What has the power to save?

I haven't been working on my journal for the second step like I should this week- I just haven't had the time. Hopefully I will be able to get to it this week. It is funny that all of the Sunday School Lessons, Sacrament talks and my Seminary lessons have seemed to be on Faith and the Atonement and have fit right into the things I have been studying and striving for.
I usually prepare a week of lessons in advance for Seminary that way I am not stressing out every night trying to make time to study. This week we are starting our study of Romans. Did you know that Romans is sometimes called a sealed book because those without a knowledge of the Fall/Plan of Salvation/works vs grace have a very hard time understanding the doctrine Paul was trying to teach? I thought that was pretty interesting.
The lesson for Chapters 4-6 says to imagine you are in the desert dying of thirst- on a hill nearby you see a glass of water.
Which of the following will save your life?
a. Your knowledge/confidence that the water will save you
b. Your effort to crawl up the hill to get the water
c. Drinking the water
This really is such an awesome analogy. There are so many ways you could go with it. I can't wait to share it with the kids.
Let's compare this analogy with our need for spiritual salvation.
What would the knowledge, the crawl up the hill and the water each represent?

The water represents the divine help given by God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ (grace)
The crawl up the hill represents us striving to keep the commandments- I also imagine it could represent our works/service.
The knowledge/confidence in the saving power of the water represents our faith.
It is this faith- true faith that will motivate us to keep the commandments (climb up the hill) so that we can partake of the saving power of Jesus Christ's Atonement.
The lesson points out that this whole process requires us to have total reliance on the Savior. That even faith is a gift from Christ. We couldn't even have the need to drink the water nor walk up the hill if it wasn't for Jesus Christ. Faith and works are not enough to save us. We must use the power of the Atonement in our lives. I don't think that many of us use the Atonement to our full advantage. Sometimes when I am in Sunday School or Relief Society I often feel like we are just scratching the surface and I often leave feeling hungry for more. Maybe that is the point. Heavenly Father wants me to search and study on my own so that I can learn to be reliant on Him and on His son Jesus Christ.


The scripture for Step Two Day one is 2 Nephi 2:22- Thou knowest the greatness of God and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.
Consecrate= dedicated to a sacred purpose.
The journaling for this day is soooo intense.
Assignment- Write about the trials and afflictions you have had in your life. Include trials, heartache, illnesses anything that causes pain or distress- even your own mistakes. How have you seen the consecrating power of God applied to those afflictions?
I am not going put the things I wrote about here in my blog but will say that I can see in almost every difficult situation in my life how those things have helped me grow in one way or another. I can look back and say I am grateful for most of the things I have been through as difficult and life changing as they were. There are a few situations where I don't see the good yet but I hope that someday I will. Funny the things I haven't been able to find the good in I am still going through. I guess I have more to learn. Also looking back at some of the trials I have had since I joined the church- they were definitely things that brought me to my knees and made me totally rely on the Lord. I think some of the trials I am going through right now are things I keep trying to figure out on my own or things I spend a lot of time blaming myself for. It is also a lot easier to see the mistakes of others that impacted me working for my good then to look at my own mistakes and see them helping me.
The thing about these steps is you have to go through all seven days before you get to the discussion portion that kind of ties everything together. I always want to skip ahead.