Faith To Be Healed
I
am blessed to work with good and wonderful people. People who strive
to do what is right and spend their time and resources serving and
helping others. However, many struggle with severe chronic and
debilitating conditions. I would not judge so good a people as lacking
in faith. On the contrary, I would say that their faith is sincere and
profound. Then why all of the suffering? Is it God's will that His
valiant and faithful children struggle so deeply?
Let's take a few minutes to examine the issue between Faith and Healing.
I
belief there are three reasons that we suffer. 1) What I tell my
children "It's Your Own Dumb Fault" - meaning you are suffering from the
consequences of your decisions and behavior. I would guesstimate that
this accounts for the vast majority of ill health, heartache and pain.
2) Rain upon the righteous as well as the wicked. This means that if
there is a storm or earthquake, then both the God-Loving and the
God-ignoring will be affected. Included in this may be the resultant
effects of others - such as a child born with drug addictions or other
physical or mental disabilities. 3) Challenges such those of Job. In
these rare cases, trials and challenges are specifically placed before
us as a test to prove our faithfulness.
I have learned, as have many of you, that it is through our trials and
through suffering that we learn and grow. The physical, emotional and
spiritual hardships we traverse will either result in making us more
gentle and compassionate or they can harden us into anger or cynicism.
The choice is ours. We have the choice of simply trying to pass through
our trials or allowing our trials to pass through us treated as the
process of spiritual growth.
People
come to me seeking relief of these ailments. Often the prayer is that
these pains be removed and taken. Faith and spirituality can sometimes
be misdirected in this way. We learn throughout the scriptures that
rarely does God simply remove or eliminate our hardships and trials.
Rather the Lord will comfort us , support us, lead
us, nourish us , strengthen us, and provide means for us to get through
those challenges that we are called to face in our lives.
Your
focus should shift from pleading with God to take our burdens away to
asking to be comforted in our afflictions. Ask that you may learn and
grow and remain faithful. Ask for the strength and comfort and the
assurance you are valued and loved by God. As you do so, you should
experience quiet whisperings that can illuminate the path and the way
for you to follow. Of necessity, this path will require change. For as
I mentioned earlier many of our trials are consequences of lifestyle
choices that may have resulted in your difficulties.
This
brings us to the issue of "Faith to Be Healed". The women who touched
the hem of the Saviors robe and was healed received virtue from her Lord
and was rendered a complete healing. Her issue of blood was not just a
little better, she was made whole. Likewise, we can receive a complete
healing and be made whole if we are granted or given the spiritual gift
referred to as "Faith To Be Healed". My understanding of this gift is
that it is different that what we refer to as "Faith in the Lord, Jesus
Christ". Certainly "Faith to be Healed" is founded in our faith in the
Lord, but perhaps it is a little different. I believe Faith to be
Healed is given as a gift with the spiritual assurance that this is Gods
will for you. Repeatedly, Christ told those he healed, "Your faith has
made you whole". We are also taught to wait upon the Lord. Perhaps
timing is also a factor in our healing.
The
scriptures illuminate to us that our Lord is a 4th Watch Savior.
Meaning He comes during the last watch, when it is the darkest and most
desperate of times and circumstances. Only when we have exhausted our
resources and efforts are we scooped up and rescued. But not being able
to see the end from the beginning, sometimes the rescue from our
temporal situation is not to be had. Sometimes eternities grander
perspective views our life without myopic mortal lenses.
Faith
is a vital component of our healing but it will always be tempered by
the will of our Father in Heaven - whose lenses span the eternal vistas
which encompass our past, present and future.
The scripture D&C 42:43 states "And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy."
In the past I have viewed this verse almost as a compensatory clause
for the weak and unfaithful who lack in spiritual strength. However, I
now realize that the blessings of a complete healing may only come when
someone with great faith in Christ is given the spiritual gift of "Faith
to Be Healed" in accordance to the will of God. Without the will of
God, I believe this gift will rightly be withheld, even though your
faith and devotion to the Savior is flawless and pure.
Surely
"Faith to be Healed" is a gift that should be earnestly sought, but we
need to concurrently seek the divine will of God.
In
the meantime, as we each suffer through our allotted path of mortality,
we must seek and plead for blessings of comfort, peace and direction.
As we are guided through the natural processes of health, healing and
recovery, we will experience many tender mercies. We will be blessed
with friends and we most certainly will be guided to touch and bless the
lives of others as we serve through the empathic perspective of our
wounds.
Once again I urge you to become the grandma (or grandpa). Become that reservoir of compassion and healing having learned how to "nourish with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food". The world is changing and we need each of you to be a beacon of
light and hope to those within the circle of your influence. I invite
you to step up and follow where the spirit will lead you.
Blessings,
Kyle Christensen, DC, ND, MH
Interested in a more complete expanded version of this? send me an email.
kylesinthegarden@gmail.com
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