Hey there, everybody. Welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood. This is Scott Durfey. And today and every day that we do this, I'm joined by the lovely Debra Durfey. What's up, babe? Hi, everybody. Happy to be here. It's good to be kind of home. Deb and I have been out of town for a few days doing some family reunion stuff down in southern Utah. Really great area. Just absolutely love it. But it's good to be home, huh? It is good to be home and in
our own bed. I love that you say it's good to kind of be home, because I think we are home. This is our home. I guess I should have said it's kind of good to be home. Because I love that, you know, it's a beautiful area. Well, and it's not just that there's, you know, I don't know about our listeners. I know this is true for you, but there are places in my life that are kind of sacred. that are outside of what we would typically deem sacred places and nature.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And nature in general, mountains, even the desert and the water, the ocean, I know, especially for you. But those kinds of things can be sacred for me. But I have a history in the area that we just came from this in this area that we were just at. I kind of grew up there doing family reunion stuff, hunting, spending time in the mountains. And then later in life, when my became a train wreck. I guess I should my life didn't become a train wreck when I turned
my life into choices. Yeah, exactly. I hopped on the train. I don't ever want to I don't ever exactly I hopped on the train. I don't ever want it to seem like that I'm a victim of my own choices. But anyhow, that was a place that you know, when I was trying to recommune when I was trying to reconnect, you know those when I felt lost the most lost there, there was some sacredness. in that area. In that area is where I first... Gain testimony with great men on the deer hunts, you
know. You should tell us where that place is. The name of the mountain where we were on this weekend is called Fish Lake, Fish Lake Mountain. And there's absolutely beautiful, just absolutely gorgeous. And this is an area, Deb, where when I admire some of my very earliest memories and I have pretty early memories, I literally remember vividly things from three years old. It's awesome. And maybe even before that, but I know for sure I remember. remember things at three years old,
four for sure, five for sure. But this is an area that my grandparents were raised, my grandma and grandpa Durfee, Dave's parents, who we did the podcast with in seasons past, and my dad's parents, they grew up, both grew up in that Wayne County, that little beautiful sacred area to me. Well, and I think it's important to... to let our listeners know also that you went with extended family for decades. Like your cousins
and your aunts and uncles and your grandma. So you created these memories as a young child. And then your parents have continued this amazing tradition to gather their children and their children's children, so their grandchildren, together once a year to go and have a reunion.
And it's such a wonderful, wonderful time of year that we look forward to some of us that love to camp some of us that hate to camp and and they all come and they all participate and we all have a good time and we laugh and we it's just such a great connection I it's been such a blessing for me to step into this tradition and by doing it for the last 23 years now I I'm like we gotta keep this going you know yeah yeah you know it's like right taking our children
and our grandchildren and continue it and don't ever let this tradition dissolve because it's so sacred. It's such a beautiful experience. You know what to me makes it sacred? So there's two components to me that make it sacred. One is the memory of going back and being able to reconnect. I can't tell you how many tears have fallen from my eyes into the dirt. and stuff around that area. Just pleading, reseeking, help me remember. And when I go back there, I have
those remembrances. And it's visceral for me. I can go back there and I can feel those things. For me, Deb, I remember sitting on the boat, holding my little grandson, Scotty. I remember vividly being about that age and on that same lake and my grandma and my grandpa holding me and and and reassuring me and letting me know how much I'm loved and and and giving these experiences to me that have formed my life. Yeah. And I hope that, you know, we can do that for our kids,
too. And I think you're doing to I know we are the thing that I don't just bring that up to burden our listeners with. our personal stories and memories and things like that. There's a point behind all of this. You know, yesterday, too, we went to David and Chris's farewell. It was beautiful. And I don't want to talk a lot about it. So really get emotional. We want to be able to complete this because I'm going to
miss those guys like crazy. However, when David stood up, the first I don't know if it was the very first thing out of his mouth, but it might as well have been. He said, and I think I quote, it's all about relationships. Yeah. It's all
about relationships. And it really is all about relationships, you know, and we think about that, you know, and to the to the ears that maybe aren't accustomed to thinking in a way of deity type of relationships, you know, maybe we just first think of relationships, earthly relationships. And that's important. And that's where. those things for me began, you know, in places like
that. And we have been so blessed, Deb, your family is the same way, you know, your side of the family is the same way, in that there have just been such a great concerted effort to bring family together, to gather us together so that we can develop and gain an earthly sense of the importance of loving, caring, supportive relationships. And even sometimes relationships that come with
some challenges. They can bless us too. What they are though is just a precursor to the most important relationship that we'll ever enter into and that's our relationship with the deity. Our relationship with our Father in heaven. Which is possible because of the atonement and sacrifice of his son. And so a relationship through his son. as well, and a relationship with the Holy Ghost. And I love that. This is where we're going to be today. Last week we talked a little bit
about faith. We're going to talk a lot more about faith in coming weeks. But last week we talked a little bit about faith and we really kind of focused on Amulek. And when Amulek was teaching the people, he was about ready to call them to repentance, you know, and to give them, you know, the things that they needed in order to prepare again to meet God. But before he did any of that, what did he teach them? He taught them the atonement of Jesus Christ and the importance of that. And
the relationship with Jesus Christ. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Even more importantly is that relationship with him. Important above anything else. Yeah. Yeah. I mean literally important above anything else is our relationship with deity. It's all about a relationship and those relationships extend into our mortal experience and then thereby will extend it back into eternity through covenant relationships and so forth. But it's all about
that relationship. So I think today you know we really want to talk about that relationship.
