Students and faculty say the Atonement of Jesus Christ heals all wounds
Through the atonement of Christ all God’s children can gain help and hope, said a BYU–Hawaii faculty member, an alumnus and a student. They shared stories of how the Atonement has helped them heal their hearts and find comfort in their trials.
Peter Meyers, an Institute teacher and adjunct faculty member in the Faculty of Religious Education, likened the Savior’s atonement to solar panels. The sun gives energy to the panels, but unless the energy is used to generate electricity, it is wasted. Individuals can receive the Savior’s atonement, but they need to use it for it to work miracles in their lives and receive comfort.
“The Savior can not only heal you once. He can heal you over and over and over again...I had to be open and honest to realize I needed His help,” said Meyers.
Ella Perrins said after quitting alcohol and drugs, her boyfriend Erik Lewis worked hard to return to church, serve a mission, and refind his faith in Christ. “I think one of the biggest things the Atonement did in working with him was changing his perspective. Not only of life and of others but also of himself. I feel like he saw his own potential and his capability to love and be loved and to serve,” said Perrins.
Noellette Song said after being in a toxic relationship and feeling objectified by somebody she really cared for, she found healing in Christ and is now happily married to her husband, Alex, who cares for her deeply for her. “Back in 2019, I was heartbroken and in a really bad frame of mind. I feel like you have to go through the tough, the hard and the unbearable in order for you to experience the happiness at the end. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Jesus Christ’s sacrifice in taking upon the sins of all who would ever live, known as the Atonement, is the foundation of Christianity, according to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Jesus suffered all the pain and temptations anyone would ever feel so He would know how to help and understand God’s children.
Struggling with parental abuse
Meyers stressed the infinite nature of Jesus Christ’s atonement, likening it to his own life. He said he was born the fourth of seven children in a family he described as dysfunctional and abusive, with both his parents and other family members suffering from mental health issues.
“My parents were just trying to make it from day to day. So, they didn’t have a lot of energy or effort to be able to help us. We were raised in a really non-traditional environment where we really didn’t have parents to lean on or teach us. It was a fend-for-yourself kind of situation,” he said.
Meyers said although he excelled in sports and in school, he did his best to get out of the home environment he was growing up in. His family lived on welfare constantly, and he said he would only go home when he had to be there.
At age 14, Meyers said he quit all hope things would get better. “It was just too much. My home was this place of tremendous darkness and sadness all the time. I was trying so hard to make it out of that, and I just got to a point...I got tired of doing it by myself. And it caused a lot of anger in me.”
Meyers said the challenges continued as he got older, and he would wonder why God did not intervene to stop the various types of abuse that were occurring to him and his siblings.
Meyers said he came to a point where he just couldn’t believe in God anymore, because it was more painful for him to believe in a God who “allowed” for the abuse to happen. “I couldn’t make sense of it. I just [couldn’t] make sense of the questions and what I’ve dealt with and what other people aren’t dealing with.”
Because of his hopelessness, Meyers said he stopped going to church, though his parents continued to attend. At the age of 19, he said he felt he had his life figured out, living day to day as he had seen his parents live. “There was no purpose. There was no power with the way that they lived. I got into a huge argument with my father, who I just hated at the time, and still struggle with now,” said Meyers.
His father insisted that Meyers was going to serve a mission for the Church, which Meyers thought was impossible, since he had not been to church for five years and did not believe the Church was true. His father posed a question to him. “How can you walk away from this church when you’ve never read the book it was founded on?”
With a challenge from his father, Meyers said he began reading The Book of Mormon with the intention of not believing it was true, but one night, he reached 2 Nephi 4 that contains Lehi’s blessings to his sons. In the passage, Nephi describes himself as a “wretched man,” and details his desire to be with God but laments his many sins and weaknesses.
As Meyers read it, he said the words became alive to him, and understood Nephi was a real person and possessed something he did not have: a relationship with Jesus Christ. “One of the titles of the Savior is the hope of Israel, and I realized there was hope for my life,” said Meyers.
From this chapter, Meyers said he started to read the scriptures for hours on end, and learned to repent through help from his bishop. As he continually applied the atonement in his everyday life, Meyers said he realized just how many other people suffered in the world and wanted to share the Savior’s message of love. He ended up serving in the South Dakota Rapid City Mission, where he said he was able to bless the lives of others, as well as receive caring guidance from his mission president.
Although challenges with his parents and siblings continued after his mission, and memory of the trauma he experienced continues to this day, Meyers said he knows all will be made right. As he puts forth effort, he said God opens door after door for him.
Now, Meyers said he is happily married with five children of his own, and loving his job of teaching about the scriptures. Speaking of the Savior and the divine blessings in his life, he said, “His grace and His mercy are not just sufficient; they are bounteous.”
A journey to sobriety
Perrins, a senior student from Guam majoring in hospitality and tourism management, said she had seen the Atonement heal the heart of her boyfriend, who is currently serving his mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Her boyfriend, Erik Lewis, has been serving for three months in Argentina as of Feb. 2023. However, Perrins said the path for him to get to Argentina was a long one, full of trials and eventually turning to the Savior for help.
