Worth Loving

I didn’t know it at the time, but when I was 14 I was floundering. I had moved with my family to a new school in a big city, and after a year there I still wasn’t adjusting. I didn’t have any friends, and I felt like I wasn’t worth loving.

I hoped that girls’ camp that summer would offer a break from feeling down, but I only felt worse as I watched the other girls enjoying themselves without me. I knew that as I started high school that fall, my problems would worsen.

Then on the final night of camp, a young couple came to talk to us. As the husband bore his testimony of the Atonement, a powerful realization struck me: Jesus Christ died for me. I had always known that He died for the world, but until that moment I hadn’t realized that He also died for me personally.

With this realization came a great feeling of worth and love. It was as if the Savior, the greatest of all, saw me when He was upon the cross and said, “Yes, I will die for her.” If He was willing to do that for me, then surely I was worth something. As I thought about this I went off by myself, and for the first time ever, I opened my heart completely to my Father in Heaven. For two hours I talked with Him and felt the soothing warmth of His love.

Since that time I have not only grown to know my worth, but I have found joy in the world and discovered my place in it. I will forever be grateful to the Redeemer, who gave His life for me and allowed me to know that I am worth loving.

Extra! Extra!

If you want to learn more about the Atonement, these scriptures have some interesting insights: Mosiah 3:7; Mosiah 15:11–12; D&C 19:15–19; D&C 45:3–5.

In site: See “To Be Free of Heavy Burdens” (Ensign, Nov. 2002) by Elder Richard G. Scott and “One by One” (Ensign, Nov. 2000) by Elder Ronald A. Rasband at www.lds.org in the Gospel Library.

Photography by Jerry Garns, posed by model