Well I think it's also important to Um, bring up the fact that after Dave and Chris's farewell, we went to his house to, um, you know, celebrate and they had a little luncheon and it was so tender for me to be able to watch you reconnect with all those family members that there, you were literally like a ping pong ball in that sack, in that, um, chapel, like going from person to person, from friend to family to friend to
family. And then, then after when we went over to Dave and Chris's and we sat out it on a table and had such a sweet. conversation with some of those people that you literally grew up with down, down in fish Lake and created those traditions and those, and made those relationships again, back to the relationship and how tender and sweet
those are. And even to the point that it was like, we got to get together because those relationships are so meaningful and so powerful and so helpful as we navigate through life and life's and we got, I got to meet a lot of their. kids. I know your cousins, but I don't know a lot of their kids. Well, neither do I. And it was so fun to see how darling and cute and I mean, there were even times that I'd pause and I'm like, look at this little cute kid and, you know, just walking
by. But anyway, it was that was a sacred, sweet, sweet moment as well. Yeah. Instruments of grace, I think. I think Heavenly Father allows us to have these experiences so that so that the spirit can bear witness to us that families can be together forever. Yeah. And what a reunion. I mean, I just think about being able to just sit and to have those, you know, meaningful conversations. And we talked about all things of past, present and even future. It was such a sacred moment.
And I could have sat there for days, probably, with the days, with the days and many others as well. Yeah. Yeah, that's really what it's about, you know, if and you know, I know it's difficult because I know not everybody has that relationship with their family. I know not everybody has those things. I know, you know, people are perhaps thinking, yes, Scott, you have me, you know, because I can relate to you with your alcoholism problems and I can relate to you with all your
following issues. But I haven't been blessed like you have. And I haven't had that experience in my life. I haven't had that blessing in my life. And to those I say, Hang on. Yeah, hang on and listen on stay with us because today we talk a little bit actually a lot We address that about that and I think that's important relation. We all I think we all have this inside of us. And I think for some, perhaps it's buried under the weight of depression or neglect or lack or
whatever. But I think within each one of us, we have a desire, an innate desire to be connected, to feel love and to give love and to participate in a relationship, a positive uplifting, supportive, loving relationship. Yeah. And I think we can go back to the first and great commandment is love the Lord thy God. That's our first relationship. Right. And then the second is like unto it is to love one another as thyself. And I think sometimes thyself is one of the hardest relationships because
we're so mean to ourselves. We're so brutal. And sometimes we just pick up a beating stick and just pound the, you know, how dare you? What were you thinking? I can't believe you did that again. I mean, it's, you know, the relationship with self is a really powerful relationship as well. Well, we know that as we've been talking about through the atonement of Jesus Christ,
all things can be healed. Every effect of the fall of Adam and Eve and every negative effect that we go through or experience in this life, we've talked about it and we're going to reiterate it and revisit it quite a bit today. The atonement of Jesus Christ is for sin, make no mistake. You know, maybe first, and I don't know. But it's obviously for so much more than just our transgressions. And I want to talk about that
today. I want to talk about the blessings or the effects that are available to us because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that we've alluded to a lot of this. I know that we've kind of hinted around it and made reference to it. I don't think we hinted around it. I think we've made reference to it and those types of things. But today we deal with it directly. There are really blessings or effects that come from Jesus Christ, right, because of his atonement.
It's probably a good time to say this too, that when we talk about Christ and his atonement, it's his atonement. There's no... power in an event called the Atonement. Elder Packer, Elder Holland, and so many others of the Twelve and our prophets have talked about this. But it's not the Atonement that gives us power. It's Jesus Christ's power. And Jesus Christ's power and blessings are available to us. because of his atonement. His atonement, yeah. That's right.
