Lesson Summary - Chapter 3 - Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Leader and Savior

Gospel Principles - Chapter 3 - Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Leader and Savior
"Jesus Christ is Central to Heavenly Father's Plan" - Feb 2010 Ensign

Since this is my blog, and I can technically do what I want, I'm going to do something different today.

First off, above are a couple of great links you should check out.  The first is our actual lesson from today, and the second is an article that our teacher referenced from this month's Ensign.  You can read those if you like.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way... As I was sitting in Relief Society today, my mind drifted to what I would actually write about in this here blog.  Yeah, my mind wanders a lot.  I'm working on that.  While it was wandering, I thought about the topic of today's lesson--Jesus Christ.  Just three pages (four if you count his picture) are in this lesson.  Three.  That doesn't seem like enough to encompass everything that is Jesus Christ.  And now that I think about it, I suppose we all have a slightly different perspective on who Jesus Christ is because of our own experiences.  His atonement affects everyone, but in different ways.   That's why I love hearing others' testimonies because its so neat to hear a fresh perspective on what I thought I already knew.  So with that in mind, I am going to share my own testimony of Jesus Christ.  Maybe there will be some things that you already knew, but maybe... just maybe... there will be something you hadn't thought of before that will strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ and his beautiful atonement.

I was raised in the church.  From an early age, I was taught of Jesus Christ.  I knew a lot about him.  Stories and miracles and such.  I always knew the right answers, and I always did as I was told. I was even told by my friends as I grew older that I was the little voice in their head that told them to do good things.  Funny, huh?  I thought I had a pretty strong testimony of the Savior.

Then, I went to college.  This was my first experience away from home and living with people who did not by any stretch of the imagination grow up learning the same standards that I did.  I was thrown head first into "the world," as we Mormons like to call it.  During that first year away at college, I became friends with a boy named Blake.  He was a great friend to me, although you may not think so after this next statement.  Blake made me question my religion.  He would ask me questions about it out of nowhere.  I remember one time in particular when I was talking about how I was getting the chance to see Gordon B. Hinckley speak, he said, "Do you really believe he's a prophet?"  Whoa... what?  I don't think anyone had asked me that before.  I didn't really know what to say, but I said "Yes," because that's what I was supposed to say, right?

Now, I don't want you to think that Blake was a bad person because he wasn't. He respected me for my beliefs.  He told me I was a good person.  I am extremely grateful to him for what he did.  Really.

So after many questions from him and from my own brain, I was left in a state of confusion.  What did I believe?  I remember feeling this way on a long drive back to college from home.  It was a Sunday.  I had been listening to music, but I was tired of it.  I turned it off and thought to myself, "I should be listening to church music today."  I started singing a song called "I Heard Him Come."  As I sang it, I realized that all that stuff I "thought" I knew about Jesus Christ was really true.  He really lived.  This is the first time I remember actually feeling and knowing that Jesus Christ loved me and sacrificed himself for ME!

Since then, I have had many experiences that have helped me understand the atonement and the immense love the Savior has for me.  I know that people are probably tired of hearing me talk about it, but my most recent experience with my daughter being in the hospital was probably the biggest testimony builder I've ever had of Jesus Christ.  It was then that I learned as I watched my daughter suffer from hunger knowing that it was the only way her body could heal how hard it must have been for Heavenly Father to watch his Son suffer knowing that it was the only way we could heal.  It was then that I prayed so very hard that the atonement would take away the pains and sufferings of my little girl and watched it happen.  I am so, SO very grateful for that beautiful sacrifice that he made so that not only I, but my loved ones might live.  And not just live... but live in happiness.  Live without pain.

Today I watched the movie The Testaments.  As I listened and watched the terrible way they treated him, it was all I could do not to cry.  It is hard to believe that someone would love me that much--so much that he would not just die, but suffer.  But the amazing thing is that it actually happened.  He is real.  He is alive.  He has suffered all so that we don't have to.

I know my Savior lives.  I feel it in my heart.  I feel it all over.  He saved my little girl.  I know that is the only reason she is alive today.  I know it.  He is my salvation.  And he can be yours.  I hope that if you don't know already that you will pray to learn for yourself that Jesus Christ is your Savior.  I am so grateful I did.