The Plan of Happiness Through the Atonement Or Applying the Atonement to All kinds Of Wounds. Nov.15, 2009

There is a difference between knowing about something and knowing something.
When you know about something you have the information regarding it but it is not really experienced; rather it is "just there"—distant and not relating to our personal life experience.

However, when you know something it becomes real and applicable to our personal
experience. It has the power to transcend from general information to become a very real part of our lives.

Many months ago, one day Brother Dial offered to give me a blessing in which he said he blessed me so that I may understand the Atonement of Christ. I thought to myself what is he talking about. I understand the Atonement. I have been on a mission and taught others about it. Then a few months later, one day I began to read a book by Bruce C. Hafen, a former apostle and member of the quorum of the 12. On a Sunday many months later, I brother Dial approached me. He gave me a reference and asked me if I could give a talk on the reference and what I got from it.

I thought about the Atonement and how in life we undergo sorrow because of our own mistakes or those of others. And I could only think about what the women in this parable (from the reference I was given) was going through. What heartache and sorrow to know she had sin, yet the words of the Savior were a gentle soothing balm, not only to her but to all of us.

As I was reading I thought about the story and how in the past I had read the same story. The story is found in Luke 7:36-50.

36. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.

37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

38. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

40. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

41. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

42. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

43. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

44. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

45. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

49. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

50. And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

I was impressed by these verses but particularly by verse 47.

47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

I know that the women was a sinner and the scriptures talk about the fact that through Christ we can become one with God, but why would the scripture also include that “her sins where forgiven for she loved much”? I began to recall the scriptures and how repeatedly they address the topic of love. I thought about Moroni 7:47-48.

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

I realized that love is powerful and that love is one thing that has the power to bring us to God. I then began to think about the scriptures and how on repeated instances they talk about love; I thought about life lessons.

Bruce C. Hafen once said: “The lessons of life are the ones we must undergo that subject us to sorrow and contamination of the lone and dreary world. Which experiences include sin but they also include undeserved pain, disappointment, and adversity. Everyone will appreciate these to appreciate the sweet.”

I could not help to think of what the Atonement would do to compensate for that. I know and have always had the knowledge that through the Atonement we can be made whole again. But what about our heart when it has been broken.

On occasion our heart can be broken for many reasons, in many ways. It can be broken because of our own mistakes or because of the mistakes of others. Sometimes our mistakes will have consequences that result in use being unable to even forgive ourselves,.

Psalms 147reads: (The Lord speaking) “He healeth the Broken Heart, and bindeth up their wounds”

I was left wondering how. . . how can the Lord do this? When our heart has been broken and we feel unable to go forward because we are hurting so much.

26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezequiel 36:26-27

Again, I thought about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how His Atonement can heal us. You see. . . I have always thought I understood the Atonement of Christ. As a matter of fact, when I was on my mission I had only taught about the Atonement, and how through Christ we could return to live with our heavenly father.

I had taught about the opportunity to repent because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, and that we can live again because He overcame the shackles of death, which subject us to death.

However, it finally clicked and the light came in my mind—the Atonement of Christ requires that I have a new heart. A heart filled with love. That is why Christ said in the scriptures that we must love. That is why the sinful woman was forgiven.

47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.

At that moment I understood something I had never understood—that LOVE has a purifying effect. That is why Moroni said in verse 48: that through Charity we will be purified even as he is pure.

Applying the Atonement of Christ requires that we have a new heart; a heart filled with love. No wonder the first two, which are the greatest, of the Ten Commandments talk about love.

The Two Great Commandments by Jesus are in Mathew 22:37-39.

37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38. This is the first and great commandment.

39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

We must turn to God and be obedient to his commandments. I thought I had done a pretty good job at that; after all, I grew up in the Church and I strive to live the commandments and come to church every Sunday. I pay my tithing and do everything to be obedient to the commandments of God. I had even been on a mission.

You see many years ago I knelt next to my bed asking Heavenly Father to help me apply the Atonement of Christ in my life. I had so much heartache, which was not brought about by me, but by things people had done to me when I was a girl, which on more than one occasion brought me to question Heavenly Father and ask Him why? Why me?