But Jesus Christ is the power. He is the power, and the blessings come from him. Yeah, and to refer to the atonement is nothing if you're not referring to Jesus Christ's atonement. It is exactly right. I think that's what you're trying to say. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So we know that there are effects of the atonement. We know there are effects of the fall. We talked about that. We talked about spiritual death and physical death and the effects that come and are associated
without each one of those deaths. Well, today we're going to talk about the effects of Christ's atonement, the blessings that come to us from Jesus Christ or because of Jesus Christ, because of his atonement. And we're really going to break these down to two effects, right? We have conditional and we have unconditional effects of the atonement
of Jesus Christ. It's important and again we just talked about that you know that the the power doesn't come from the atonement the power comes from Jesus Christ through his atonement. And we know that unconditional effects we overcome physical and spiritual death. For example the resurrection, salvation of children, returning to God's presence and then the conditional effects is dependent on our faith. Repentance, our covenants, like not just making them, but, you know, renewing
them every week and enduring. And I think, you know, sometimes it's, I was in a Relay Society meeting one time and there was a lady teaching, this was years and years ago, basically said she got her last kid to the temple and so we've arrived. And, you know, I thought, wow, she's so lucky. And then I just thought, Wow, you have no idea. Like, once we get there, it doesn't mean we're staying there. So there's a commitment
and there's, you know. There's something that just be said about that, you know, oftentimes you hear things like that. Yeah. And people we love. It's like we hit the goal. Exactly. Again, it's not about just making that covenant, but keeping that covenant. And even more importantly, and that has become so sacred to me, is renewing. that covenant every single week, that sacred opportunity to make that effort to sit in that ordinance room and partake of that broken bread
and drink of that cup. So as we move in, again, just to reiterate, the source of the power is not the what, it's the who. And it's how we always need to remember that. You know, one of the defaults, if we can just condition ourselves to whenever we have a dilemma, when we have to make a decision, oftentimes it's better for me to think instead of what, who. Right? Instead of what should I do? Who should I go to as a pattern? Who should I go to for help? Whose atonement and whose blessing
should I rely on to pull me through? And so it's often that that's the case. You know, for example, in recovery programs, we speak of a higher power. We know that healing really begins when we understand who that power is. For those of us who have a difficulty, a difficult time identifying that power, just to identify higher power helps us to know that there's something greater than me.
But for those who have the ability to really understand who that power is in being Jesus Christ, that's really where, for me, Deb, that's really where the peace, the clarity, my purpose in life, it all comes from that relationship, my relational approach to the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's not just theological, right? It's an actual relationship with Him. Yeah, yeah. And again, back to relationships, that's the first and great commandment. Yeah, right. Well, let's talk a little bit about some
of these unconditional. Let's start with the unconditional effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ. For this one, we can turn right to the scriptures. We're going to turn to a scripture in the Book of Mormon. This is Moroni chapter eight, and we're going to be in verses 10 through 12. I'll just read it. It's not long, but this is the first unconditional effect. available to the children of men because of Christ's atonement. Behold I say unto you, this is again Moroni chapter
eight, verse 10, 11 and 12. Behold I say unto you that this thing ye shall teach, repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin. Ye teach parents that they must repent and be baptized and humble themselves as their little children and they shall all be saved with their little children. Can I push pause on that for just a second? Because there was a sentence that very first in 10 that really gets my attention for the simple fact that I
have studied this word. Behold, I say unto you that this thing ye shall teach. You know, we talk about what is the thing? What is the most
important thing? Who is the thing? And you know, in previous... episodes and in researching the thing and in my patriarchal blessing it says go forth and do the thing that the Lord has commanded you to do and go forth I bless you with the ability to do the thing and so I've really researched the word thing and I you know in my personal research, that thing is our Savior Jesus Christ.
So as we read that, and if it's okay I'll read 10 again, but if we can just put in Jesus Christ, Behold I say unto you that this Jesus Christ shall ye teach. repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin. Yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized and humble themselves as little children, that they may be saved with their little children. Okay, go on with 11. And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism.
Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling of the commandments. Unto the remission of sins, but little children are alive in Christ even from the foundation of the world If not, so God is a partial God and also a changeable God and a respecter of persons for how many little children have died without baptism I Think this is one of the greatest tender mercies. I do too ever
afforded humankind Right. Yeah, and in Deb, you know, this is one of the areas where we really kind of are a little bit different than the rest of Christendom. You know, this is an area that because of the restoration of the gospel, because of Revelation, because of the Book of Mormon, because of that scripture right there, right?
