"I'm not cut out for church, I'm not good enough."

So many people have said this to me, and even I have felt this way before. There was even one point where I felt that I wanted to give up because I felt like I wasn't good enough and that I could never amount to what God expected me to. Pressure was on my shoulders because I needed to be the example, that I needed to do what was right, and I knew that I made mistakes every day.

I don't think it was until just recently that I actually understood the concept of Grace. Christ's Grace is sufficient for all. Although I heard that phrase several times, I never actually knew how to apply it or what it actually meant. 

First lets start off, what is Grace? 

"Grace is the help or strength given through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the grace of God, everyone who has lived will be resurrected—our spirits will be reunited with our bodies, never again to be separated. Through His grace, the Lord also enables those who live His gospel to repent and be forgiven" 



Grace is an enabling power given to us through Christs Atonement (or look at this definition), it is through Grace that we can return to live in the presence of God, but not just that- worthily dwell in the presence of God. 

But in order to dwell in the presence of God, we must be clean. "No unclean thing can dwell with God." Not only that, God commands us to be perfect. How can we expect to become perfect if we make mistakes all the time?

"We believe that through living the gospel of Jesus Christ we can become like the Savior, who is perfect."  Becoming perfected isn't a case of being perfected right now, we practice, we work, we do what we can and we learn along the way.

"Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we understand grace, we understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). When we understand grace, we can, as it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, “continue in patience until [we] are perfected” (D&C 67:13)." 

When we apply the atonement and experience grace, we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we repent or change our ways, we get baptized or renew the covenants we made at baptism by attending sacrament meeting, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. This is essentially the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dont sell yourself short, you can live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can go to church. Church is not for perfect people, Christ came to heal the sick, he said "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Church is for those of us who need to repent, to change, and to continue on the journey to become like Christ. "If you expect to find perfect people here, you will be disappointed. But if you seek the pure doctrine of Christ, the word of God “which healeth the wounded soul,” and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost, then here you will find them. In this age of waning faith—in this age when so many feel distanced from heaven’s embrace—here you will find a people who yearn to know and draw closer to their Savior by serving God and fellowmen, just like you. Come, join with us!"