He Can Heal

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which he will take upon him the pains and sickness of his people." 

Alma 7:11

A few years ago I had an experience which would change the way I viewed the suffering of Jesus Christ and changed my relationship with him. After a serious accident on a horse I was left with a Traumatic Brain Injury. During the following months I lost a lot of my memory and my ability to do a lot of the things that I loved to do. During this time I had no control over my thoughts. I felt utterly alone with no one to turn to. A few weeks after the hospital I began to read from the Book of Mormon and study the scriptures because that was the only place I could find peace with what was going on. I spent a lot of time on my knees, pleading with my Heavenly Father to help me push the negative, destructive thoughts out of my mind, and replace them with ones that would uplift and help me. Multiple times I thought of the Savior in Gethsemane suffering "the pains and sicknesses of his people." This was the only thing that brought peace to me. I began to understand and realized what the scriptures mean when they talk about him taking upon him the pains of the world. There is no limit to the atonement. It covers all suffering we may have! There is a lot that Jesus Christ can help us to overcome through continual faith and trusting in his divine role as our Savior. What ever it may be he has felt it! The greatest thing we can do as humans is turn to him  in our times of trial and sickness. Let him heal us spiritually! The power of his suffering is infinite, without end, everlasting! I know that he truly does love us! He wants to heal us! May we each come to Christ! He can heal and he will heal if we will come to him! 

Act in Faith

"Oh wilt thou know...faith without works is dead." 

James 2:20

Something I read this morning during personal study really hit me.  I was reading in the Book of Mormon, the book of Alma chapter 19 verse 6, "Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that King Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast way from his mind and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was marvelous light of his goodness- yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God-" I am pretty sure I have read that scripture so many times, but I was really impressed this time by how it speaks of the veil of unbelief being cast from his mind and the light of God lighting up his mind. So often a veil of unbelief or doubt comes over our minds and limits our ability to understand all that God has to offer us. Doubt gets us nowhere! We have to remove our doubts and begin to increase our faith, to push the doubt out and fill our minds with the light of God. Faith will overcome doubt if we allow it too, but faith is an word of action! We have to do our part! " Faith without works is dead ", as says James chapter 2 verse 20. If we don't exercise  faith each day, the Lord has no way of lifting the veil of unbelief from our minds. For example, we can exercise faith as we pray each day, read from the scriptures and attend church each week. And we can see the result,  King Lamoni had to take a step of faith in praying to know if there was a God and asking God for mercy. After he exercised faith God was able to show him great things and fill his mind with His light. We have to act in faith! I know that as we exercise even the smallest particle of faith, God can fill our minds with his light and remove the cloud of darkness and disbelief from our minds. But this not a one time experience, we have to continue to exercise faith and continue to let His light fill our minds. I am grateful for ability that we each have to exercise faith, come closer to our Savior and let the Lord remove any veil of unbelief from our minds! I know he can and will if we allow him too!