Imagine Him Calling You By Name

 

Christ the Babe Was Born for You

By Sister Tamara W. Runia

First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

Reconnecting Through Ordinances

But Isaiah also warns, “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). Maybe each one of us has been in a place where we have felt like a wandering lamb. I submit that we are all injured lambs in need of the Good Shepherd, who will cradle us in the arms of His love. Because to be mortal means we have things about us that feel broken, that need fixing.

And I don’t know if there is a time in my week that I feel the need for a Redeemer more keenly than on Sunday during the sacrament. I bring my broken heart and reflect on the words and the emblems during this “time of spiritual renewal.” But sometimes there comes a low moment when, thinking about the past week, I recognize these are the same sins, the same weaknesses I was thinking about last Sunday. And I feel truly contrite or crushed.

Do you know this moment?

I invite you to try something new. In those most sacred minutes of your whole week, if you’re feeling crushed, imagine Him calling you by name, and go to Him. See your Savior in your mind’s eye, with His arms open and bright countenance extended to you, saying, “I knew you would feel like this! That’s why I came to earth and suffered what I did.” His help, His grace is available to you right now, not at the end of the road when you feel like you have things perfectly together. Because whoever feels like that? No one that I know.

Remember, we go to church, to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, not only to be healed but also to feel clean.

Years ago, when I was serving in Primary, I was telling a story about someone who had been recently baptized. I pointed out that this friend might be one of the most pure and clean members of the Church. Then, on the front row, a hand shot up and an older boy declared, “I can be just as clean as he is because I’ve been baptized and take the sacrament.” I awkwardly answered, “Yes, that’s what I meant—what he said.”

Do we truly remember and receive this most stunning doctrine? If we’ve been doing the work to keep our covenants with God—continually returning, reporting, and repenting—we can be cleansed each day. And through the ordinance of the sacrament, we can feel as clean as the day we were baptized. For me, this has made the Sabbath a day of rest. Not just a physical rest, but rest from guilt and fear, from my inadequacies and my weaknesses. At least for just one day!...

Maybe you feel broken and aren’t sure you will experience His healing. But is that true? Every Sunday during the sacrament, He is lifting you off the dusty road and placing you in the folds of His robe and cradling you in His ample arms.