I Give Unto Men Weakness

Almost two years ago I wrote a post about grace and the enabling power of the Atonement. I based a lot of my thoughts on a talk by Elder Bednar called In the Strength of the Lord. Over the last few months I've had an opportunity to reflect again on grace and this strengthening power the Atonement can provide. I've been thinking and wondering how we can qualify for this blessing in our lives. This well known scripture in Ether came to mind:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

How many times have you said to yourself "I'm not strong enough to do this"? I know I've said it many times. What I've come to learn is that is exactly right. We are not strong enough to do this. Each of us is miserably imperfect and flawed. Without the opportunity to repent of our sins, we would all fall short of being reunited with our heavenly home. But, as I mentioned before, forsaking our sins to the Atonement is only the beginning. President David O. McKay said,

Being able to repent of our sins is the first part, "making bad men good", but the next part of the Atonement, grace, which is the enabling power of the Atonement, is what is needed to make good men better.

So what is grace or the enabling power of the Atonement? I believe it has many names, shapes and definitions. But it is always accompanied by the "peace which passeth all understanding". We qualify for this power in our lives after we have done all we can do. We must repent and return unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. We must be obedient to God's commandments and seek to understand His will and direction for our lives. And then we must choose that Heavenly Father's direction and will for us is the most important thing. Period. I would suggest that when we find ourselves lacking strength or feeling as if we are sinking or drowning, we must look inside and ask ourselves what we are holding back from the Lord. Elder Holland has said:

"We must be willing to place all that we have, not just our possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but also our ambition, and pride, and stubbornness, and vanity. We must place it all on the altar of God, kneel there in silent submission, and willingly walk away."

I have often found when I feel I can't keep going it is because I have taken something off the altar and am trying to hold onto it. Or I am trying to find more strength inside me. This could be a desire, a stubbornness or even just wanting understanding for direction I've received before I am willing to act on that direction. When we are going through the refining fire we are taken to the end of our strength. If we tell ourselves, I'm not strong enough for this, we will fail every time. Because we aren't strong enough for it, only the Atonement is. We, however, will always be strong enough to say that we know Heavenly Father loves His children, and to choose His ways and will. Then will the angels rush to our aid and go before our face and be on our right and on our left to bear us up. If we come unto Him in our weakness, the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement will activate in our lives and help us to be better.

In closing I would like to share one of my favorite quotes from Sister Okazaki,

"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 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.

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’s 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 visitors are children, 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."

As we remember that our Savior suffered for us that He might be able to succor us, we will begin to achieve the humility required for our weakness to be turned to strength. Which strength comes through grace and the enabling power of the Atonement. Our Savior chose to come here that He might know how to succor us according to the flesh.

Cry unto the Lord, place all that you have on the altar recognizing that His ways are higher than our ways. He will never forsake us. He will never forget us. He will strengthen us, help us and cause us to stand, upheld by His righteous omnipotent hand. I testify these things are true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

All my love,

~Taryn