The Enabling Power of the Atonement — A Mother’s Perspective

When I was a young girl, I was terrified of storms. I dreaded the thunderstorms that would echo off the mountains in the Salt Lake Valley and was so thankful that we didn’t see them very often. And then, in the summer of 1988, my family moved to Texas. I can vividly recall the first spring here and how I quickly realized that storms in Salt Lake were nothing compared to the violent tornado storms of Texas. One evening, as a storm raged outside, I was paralyzed with fear. I remember falling to my knees, pleading to Heavenly Father to help me feel calmness and peace. The answer was almost immediate as I felt the Spirit calm my troubled heart. That experience is the first time that I can remember feeling the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. At the time, however, I didn’t understand that it was through the Savior’s Atonement that I was able to receive the peace that I had so desperately sought.

In my 11-year-old moment of weakness when I needed strength beyond my own, I felt my Savior’s love and He was able to succor me in just the way I needed. Many years have passed since that stormy spring night, but I have continued to have experiences in my life where I have felt sad, alone, scared, and weak. And in all those instances, when I have turned to the Savior for help, I have felt the enabling power that only comes through His Atonement.

President Russell M. Nelson said, “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for

air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him – when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life – you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.”

In the winter of 2004, our family had one of those grasping and gasping for air moments. Our almost 4-year-old son, Baden, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a fatal genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness which leads to serious medical problems. The news was unexpected and devastating. We mourned the loss of the life we imagined our son might have and tried to comprehend both our and his new reality that was so hard to understand. We wept many tears, and we reached out to our Savior to help us and oh, how we reached!

We felt impressed that evening to take our sweet little boy and try to explain to him what we had learned. And so, we very basically tried to explain to Baden that even though his body was now strong, it would get weaker and weaker. We thought he was not completely understanding when Baden began to tell us he was really strong now and that he could run, ride his bike, kick a ball, and walk to the park and swing. And then, without questioning why he would get weaker, which was unusual because that was Baden’s typical response to most things at that time, he simply said, “When Ella (our 3-month-old daughter at the time) gets big, we’ll go to the park, and then she can lift me up into the swing.”

The Savior used our little boy to give us the peace and strength that we needed.  Through Baden’s sweet response, we were able to understand and know that it was all going to be okay. We knew that Heavenly Father was aware of our family. We knew that He would help us through this trial just like He had in the past and that we would be sustained by the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And He has helped us to be strong.

I would like to say that my faith has been unwavering in this truth. But there have been times when I have felt like Sariah, Lehi’s wife, whose faith faltered before her sons returned with the plates of brass.

Two years after Baden’s diagnosis, I was expecting our fourth child.  I found myself in the temple seeking for answers. I knew the chances our unborn baby had of being born with Duchenne, and to be honest, it scared me to death.  I was confident that I could not do it two times. But just as the Savior patiently lifted Sariah, He lifted me. And again, I felt the reassurance that it would all be okay. I left the temple with joy in my heart thinking that this baby was either a girl or a healthy boy and that was how it was all going to be okay.

Porter was born a few months later, and while we waited for tests results, he was blessed at church. I pleaded with Heavenly Father during the blessing that my husband could bless Porter with a healthy physical body, and when I began to cry with the realization that those words would not be said, a small hand reached up and touched my shoulder.  The Savior’s strengthening power washed over me. It was again through little Baden that I knew everything would be okay. I knew that we would not have to go through this trial alone. And we haven’t. We have seen the hand of the Lord continuously blessing our family and lightening our load.  Our boys are both healthy and happy despite the challenges in their lives. We have two beautiful strong daughters who, although they can’t lift Baden into a swing, lift and strengthen all of us in so many ways.

Having two children with special needs requires me to draw upon the Savior’s strength daily. I am constantly reaching for His power and it always comes. No matter what the next challenge is, our family can always say, “It will all work out”, because we KNOW that it will.

The enabling and strengthening power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I know this because I have felt its influence in my life, over and over again. Through the years, I have discovered that I can reach for the Savior’s power all the time, not just when in the heat of difficult trials and challenges. It has become easy for me to reach for the Savior when my trial is heavy and long, because I CANNOT do it alone. It is in less overwhelming difficulties that I often forget. I like to be self-sufficient, and I think that I can solve things on my own. But so many times I am humbled and realize the Lord wants to help me even when it’s not too much for me to bear. I can feel His influence in my life whenever I need it, if I just seek Him and let Him in.  He wants me to have peace and strength; He wants me to find joy. He wants to help me use all my challenges, weaknesses and infirmities to grow, to be strengthened, and to become more like Him. He wants this for all of us.

I do not seek for challenges and trials in my life. And I desperately desire that my sons not have to bear the infirmities they bear – recognizing that my trials as parent and caretaker pale in comparison to their burdens. And yet I know that it is through trials, challenges, and weaknesses that we can all be made strong through Christ. My boys’ afflictions are cause to some of my saddest days and yet my boys in their afflictions have brought me some of the greatest joy and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is through hard things that we grow closer to the Savior and it is the only sure way to move forward on our path back to our Heavenly Father. It is what the Savior and our Father in Heaven wants for each of us – to be able to return home to them, with our families.

So, I will ‘glory in my infirmities’ even though they are hard, and I will reach for the Savior so ‘that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’

I testify that the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement is real and I echo the words of Paul when he said, “I can do all thing through Christ which strengtheneth me.”