And others ahead of it, you know, there's some in Mosiah too, but that scripture right there specifically, because of that scripture, that really differentiates and that to me really helps me understand You know, Heavenly Father really is a God of love and a God of mercy. Well, and he refers so often to his little children. Yeah. And to children. It's, you know, being the primary president in our ward, it makes me realize and just being among those children, what pure doctrine
is spoken every single week. I think I shared this when we did a little activity of you know, this little boy Tommy in our ward on when he wanted, I was talking to him about a testimony and he says, Sister Durfee, I don't have a testimony. And I said, what do you know about Jesus? And he says, I love him. And I said, write that in the front of the Book of Mormon. You know, you write your testimony and then you share it with somebody that has never read the Book of Mormon.
And that sweet little innocent child wrote, I love you, Jesus, Tommy. That was his testimony. That was his testimony. And what pure, pure, I mean, purity. I mean, it was just so tender, you know, that I love you, Jesus. Yeah, yeah. Telling you, pure doctrines taught there. If you want to see and feel, you know, where the Savior will be, go among the children. Right. This is a really a comforting doctrine to a lot
of people. You know, there's been a lot of people who have had children pass There's been a lot of people who have had Miscarriages stillborns and I don't know the doctrine specifically. In fact, there's not really any specific doctrine around those types of things but I know that there's comfort that comes through understanding that this unconditional effect that's available to us because of Jesus Christ and his atonement can be, and indeed is, one of the most comforting.
points of doctrine that is available to us through His Atonement. David used to tell a story, and I'll probably butcher it a little bit, but you can go back and verify it. Fact -checked it. I'm sure that there's stuff that's going to be wrong. But in past episodes, he's actually shared this. story. He had a missionary companion served his mission in Fresno, California, he had a missionary companion, they were out knocking doors, I don't remember any of the specific details. So I'm
going to embellish a few of my own. So, you know, I think that they had had a long day, I think that it they hadn't had a ton of success that day and success being measured by the number of doors open to them for them to go in and deliver a message. This Elder Hanson knocked on a door. They felt, I think that they felt like they needed a hit, you know, the old consummate story, one more door, one more house. And they did. And when he knocked on the door, he didn't know what
he should say. And so he just opened his Book of Mormon to the scripture that we just read in Moroni chapter eight, that very scripture. And he read it to the lady that opened the door.
And she just stood there. after he got done reading he looked up and apparently she just stood there and I'm sure I'm sure fear struck those young missionaries like oh my gosh what am I gonna do but but come to find out I think she was just struck silent in shock and she said how did you know how did you know or he said something like who she said something like who are you and and how did you know how did you know And the missionaries, David and his companion, his companion said,
what do you mean, what did we know? And then she went on to explain that she had just had an infant death. I don't remember if that was a stillborn, I don't remember if that was a miscarriage or if it was a baby that had just passed, doesn't matter. The comfort came to her through the doctrine of the atonement of Jesus Christ. in that specific verse. And I know that that just lends so much comfort to so many people who have been in that situation. We have friends. You know, we had
Jory and Mandy on here. Remember Jory and Mandy's podcast, and we played it a couple of times. We should do that again. I would actually love to have them on again, but it would pretty much be the same story. But they have gained so much comfort. in knowing that their little one who died at the hands of a babysitter has been able to enter into the celestial kingdom. Just go straight to living with our Heavenly Father. I think that is such beautiful doctrine. And
comforting. Yeah, yeah. Very comforting. Well, if you think about it. I did, I researched this again this morning, just to double check, make sure that I was on track, that I'm not getting in the weeds. In fact, I had a friend, Rob, in my ward, and he and I discussed this recently. And we have found that there are statistics, and the statistics range anywhere between 40 and 60%. Infant mortality rate, or I should say children, child mortality rate before the age
of eight. prior to 1850 was between 40 and 60 percent. What that means is every child born around the world prior to 1850 of all that were born right around half passed away before eight. before five, most of them. And if they didn't have the ability to be baptized and to enter this covenant relationship and all those other things, so many other traditions, spiritual and religious traditions out there, condemn that young person, that baby to hell. Well, that's
not the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's not the doctrine of Jesus Christ. We just read here that they're all saved without condition. They go to the celestial kingdom. So because of that, and a lot of the general authorities have made reference to this, Deb, but because of that, the celestial kingdom's gonna be the most populated kingdom. Because of all those little perfect babies. Just that alone. Yeah. Just that alone.
