April 2019 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable – Savior’s Atonement
This month, the April 2019 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable talks about the Savior’s Atonement and the Garden of Gethsemane. It is perfect for Easter!
These ministering printables are a great way to help families incorporate the “Come, Follow Me” lessons into their own study. They are also perfect for Young Women’s, Relief Society or Sunday School.
Download April 2019 Come Follow Me and Ministering Printable
I paired April’s printable with a cute bag of Ghirardelli Chocolate Bunnies that I found. Ghirardelli is one of my favorites! And a fun little fact, the tree blossoms in this printable are actually from the nectarine tree in my backyard.
April 2019 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable
The Savior’s Atonement – Tarry With Us
While reading through the New Testament, the stories of Jesus’s miracles have hit me hard this year. I have a child who struggles with a chronic condition that intensely impacts his life on a daily basis. It often feels like someone has stolen his childhood.
Longing For Christ’s Miracles
In the New Testament, as the news of Jesus’s miracles spread, people tried to get to Him in any way they could. They were carried, climbed a tree, were let down from the roof, or reached for His hem. And I long to take my son to Him. It is an ache. Reading about Christ makes it all seem so close, but it is just out of reach. It feels hardly fair. Christ healed so many as he walked the earth, why not my son?
But those people suffered too, and for lots of different reasons. I live in a time and place where I have access to medical care, I have rights as a woman in society, I am not under the oppressive rule of a conquering nation, and I have indoor plumbing! It is easy to see somebody’s miracle and want it for yourself. But there are no easy paths or answers for any of us. We all have times where we will wait, or ache, or struggle. We are forged in the furnace of affliction.
Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God, … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire” (quoted in Improvement Era, Mar. 1966, 211).
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
It is hard to suffer. Even Christ stood before the impossible suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt 26:39) He then went to his apostles, his friends, and asked for their help, before going back and asking the Father again, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” (Matt 26:42) He then goes back yet again to his apostles before returning to pray the same thing a third time. Christ, who stood unwavering before the temptations of the devil and later the agonies cross, reaches out again and again in this time of His greatest suffering.
In our own personal Gardens of Gethsemane, I see us asking the Savior, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” (Matt 26:38) And Christ will not fall asleep on His watch. He is there for us unconditionally. Even when it is hard, He is there. He suffered not only for our sins, but for our infirmities so “that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:12)
As Elder Brent H. Nielson shares, “All of us need the Savior’s Atonement to heal us. All of us are lost and need to be found.”
My Relationship With Christ
My timing for miracles might be a little different from those in the New Testament. But I am also blessed with an eternal relationship with my Savior. Their stories are also my story. And this Easter season I am grateful for the strength I have seen forged in my son as he walks his path. I am also grateful for the promise that someday he too will be free from his struggles. And mostly, I am grateful for my Savior who stands beside us through it all, faithfully ministering to us.
