My Savior and His Atonement

I guess that seems like two things for which to be grateful today, but I don't think I could separate them.  He is who He is because of what He did for me.  For you.  For everyone.

So to not make this "grateful" among my first was a conscious decision.  Not because I am not grateful beyond words for both my Savior and His Atonement, but because it is an obvious one to me, and one I planned to set aside for those days where I may feel blah and have a hard time thinking of something.

But as I sat in Relief Society today and heard the teacher say something like, "Even if you feel like you have nothing else to be grateful for in your prayers, be grateful for the Atonement," it actually hit me really hard: Why haven't I taken a day to express my gratitude for this?  Is this not one of the most important parts of my life -- if not THE most important?

I am not saying I don't have a lot for which to be grateful.  I've barely scratched the surface in the three weeks I've been doing this.  But my Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Atonement He performed are of utmost importance to me.  They influence all other aspects of my life.

It is because of the Atonement that I can be forgiven.  That I have been forgiven.  I have made probably a million (or more) mistakes in my life.  Some small.  But some quite large.  And it is because of the Savior and His Atonement that I have been able to repent of those things and be forgiven.  I have been able to feel the weight of guilt lifted from my shoulders.  I know what it feels like to let go of a burden of sin.

It is because of the Atonement that I can be healed.  I have had heart-ache in my life.  I have had moments of extreme devastation.  Moments I felt so broken I didn't believe anything could heal me.  But as I learned to rely on my Savior and His Atonement, I felt the healing power of that sacred act.  I know what it feels like when broken things are mended.

It is because of the Atonement that I can do hard things.  I believe in the enabling power of the Atonement.  I believe that, when something feels like too much for me to bear, I can turn to my Savior for help.  That through His grace and through His Atonement, I will receive the help and strength I need to have.  I know what it feels like to have strength beyond my own to persevere when life is hard.

Through His Atonement, my Savior has offered me all of these things.  But He offers me so much more as well.  He offers me an example of what kind of person I want to be.  He offers me His love -- a love I don't completely comprehend.  He offers me hope.  

And, because I remembered something I wrote many years ago that seems so appropriate to this post, I will include it here:

And, because it is Easter, I feel like I should share something much deeper than the mundane details (and faux pas) of my daily life. So, as I was driving home from Brad's, a memory popped into my head about an insight I gained once. It had more to do with the Savior's Atonement than His Resurrection, but as those two things are kind of tightly intertwined, I feel that this is applicable. I can remember very vividly walking around FoodMaxx in Tuscaloosa the day before I was to head to Dothan for Thanksgiving in 2006. I'd been in Tuscaloosa for about 3 weeks at that point -- and I was so very alone. So, so very alone. It had been almost 6 months since my divorce -- a wound that was still very, very fresh. And I was in such emotional anguish. I can remember walking down the frozen aisle -- not even sure why I was there at this point -- and thinking, "I feel like I can barely hold up under the emotional pain and anguish I'm feeling right now. How did the Savior bear every single pain, sorrow, grief, sickness, and sin of not only me, but of the world? How could He stand it? I cannot even begin to fathom that, because I can barely hold up under this small bit of right now -- nevermind my past and my future." It remains one of the most poignant moments of my life -- that realization of just what my Savior did for me. "Surely He has borne [my] griefs and carried [my] sorrows." And though I cannot fully understand how He was able to do it -- nor need I understand -- I know that He did. And He did it, because He loved me. And because He loved every single person who ever has been and ever will be born. And He did it so that we could return to be with our Heavenly Father. And He was allowed to feel that anguish -- mine, as well as yours, so that he would "know... how to succor his people." Through His Atonement, He broke the bands of spiritual and physical death. And I have every reason to know I am forever blessed because of it.  

He is my Savior.  And yours.  And I am so grateful for Him and all He has done for me.

What are you grateful for today?