Day 104

     Okay, so you know how I said Katie loves going to nursery, because she missed it so much, when she was too sick to go?  Well, it is the same way with walking!  I think she missed walking so much, that she loves it now!  Whenever we go somewhere - anywhere - Katie wants to walk, not ride in a cart, not ride in a stroller, not be carried.  She wants to walk!  That girl will go, go, go, until she just can't go anymore.  We are constantly amazed at her strength and strong will!

    Have you ever had a day(s) when you feel like you have fallen short?  Well, that is how I felt yesterday.  By the end of the day (well, even by the middle of the day) I felt like I had fallen short - in everything.  I wasn't how I wanted to be, things didn't go how I wanted them to go, nothing was how I thought it should be.  Frustrating and disheartening....But then last night, for Family Home Evening, (in a "what can I teach for FHE" hurry and grab something moment) I grabbed my BYU Magazine.  A couple of weeks ago I had started reading an article by Brad Wilcox, titled, "His Grace is Sufficient."  I had gotten sidetracked and had never gotten back to finishing the article - but knew I wanted too - so FHE last night was my chance to "finish" it and to share it with my family.  I think it is one of the best talks on Grace I  have ever read!  Here is a (long) exerpt.  (Sorry for the length and how it is narrow, I copied and pasted - I hope that is legal - someone tell me if it isn't !)  Anyway....here it is:

 "Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The great

Mediator asks for our repentance not because

we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying

our debt to justice, but because repentance

initiates a developmental process that, with

the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a

saintly character” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake

City: Deseret Book, 1989], 149;
 Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, referring to

President Spencer W. Kimball’s explanation,

“The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins,

but this suffering has a different purpose than

punishment or payment. Its purpose is

change" (The Lord's Way, Salt Lake City

1991], 223;).

...I have born-again Christian friends who say

to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your

way to heaven.”

 I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We

are learning heaven.  We are preparing for it

(see D &C 78:7). We are practicing for it.”

 They ask me, “Have you been saved by

grace?”

 I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely,

thankfully—yes!”

 Then I ask them a question that perhaps

they have not fully considered: “Have you

been changed by grace?"  They are so excited

about being saved that maybe they are not

thinking enough about what comes next. They

are so happy the debt is paid that they may

not have considered why the debt existed in

the first place. Latter-day Saints know not only

what Jesus has saved us from but also what He

has saved us for. As my friend Brett Sanders

puts it, “A life impacted by grace eventually

begins to look like Christ’s life.” As my friend

Omar Canals puts it, “While many Christians

view Christ’s suffering as only a huge favor He

did for us, Latter-day Saints also recognize it as

a huge investment He made in us.” As Moroni

puts it, grace isn’t just about being saved. It

is also about becoming like the Savior (see

Moroni 7:48).

 The miracle of the Atonement is not just that

we can live after we die but that we can live

more abundantly (see John 10:10). The miracle

of the Atonement is not just that we can be

cleansed and consoled but that we can be

transformed (see Romans 8). Scriptures make it

clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God

(see Alma 40:26), but, brothers and sisters, no

unchanged thing will even want to.

...The older I get, and the more I understand

this wonderful plan of redemption, the

more I realize that in the final judgment it will

not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus,
“Let me stay.” No, he will probably be saying,

“Get me out of here!” Knowing Christ’s

character, I believe that if anyone is going to be

begging on that occasion, it would probably be

Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, “Please,

choose to stay. Please, use my Atonement—not

just to be cleansed but to be changed so that

you want to stay."

 The miracle of the Atonement is not just that

we can go home but that—miraculously—we

can feel at home there. If Christ did not require

faith and repentance, then there would be no

desire to change. Think of your friends and

family members who have chosen to live without

faith and without repentance. They don’t

want to change. They are not trying to abandon

sin and become comfortable with God. Rather,

they are trying to abandon God and become

comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require

covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy

Ghost, then there would be no way to change.

We would be left forever with only willpower,

with no access to His power. If Jesus did not

require endurance to the end, then there would

be no internalization of those changes over

time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic

rather than sinking inside us and becoming

part of us—part of who we are.

...Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The
Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily

limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may

receive his grace before, during and after the

time when we expend our own efforts” (The

Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book

1989], 155). So grace is not a booster engine

that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted.

Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is

not the light at the end of the tunnel but the

light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace

is not achieved somewhere down the road. It

is received right here and right now. It is not a

finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch (see

Hebrews 12:2).

   The first company of Saints entered the Salt

Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Their journey

was difficult and challenging; still, they sang:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;

But with joy wend your way.

Though hard to you this journey may appear,

Grace shall be as your day.

“Grace shall be as your day”—what an

interesting phrase. We have all sung it hundreds

of times, but have we stopped to consider

what it means? “Grace shall be as your

day”: grace shall be like a day. As dark as

night may become, we can always count on

the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins,

and mistakes may appear, we can always have

confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ. Do we

earn a sunrise? No. Do we have to be worthy

of a chance to begin again? No. We just have

to accept these blessings and take advantage

of them. As sure as each brand-new day,

grace—the enabling power of Jesus Christ—is

constant. Faithful pioneers knew they were not

alone. The task ahead of them was never as

great as the power behind them.

 The grace of Christ is sufficient—sufficient

to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us,

and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation

process takes. The Book of Mormon

teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and

mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 N ephi

2:8). As we do, we do not discover—as some

Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing

of us. Rather, we discover the reason He

requires so much and the strength to do all

He asks (see Philippians 4:13). Grace is not the

absence of God’s high expectations. Grace is the

presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37).

     WOW, wasn't that GREAT!?  If you want to read Brad Wilcox's entire speech, you can find it at speeches.byu.edu.  I cried the whole way through the second half of this talk, as I was reading it out loud to my family last night.  Towards the end, Katie came over to me and put her hand on my arm, touched my face with her hand, and kept saying, "It's okay mommy, it's okay."  -- Yes Katie, it is okay!  Today I am glad (and so very grateful) for the grace of God and the supreme gift of our Savior's atonement!