I had done NOTHING to deserve being hurt. And why If I believed in Christ could I not get rid of the pain? I told Him in prayer that I did not know how to make the pain go away because it still hurt as much as it did when all those things happened.

Finally, after many years, I understood!

You see, maybe it took many years for me to understand because I have a hard head. I am glad Heavenly Father was patient with me until I understood the lesson He tried to teach me for many years. The lesson is: People make mistakes!

Sometimes people hurt us, sometimes we hurt people. But we ALL make mistakes. And yet to apply the Atonement of Christ we must love and we must forgive.

We must love those who have hurt us and find it within ourselves to forgive. Our heart must be filled with love. And in that way we can apply the Atonement of Christ. We must turn to love God when we have sinned and commit ourselves not to sin.

But also, we must love our neighbors and have a heart filled with charity for them.

The scriptures teach: “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto these my brethren ye have done it unto me.” Mathew 25:40.

It then became clear that the judgment has never been mine to make but rather to forgive.

Only the Lord knows fully and understands clearly the frame of mind in which people make mistakes. However, as I forgive and apply the Atonement of Christ in my life I will be able to heal my broken heart.

Ezequiel 36:36 Reads: I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolated. I the Lord have spoken it and will do it.

You see, I always thought I understood the Atonement of Christ. However, I knew of its power to bring us back to our Heavenly Father after this life, but not of its power to make our burdens light as we go through life. I had, for a very long time carried a burden that was no longer mine to carry.

I had not understood that the Lord has the power to build us up again. As we go to Christ He will heal our wounds and make us whole again.

He will heal us, regardless of whether our wounds were caused by our own mistakes or the mistakes and shortcomings of others.

But we must be willing and desirous to accept his Atonement and to have a change of heart. Filled with love! LOVE is essential in this process. I will reread a powerful scripture:

47. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.

Our sins will be forgiven and our burdens made light as we learn to love, and in doing so we release the power of the Atonement to save us from the heartache and from misery.

48. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.

As we become converted and disciples of Christ we will be filled with this love, and we will "be purified even as he is.” Without heartache our heart will be made new.

At that moment, He will not only restore us to happiness and make us what we were before, but He will make us better than we were before and will make us what we are meant to be.

This is because we will have a knowledge that we previously did not have, and we will be closer to becoming better human beings; becoming what he would have us be. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, a plan of Happiness. And to find it we must apply the Atonement of Christ as we go through this life.

He knows what our potential is, and He wants to help us develop it. I know this is true. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and is mindful of us and will answer our prayers in His own due time.

Why I began to write

The blog is not meant to be a religious forum. I do reflect on more than religious matters, because I am not a piece of paper with only a back and front view. However, because religion is the center part of who I am. I often reflect about the teachings of Christ. I seek not to trivialize the Savior but rather to acknowledge his presence in my life bumby roads and all.

Even if no one ever reads this blog...thats okay...I write for me, and in the hopes that someone one day may be spare from hearteache. I don't pretent to know it all. As a matter of fact I acknowledge that my perspective is one of many that can be true. However, often in life more than one person can be right about doing something a certain way, and yet someonelse can be right too, neither of them being completey wrong or completely right.

I like to write. Although, I have spelling limitations. I have always had them, yet I believe in progress. I hope to progress in that too. The lessons I have learn are applicable to many, in different ways.

Writing comes in my vains as it is part of the legacy Jose Jesus Barajas, left behind. He was my grandfather. A men that understood sorrow because he suffered much but yet in writting found release of his bitter heartache.

When I was a little girl and my mom use to call him to say hi, he would always ask to speak with me. He would ask me... how I was doing in school. My reply was always a plain, I'm doing good.

He would tell me...you know, you need to put a lot of effort into learning to write for you will publish the books that I don't get to publish. During his life he only publish one book, but yet that book wone an award, for the content in writing. I don't have a copy of the book neither do I know the name but when I go to Mexico again I will make sure to look it up.

In the mean while I write because I like to express what I feel and to share what I know. I'm reminded of the song by Lee Ann Womack - Something Worth Leaving Behind, basically it talks about what we leave behind and I don't hope "to go down in History, I just want someone to remember. If I would love I will find that I have touch anothers life and that is something worth living behind".