t know what you had until it’s gone. I had decided I would never get rebaptized. I was baptized one year later and it’s been the biggest blessing. The Holy Ghost is really “The Comforter” and I will never do anything to lose that gift again. The members of the church never treated me differently and were always living and kind. God bless all those who are struggling with belief or sin. Repent and come unto the Lord. You won’t regret it. There is no record of my excommunication on my records! It was an amazing thing and I felt the same as the guest.

Many years ago, my membership was withdrawn. I have been struggling with a few issues keeping me out of the baptismal font. This episode of Saints Unscripted is just what I needed to hear. It's been almost 4 years since I finally had the courage to go talk to my ward bishop. The love that was evident in that initial interview amazed me. He and I have become very good friends. My first interview with the Stake Presidency went as I expected, with the issues I'm still contending with, the answer being "keep working on these things, and you WILL make it back. Thank you Elisabeth, for having the courage to come on and tell your story.

I love that the grass is greener where you water it

I was excommunicated. My bishop didn't want to excommunicate me either. But it was the best thing that ever happened!

When I was excommunicated I though of it at 1st as a form of punishment. However when I took a step back...humbled myself...and listened to what my Heavenly Father was trying to tell me I realized it is a form of love and hope that I couldn't understand until I began my journey back to the fold. It may not make sense to people who read this but it made perfect sense to me...I am so grateful to my Savior Jesus Christ and His atonement that allowed me to truly repent and be re- baptised as a member of His Church on the earth...thanks for sharing your story...

On my way to be baptized at 52 praise god!

Elizabeth, YOU ROCK! This is the church and all that it stands for! I love your willingness to share your story with pride! You are the Light of Christ!

I couldn’t stop crying when I heard your testimony, and how I can feel the sincerity of your story. I felt that besides the Apostles the Prophets and few Saints who knows the deepest importance of the Atonement of our Savior, wouldn’t the world that we live in be a better place? If we ALL understand Our True Divine Identities and know it’s spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the Power of the Holy Ghost, our church members will take Our Heavenly Father’s work to a totally different level. TY for that awesome clarification of understanding true meaning of ex-communication and it’s process.

as someone who has gone through excommunication I can attest to the fact that it is a form of love ,it is not a punishment ,it is necessary for your repentance, I cried when she told how she felt when she was rebaptized, I really loved her testimony

I was baptized at 16, went into the Air Force at 18, had a boyfriend…made some bad choices and was excommunicated at 19. I remember when the Holy Ghost left and the sweetness of His return when I was re-baptized a year later. I remember the love I felt from my bishop and the stake high council throughout the whole process. The love and encouragement I felt from them and my friends who stood by me was part of the experience I will never forget. It was hard not being able to do all the things I took for granted. But I returned, served a mission and was married in the temple. And yes, my record shows my original baptism date. The Lord remembers our sins no more and we should strive to do the same. Great interview 🥰thanks for sharing 😊

Thank you Elizabeth and SU team. Repentance is such an amazing gift! The sooner we repent, the better, but it's never too late to repent. The Savior is sooo merciful. Thank you for your witnesses and testimonies in this episode.

This is so awesome and I am so thankful for the wonderful testimony she shared. Elizabeth is awesome and a total powerhouse. I’m so glad that she’s back in the church and that we have that lightning rod with us. She is so awesome.!!!!!!

Elizabeth glows with the Spirit and rebirth. I’m humbled by her honesty. This video is going to help many more than she will ever know.

This woman is incredible. I thought the most interesting part was when the bishopric told her she would be lost to the Lord if they didn't excommunicate her. You can tell from the energy and passion in her voice about Christ and the joy of repentance that she definitely is not lost to Him. Not that I'm advocating for excommunication to strengthen your testimony, but it is wonderful to know that Heavenly Father knows what we need at every moment in each of our lives to come closer to Him. He doesn't find joy in punishing us. He is only interested in our eternal life and exaltation. Thank you, Elizabeth, for sharing.

A perfect example of how to respond to her situation. She had been a victim and that led her to do some bad things and when going before the bishopric and hearing their decision could of been easily offended and walked away. But was humble enough to admit and own her wrongs and then put it right. A good shout for the bishopric for being so loving about it. We know it's not there decision but Christ and He always knows what's best. We just have to trust Him. Well done young lady!

The grass is greener where you water it!! What a statement. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elizabeth thank you for sharing you story. When I was a primary president I complained to the Lord that i was having to many spiritual moments it was draining me. His answer was to take the Holy Ghost away . I FELT him leave. It was so hard to do my calling. The lord gave The holy Ghost back on Easter Sunday after much repentance. I NEVER want to live without all of the Godhead in my life. I need all 3. I watched this podcast because my husband took his records away. He left all of this gospel. The lord has told me " He will come back" I Thill hold on to that. I need to hear how someone came bac so thanks again.

I am surprised that you didn't have to go through a stake "court" to be excommunicated! I did. And it took me three years to come back too. However, I did go to church all the time and I did most everything I could to make things right. You probably met with a General Authority to have your temple blessings restored, as I did. That was an amazing experience. I was a convert, but because my husband who was raised in the church, and introduced me to the gospel, left me for a man, it really threw me for a loop, and I got lost in the process. That was many years ago now though, and I have since been a temple ordinance worker, and am fully active and committed! Thank you for sharing your story!!

My eyes are wet listening to your testimony about the love of our father i heaven and the atonement of the saviour. I feel for you and the from above . Thank you Elizabeth. You three are awesome 😎

This is a very rare video! Thank you very much for your courage Elizabeth! Few would have this much courage. You are as inspirational as a conference talk. Bless you and your husband for sharing this.

A lot of her opening story is so familiar to me, except that i was 3rd of 8 kids, not first. Excommunication was the hardest and best thing I've ever endured, and I'm happy to hear Elizabeth share her experience with it. You rock, sister!!

Excommunication is a merciful blessing. It removes the possibility of continuing to break covenants and provides a path to a truly clean slate.

My heart a-splode. Easily THE most powerful story I've heard on this channel. I'd even go so far as to say THIS is why this channel exists. When she got to where the Bishop reminded her of her worth, I genuinely teared up. It's a video. Recorded weeks/months ago. Still. BOOM. Thank you for sharing, for living, for teaching, for being.

I almost had my membership withdrawn, and I find the confession and repentance process to be the most atonement enabling time in my entire life. My testimony has never been stronger. There are 3 levels of church discipline: 1) Informal/Verbal Restrictions, 2) Formal/Public Restrictions, 3) Excommunication/"Membership Withdrawal". I was of the first one after I was certain I'd be excommunicated, for as an endowed priesthood holder breaking covenants in an egregious and frequent manner. I gain my full temple recommend back in a few months, which will mark a year after the stake council. I must tell all that struggle, that daily repentance is the way to do it. However you will struggle with inner hypocrisy for you will fall down and feel as if you've thrown away your second chance for redemption. After slipping up in less egregious ways each day, daily repentance will turn the frequency into each other day, to a few days, to weeks, and to months. That inner hypocrisy you'll experience when falling down, is shame designed to discourage you and to give up. "Why bother, if I keep messing up?", simply put, as soon as you sin, you IMMEDIATELY pray, weep, and say you won't do it again. And when the next day comes and you do indeed go against your word, and become a hypocrite once more, twice more, and even thrice more, it is do keep IMMEDIATELY praying, and weeping, and hypocritically saying you won't do it again. That is why it is to "Endure to the End", for when we become hypocritical, we deem the best response is to withdraw ourselves and steep into the sewer of shame. DONT DO IT! Face your hypocrisy and continue to daily repent. What I do everything time I slip up to pornography is I IMMEDIATELY (typically at 3am) to go downstairs. Here is my process: 1. START your prayer, and confess about what you have done wrong. 2. DURING your prayerful state, don't close it; open up a hymnbook, and mark in it. I annotate a hymn per night/early morning, each time I sin. 3. After the annotation, I go to KZfaq on my TV, and I search up a lyric version of that same hymn. 4. I LISTEN to 1/3 of the hymn 5. I SING the rest of the hymn according to it's emphasis in the top left ("With Spirit, Resolutely, Humbly, etc.") 6. After the hymn is done, I ponder and continue the rest of my prayer, and I talk about two things: 1) Who in my life needs blessings, and 2) Things I am personally grateful for. 7. Before I close my prayer, I record my impressions into my prayer journal, and then I read it, and I go back to bed. The first two weeks I had done this, I embraced my hypocrisy each night where I would watch pornography and then proceed to immediately pray and weep. After 15 days of doing this however, the frequency of my hypocrisy diminished, and I began to feel the grace of Jesus Christ slowly to fill my soul. I became humbler, and less shackled by addiction. Before I could give less than two craps about church service, and the simpler things of the gospel, obsessing solely upon the deepest of doctrines. But during this process, I learned to be less cerebral, and more spiritual understanding something very crucial. Elder's Quorum/Relief Society = SERVING; Sunday School/Gospel Doctrine = TEACHING; and Sacrament Meeting = HEALING. I realized that sacrament meeting, general conference, missionary lessons, aren't to discourse upon doctrine. It is to help heal through the enabling of Jesus Christ's atonement. And I used to discount women, for they were all "feels" during sacrament meeting, whereas the men of my ward were "truly deep". I presupposed wrongly. I have noticed that many members, both men and women, want their crack and turn at being a "Sunday School" teacher on the pulpit; they want their moment as a pastor. These people, like myself miss the point of the sacrament: TO HEAL THROUGH THE SACRAMENT AND TO BE MOTIVATED THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE AND TESTIMONY OF THOSE ON THE PULPIT. So since then, I have taken notes for sacrament meeting, each and every Sunday to be my collage of weekly quotes of Christlike encouragement. Never in my life has the thought of potentially being excommunicated completely converted my whole soul unto Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. FROM the impending doom of the stake council had given me a panic induced seizure in the middle of a parking lot, TO the truest conception of "Daily Repentance": "Have Patience, and BARE with those afflictions with a firm HOPE that one day ye SHALL REST from your afflictions" ~Alma 34:41 (My conversion verse)

