How May I Embrace the Savior?

Here I am thinking again. Yikes. Here goes. One way to embrace the Savior is to embrace all that He has said and done and then make that part of who I am. Here is one application of that:

Christ atoned for the sins of mankind. He atoned for my sins, for the sins of my ancestors, and for the sins of my children. Substitute other words for "sins" in the previous sentences such as "insecurities," "undesirable tendencies," "dysfunctional philosophies," "shame," etc. and the truth of the statements remain. When I repent or seek any type of change in who I am or what I am feeling, my covenant relationship with Christ enables me to overcome all things. When I fully embrace His atoning power to make of me a new creature in Him, I can recognize an unwanted sin/insecurity/tendency/belief/feeling/ _________(fill in the blank), wrestle with my regret just long enough to commit to change, repent and ask for forgiveness, rectify the wrong by making restitution to others I may have hurt, recover from ever repeating the offense, and restore myself to Christ's character and receive His forgiveness and the presence of His loving arms. Basically, when I embrace His atonement I embrace Him and He embraces me. That embrace exchanges who I am for who Christ is.

In this way, I can take responsibility for everything that ails me, even for those things over which I have no control. Let's say I am sorrowing because a loved one continues to make poor choices. It affects me powerfully and negatively, but I don't control the agency of others. I can recognize the affect that those actions have on me, acknowledge the pain and sorrow that I feel, and decide to receive the Savior's atonement and apply it like a balm to the sore. If I am sincere in that effort, I will be restored to peace and His healing love. Let's say I am suffering from unbearable pain - physical or mental or both. Regardless of what I do I cannot seem to find lasting relief. I can recognize that Christ is my Savior and hope - even expect! - that He will save me from the unbearable pain. Either He will strengthen me so that the pain will become bearable or He will provide me with relief that will last so long as I continue to exercise faith in Him. I believe that this is a personal process, whether the relief or strength is immediately received or not. The process is:

recognize the [whatever is wrong]
wrestle with [whatever the true feeling is]
repent (one's own sin may not be the present issue; think about this as desired change and:

pray about [whatever your heart/the Spirit tells you to]
ask for [whatever you sincerely desire])

rectify the [whatever you can realign] (act on any and all impressions received in prayer)
recover from [whatever condition or act offends] (this too may be a process)
restore to [whatever former state/presence was previously enjoyed] (in the Lord's due time)
receive [whatever Heavenly Father sees fit] (“Not my will but Thine”) 

I can embrace the Savior by embracing the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. No wonder that the first two principles of the Gospel are faith and repentance and that we renew our baptismal covenants every week through the ordinance of the sacrament! We must live this personal process continually so that the Lord's Spirit may be ever present and so that the Atonement may bring daily healing and joy and sure salvation, in the here and now - as well as eternally.