There’s a difference between believing in Jesus Christ’s atoning power and actually feeling it in our lives.
For me, meditation has been invaluable to understanding Christ’s role as my personal Savior. Here’s a meditation practice and a few insights that have allowed me to experience His grace on a more tangible level.
Meditative Prayer
One practice that has changed the way I feel my Savior’s love is meditative prayer—a way that I symbolically give my anxious thoughts to the Lord.
As Bishop L. Todd Budge shared in the October 2024 general conference, “Being still … requires more than just making time for the Lord—it requires letting go of our doubtful and fearful thoughts and focusing our hearts and minds on Him.”
I first tried this form of meditative prayer during a difficult period on my mission. One night, when I was grappling with intrusive thoughts and feelings of inadequacy, I came across the scripture Alma 42:29: “I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.”
This verse sparked a realization: I didn’t need to redeem myself from my anxious thoughts and imperfections—that wasn’t my job. My role was to focus on the Redeemer, repenting of what I could change and trusting in His grace to take care of the rest.
That night, I knelt and asked God to help me feel the Savior’s atoning power, symbolically giving Him my mental burdens and choosing to trust He could handle them. As I sat in this silent prayer, I visualized Him taking away my anxious thoughts one by one and felt a comforting warmth envelop my mind and heart.
While dramatic spiritual feelings like this are rare for me, practicing these kinds of meditative prayers still brings me a quiet sense of peace even years later.1
Embracing the Cycle
Another comforting principle I’ve learned is that it’s normal to not always feel connected to Christ. In fact, the process of repeatedly searching for and finding His stillness can help bring us closer to Him than we were before.
Part of being human is having hearts and minds that are “prone to wander.” We also live in a world filled with distractions, making it difficult to sift through the noise and “always remember Him.”
But just as we shouldn’t feel ashamed when we need to make changes and repent, we shouldn’t feel guilty when we struggle to stay in the present moment. Instead, we can choose to return our focus to Christ.
Psychologist and author Carrie Skarda says that embracing this continual cycle has been crucial to improving her relationship with the Lord:
“Meditation … isn't about a constant state of relaxation—it’s about catching ourselves drifting into our thoughts or distractions, and then catching that and bringing ourselves back to the present moment.
“And that is a concept that has been really helpful for me in my spiritual practices within our faith. … I can realize, like, ‘I haven't really had a sincere prayer or read my scriptures in several weeks.’ I can catch that and come back to it. And that's not failure.
“That is the cycle of meditation, and that is the practice of religious life: catching that and coming back. And to define that not as a failure but as part of the practice was very freeing for me.”
Like Carrie, meditation helps me notice my human cycles with more compassion and clarity. When it feels like I’m distant from Christ or not where I’d like to be spiritually, I try to use that recognition as an opportunity to move forward and return to Him.
“The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us opportunities to return to Him often,” Bishop Budge has taught. “These opportunities include daily prayers, scripture study, the sacrament ordinance, the Sabbath day, and temple worship.”
Redefining Roadblocks
Maybe our tendency to drift away from the Lord doesn’t have to be a roadblock. Instead, it might just be an invitation to strengthen our covenant connection with Him—to choose Christ over and over again.
As a book on mindfulness for Latter-day Saints suggests:
“[I]t’s here and now—in our messes—where we can find Him, with every moment potentially becoming one of reconciliation, reunion, and beginning: each in-breath, a new beginning … each out-breath, a complete letting go.”
Christ is not only the Savior of the world but also our personal Savior and Redeemer. He will help us know how to strengthen our covenantal relationship with Him, and we can feel His grace in our very souls—not just after this life but today.
As He has counseled us, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63).
Note
1. Meditative prayer is just one helpful tool in managing mental health challenges, and it’s important to remember there’s no “fast fix” or “one-size-fits-all” approach to these complex issues. As President Jeffrey R. Holland has counseled, “If things continue to be debilitating, seek the advice of reputable people with certified training, professional skills, and good values. … If you had appendicitis, God would expect you to seek a priesthood blessing and get the best medical care available. So too with emotional disorders. Our Father in Heaven expects us to use all of the marvelous gifts He has provided in this glorious dispensation.”
For more articles on finding the Savior’s stillness, check out the articles below:
▶ Expert tips for enjoying spiritual stillness—no matter what’s on your plate
▶ Christ’s last gift to His disciples was a form of meditation—one you can still do today
▶ How meditation can make a drastic difference in a Latter-day Saint’s lifestyle
