Life's Journey To Perfection: Visit Teaching Message & Handouts April 2014: The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Savior and Redeemer

This month's Visit teaching message is, "The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Savior and Redeemer".

As I read the theme for this month's visit teaching message, there were two descriptive words given that define Jesus Christ. They are Savior and Redeemer. Jesus is our Savior, he saved each of us from spiritual and physical death. He has saved us from sin and sorrow, through his atoning sacrifice. He is our Redeemer, to redeem means to pay the price. Through the atonement he has paid the price for each one of our pains, sorrows and mistakes. Because of this, through repentance we can each take part in the cleansing power of the atonement. The amazing thing about the atonement is that it is continuous. Meaning as we sincerely repent, humble ourselves and seek forgiveness for our imperfections, we will be forgiven for each thing we repent for. As long as we repent, we will be forgiven.

The other great thing about the atonement is that our Savior, Jesus Christ has felt every pain we will go through. He knows exactly how we feel in a given moment. He has felt the anguish that comes from losing a loved one, he has felt the sorrow that comes from watching a wayward child, he has felt the emotional pain that comes from difficult or failed relationships, whatever the sorrow or pain one might be going through, he has experienced as he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are never alone!

In this month's message I loved the following quote: “… One woman who had been through years of trial and sorrow said through her tears, ‘I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But … I am still worth the full 20 dollars.’ This woman knows that she … was worth enough to [God] to send His Son to atone for her, individually. Every sister in the Church should know what this woman knows.” (Linda K. Burton, “Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in Our Hearts?” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2012, 114.) I loved this, because it is so true! Every single one of us will experience trials and sorrow. We will experience obstacles throughout our life that will make us feel blemished and scarred. We may question our value, but our worth will never change to our Heavenly Father, his love is unconditional and eternal.

We are asked two questions to ponder and study:

1. How can we show gratitude to the Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ? I believe that we can show our gratitude to Jesus Christ, by remaining faithful. When we strive to live our lives in his footsteps and seek the cleansing power of the atonement we show our gratitude to him for all that he has done personally for each one of us.

2. How can we partake of the blessings of our Savior’s atoning sacrifice in our lives? I hold the precious gift of the atonement very close to me. I take part of it's blessings daily in my life, especially with being a mother and wife. We are not perfect, we have faults and imperfections. When we acknowledge our fault and truly repent we will be filled with the blessings of forgiveness and we will be filled with peace. I love the analogy of the back pack that you place rocks into for each mistake made. After a while the backpack gets very heavy and is a burden to carry around. It is the same way with our sins and imperfections. If we don't humble ourselves and seek forgiveness through repentance, then those things start to way us down, we are not happy. But when we humbly kneel in prayer before our Father in Heaven, seeking his mercy and forgiveness, forsaking the sin and promising to do it no more. We immediately feel the weight lifted, our burden is lightened and we feel free.

Click here for this month's visit teaching message: "The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Savior and Redeemer"

Here are a couple handouts:
To print, click on image and save it to your computer. You can then print the image from your computer.

You could give these to you sisters with a package of "Life Savers" or another idea would be a picture of Christ's atonement. Since, Easter is this month you could also give something related to Easter and/or the atonement and resurrection.

Here is the idea for the gift/handout, I'm giving my sisters I visit: