Because of the season coming up, Christ has been a focal point for me the last few weeks. While following the study program I talked about earlier, I started reading about Christ and the sacrifices he made for us. While I was doing this, I remembered one of my favorite scriptures and a quote that goes along with them. The scripture is Alma 7: 11-12. This scripture talks about what the Atonement is and what was done for us. The quote does the same, but I think it brings to light a few things that we could sometimes forget. Bruce C. Hafen once said, " Some Church members feel weighed down with discouragement about the circumstances of their personal lives, even when they are making sustained and admirable efforts. Frequently, these feelings of self-disappointment come not from wrongdoing, but from stresses and troubles for which we may not be fully to blame. The Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to these experiences because it applies to all of life. The Savior can wipe away all of our tears, after all we can do... The Savior’s atonement is thus portrayed as the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners." I think that in our normal everyday lives we sometimes forget that the Atonement is for all of us. It does not matter what we do wrong, and we do not even have to do anything wrong to make it have effect in our lives. All of our stresses, troubles, discouragements, inadequacies, and unfortunate circumstances were suffered for. Christ has already paid the price for them. All we have to do is follow Christ's example and endure to the end.
To read the full article you can go to: http://lds.org/ensign/1990/04/beauty-for-ashes-the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng
