My Saving Grace...

Editors Note: I've been preparing a lesson for Relief Society this week on the Atonement. It has been a great week because I have been able to constantly focus on the Savior which, sadly enough, doesn't happen as regularly as it should. But as I have been focusing so much of my time on this topic this week, it has given me many opportunities to think about my life and how the Atonement plays a role in it. I've decided to put some of those thoughts to paper and I hope nobody minds if I share them here now.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that there is a Heavenly Father who loves me. It is impossible for my mortal mind to comprehend the magnitude of His love. He sent each of us to this earth to be tested and tried and I'm sure, just as with any loving parent, it breaks His heart to see us stray from the path He is on. But no matter the trials, challenges or events that take place in our lives that lead us down a different path, I take comfort in knowing that He still loves us more than anything and that He will never give up on us. He wants more than anything for us to return to Him again. But is that even possible? We are imperfect mortals who sin and make mistakes and we know from the scriptures that "no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God". So in knowing that, is there any hope for us? Is there any hope that we can someday return to our Father in Heaven?

I believe there is. I believe that our loving Heavenly Father did, in fact, prepare a way. He provided a Savior to come to this earth and atone for our sins. What exactly does that mean? It means that Christ made it possible for us to be able to repent and be reconciled with God, and as long as we do repent and keep His commandments, we can return home.

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, for without whom, I would be subject to "eternal misery and endless woe". And in all seriousness, what kind of a life would that be? It is hard for me to also comprehend the full magnitude of His suffering. He was a perfect man. He was the only perfect man to ever walk the earth. Yet he was ridiculed and mocked; he was beaten and scourged; he was spat upon; he was given a crown of thorns. He bled from every pore and suffered excruciating pain for each of us in the Garden of Gethsemane - all before He had to carry his own cross to the top of the hill and be nailed to it.

I often stare at my hands, wondering how it must feel to have nails driven into my palms and wrists. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and agony He endured. And for what? Was it all for nothing? I don't believe it was. He did this for us - for every single person who has lived and who will ever live on the face of this earth! He had the power to overcome death but He knew that we did not. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

I am so grateful for this truth. Living a Christ-centered life in this world is not easy and it's not expected to be. We may be mocked and ridiculed just as Christ himself was when He lived upon the earth, but I know, and I know with a certainty, that following Him will be worth it. I will always be grateful for His atoning sacrifice. For it is only through Him that I can return to my Father in Heaven. And I really want to see my Father again - just as much as I'm sure He wants to see me.