I love it! The grass is greener where you water it! Thanks for your story!!!

I just discovered this channel and am grateful that I did. Thank you so much for sharing your story Elizabeth. I too need to go through withdrawal of membership but have not worked up the courage to do so. I am married to a non member and pray that I gain the courage to go through this process with dignity and strength. Bless you Elizabeth for your testimony.❤

I love hearing someone with passion, talk about the gospel.

A lot of people (a lot) will benefit from this. I just sense this. Thank you.

Welcome back! I too am so grateful to be back myself❤

I thank our ETERNAL PARENT'S, for Sister ELIZABETH'S amazing testimony.

Excommunication is a do over. It means you’ve done something that is just too hard to clean up on our own. It is a gift. But we have to accept the gift and do everything over and then endure to the end.

Excellent. I was in the Bishopric when we felt the sad but loving prompting to excimmunicate one of my children. The member who has their membership withdrawn is not the only one who feels the surge of mixed emotions. Great video.

Thanks for your strength to share this experience. It helps to see that hard things can be accomplished.

Thank you, Elizabeth for what you say here. I found it very insperational. "The grass is greener where you water it. " Also, thank you for your testimony, and sharing your experiences. It is truly an example to others. Thank you to everyone on this youtube channel as well. This channel has helped inspire me so much.

Loved this! This was a powerful story. I love her authenticity, honesty, and just how real she is. I love that she shared all this. What an example for me of strength...♥️🙂

Heavenly Father, is always waiting for his children to return to him , with open arms! God is in the details of our lives, he knows us better than we do! As a ward missionary, this is so helpful to have a better understanding of people and the journey their on! 💜🕊🙏🏻✨️💜God truly loves all of his children!🎉We are all so blessed, ❤️ to have that unconditional love!

Oh my goodness this was absolutely BEAUTIFUL ❤️🤍😇🙏. I don't usually choke up during videos but I definitely felt this one 😢. Thanks so much for this very moving story

Elizabeth... you are awesome. So glad you covered that your baptism date on record is the same as your original baptism date. That is a very important key to emphasize. Thanks for your great example of returning to Christ's Church.

Thank you, Elizabeth. You have shown me a hope I was blinded to and couldn't see the blessing before my eyes and in my heart.

Returning to the full blessings is Awesome!