Perfect children, I know. Just that alone. Yeah, makes me reflect on our sweet niece who just recently passed, or her baby passed. It was her first baby and it was so, so difficult, but because her and her husband both understanding the Atonement of Jesus Christ doesn't take away the pain, doesn't take away the heartache, the empty arms, the grief, the sorrow, but just having that comfort of knowing. that that baby's in God's arms. That
that baby is in a celestial state. And he was so perfect, he just needed to come get a body. We still miss him. So sad. There's rejoicing in that too, right? There's rejoicing in the doctrine, knowing that perfection. Knowing that through our savior's atonement of Jesus Christ and the power that's available to us, the perfection that that little one or those little ones enter right into the celestial kingdom and I love that
doctrine. That's a merciful God. A merciful God isn't, well you died before you had a chance to get baptized, you're going to hell, sorry. That's not mercy to me. That's not love to me. That is condemnation and that's the that's the God that I used to think I saw When I felt like he was always mad at me for all the dumb things I was doing. Well, sometimes we were taught that. I mean, I think we were, too. You know, that he was making bad marks and every time you do
something wrong, you're getting... Well, I think what I'm referring to, yeah, true, but what I'm referring specifically to are the doctrines and the teachings and some other traditions, religions and so forth, you know, in that if a baby dies before they're baptized, they're going to hell. There's no comfort in that for me. Well, I'm grateful that's not true in my belief system. I'm grateful that's not true. Well, let's talk then about another unconditional effect of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. And Deb, I think that for this one, let's kind of preface it with a couple of scriptures first. Do you mind turning for me and reading Mosiah chapter three, and let's do verses seven through 11. And lo, he shall suffer temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death. For behold, blood cometh from every poor. So great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his
people. And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth. the creator of all things from the beginning, and his mother shall be called Mary. And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men, even through faith on his name. I love that. Faith on his name.
That's how we gain salvation. and even after all this they shall consider him a man and say that he hath a devil and shall scourge him and shall crucify him and he shall rise the third day from the dead and behold he standeth to judge the world and behold all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men let me push pause right there sweetheart Can you read that last verse again? And he shall rise the third day from the dead,
and behold, he standeth to judge the world. And behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men. Okay, before we go to verse 11, so that was verse 10, we see why he did it. The reason he went through what he did, and I know that there are other definitions, and I know there are other interpretations, but there are other things around it. But here's a reason, and it says the reason,
that he did what he did. All these things are done so that, I can put in, so that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men. A righteous judgment. I want us to put that in the, just file that away somewhere really important in your head. He did it that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men. Go ahead and read 11. Hang on to that, I'm gonna read.
So this is 2 Nephi 9 .26. For the atonement, satisfyeth the demands of justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell. The very last sentence of that same verse. They are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel. So if we die, we don't have the law. given and
the law is actually the doctrine. If we don't have the doctrine of Christ and the scriptures and the law meaning that we haven't entered into that covenant relationship and we've never had that opportunity to do so, we're covered because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is another beautiful point is that those who die without the law, are saved. Because we have a merciful God. We have a God that understands circumstance. He understands the conditions that we're born
into. He understands that. Yeah. Yeah. And he loves all of his children. Now, Deb, for our third unconditional effect, it is that all are touched by the fall and all are touched by the atonement of Jesus Christ. Thank goodness. So what does this mean? Well, we're in a fallen world, and we all experience pain, and injustice, and separation, and sorrow, grief. We experience all kinds of things because of the fall. Injury, health. And because we all are affected by the
fall, we need depend upon a Savior. If I didn't know about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I don't know that this life would be that worth living. It's hard and there's hard things that a lot of people carry, a lot of burdens and a lot of sorrow and grief and without having any ounce of hope that there is something better waiting or there is a purpose behind these challenges that we endure. I was just talking to my son this morning and he was telling me about some
of the challenges he's having. He goes, but I know it's going to get better. I know it's going to get better. I mean, just having that knowing, I think helps us, you know, to be grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I mean, you know, if you think about Christ's atonement, it's for everyone, even if they don't know it. It is for absolutely everyone. He is not picking and choosing
who is a Christian, who is whatever. This fallen world and this atonement of Jesus Christ is for literally every human being, every child of God that enters this planet. I think that this is really kind of where the rubber starts hitting the road for us, right? Is where, you know, we're all touched by the fall. Everyone else, and we've spent a few episodes talking about that. We spent a ton of time talking about this in our Institute
class at BYU recently. And this is really an important concept for us to understand and grasp as fully as we can is that we're all fallen. We're all affected. We're all touched by the fall of Adam and Eve. And some of that, much of that is... Negative, negative effects of the fall. But we're all touched by the atonement. I love that you talk about how the fall is universal. Well, guess what? So it's the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's universal. Not only is it universal,
it's infinite. And so because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, the things that affect us because of the fall will be answered. And in many cases, and already have been answered, and we'll read later from Elder Kieran, that they are indeed already being answered, probably ahead of our even qualifying for the blessings that come from the redemption of those things. It also reminded me of a talk from D. Todd Christofferson given in April of 2013, and this is a quote from that
talk. Through the atonement, the Savior also heals and compensates us for any suffering we innocently endure. You know, again, it's for all of us. We're all affected on both sides, and we're benefited on both sides. We know that, for example, death, physical death is one of the things that come to us because of the fall of Adam and Eve. That's one of the unconditional effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ, Deb, is resurrection. We will all be resurrected.
