Gospel Message Day 250

Atonement - Enabling Power, Part 6

Today's Conference talk also fit in with the current topic. I read Elder Sitati's "Be Fruitful, Multiply, and Subdue the Earth." This quote near the end went perfectly with our 5th Sunday combined meeting's lesson yesterday:

"Faithful Latter-day Saints who understand their divine potential and rely wholeheartedly on the power available through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ are strengthened in their natural weakness and “can do all things.”¹⁸ They are enabled to overcome the enticings of evil that have put many under bondage to the adversary."

Yesterday's lesson included a young man who had been addicted to drugs and alcohol, and how he had used the Church's addiction recovery program to help him in fixing his life. He and his mother both spoke to us. They talked of how the 12-step program is all about the Atonement, and learning how to use the Atonement in helping them with their illness (for by the time they are addicted, their brain has actually changed and they now have a disease that they will never be cured from, but which can go in to remission).

Compared to what some people have to go through, the ways that I have been enabled by the Atonement's power are rather paltry. However, we are not to compare. My trials have been hard for me. Each of us has our specific trials tailored to what the Lord knows we can handle, what will help us grow in the best ways for us, and that the Lord's Atonement can empower to get us through those trials.

I have been enabled to pass through trials that I could not handle on my own (which, really, would be all of them). However, I think in cases like this brother (and his family which was affected), the enabling power is much more prevalent, and obvious. He will forever suffer from this disease of addiction for the rest of his life. To keep it in remission, he has to have help. He could not get over it on his own. He cannot keep it at bay without help. The only true, effective, lasting help comes from the Atonement, and only when he chooses to use it in his life. We must all daily choose to to use the Atonement's power, to enable us to reach our divine potential.