YW Lesson by Sister Donahue

Happy Mother’s day to all of your wonderful mothers.

This week’s reading was from Mosiah 11-17. This includes Abinadi’s beautiful testimony of the Savior and His atonement for us. the question posed at the beginning of this lesson is:

What does the atonement mean to me?
When I thought about this question the answer for me was – it means everything to me in my life. Every good thing comes from Him and is possible because of His atonement. Unfortunately I don’t always remember how important and vital it is in my life. Thankfully we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament, even in our homes, to help us remember Him and what He has done for us. It is hard to fathom and understand His sacrifice for us sometimes and to know if we are even utilizing it in our lives.

President Henry B. Eyring taught, “If you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost … , you may take it as evidence that the Atonement is working in your life.”
This is comforting to me to know that when I have felt the spirit I have had Christ’s presence in my life.

One of the verses I really liked in this Mosiah reading was from Mosiah 15:18 where it describes Christ as “..the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord…” This helped me realize that peace isn’t just a feeling we seek for, it is a person even Jesus Christ. How beautiful that is to think about, that when we feel peace we feel His presence. I don’t know about you guys but being home with my family. though I love them to bits, they sometimes can try my patience. Amazingly enough I have noticed recently that Heavenly Father has blessed me with more patience and peace in my home than ever before. I am surprised at how calm I am with my kids lately, I know it is a blessing of the atonement working in my life right now to give me strength through this difficult time.

Christ knows us and what we are going through, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…and with His stripes we are healed” (Mosiah 14:3-5) We are all going through a hard time right now, at the same time Christ knows exactly how you feel and is ready to help guide you through it.
What parts of this description of Jesus Christ’s Atonement speak most personally to you?

There have been times in my life where I have felt closer to the savior than others and usually that is due to effort on my part. I know as a youth I had a hard time knowing Christ as a real person and how He felt about me, something that helped me was reading the series “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis they are really easy and entertaining to read. Since you have the time I encourage you to try this series out and keep in mind the perspective of Aslan as a representation of Christ. Something else that has helped me recently is watching this new series called “The Chosen” it gives the back story of Christ’s apostles and disciples. It is so powerful and helps you see Christ as a real person who came to earth for us. You can watch it on vidangel and I think even youtube now, it is binge worthy for sure.

Hang in there girls and cling to your testimony of Jesus Christ. And if you are having a hard time reading your scriptures regularly just start off by reading the YW theme everyday and think about what each line means to you. Love you all!