Grace

this talk by Elder David A. Bednar was timely for me to hear. Today is our 2 week mark from full disclosure. Its been almost a year since the truth started coming out but its only been 2 weeks since my hubby sat down and read out loud to me his full disclosure. There was quite a few things I had to put on the crazy shelf because I was going crazy trying to understand them. I didn't see how I could move on with life, how I could stay married to him or how I could leave him. My life was unmanageable. Thankfully we had planned a family trip so preparations for that and being gone for awhile helped me get over this initial hump. I was in a fog... but as I listened to this talk I felt the Spirit testify to me that the only reason why I was able to function during these last 2 weeks and get to a point where I could find hope for the future was the enabling power of the atonement.

this was my favorite part of his talk...

“Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things” (Jacob 4:6–7).

Brothers and sisters, please pay particular attention to the word grace as it is used in the verse I just read. In the Bible Dictionary we learn that the wordgrace frequently is used in the scriptures to connote a strengthening or enabling power:

“The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.

“… It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts” (p. 697).

Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity. I testify and witness that the enabling power of the Savior’s Atonement is real. Without that strengthening power of the Atonement, I could not stand before you this morning.

Can we sense the grace and strengthening power of Christ in the testimony of Ammon? “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever” (Alma 26:12). Truly, brothers and sisters, in the strength of the Lord we can do and endure and overcome all things."

I love that ending. in the strength of the Lord- we CAN do and endure and overcome all things! husbands included in that we.  This is something that is possible to get through, to overcome to endure and to do life on a daily basis- but only if we rely on our Savior and His grace.