This week I learned a very powerful lesson about what it really means to depend on the "enabling power of the Atonement". I had experienced heartache before, but nothing to this extent. I can't tell you logically how it happened, but I know that as I kept praying and reading my scriptures, and kept believing something good would happen I was healed. I have never felt more love and gratitude for my life and for those around me, and I know that was because of the power of the Atonement. The natural woman inside of me would not have the ability to feel these things towards other people at this time in my life, but because I chose to rely on my Savior, and to really turn it all over to Him, He enabled me to change, to live and to love. It didn't happen all at once, it didn't even happen in a certain event, it happened gradually, over-time I was able to feel and see that power. I'm so glad for that hindsight and perspective and for the wonderful words of our prophets and counselors that help us get through this crazy journey called life. I know that as I righteously sustain, and as I strive to continue to find ways to build my future family, I will be able to achieve that dream and that the angels of heaven will help me along the way.
A talk that really helped me that a friend shared with me was called "That We Might Not . . Shrink" by Elder Bednar. Particularly a passage caught my attention that I would like to share.
From the teachings of Elder Orson F. Whitney, who also served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire” (quoted in Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle)
