Only a phone call away

      I'm not quite sure what to say today or what is even really on my heart. But I know I learned two things this week (well hopefully more than just two, but these two stood out the most). First was in Sunday School today when I felt prompted to ask the question "what motivates you?" As I pondered on that question I wondered what motivates me. Do I do what I do because I fear a consequence, because I want to avoid painful situations or do I act a certain way because I am seeking something better in my life. Do I follow the Spirit from habit, fear, or trust in love? Obedience is good no matter why we do it, but I posit a theory that following promptings and doing what we are commanded to do can perhaps help us become more worthy to have the Spirit as a companion and to feel the love of the Lord more fully in our lives and perhaps that is the best gift of all.
   The second thing that stood out to me were the words of Pres Packer from the last General Conference.

        "I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity.

I am so grateful for the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the power of procreation, for the power of redemption, for the Atonement—the Atonement which can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated. The Atonement can put you free again to move forward, cleanly and worthily, to pursue that path that you have chosen in life."

I know that the Atonement can heal any and every hurt. I testify that our Savior Jesus Christ loves us. The Atonement heals and mends and sanctifies every scar so that we are a new creature in Christ.

Sometimes this life takes us in unexpected directions, usually so we can learn and improve. Our Savior understands the discomfort this can bring and he wants so much to help us, He is only a plea away.