“And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.” (1 Nephi 8:8). Satan would have us believe that we have used up all of our chances, burnt all of our bridges, and that we must abandon all hope of redemption. This is a lie. That's not how salvation works. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered an infinite Atonement. He has a multitude of mercies for each of us. One of His mercies might be helping us to recognize that we have gotten lost and we need to change. Another mercy may be simply comforting us because we are lost and alone and confused and we can't yet bring ourselves to make the necessary changes to come back to Him. When we have relapsed for the thousandth time, He is there to encourage us to try one more time to quit a bad habit. When we are trying to be the bigger person and it has become all but impossible to keep going and we just want to quit, He is there to give us the strength to keep going. If we are doing everything right and striving to serve selflessly and no one seems to notice or care or appreciate our sacrifices, Christ is there to tell us in no uncertain terms that He noticed, and He cares, and He appreciates us more than we could ever know. If we are only turning to the Lord in times of crisis or to repent when we recognize that we have signed, we are limiting ourselves to only a tiny fraction of our Savior's vast multitude of mercies. The Atonement is for every single second of our lives. If we are only slightly annoyed or a little bit bored, we can avail ourselves of His multitude of mercies. If we have cancer or the common cold, He has mercy for us. If we have dropped our ice cream cone or dropped the ball on our relationship, He has mercy for us. There is nothing too big or too small or too medium for the multitude of mercies available to us. Let's not wander around in agony or distress or mild discomfort for years or weeks or even minutes without turning to the Lord and asking for Him to send us one of His mercies. I hope we can all immerse ourselves in not just a drop or a trickle or a stream but a vast ocean of mercies.