We will all return to that God who gave us life to be judged. And every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. I love that scripture. So we so we know that that's one of the ways the conditional or the unconditional effects of the fall or the the effects of the fall. I'm just going to leave it that because of the that the effects of the fall are offset
all. That that. that physical death is offset because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which then makes the resurrection available. Every one of us will be resurrected. I remember going to a funeral of a lady that her son did not believe. He just thought that this is the end, that he will never see his mom again. And I wept watching him. And I just kept thinking, one day you're going to have such a sweet reunion.
One of these days you will see. that we do have a merciful God that will bring your mom and bring you back into your mom's arms. What a tender, tender, tender mercy. Yeah, and I think that we all have, you know, some story or stories or experiences in our lives that we can relate to this too. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, we know that it gives us a resurrection. It also helps us to overcome or heal from injustices.
Right. We also know that it gives us the power to overcome sin against us You know when we talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can really break down Jesus's blessings to us in Under three real categories, right? The first one being the redeeming blessings that come to us from Jesus through his atonement And we understand that, and we're going to continue to talk about that throughout the entirety of this season of the podcast. It's the redemption that comes because
of His Atonement. Because He redeems us. Because He redeems us. How does He redeem us? Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through His blood. Through His blood, yes. That's right. We are redeemed through His blood. So that's the first, that's one. They're not in any particular order. The second one that I'm gonna mention are enabling and strengthening powers that come to us because of Christ and His Atonement. He helps us do things that we would not be otherwise able to do at
all. Abling and strengthening, right? Yes, absolutely. And that's exactly what it is. The power to overcome sin against us, the power to overcome our own sin, the power to overcome anything is part of that enabling and strengthening blessings that
come from Jesus through his atonement. I have a really sacred experience about that when I went into the temple one time and I was at a point in my life, this was before I was married to you, and life had just been, it felt like life had just handed me a really crummy hand and I was I was pretty beaten down and I was in despair. I was like in, and I just remember
thinking, I need to go to the temple. I need to find peace because there is absolutely no one, no thing that is going to bring me peace right now because of stuff that was going on in my life to me, around me, all of that. And I just felt like physically, mentally, emotionally, I was beaten down. And I remember walking into the Mount Timpanogos temple and I felt like there was a boulder literally just pushing me down. I'm sure my shoulders were hunched. I was just
so heavily burdened with my story so hard. And I remember sitting in the endowment And I just kept saying, only father, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. And I finally get to the celestial room and there's this overwhelming piece that flooded my soul clear to the fleshy tables of my heart. And I, I remember just feeling like, my lungs opening up more, I felt like the burden on my
shoulders and on my head were lifted. And I can't give you the timeframe that I sat in that room and wept and pleaded and thanked, but it was definitely a long period of time. And I remember walking after, you know, the session, I put my clothes on and walked out of that temple and I looked up at the sky and I just thought, I am a completely different person than I was a few hours ago when I walked into this holy place.
I literally watched and felt and saw the miracle of a changed heart, that compensatory, that enabling and that strengthening because my story had not changed when I walked out of there. I still had the exact same thing going on in my life. But he changed me and he strengthened me and he gave me the power to continue forward in my challenges. And it wasn't easy. But I will never forget that
miracle that I endured. And I think I literally said out loud, if my grandma was resurrected right now and came up and walked up to me, I wouldn't be more shocked because that was the miracle that I had experienced. It was such a tender, tender mercy, a tangible evidence that his atonement enables and empowers. The turmoil, the confusion, the the storms in your life. None of that had changed. None of it. It was still there. Yep. So what had changed was? My heart.
