I delight in Sundays.

I think having to work every other Sunday with this first externship of mine has made me appreciate the Sundays I do have off much more! This Sunday brought a lot of learning and pondering. Yesterday, I studied 2 Nephi 9: 1-12 and had an increasing realization of how much I need the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I hope that I always have an increasing realization of how much I need the Atonement--I think it is a good thing!

During my studies I was drawn to was a footnote in Revelations 12:7, 11 in the New Testament. In Revelation, we learn about the council and consequent war in heaven resulting in Satan and 1/3 of the hosts of heaven being cast out of the presence of God, never to return. Whenever I think about that battle, I wonder what I was like then. Have you ever wondered which aspects of your personality and character defined you the most as a pre-mortal spirit vs. your personality and character development here in mortality?

Point of this story is, in verse 11 in the Book of Revelations chapter 12, John the Revelator tells us of the 2 ways that we essentially won the war: 1) by the blood of the Lamb (Christ) and 2) by the word of their (or our) testimonies. My next two thoughts were: testimonies of what? And Christ hadn't shed any blood yet.

You see, I have always considered myself to be a blessed soul to be able to live on the earth at a time after Jesus Christ had lived on the earth and suffered the Atonement for all mankind...including those who lived before his time and after his time, something we often describe with the term "infinite atonement."

Anyway, I always thought it would have been more difficult for me to accept the reality of the Atonement had it not happened yet. But after reading the scripture in Revelation in conjunction with Jacob's words in 2 Nephi 9, I thought to myself: "As a pre-mortal spirit, I must have had a testimony of the infinite sacrifice and Atonement that Christ would suffer for me and for all mankind." Essentially, even though The Atonement of Jesus Christ had not yet occurred, we already had a testimony of that magnificent event that would come.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have a testimony then and now. To know for myself, the dealings of Christ with His people on the earth and to know of His continuous, infinite and eternal atonement.

My all time favorite quote relating to the Atonement is from Preach My Gospel and says,

Everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that is true.