Beauty for Ashes

I have been thinking about the atonement lately in a different way than I usually think of it. I usually think of the atonement as something for the sinner or the one sinned against. Or I think of it as the way to overcome my own personal faults and short comings. But I have lately been thinking about the Healing power of the atonement. Specifically, the power that it has to heal broken hearts, spirits and souls battered by disappointments, realities, and just the harshness of life, not brought on by sins, shortcomings and faults, but brought on because mortality can be rough. But we are not without something to heal those wounds.

There is a talk that I was introduced to many years ago. The theme of the talk is taken from a scripture in Isaiah; Isaiah 61: 1-3. It is a BEAUTIFUL scripture, and the talk that was given based on this scripture was so thought provoking. It was given by Elder Bruce C. Hafen and is called Beauty For Ashes: The Atonement of Jesus Christ. I feel like I am currently in a process of giving my ashes for beauty; the ashes of a broken heart because my daughter's precious body is defected and I may not have very much time to be with her. And Heavenly Father, through the atonement of Christ is changing these ashes to something much more beautiful than I can fully comprehend at this time.