The Healing Power of Jesus Christ

Have you ever had an ache?

I'm being serious. Has there ever been a pain that persisted, maybe in your back or your hands or your head, that was relentless? Something that, no matter what you tried, was just kind of always there, in the back of your mind, so you could never really be comfortable?

I have had such an ache in my physical body. It's distracting. It's sometimes debilitating -- sometimes it's impossible to do anything without thinking about the ache. I think everyone has experienced and will experience these physical aches.

Something we talk about less, though, are the emotional aches. Sometimes these aches are the result of the actions of other people -- to have any kind of fulfilling relationship at all, we have to risk hurting and being hurt by people. It is also, like a physical ache, something that happens to everyone at some point or another; nobody I'm aware of hasn't experienced to some degree the loss of a love or a friendship or the loneliness of betrayal.

But sometimes our emotional aches are caused, not by something that is done to us, but by us. Sometimes we break promises or break hearts or break someone's trust. Sometimes we sin and fall short of who we know we could be. Sometimes we lie, or cheat, or steal, or do any number of unclean and unholy and unproductive things. There are a million ways to sin, and it would be a waste of my time to try and write them all out and a waste of yours to read them. 

What's important is that these aches are just as real, and I think we avoid talking about them because they're our fault and so we feel like we deserve to be aching and tired in our souls. We did this to ourselves, we think. We brought this pain.

While that is certainly true, it's important to remember this: there is a reason Christ hung on a cross and suffered betrayal, blasphemy and death. There is a reason He did that, and that reason is you.

I've heard a lot of people sing the praises of guilt. While it's absolutely true that guilt teaches us how we can improve, and can be very useful, I worry that some of us con ourselves into believing that guilt over our shortcomings is intended to last forever. In fact, I would argue that guilt is necessary only insofar as it allows us to recognize and correct poor and sinful behavior.

In my own life, I've spend a lot of my time feeling guilty for mistakes that I've already left behind. Christ was definitely and unequivocally the biggest part of the changes I've made to be better; He is both the example I look toward and the person who helps me get there. But something I hadn't thought to use Him for until recently was to heal the wounds I have personally created through bad decisions.

I didn't even know how to go about beginning that journey. I had no idea how Christ's Atonement was going to heal me from the things I knew in my heart I really deserved to be feeling. There's just no way to absolve myself from the weight that responsibility placed on my shoulders. Or so I thought.

My prayers started simply. They were mostly like "Hey, so.......it's me. And I know that I did this to myself. But I am not currently able to handle this. I don't know what to do to fix it, but I know you do, so just...do it. Take the wheel."

And listen - I want you to know, if you have strayed from the path you know you should be on and you feel like you have no idea how to get back, I've been there, and it's terrible, and it hurts a lot. But my simple prayer has evolved into a powerful testimony of God's ability to change our thoughts and actions and feelings.

You are not lost to God. I know He knows where you are, and He can get you back to where you need to be. Course-correction is a part of this mortal experience, and God made a plan so that when we had to do that, we could. Christ was not the fail-safe, He was and is the centerpiece of that plan. 

But correcting the course only does so much. Many times, at least for me, this doesn't rid us of the guilt or pain we feel because of what we have done. 

And this is where it's tricky. Because there is no magic formula I can give you to tell you how or when those feelings go away. I can only point you in the right direction. And the right direction, every single time, is going to be Jesus. 

There are things I do know. You do have to trust Him enough to believe that He can heal you. You also have to let go, to any degree that you can, of the notion that you are in control of everything in your life. There are only so many things you can control -- it's a much shorter list than I thought when I was younger, and it just gets shorter every year. But that's kind of nice, because it means you don't have to be in charge of so much. You can relax and know that God is taking care of what's out of your control if you can just let go of it.

And finally, if this is you who's trying to repent of something, struggling with a bad habit or a loss you can't replace, full of anguish or anger or fear of the future, no matter what you've done, I promise you, you are not too far gone.

I have received a lot of revelation in my life. By far the most frequent thing I am reminded by the Holy Ghost is that God is so intimately aware of what is happening in my life, that He loves me, and that He knows my pain. If it is true for me, it is true for you. God knows you. He really does. I say it all the time, but it's so true and I just know it.

That's significant because that means that even when you feel hopeless, God knows that's where you are. I testify from the bottom of my very soul that there are angels all around you, trying so much to help you through what ails you, and giving you strength when you are sure you can't go on. I have seen them in action, both in my life and in the lives of precious friends. You are surrounded by heavenly love.

I know this because it has happened to me. In moments where I have chosen to wade deep into the darkest waters available to me, when I thought there was no light left, the light inexplicably came. Every time I have been driven to the lip of my sanity, the edge of my safety, the end of my wits, the limits of my strength, when I thought everything was lost, I was moments away from witnessing the most powerful miracles, the most tender love, and the most intimate and personal blessings that I have ever experienced.

Please, don't give up on yourself. Talk to someone about what is wrong. If you can't talk to anyone, say what you feel out loud. God will hear you. And He will bless even the smallest act of faith. Even if all you can do is wish that this was all true, it's enough for now. The blessings will come. They will. Hold on until they do.

I know you can do this. You can change, you can heal, and you will be happy again. You hold a scarred, steady hand, even if you can't see it -- and with His help, nothing -- absolutely nothing in this world -- is impossible.

And if you ever need a less-scarred, less-steady, far less perfect hand to hold, know that I will sit with you and hold your hand through whatever it is you need me for. I love you, and I promise that as often as I can be there for you, I will.

Christ is reaching out to you with arms open wide. Even if you're limping your way to Him, what matters is that He wants you close. I promise you He does.