Lewis, who is from Arizona, had begun his mission back in 2017, but according to Perrins, he decided it was not for him several days into his time at the Missionary Training Center (MTC). After coming home to Arizona, Perrins said Lewis went through a period of distancing himself from anything related to the Church. He began consuming alcohol and abusing drugs, she explained.
Perrins said Lewis began to turn his life around at the age of 23. “There was one night in particular where he had this really personal awakening, and he realized that he wasn’t content with his life. He wasn’t happy where he was going or where he was at the moment. The only thing that he could think of on this particular night was Christ.” He also thought about what he learned of Christ “in Primary and how Primary songs made him feel.”
After his family members had distanced themselves from him and his friends had stopped talking to him, Perrins explained despite his loneliness, he knew in his mind that Christ cared. “I’d say that’s what opened up the steps of applying the Atonement to his life.”
For the next couple of months after he began to apply the Atonement, Perrins said Lewis worked bit by bit on returning to church. With the help of one of his leaders, Lewis decided he wanted to turn himself around completely and go back out on his mission.
“He dropped alcohol [immediately] and began his journey to sobriety and to becoming a worthy priesthood holder,” said Perrins.
Perrins said she met Lewis back in November 2021, after he moved to Laie to progress on his plans to serve a mission. They began dating, and Perrins said it was incredible for her to see the change in him while he was preparing to return to his mission, unbeknownst to his family.
Despite having to wait month after month to be eligible to serve a mission, Perrins said Lewis never lost sight of his goal.
She explained, “Through all those months of trial and error, he stood by his choice, and he wanted to return on a mission to bring this hope of light to a dark world. And he saw the darkness that comes from turning away from Christ, but also how the Savior’s light is always there waiting.”
While in Laie, Perrins said Lewis would attend the temple, as well as spending time on the grounds, which, according to her, strengthened his testimony.
Perrins said she saw the work of Jesus Christ’s Atonement in Lewis and was reminded how central the Atonement is to every person’s life. She said oftentimes, many people might know the Atonement is always there to help, but assume it is only for the “good” people. In her boyfriend, Perrins said she saw the inner change wrought by Christ shown on the outside, as he learned to love his neighbor as himself.
Perrins concluded, “I definitely feel the Atonement helped him [Erik Lewis] piece together his life. In hindsight, it’s amazing how he went from the darkest point in his life, to, with Christ’s help, healing himself mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Experiencing heartbreak
Noellette Cookson Song, an alumnus from New Zealand who graduated with a degree in psychology, said she experienced a romantic heartbreak during her time in BYUH, something which affected her for nearly two years.
When she was a freshman, Song said she and a young man who had served in her same mission came to BYUH the same semester. They started talking and began going on dates together, but according to her, “Things were not as I thought they would be.” She said there was a mutual attraction between them both, but things would happen that made her feel the universe did not want them together.
“I would pray to Heavenly Father, and tell him, ‘Heavenly Father, I go to the temple, I’m an ordinance worker. I served a mission. I go to church. I’m a full tithe payer. I read my scriptures every day. I do all the necessary things I feel like a member should do to receive blessings.’ But I wasn’t getting the blessing that I wanted, which was to be with this guy,” explained Song.
Although she had feelings for the boy, Song was told he was already in a relationship with someone else and wanted to respect that. Even when he was dating someone else, Song said he would tell her he liked her, which made her feel he was being dishonest and made her an object of pity for him.
After several more experiences of him telling her he liked her when he was dating another girl, Song said she felt incredibly hurt and told him they should forget about each other. She said it was not right or fair to his girlfriend for him to be continually professing feelings for someone else over and over again, and repeatedly getting her own hopes up. During the rest of 2019, Song said she could remember sobbing before and after work, her heart broken.
“I’d never seen a nervous breakdown before, but I actually experienced it because of this incident I had with him. I was really heartbroken to the point I wouldn’t go on dates with anybody,” shared Song. She said she would instead go to the gym to get over her heartbreak, but even exercise and other distractions were not able to fill the void she felt inside of her.
Song revealed she was in a state of heartbreak until the COVID-19 pandemic began. “To be honest, I was actually happy,” she said of the quarantine and moving back home when the pandemic began. Living back in New Zealand meant Song would not have to see the young man she was trying to get over. Song explained, “Being away from him and in a whole different country made me so happy because I wasn’t able to see him at all.”
When she came back in 2021, Song said she was a very different person. It was during this time she met her future husband, Alex.
Looking back, Song said she felt God did not bless her with a relationship with the boy she used to like because He had something better for her. “Me marrying Alex made me happy. And to be honest, I wouldn’t trade it. He treats me like a queen every single day... Spiritually the Lord knows what is best for us, even if we don’t know the outcomes.”
To learn more about the atonement, visit www.churchofjesuschrist.org and search “Atonement of Jesus Christ” in the Gospel Topics. For further literature, read Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s April 2013 General Conference Talk, “Like a Broken Vessel,” or Elder Tad R. Callister’s 2019 General Conference Talk, “The Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health challenges at BYUH, you can reach out to Counseling Services at (808) 675-3518. Services are free and confidential. For more information, visit https://counseling.byuh.edu/.