Ex-communication is a wonderful opportunity to figure out what you **truly** believe. Also it is a merciful end to covenant with God since one of the specific sins that is mentioned in scriptures that covenant-breakers shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It's suppose to be the most powerful tool the church has for change. Many people come back from excommunication. Proud of you Elizabeth!

Her decision to be meek is admirable. A righteous person is one who turns to the Lord no matter how far up the ladder he/she is.

When you have truly gone through the repentance process like this, your love for the Saviour is greater than you ever thought possible, and the peace you feel is incredible. Because you have felt the extremes of both sides.

I feel the same way about guilt. It is a teaching tool; it helps us. The secular world wants to tell us we should never feel guilty it seems. That can be comforting but in the same stroke it does not feel healthy.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and testimony of accountability, repentance, and restoration. We all can benefit from your sharing. Thank you and keep that fire. Your humble example can be a strength to so many.

My dad was excommunicated. I watched this because I was curious what someone who went through this and what it felt like, and it is also encouraging that Elizabeth worked through repentance and chose to return as a member of the Church. I wonder if it felt fulfilling to be excommunicated because she escaped the difficult marriage she felt trapped in? My dad's excommunication I don't fully understand as I was very young. I know it has really impacted me and a lot of thoughts and questions I have for my eternal family. In my family's case, it did impact the temple sealing, also, so it really sometimes get me in a lot of questions if I let it. I will say though it may seem softer that we call it withdrawal of membership, it isn't really a softer thought to me. That is probably because I had a son who was on life support and doctors convinced us it was time to remove the machines. So he passed away and it has been tough. Then six years later I had a daughter on life support. Now the medical community changed the language from “remove life support” to “withdrawing support.” She also died, and afterward we had so much less support from family, friends, congregation… and it has been much more distressing to work through. So when I hear the new language for withdrawing membership, it sounds more like a negative. But it probably is more because of my own experiences? I would like to have heard more how her children got through this, and if the children were from the marriage that ended, how it feels for them. I imagine they may have a lot of feelings of uncertainty for eternity, in ways I have had to explore or leave alone. Maybe, again, it is just from my own experience. As far as I know, my dad hasn't reconsidered returning to the Church. So I am glad Elizabeth's choices can perhaps help her family see more trust in Heavenly Father and His plan of Happiness, and in the Savior and His power and Atonement.

Leaving the lds church was the best gift I was ever given, I found Community of Christ (RLDS) church, and had a personal encounter with my Redeemer Jesus Christ. I felt shame and ended up selfharming as a lds, it was toxic for me. I would never go back, i respect my lds friends, but for me Christ called me to Community of Christ.

Bless you for this! So tired of seeing videos about how someone finally left the church. I was disfellowshipped twice and came back so strong. Again bless you

❤❤❤ Love u sister , u just make me emotional listening to your uplifted testimony , I love you all sisters thanks for sharing , love yous from New Zealand

I served as a bishop and it is so intimidating to think how my handling of a situation and having the spirit could have such an affect on a person’s life for good or bad. So grateful for Elizabeth’s story and the good men that followed the spirit even though they wanted a different answer. Grateful for my time as a Bishop and I hope I was an influence for good in someone’s life like they were for Elizabeth. She is so impressive in her acceptance of consequences. People like to blame others but she came to the right conclusions. Props to her and may she be blessed forever with peace. Cheers

This was lovely. I love Elizabeth's passionate pleas and that she has such a story of renewal to share with us.

God loves re-verts! 🙏

Wow. Girl's got guts! ❤. Thanks for having the courage to share your story! 👍😉❤️

Cried all the way thru this! Thank you for sharing!

She's really brave to tell her story

there was this 80-year-old man that was EXed 40+ years earlier who was literally dancing around after his re baptism/ confirmation. He looked like a kid at Christmas who opened up the best gift in the world!!

Thank you for sharing your comeback story we all commit mistake at some point in our lives and grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ everything was made possible even repentance to go back in the right track❤

I felt the spirit. TY Ladies. I'm so grateful to become a member. 😢

I really enjoyed this testimony. Thank you for sharing. It is so easy to see and feel the fruits of the spirit overflowing from this wonderful woman. It is through fully repenting of my own mistakes that I have felt the same peace, joy, optimism, and enthusiasm. Christ's power to change hearts is real!

