On Sunday we had a lesson on how the Atonement can help us during our trials. Here are a few of the quotes I shared in the lesson...
The Atonement is an Individual Experience - Chieko N. Okazaki
Well, my dear sisters, the gospel is the good news that can free us from
guilt. We know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence
in Gethsemane. It's our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely
everything. Sometimes we don't think through the implications of that
belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind,
about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don't experience
pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means he knows
what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your
mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the
student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and
the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from
Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He
experienced Napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and
alcoholism.
Let me go further. There is nothing you have experienced as a woman that
he does not also know and recognize. On a profound level, he
understands the hunger to hold your baby that sustains you through
pregnancy. He understands both the physical pain of giving birth and the
immense joy. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He
understands about rape and infertility and abortion. His last recorded
words to his disciples were, "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20) He understands your mother-pain
when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on
your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has
Down syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter
sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your
thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old.
He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment
where the only children are visitors, when you hear that your former
husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your
fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead
for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. He's been lower than
all that. He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't
need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is
the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not
embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our
brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief."
(Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up, Preface, p. 174)
That whole quote was a great reminder to me of how I need turn to the Lord more fully. I LOVE the last part of the quote! I sometimes feel like I have to be perfect in order for the Lord to help me. I need to remember that He is there for me in my weakest moment and is just waiting to strengthen me in my time of need.
I asked everyone to write down some burdens or trails that they are facing right now. Then to write down how you can turn to the Lord to help you in your struggles. I hope you all are working on that. I know that as we ask for the Lords help He will bring us the peace and strength that we seek.
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