He changed me. He literally changed me. And he gave me that strength. And he empowered me. And by aligning your will with his, his will is for you to be in connection with him. And that can
look different things, right? Yeah. like going to the temple and it may look like partaking and it may look of the sacrament it may look like serving and you're one of your ministering brothers or sisters and it may look like helping somebody and it may look like helping a homeless person and it may look help you know all of these things are what allow us to align with what blessings
are already there for us. And I find that too, I absolutely do not want to diminish the blessings and the power, the absolute power that can come by temple attendance and temple worship. But for those of us who aren't quite maybe ready for that yet, or maybe who don't quite qualify for that yet, or maybe who aren't, we've got a lot of younger listeners now, Deb, but for maybe a lot of those who aren't at the age to maybe enter into that endowment covenant relationship,
etc. Yet, those blessings are available. Well, I think it's important to know that where we seek Him, He will meet us. Well, that's true. I mean, it's not a place. At that day, it happened to be a place. Well, but that place is set apart.
for that for sure for sure but I could give you other examples of times that I have sought him and you know at the end of the episode I always say he meets us in our mess I have numerous stories to tell you he meets me in my mess anytime there's a mess and I plead and I cry out to him he meets me in my mess so there's the condition All I have to do is align with it. You align with it by crying out to him, by whatever else you just said, right? And I think that is the way we should
align with him. I think it's the same for me. For sure. But it's about aligning with those blessings that are already available to us, not earning them. Right, right. That was going to be my question. What did you do to earn that relief that day, Deb? I think just by aligning with him. I think by seeking him, I think by just throwing my hands in the air saying, I can't, but I know you can, and I need you to today because it's heavy and it's hard. And it's - And I know
it's semantics, but that's - For sure. You didn't earn it. Yeah. None of us earned it. But I aligned with it. Right. Yep. Redemption's free. Salvation's free. I mean, I say but. But I aligned with it. And I aligned with it. Yes. And I aligned with it. Right. For sure. Because I don't know what would have happened had I not made that effort.
This isn't something that I planned to talk about, but if we can turn to Doctrine and Covenants, section 88, verse 33, this is really what it, for me, this is really kind of the differentiator in what we're talking about here. Did you earn it? Is it really a gift? After all, that's what the word endowment means. This is in 88, section 88, verse 33. Four, what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him and he received not the gift? You just went there that day to
receive, Deb. I sure did. To receive the gift. Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. So if a gift's bestowed upon us and we don't receive that gift, Deb, it can't profit us. So I think that, you know, oftentimes we talk about earning His grace, earning His blessings, earning this and earning that, when I think maybe if we changed it to receiving His grace. I always go to the football analogy. I
love that you're bringing this up. I really do. I mean, and I've taught this. I can throw a ball all day long, but if I don't have a receiver, all I'm doing is throwing a ball, and it's landing uselessly. Literally, it's just a ball falling on the ground. And I think one day soon we're gonna talk about what it means to receive, but that's a perfect analogy, Dev. I love that. But it's true. It's real for me. It's a tangible
learning thing for my brain. This is one of the reasons I love my wife so much is her analogies are often sports analogies. It's really cool for me. Well, I was raised with six brothers. And I thank every one of them. And a dad who played football. Yeah, that's true. All -American
almost, right? Yeah, I think that we've talked about to the all of the unconditional effects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ how they offset both of the effects of all of the effects of the fall Both that come both from spiritual death
and physical death, right? I think next week we'll get into the conditional effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ in this, you know gang this is where For those of us who desire a deeper and I think it eventually is for all of us But for those of us who desire a deeper we began this episode talking about relationships a deeper relationship a more true relationship a relationship that you can fully trust and and Engage in that type of relationship. That's what we're talking
about next week. We're going to talk about the conditional effects How do I qualify for the conditional? effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ. So let's just talk about maybe we can. Wait, you told me I didn't qualify. I didn't qualify, you didn't earn. Earn, okay. There's a difference. Okay. Yeah. Qualify and earn, okay. Yeah, yeah. Big difference. Qualify, we just align with. Earn means, that means. I did it. By my merit. Yeah, yeah, I get that. Okay, okay.
