I recently gave my homecoming talk at church. I will include it here so you can read it if you desire.
Lynette's Sacrament
Meeting Homecoming Talk
May 27, 2012
The Atonement is a principle of power. It encompasses the power to relieve us from
sin and the power "to make good men better" (President David O. McKay
Conference Report, Apr. 1954, 26). In
other words, as Elder Bednar explains in the April Ensign ("In the Strength of the Lord" BYU Discourse, Oct.
2001), "The Atonement includes redeeming and enabling powers" (italics added).
Feeling the enabling power of the Atonement was very special
to me during my mission. I testify that
I frequently felt a fortifying power. The
interesting thing is that I did not recognize that this power came from the
Atonement. About a month after finishing
my mission, I wrote in my journal, "Many times I've felt like my testimony
of the Atonement didn't grow as much as I'd hoped it would during the
mission. Tonight I've been reading a
talk that Elder Bednar gave at BYU in 2001.
He says, 'I wonder if we mistakenly believe that we must make the
journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves through grit,
willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities...The
enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do good and serve beyond our
own natural desires and natural capacity.'
I believe that I served beyond my own natural capacity and desire during
my mission. That means that I was
experiencing the Atonement in my life. I
just didn't recognize it."
In life we have a journey with two phases. The first phase is overcoming sin. We commonly recognize the Atonement's
application to this phase. The second
phase in life's journey is to "go from...good to better." Before and during my mission, I never realized
how the Atonement applies to the second phase of life. I am coming to understand now how the
Atonement can empower me to become more than I could ever be by relying solely
on myself.
I cannot do it by
myself
At my year mark in the mission, I was in a fun area called
Puerto Maldonado. Puerto Maldonado is
located in the jungle, and it is very hot there. Without meaning to, I attempted for a few
months to be a shining missionary through sheer grit, discipline, and
sweat. At that time I was the senior
companion and my companion and I would work until 9:30pm almost every
night. Sometimes we would walk ourselves
to death in the sun and we would skip dinner.
Quite honestly, I would even feel frustrated at times because I thought
my companion was not walking fast enough.
In my mind I thought, I can become a better missionary if I just work
hard. I know that I can do that, I can
work.
The question is if my companion and I had a lot of success
during that marathon time. The simple
answer is no. We finished our time
together having helped fewer people than we'd hoped and we were exhausted both
physically and emotionally.
My experience with my subsequent companion was quite
different. She was outspoken and refused
to go along with some of my intense plans.
After stressing about all the work I thought we should do as part of
becoming better missionaries, she would simply respond, "Trust God." My companion repeated this to me over and
over again. I finally realized after
some time that I was trying to "make the journey from good to
better...through sheer...willpower...and with [my] obviously limited
capacities."
With the encouragement of my companion, I began changing my
perspective. I focused on sharing my
goals with the Lord. I began to offer
humble prayers with recognition that I needed to Atonement to become the
missionary I dreamed of being.
The main message from this experience is simple. We need to recognize that changing our human
nature requires the Atonement. We cannot
do it all by ourselves. God only expects
us to seek perfection through the enabling power of the Atonement.
Applying the
Atonement
Once we understand that changing our nature depends on the
Atonement, we need to find our way of bringing that enabling power into our
lives.
The first step to do that is increasing our faith in
Christ. What kind of faith do I refer
to? Let me share an example from my life
to illustrate this point. One of my
lifelong weaknesses is having quality scripture study. It is a weakness that tries to trip me even
after my mission. The faith that I refer to is the faith that believes Christ
really cares about this weakness of mine.
He is interested in my progress.
He and my Heavenly Father believe in me that one day this weakness can
become one of my biggest strengths.
After we work to trust that our Savior wants to help us in our righteous desires, we can begin to call the
Atonement into our lives daily. We can
do that through better scripture study, prayer, temple attendance, fasting, and
other activities.
One of my favorite mission experiences relating with prayer
and the Atonement comes from my first day in the mission field. The day I arrived in Cusco ,
we new missionaries were taken to our mission president's home and, later, to a
mission transfer meeting to meet our companions. Several things became quickly apparent to me
during those activities. First, I saw
few North American sisters. Second, the
chapel was freezing, and, third, everyone was speaking Spanish. During the transfer meeting, we new missionaries
sat in the front and looked at the missionaries. The biggest knot I've ever had formed in my
stomach. I became truly scared. The only reason I did not cry was because I
was in front of everyone. At that
moment, I began to pray. I prayed that I
would be able to feel my Heavenly Father holding my hand. With great compassion, my Heavenly Father
held my hand. That is the reason why I
am here today speaking. I vividly
remember walking off the stand to greet my companion with my mind concentrated
on my hand. My Father's hand was not
there literally, but it was tangible enough for me. Without that, I would not have been able to
walk off of the stand. That experience
is evidence for me that the Atonement enables us to do things we cannot do
alone. The tool for me to call for it in
that moment was sincere prayer.
Before I continue, I briefly want to recap how we can bring
the Atonement's enabling power into our lives.
If we remember, the first step is developing faith in Jesus Christ. The second step is improving our daily
actions that show that we desire that power.
Another key element to receiving strength from the Atonement
is exercising patience. Mosiah chapter
24 contains an excellent example of the Atonement strengthening Alma and his
brethren. Their burdens from Amulon were
made light. Verses 15-16 stand out to me
as they say, "Yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up
their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the
Lord. And it came to pass that so great
was their faith and their patience
that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort,
for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage" (italics added). I believe that the Lord desires that we be
patient while the enabling powers of the Atonement are working in our
lives. The Atonement and patience walk
hand in hand.
Isaiah 55:8 can help us to keep our perspective if it feels
difficult to be patient. We learn,
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neighter are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord."
Blessings of the
Atonement's enabling power
The scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, are filled
with examples of the blessings people received through the enabling power of
the Atonement. These blessings are still
available to us today. Elder Bednar says
that through faith in the atonement and the grace of the Lord, "individuals...receive
strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able
to maintain if left to their own means."
I testify that these words are true.
In an additional journal entry after my mission, I recorded,
"I'm reflecting more and I truly believe that my mission experience was
all about learning of the Atonement. I
didn't realize that I was learning about the Atonement because God was teaching
me in personal ways. I didn't learn from
books, but I did learn from daily experience that the Atonement has enabling
powers. Only God and the powers of the
Atonement could have given me the strength to go on each day when I felt
tired. The enabling power of the
Atonement helped me to almost always have a smile on my face. The enabling power of the Atonement helped me
keep going when I got sick. Those are
example of how the Atonement applied in my
life...I'm grateful that my lessons on the Atonement were personalized for
me by God. I'm grateful that I could
learn about the Atonement through real experiences."
Brothers and sisters, I would like to share with you why I have talked about the Atonement
today. The first chapter of Preach My Gospel explains, "As your
understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the
gospel will increase" (page 2). If
we truly understand the Atonement, we will want to share the gospel with others. I pray that each of us might let our
understanding and appreciation for the Atonement grow within us. If we let this happen, a desire can form to
share the gospel. Sometimes this desire
can be small, that's how it started for me, and I think that is okay. Alma
I testify that feeling the Atonement in our lives is the key
for sparking a desire in us to share the gospel.
Testimony...In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
