Service and the Atonement, part 1

When David died (sometimes that is still not real to me) - I suddenly found myself questioning my testimony of God's Plan of Happiness. The Atonement is something I've been taught from a very young age, and I thought I understood it. I knew I needed a Savior - my human weaknesses and my sins would never allow me back to heaven without His Gift. That part still made sense to me - but this new experience of extreme grief and sorrow is what I didn't understand. How was the Atonement suppose to help me overcome these horrible feelings? Was it really possible for me to be able to turn that grief over to Him and expect to be healed? How could that happen?

Not only did I have to have the faith that this would happen to me, but that it would also be given to others who were suffering as I was or even worse -- Cris, my parents, Dave's kids, my siblings, and all of you. I didn't know if I could do it. I had so many questions, so many thoughts of "if only..." or "why him?". In a single weekend, our lives were turned upside down and we were suddenly required to call upon our foundation of faith.

We were so blessed to have been given many testimony building moments in that week and the weeks that followed. We are still being given opportunities to be blessed because of this event if we are mindful of them. During that time, I decided I would go on a quest - a quest to help my imperfect mind be "settled" of these obsessing thoughts that kept coming to me. As strong as I thought my testimony of the gospel was, it was a turning point for me. I could either hold strong to the building blocks that had been given to me over the years and learn more, or I could throw them all down the gutter and turn my back on them. Well of course the second option wasn't really an option for me. So I had no other choice but to learn more.

My first item of business was the scriptures. Instead of casually reading a few verses before bed 2 or 3 times a week, I became a true student. An hour a day was the average and I had a little journal to make notes in. The second step was going to Deseret Book to find other writings that would help me. I bought several books those first few months and read them all very quickly. One of the first was this book...I Need Thee Every Hour, Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life.

This book talks about applying the Atonement in various aspects: Service and the Atonement, Scripture Study and the Atonement, Despair and the Atonement, Chastity and the Atonement, Death and the Atonement, Undeserved Suffering and the Atonement, Good Times and the Atonement, Prayer and the Atonement, the Fall and the Atonement. He also has a section in the back where he gives resources to study more on your own: Missionary Work and the Atonement, Marriage and the Atonement, Hope and the Atonement, you get the picture....

The reason I bring this all up (I'm the queen of making short stories loooooong), is because of that first chapter in the book: Service and the Atonement. I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting last week on the topic of Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching and used this book/chapter as my main reference. Of course I couldn't speak about how the Atonement has changed my life - especially recently - unless I told them about David. So I told them about David and how I went on my quest and then I tied it into how SERVICE is the way we show our Savior and Father in Heaven how grateful we are for His Gift. And now I am here to tell you that SERVICE is also the way we can show David (and our Father in Heaven) how grateful we are for having known him and how thankful we are to him for his fine example in our lives.

Continue reading on Part 2 for more details on what that lesson is. And if you are still with me you can read Part 3 on our "Service/Honor Projects" for David where I'll try to give you ideas you can do if you are still trying to think of something.

Love, Liz