In Honor of Easter

It's only right that I should post about Christ on Easter. If there is anything that I should blog about ever, a message that I could send out across time, space, and the cyber world, it would be the message of our Savior. If there was one thing that I wish people would remember me saying, it would be that I believe and love him with all my heart.

He lives.

That's all there is to it. He is alive, he loves us, he has atoned for our sins and he is looking out for us.

We were talking about the atonement of Christ in my book of Mormon class and a quote was brought up from Merill J. Bateman. It has completely changed the way that I view the atonement. Seriously, I wrote it down in my epiphany journal (yes, I have one of those...) because it made such an impact on me:

"For many years I thought of the Savior's experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sing was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt "our infirmaties", "bore our griefs... carried our sorros... [and] was bruised for our iniquities". 

"The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us".  

Isn't that amazing?! Somehow, in the four or five hours that Peter, James and John waited for Christ, he lived each and every one of our lives, completely and all the way through. He knows exactly how each of us will feel at every moment of our lives. Because of this, he knows exactly how to help us. He has descended below all, thus he knows how to raise us up.

No matter what we've done, no matter who we are or what we have become, we can always come back to Him. Because of Christ's atonement, we have infinite hope. There is no need to be afraid of the future, there is no need to dred what punishments are in store for us. There is always a way to return, there is always a road back. As Elder Holland said in his most recent talk, "It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of which Christ's Atonement shines"

Christ gave everything for us. I will never, ever, forsake him. If there is one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt, it is that I am a daughter of God. Nothing in my entire existance could convince me otherwise. If that's true, then Christ is my brother, and you don't desert family. You just don't.

All Christ wants is for us to be happy. He wants us to come back home, so he gave his life and suffered for our sins to make it possible. So let's not let it go to waste, huh? As President Monson said, in the name of Christ, "come back, come up, come in, come home, come unto me". That's not too hard, I don't think :) It's win-win really!