There is always a way back...thanks for sharing sister Liz...

I've been disfellowshipped before. It was kinda funny, I totally knew that was going to happen. It was almost like they didn't even need to have a meeting about it. "Nope, I know what I did was wrong, I'll disfellowship myself!" But they have to go through the process.

This reminds me to Nelson's words "daily repentence" ♥ Thank you for telling your story, Elizabeth, God bless you and your family♥

If we were "enough," then we wouldn't need a Savior on whose merits we must rely wholly. We need Christ because we are not enough.

I love her courage and faith to come back! I also like how she realizes the membership withdrawal is all about the Lord’s love for her.

I am so impressed with you. You and your story blessed my life. Thank you for your honesty and bravery in telling your story.

So good! Everyone needs to hear this

This was so good! It was perfect! Elizabth is a fireball! (in a good way) I love, too, how the term has been changed from "excommunication" to "withdrawal of membership". Because of course we still want to communicate! I loved everything she said. Wow.

excommunication is a good thing, it is the only way to start a new and have a second chance to be washed in the blood of our savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ.

such a sad terrible story- so sorry to hear it all. God bless you for sharing your story!

What an amazing learning journey you’re on! God knows you and knows how you learn best. And that’s because He loves you more than anyone. Keep doing great things in life!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful story! What an incredible testimony and life experience of Christ's love! I have had a negative perspective of excommunication (withdrawal) even though logically I knew it wasn't terrible. But it was always a mystery so I didn't know how to feel about it. Thank you for revealing what the experience is like and I love how you called it a time out! I feel like that makes so much sense. You are incredible! And thank you to those who created this channel! I can't wait to go watch more videos.

Wow what an amazing woman! I needed to hear this today.

Feeling grateful Elizabeth was willing to share so honestly her journey. It was beautiful. ❤

Thank you for sharing it was very selfless of you. I had been so close to being excommunicated many times. I now hold a position in the high council and a temple recommend. Your story really helped me understand how important this process is. Thank you

We love you Elizabeth!

Thanks so much for sharing! Being a missionary is a baby step beginning to learning the gospel. I loved hearing the wisdom you have learned, thanks again for sharing your journey!💕🙏🏻

Wow I really needed to here this.

This is so great. It is giving me insight into what my dad is doing now.

I remember years back listening to the testimony of a former member and she too mentioned how real the loss of the Gift of the Holy Ghost was and how keenly she missed it. She still isn't back though 😢

This interview is great. I learned a lot. She's great.

Welcome back sister. And God bless you.

Thank you for sharing such a personal and vulnerable and important story. Reviewing your own personal membership record can be a very powerful experience. Again, thank you!

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I was so touched by it. I felt The Spirit testify to me the beautiful power of repentance and the Atonement as you spoke.

I was excommunicated 26 years ago. To get back in, do you have to go before one person or a whole group of people? Would a whole group of people have to hear about my issues? I don't want a whole group of people hearing about my issues and personal business. I don't want a group of people reading the record of my excommunication trial.

In October 2022, I had my name removed from the church without telling anyone because I just wanted to see if I would feel anything different. I never felt a loss of the spirit or any feelings of sadness about it. I continued wearing my garments, partaking the sacrament, participating in Sunday school, and I even gave my mother a blessing when she went in for surgery to have her kidney removed. No one knew that I was no longer a member of the church, not even my wife or kids. However, my wife did notice I wasn't on the ward directory anymore. The only people I am aware that knew were my bishop and stake president. I still felt the spirit as I always have and even had some great spiritual moments. In February of this year, my wife wanted us to go to the temple with some friends, and so I went into the Bishops office and had my membership reinstated within a few days. Of course, I had to submit a letter to prevent re-baptism. However, everything was restored, but again, I never felt any different, so what does that mean?

Thanks for sharing!!!!!

Powerful testimony sister 🔥 genuine repentance is essential to accessing the atonement 🙏🏼

Repentance is a wonderful and true principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The world would like to deny their is a god or believe in one that doesn’t require repentance.

Thank you for sharing sister. May you continue to strive to stay on the covenant path and endure to the end.

Thank you for sharing : )

So wonderful!😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏

Amen! Awesome