Good morning. How are you today? I hope and pray very well. Today is Sunday and it looks a bit of an overcast but its still beautiful.
I really love Sundays. I recall many times growing up enjoying Sundays and also not at all. When I was in the 3rd or 4th grade I was sick one Sunday and didn't have to go to church, well I liked staying home and watching whatever I wanted and eating whatever I wanted. So when the next Sunday came along I pretended to be sick and I was able to stay home again. I then did it the following Sunday. Surprisingly, even though my parents wanted me to do whatever I could to go, they would let me stay. Well, this continued on for about 2 months. At this young age I remember feeling a huge difference in my demeanor and I began to feel "empty inside" and knew the only way to get rid of that feeling was to go to church again and keep the commandments. I recall vividly the way I felt after coming home that first Sunday back to church. I felt like I was a happy kid again, I could continue onward in a manner that was pleasing to my Heavenly Father. Since that time, I have not missed a Sunday worship unless I was really sick and not faking.
Another short experience I had with Sundays and church was during college. I had a calling at the time that was high demanding, especially on Sundays asking for me to stay 10-12 hours at church (my bishop would be there much earlier than me for stake meetings). I always have done my callings with great joy and often find myself doing my them in place of homework. But I remember a few Sundays, waking up at 5 AM, it would be snowing outside, and saying to myself..."It's ok, I don't need church today, I have been reading my scriptures, doing my calling for almost 2 school years now...I don't have to go to church today." But of course, the spirit gets to you and I would get up and go to church. One such Sunday I decided to walk to church and back. After church was done and I was walking back home, I had this great sense of peace of gratitude for the spirit to prompt me to go. What I had been taught that day was exactly applicable to me. All meetings of church and lessons were for me that day. I am so grateful for those experiences to have an anchor to hold me down and to stand on the Rock of my Redeemer.
As a missionary I had another flare up with my stomach problems. It got so bad that I eventually had to give in to going to the doctors (luckily my mission president was a doctor and could give good solid advice as well). But it kept me in during some of the morning hours so that I could build up enough energy to make it through the rest of the day. It eventually led to a colonoscopy needed, after that was done they could not find anything to fix. So I continued on with the work and made it a point to
not let this control me and stop from the work progressing in the area. Many prayers and blessings were given on my behalf that were a great strength. Ironically, even with the pain for almost two transfers, it was the most fruitful area of my mission.
A senior couple, the Maxfields, that served with my brother in Slovenia on his mission sent me an email while they were on another mission (their 4th or 5th) in Russia. Sister Maxfield wrote that taught me of the atonement:
"Some would say, 'I just don't have the will anymore to do my assignment. I have given it my all. I can rest now! God will understand.' But those who understand the Atonement will say: 'I have faith in Christ that I can be healed of my infirmities, and having been called by His prophet to do His work, I trust Him explicitly to help me to find people to teach in Bellevue, (in Russia, in the world) despite my imperfections. I know where I am going, and the exquisite reward at the end of the path because of Christ's Atonement. The least I can do as His disciple and child, is to believe that He keeps his promises, and as I do as He asks (repent daily, keep His commandments, serve others, endure to the end), I can finish the work I have been sent to do.' "
Never give up! The Atonement makes it possible! This work does not just consist of the mission. Life is the gospel and building up His Kingdom.
(The Schuring Family - Baptized and then Sealed a year later)
This is my short testimony of the Atonement. It means
everything to me. No beautiful girl, wonderful job, fascinating media, or anything else could matter more to me than the suffering of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, the cross and then His resurrection of which we just celebrated with an amazing
general conference. I know exactly where I would be if it was not made possible through the plan of mercy and me not applying the key focal point of the plan which is the Atonement. I love you all, I love the work of building up the kingdom of God. There is no other work greater and I will not come down, no matter how many mistakes I make, I have made many, because I will just get right back up to finish it.
