Enabling Power of the Atonement of Christ

As I was reading an article I come across this quote:

“We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments. We knew also that after a period of life we would die.” -President Spencer W. Kimball 

Did I really agree to go through the trial of losing my brother? Yes, I did. And in the moments I think I didn't I remind myself of the choice I made to follow God's plan to come here to earth and go through things that will test my faith, cause me sorrow but also things that will bring me joy and strengthen my faith.

Has this trial of losing my brother tested my faith or caused me sorrow? Yes, quite a bit.

Has it brought me joy? Yes, because as I remember the good memories I had with him, and that I will see him again it brings joy to my heart.

Has it strengthened my faith? Yes, in fact it has.

How, well the answer is through the enabling power of the Atonement of Christ. Now what exactly is that? "The enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own." Can I just say how much I have learned that I need to depend upon the enabling power of the Atonement daily. Usually my harder days come because I stop relying on the Atonement and try to use my own strength. 

"As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who "act" rather than objects that are "acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14). -President Bednar

I've heard some people say time heals all wounds. I don't know if thats true or not, but I do know that we can have strength from the Lord as we humble ourselves and pray diligently for strength instead of a change in our circumstances. I know that the enabling power of the Atonement will give us the strength to endure to the end and return back to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our families.

I do believe that the bad days I still have, when I wish my brother would of never died, and I just want to give up that those days in time will be come less and less as I learn to depend upon the enabling power of the Atonement daily.

36 Years of Happiness



"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."-Matthew 16:19



36 years ago today, my mom and dad were married in the Manti, Utah temple for time and ALL ETERNITY. They were sealed together as husband and wife for the time here on earth, but also for eternity.

I am so grateful for that my parents made the decision 36 years ago to marry in God's temple and be sealed for eternity so that our family can be together for eternity. The knowledge of being sealed as a family for eternity is what brings me comfort in knowing we all will be together with my brother again. I love my parents very much, and I am very grateful for their example of following Jesus Christ in all that they do.

I love my family!

Enabling Power of the Atonement

The other day in a missionary meeting we sang a song called Lord, I would follow thee. There was one particular phrase that stood out to me.

  "Finding strength beyond my own." 

I couldn't help but think about my brother and the strength I have to deal with his death. Lets go back to the beginning. At first I think I was just on an adrenaline rush and I couldn't sit still because the moment I did I would think about it. There was a point about a month after it happened that I started struggling with it. During a period of about 3 months I tried to go through it on my own, so in some ways I turned away from God and I didn't find that strength. I wanted it to just go away, I didn't know why it had to happen to me and I didn't think it was fair. If I did pray, I prayed for my struggles to just go away, for it to not really be true. It didn't work. It wasn't until someone confronted me and called me out on my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that I realized that they didn't leave me, but I left them.

I started changing what I was doing, so that I could feel God and Jesus Christ back in my life. My prayers changed, they were more sincere and I realized that just because my brother died and everything else that was going on, didn't mean God didn't love me. In fact it showed God's love for me. He knew I could handle it and that I would learn a lot from these challenges. And this is what I learned.

"O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people." -Alma 31:31

Alma didn't pray for His afflictions to go away, but instead prayed for strength to deal with His afflictions. I started to pray for the strength to go through what I was going through, and miraculously my life changed drastically. As I access the enabling power of the Atonement, my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ starting growing and becoming stronger and stronger. I started feeling happier and feeling the joy that comes from following Christ. There are days that I know I wouldn't make it through without the strength of Christ. 

"..and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ..." -Alma 31:38

I know that we all can experience the enabling power of the Atonement, and receive strength to deal with the afflictions that can help us become the people that our Heavenly Father knows we can be. I encourage all to find strength beyond your own! I can promise as you do, you will feel the enabling power of the Atonement and feel the love that your Heavenly Father and Savior have for you. 

God is in all

"If the body’s capacity for normal function, defense, repair, regulation, and regeneration were to prevail without limit, life here would continue in perpetuity. Yes, we would be stranded here on earth! Mercifully for us, our Creator provided for aging and other processes that would ultimately result in our physical death. Death, like birth, is part of life. Scripture teaches that “it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness.”20 To return to God through the gateway we call death is a joy for those who love Him and are prepared to meet Him.21 Eventually the time will come when each “spirit and … body shall be reunited again in … perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame,”22 never to be separated again. For these physical gifts, thanks be to God!" - RUSSELL M. NELSON 

The words that stand out to me are "death is a joy." I don't always feel like my brother dying is a joy, but at the times that I am trusting in God, leaning on my Savior, I am comforted by the Holy Ghost to know that my brother is in a much better place. I know I will see my brother again. I can testify that death can be a joy, it all just depends on how we look at it. I know that as we learn of Heavenly Father's plan we can all experience and know the joy that comes from death.

Faith in Jesus Christ

Well I know I haven't wrote anything in awhile, but today is 7 months since my brother has passed away. And since yesterday was Easter, I thought I might say something. Jesus Christ died and he was resurrected. He lives and has made it possible for all of us to live again. Through Jesus Christ we can return back to live with our Heavenly Father and be with our families forever! I know this to be true and it has been a great comfort to me. Through Christ we can be strengthened and make it through anything!