individually

a couple of weeks ago my mom and i found a poor little premature bird laying close to death on the sidewalk in front of a building at school. it seemed to have fallen from somewhere and broken out of its eggshell. this baby bird had not one bit of feather or hair on it, its skin translucent and its body incapable of functioning at all.

my mom and i are extremely sensitive souls with love for any living creature. i picked the poor little thing up into my hands....

{the bird pictured above is much more physically developed than the one we found}

... and climbed up a tree to shove it back into the nest we assumed it fell from. as we drove home contemplating the short life of baby bird, i started to think about our Heavenly Father's plan of salvation.

from a young age i learned songs and heard scriptures testify that God knows every living thing upon this earth, knows when a creature falls from the sky, and cares for each one of his creations. somehow this belief, knowledge, testimony developed without the critical piece about Him knowing me individually.

i have been studying the book of mormon purposefully for information on what a healthy relationship with the Lord looks like and feels like. the growing knowledge of the Savior's individual atonement, individual love, and individual plan for me is sinking into my heart with a feeling of awe.

2 nephi 33:6 states "... i glory in my Jesus..."

"Jesus Christ atones for us one person at a time, cleanses one heart at a time, and loves us one at a time as choice and unique individuals." - He did deliver me from bondage, pg 30

as i looked up scripture after scripture, i read helaman 5:12 - a previously well-known scripture - in a whole new light. maybe this is the way everyone else read it and i simply took a little longer to understand it.... ?

even though hard things do happen, when i put Jesus Christ at the center of my life as my foundation there will always be hope. hard things will inevitably happen but those hard things will not have the power to drag me down into misery and self-pity!

greg olsen's "hand in hand"

i am so grateful for this insight into the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and of the love of my Heavenly Father. i guess i'd always thought this scripture meant that if i were perfect in putting the Lord first that the bad things in my life would be fixed. now i know better.

God loves me individually.

and now i have more hope.