I'm glad you brought that up. And I'm probably not going to cut that. I was going to say you can cut that out. No, I'm probably not going to cut that because if you wondered about that, then maybe some of our listeners did too. So I'm just going to leave that in there. But let's just I'm going to just kind of tease next week's episode about the conditional effects of overcoming the fall of Adam and Eve and the conditional effects that are available to us through Christ's
Atonement. The first one is spiritual rebirth. That's going to be a fun one to talk about. And that spiritual rebirth is really where we are a brand new creature. for those of us and my hands raised armpit showing for those of us who have a deep desire to be somebody something different it requires rebirth and it's that change that i talked about earlier to allow him to change our hearts that spiritual rebirth that allows him now to be him being Jesus to now be the father
of our spirits. This is why I don't like the big brother context. He's the father of my spirit. He's my God. He's not my big brother. I mean, I get all that. But anyway, side note. And then we're going to talk about perfection through Christ or being completed through Christ or being brought onto him and all things that are not like him being removed through from him through Christ, okay? And then we're going to talk about eternal life with God, what all that means, the
order of the resurrections. Again, so we're all going to be resurrected, but the order of the resurrection is dependent. on our qualifying for the conditional blessings that come to us through Christ's atonement. Not earning, qualifying. That's right. We're going to talk about that. And then we're going to talk about the various degrees of glory and power that are all available to us through His atonement, through the effects of His atonement. So Deb, do you have an invitation
today? Personally, I like to take an inventory. and just just kind of self -reflect personal inventory I guess is what I call it but what if I mean just ask yourself what if the atonement of Christ is already working in ways that you haven't even noticed And think about, I mean, just like that day I entered the temple, I did not understand what was happening until after it had actually happened. And I still reflect on that day and it still changes my heart. Even
telling that story, it changes my heart. Well, it changes my heart to hear that story too. So there's power in that as well. It definitely changed me. And what if your faith isn't about chasing healing? but catching up to the healing that is already going on, that's already underway. What if your faith isn't about chasing healing, but like catching up to the healing that's already
in motion, already underway? When I think about applying the atonement, and gang, I've been sober 26 years and I've been trying to work this thing pretty hard. For most of that let's just put it that way for most of that, but I've never thought of that before Deb I have always been the one chasing my healing I've always been the one I need this healed in my life. How am I gonna heal? How am I gonna allow him? Let me rephrase that How am I going to allow him my higher power
Jesus Christ to heal that? So what you're talking about kind of goes back to last week's episode when we talked about faith in him. Yeah, absolutely. A little bit of faith in him helps us to understand the effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ, conditional and unconditional. And so when you'd say, what if it isn't about chasing healing? But what did you say? Catching? I said, what if your faith isn't about chasing healing, but
catching up? To the healing catching up to the healing already that's already that's already underway. That's already going on So it's already there for us is what yours I just got chills over my whole body. So What you're saying is instead of chasing my healing? What if I'm just trying to catch up for the healing? That's already been through his tender mercy laid before me. Yes I love that and I love you. I love you. That's
so cool. I love that so much way to go. That's so cool Well, listen gang, we haven't really gotten into all of the, haven't at all gotten into all of the effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ. My invitation to you would be this week, maybe just to identify where you can see the healing that's taken place. You know, you keep a personal inventory, I do that too. We both have this practice in our life and I think that they originated from the same source, recovery
places. You know, I think that this is a good time for us to begin again to take those personal inventories Because I think it's him and pray and ask for you know guidance I think all also I have to pray to help me to have the ice to see there you go You know, I it's it doesn't always just show up in my face Sometimes I'm you know buried in that forest and I can't see any trees That's exactly what I was gonna say when you went to the temple that day you prepared
yourself to receive the gift I was hoping to receive anything. You got in a dress, you're already pretty, but you got even prettier. You went to the temple, and you participated in ordinances that are important to you. You prepared yourself, and there is some preparation required for all of us in that. And so we just prepare the best way that we can, and we look for where the atonement, the effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ
have already been at work in our lives. And I think even exercising faith that he would do something if I entered his house. Which is a lot easier to do if we have a relationship with him. Exactly. If we have that, we're going to stress relationship for some of you, it will be ad nauseum. But this is the whole emphasis, the whole point behind the podcast is a relationship.
Yep. with deity first with each other because of our relationship with deity for eternity next but as we close today we just want to say that wherever you are and however you're feeling you're welcome to be here with us you know jesus isn't just waiting for you to clean your act up before you come to him no he meets us again in the middle of our mess why have we have examples of that and that's where his grace shines the very brightest he's waiting for us he just says Just come, you
know, ask me. So come as you are, broken, hopeful, questioning, searching. You really are not alone. You know what, Gang 2, we'd really love to stay connected with you. We appreciate the emails and the encouragement and all that that we've received. You can continue to send those to us at he redeems us at gmail dot com. He redeems.
us at gmo .com we read everyone you know if you have questions or or maybe comments or maybe there's something that you're wrestling with that we're talking about um if it's appropriate we'd love to share it and wrestle with it together because if you're wrestling somebody else is too so that would benefit others as well we probably are too yeah that's true or have at least yeah it's true yeah well if this episode has touched your heart we hope that you'll share it with
someone you love and care about a friend a family member anyone who could use a little more hope right now. We, you know, we love to share hope. Yeah, we all need hope. All of us. There's a lot of power and hope, right? Yeah, you know, next week, we're going to talk continue this discussion, we're going to talk about how he doesn't just redeem us, obviously, he compensates us, he enables us, he strengthen us, he heals us, he lifts us, he transforms us in our everyday
lives, our everyday lives. The joy and gratitude I have for that. Thanks for being with us, everyone. And remember, there is always hope through him because you have been redeemed through his blood. We love you. We hope that you'll continue to listen. We hope that you'll share this with those that you love. We'll see you next time.