Christ took upon himself our infirmities.

Alma 7:12
" . . . and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

I was just reading this verse, and some things occurred to me that I hadn't thought about in quite the same way before. I knew that Christ not only suffered for our sins, but also that he took upon himself our infirmities. He experienced our pains and struggles himself so that he would know how to help us. Christ understands my trials and pains perfectly. It occurred to me that another way to think of the phrase, "he will take upon him their infirmities" is that he took upon himself the responsibility of our infirmities, the responsibility of helping us through our sorrows. My understanding is that he literally suffered the pains of all men in the garden of Gethsemane. So at that time he was taking our infirmities upon him by suffering the same things we would suffer. But he is continuing to take upon him our infirmities by succoring his people, which he can do perfectly if we will let him because he knows exactly how we feel and understands what we are suffering. I think that must have taken an incredible amount of charity and love, because the small things that I have suffered in my own life were still quite difficult to handle sometimes, and I know that many people have endured trials that are much worse than mine, and Christ was willing to experience those things and make himself available to help all of us.

Another thing I was thinking about was this part of the verse: "And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy." Not only did Christ suffer our pains so that he would know how to help us (and that is part of the mercy), but I thought that maybe that experience was also meant to prepare him for the time when he will judge every one of us. When we stand before him at that time, we can be sure that he will be fair and also merciful, because he will know the desires of our hearts and understand the things we suffered in our lifetimes. Suffering for our sins and infirmities gave him the understanding he would need to be our judge. I don't understand very well how the atonement could happen, but I do know that it works, and I am very grateful that there is a way provided through Jesus Christ so that when I fall short, I can be forgiven and then work to improve myself.