That He May Know How to Succor His People

Alma 7:11-12 ~
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Mosiah 3:7 ~
7 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 pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

Doctrine & Covenants 88:6 ~
6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;

One night near the end of 2015, I was feeling particularly tired and drained and I contemplated (amidst the celebration of the Christmas season and all the good cheer and fun events and family time that comes at that time) why doing good doesn't always feel good.  Because when it feels good to do good then doing good is so much easier to maintain and enjoy!  But sometimes doing good feels exhausting and it's hard to keep giving and giving more and more... even when we want to feel good about doing it!

And I was having a conversation with God about how I was feeling so drained and tired, and I was shedding a number of tears.  I wondered if Jesus, in all His doing of good on the earth and the ingratitude of others for that good or the persecution, even, that he received for it, had ever felt like I was feeling, had ever felt tired or drained or exhausted from doing all that good.  I asked if He had ever cried, like me, over those human frailties.

As I asked, there flashed through my mind in an instant all the times Jesus was ridiculed for teaching the truth, all the times he was mocked or even condemned for healing others, all the times He had to reprimand His own apostles, all the times He was betrayed or let down by them, the times He had to face Satan's temptations alone, the time He was beaten and spit upon and eventually crucified for declaring the truth.  And in that instant, I knew that He had felt like I felt.  He had felt beaten down even while trying to do good.

But there came to me right after that the impression that Christ had not only felt like I felt, but had also felt what I felt.

Exactly.

When it was my turn during His Atonement, during the time He suffered just for me, He had felt my sorrows, my misgivings, my fears, my moments of exhaustion.

He had felt this night.

He knew exactly what I felt.

Every bit of it.

I cried anew as I felt an outpouring of love: from Him AND for Him.  I loved Him for loving me enough to suffer not only like me but with me in my time of need.

And because He was with me... I could keep doing good AND feeling good in my heart.

(photo credit: Greatest of All by Del Parson)