"Come Unto Me" (Matthew 11:28)

I promise that the post on the priesthood is coming but I wanted to stray from that a little bit a share a post about  my faith’s stance on the atonement of Jesus Christ. As many may or may not know the official name of the LDS church is: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We revere Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, yet many still do not call us Christians. I hope that in my post I can prove to you and to all that Latter Day Saints are not only Christians but that we cling to Christ as is necessary to get through this life.

I have talked to many people of late who have felt discouraged and alone. To them I say with the invitation to find out for yourself, you are never alone. He is always there; even when we feel He is not. He never leaves us. As much as I enjoy the poem Footprints in the Sand (if you haven’t read it, google it, it is a beautiful poem) I do have one qualm about it and that is this. When the man in the poem goes through hard times the Lord says that He carries him. That’s all sweet and good but I sincerely believe that Christ never ceases to carry us. Even those that have turned their back on Him, he waits, ready with open arms for us to look to Him and return to His presence and His embrace of love and mercy.

The Book of Mormon testifies of the love of our redeemer. In Helaman 5:12 the prophet Helaman admonishes his sons before he dies “And now, my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation, that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” It shall have no power over you. Whenever I read that verse I always envision the instance when Christ and his disciples are afloat on a sea that is angry and raging with a furious storm. Hesitantly the disciples wake the sleeping Master crying “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” At times I think we are like Christ’s disciples, crying in the midst of our anguish, loneliness, trials and afflictions “Master, carest thou not that I perish”

I know I have been there. I know what its like to not want to continue because you feel like there’s just no reason to. Yet the Savior offers to you the same words he spoke to the sea. “Peace, be still” I say unto you my readers, peace be still. For the God of all the world is your Father who loves you with a perfect love. Who believes in you even when you have ceased to believe in Him. When you feel you have sinned too much, when you feel you are welcome no where the Lord calls to you “Come unto me”. He offers us peace “not as the world giveth.” Come to know the man of sorrows, confide in Him who is acquainted with grief for He knows how to comfort you.  To the lonely, look to Him who was “despised and rejected of men”. The atonement encompasses all that have lived, do live, and will yet live upon this Earth and any other worlds that our all-powerful God has created. Yet at the same time he suffered for you. Only you. He felt your pains, your grief and your sorrows and he willingly took them upon himself that he would know how to best comfort you when you experienced them. At times we too may cry out as the Savior did “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me” but I am here to tell you that he never has and he never will.

He suffered beyond our comprehension. Christ himself tells us in the Doctrine and Covenants “which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit- and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink-“ (D&C 19:18). He knows my dear readers. He knows more than you could ever understand how you are feeling. His blood stained the ground for you. He has “engraven you upon the palms of [his] hands” (Isaiah 49:16). His mercy is extended to all. He loves all His children. One of my favorite passages from D&C reads “Therefore, fear not little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail” (D&C 6:34).

The storms will come my dear readers. They will come. But always remember that Christ has already weathered that storm. He has already felt the pelting rain of your guilt and withstood the mighty gales of your shame. Turn to him, know him, and find peace in He who knows you.

At a very hard time in my life I wrote the following poem. I think we can all relate to the lost and wandering sailor.

The storm it rages ‘round me                           

My ship is tossed about                                  

The wind it whips and howls                         

And I am filled with doubt                             

I know the fault is mine                                  

That I will meet my fate                                 

I crossed the line forbidden                            

And now it is too late                                     

I could not see the harm                                 

In sailing to its edge                                       

There were no chains that trapped me           

I saw no dangerous ledge                               

My confidence was blinding                          

My pride it made me deaf                              

To warnings all around me                             

Til there was nothing left                               

The water is like shackles                              

As it pulls me under                                       

My cries they are not heard                            

Above the clapping thunder                           

The waves they hold me fast                          

The wind becomes my tomb                          

I close my eyes and wait                                

Knowing it will be over soon                         

Then a voice doth call me                              

How does he know my name?                      

I know not who beckons                                

But he hails me just the same                         

He offers me his hand                                      

The scars are plain to see                                

It is my Savior and my Lord                             

Come to rescue me                                          

Yet I fear I cannot face Him                             

I have done to many things                             

That they could not be covered                       

By His healing wings                                          

He calls to me again                                          

He’s holding out his hands                                 

I can see his patient love  

Where on the waves he stands                          

Finally with a cry

I lunge for His embrace

But my spirit is too weak

And I remain in place

Then He is beside me

Shielding me from the wind

He tries to hide the pain

But I recognize my sin

I feel the bitter guilt

And fight back my tears

Watching His fist clench

As he battles through my fears

Finally the wind dies down

The waves they cease to be

The clouds begin to clear

And the sun it blindeth me

Again the hand is offered

And into His eyes I gaze

For I am standing at the side

Of He who calmed my waves

He weathered my life’s storms

And bowed beneath their gales

For God could not expect

Me to have perfect sails

My masts were tattered and broken

By the depths I was almost swallowed

The winds they overcame me

And in agony I wallowed

But He came with the dawn

New parts He did supply

From His perfect vessel

So only one must die

Now with my ship I sail

He is at the head

And towards eternal life

I am humbly led

From the course I will not stray

And God one day I’ll see

Standing in a Heavenly harbor

Ready to welcome me

He waits for you. He pleads for you. He calls to you. Pray to him my dear reader. He died for you so live for Him. May we all heed the admonishment that came from our beloved Savior. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Turn it over to Him who already knows and ye shall come to know the joy and peace that comes from being a disciple of the Master, the Redeemer of the world, and the Savior of us all.

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stries we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5)