THE INTEGRITY OF A GOD

 

I would like to bear witness of the power of the Atonement of our Saviour Jesus Christ because in reality it has saved me already. Here is my story. When I was a young teen I had to choose between my family and being baptized. I felt driven to join the Church so I chose to leave my family. I wanted what the Church promised me, eternal love and eternal family. I was baptized at 18, I went on a mission at 21 and at 25 I married a returned missionary who I felt God had appointed as my eternal companion. Instead of riding off into celestial sunset, I was left divorced with two children 11 years later. I felt utmost betrayal by God. I was hanging by a thread and I learnt the true meaning of ‘a broken heart’.

The loss of a dream was excruciating to me. In one fell swoop the ideal was ripped out from under me and I became a statistic in the Church. My emotional pain was so great I thought it was going to rip my chest open. I knew, however, that somehow there was one person who could mend me and save me. That person was the Saviour. I studied about the Atonement and placed the petition for healing, through my faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement, before God’s feet many times during the day. The copious amounts of tears I shed over the ensuing months proved my faith in this, the only process I trusted that could restore me to a functioning human being capable of forgiveness. All that I asked for during this process was granted me. I emerged a far better person than I had been before, my trust in God was restored and my testimony of the Saviour’s saving grace became the foundation of my endurance of many trials I have faced ever since.

In the past 30 years since my divorce I have gone from strength to strength. I have become who I am today, not because of my trials, but because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. During my time of seeking the healing I needed, I had a blessing by my new Bishop. In that blessing I was told that my life had been planned for me and that because of my great faith in Jesus Christ I had accepted that plan long before I was born. So you see I was just playing out in reality what was a spiritual blueprint of my life in pre-existence. How could I have had such undaunting faith in the Saviour and His saving grace before either of us were even born? This is why:

“Over long eons of time in the premortal realm he [the Saviour] proved faithful and dependable and honorable in every commitment, every responsibility, and every charge. The scriptures tell us that ‘from eternity to eternity he is the same’ (D&C 76:4). He never deviated from the mark, never slacked in his performance, never shrank from his word. He kept every command with exactness; he discharged every duty with precision; he was ‘not slack concerning his promise’ (2 Peter 3:9). His promises were ‘immutable and unchangeable’ (D&C 104:2). As a result, his spiritual credit was rapidly escalating until it was pure gold, even infinite in value. That is why the laws of justice could recognize the benefits of the Atonement BEFORE the purchase price was ever paid, because his promise, his pledge, his credit was ‘good for it’, and everyone who honored their first estate knew it….It was not only when he appeared that he voluntarily laid down his life, but he voluntarily laid down his life from the very day the world came into being. Then he came forth in order to take it, SINCE IT HAD BEEN GIVEN AS A PLEDGE. Based on that pledge or covenant we had faith in him. Based on that covenant the Father could promise remission of sins PRIOR to the atoning sacrifice because he ‘knew’ his Son would not fail. The issue was not that he could not break his covenant, but rather, that he would not.”

(Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, pp 80,81)

 

Did You count me amongst

Your valuable host

As we met in the councils of heaven?

Did I stand strong and ready

To defend Your godship;

To smite the enemy,

To secure Your path to my eternity?

Was I brave and willing to carry the cross

Some of the way to Calvary?

Did I weep with you in the Garden

And hold You as You bore the burdens of mortality?

Did I wipe the sweat off Your brow

As I wept for You and weep even now?

Did I promise to bear Your name

Etched in my mortal heart for all to see?

Am I now worthy to carry Your sacrifice

With me into eternity?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come Unto Me by Yongsung Kim)