Grace

Sometimes you have wonderful days, the sun shines, the flowers sing and all the pictures the clouds are making are pretty ones.  Other days it feels like the weight of the world is pressing down on you and you wonder when the final blow is going to come and everything is going to come crashing down. 

What makes the difference between these two days?  And how is it possible for a day when you feel like giving up be the most perfect day ever for someone else? 

I don't have the perfect answer for everyone and even in my own life, I sometimes find myself in a rut that came on without my permission.  I have found one common thread, I usually find myself at my lowest when I allow my mind to dwell on the things I don't have answers for and allow the blessings and promises of the Lord to be forgotten. 

I read a talk by Elder Bednar called In the Strength of the Lord, If you have a little time I would recommend reading it.  It's really helped me understand the way we should be praying and the way the Lord is willing to send His help to each of us.  In his talk, Elder Bednar teaches us about Grace.

"The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.… It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts” (p. 697, Bible Dictionary)."

"Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity. I testify and witness that the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement is real. Without that strengthening power of the Atonement, I could not stand before you this morning."

We all know that the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ enables us to repent and be forgiven of our sins.  But we don't realize or remember that through the Atonement we also receive divine help and strength to do the good work the Lord has for us to do.  This strength can help us be better wives, mothers, friends, employees and even better members of the church.

I remember being taught in Seminary that we are saved by Grace after all we can do.  I remember a drawing going up on the board which showed a line where we needed to be and a line where we actually ended up, far below where we were supposed to be.  Grace, our teacher told us, is what makes up the difference.  So in my young mind I thought that we did the best we could throughout our lives and when we got to Heaven grace would make up where we fell short.  But that's not entirely true.  Grace is something we are expected to seek after on a daily basis.  We are saved by grace after all we can do, but it's through a daily application of grace that we are saved.  It's by constantly being stretched and pulled farther than we thought we could go.

I testify that bad days will come, but the enabling power of the Atonement will be there to help give us strength we can't find in ourselves.  I know that Heavenly Father and our Savior love us.  More than we have power to understand or comprehend.  They want to help us, but it must be our choice to go to them.  I'm grateful for the enabling power of the Atonement and for the Grace that I receive to help me do the work the Lord has for me to do.  I know the church is true, I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we truly can get closer to the Lord by abiding by it's precepts than any other book.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.