A Shining Light

I grew up in the Southeast Asian country of the Philippines. Even though I lived in the city and my family had enough resources to provide us with our needs, I could still say that it was hard to live there. The Philippines is largely stricken by poverty, and many people just give up on life. There is not much hope for many. They can work as hard as they can and still not have enough. Basically, you have to be born rich if you want to grow up rich.

My membership to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormon Church) has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I have always been LDS, and have not ever wished I was something else. The teachings in my church has helped me get through the despair that's just pretty much all over the Philippines. This previous week in my New Testament class, we talked about the suffering of Jesus Christ and the events that had happened before that. While our professor discussed so many interesting things, one thing that had stuck out to me was the Atonement that Jesus did.

We, as Latter-day Saints, are taught that the Atonement was a selfless act that Jesus did so we can get back to our Father's presence. This is a great manifestation of His love for us. Imagine having a son and then giving him away and letting him get killed. There could not be any thing greater than that. The Atonement is a reminder to me that God loves me and that He is on my side. It is also a reminder to me that I can always get better if I choose to. Elder David Bednar (a current apostle of our Church), in a devotional he gave in the Philippines on August 2008, taught that the Atonement does not only have a cleansing power for our sins, but also a strengthening power so that we may be able to go forward keeping the commandments. I could never forget his statement about that and since then, I became more confident about the future and even more reliant on God.

While the Atonement may be a common topic for Latter-day Saints like me, it is something that is absolutely vital in our lives. The promise of getting better by the Atonement is a shining light in the midst of the clouds of despair. Living in the Philippines is hard, but that promise makes it a whole lot easier. Growing up in the Church, I have always lived with this hope that everything will be better. And yes, everything became better when my family was able to move to America. While we, as a family, would still have some struggles, we do not worry so much because we know that these hardships are only temporary.