By Study and Also By Faith

An LDS (Mormon) blog representing a search for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Healing

2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)

I love that phrase "Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings". We all need some sort of healing. Maybe it is physical, but it is just as likely to be emotional, spiritual, mental, or social. Perhaps we need to be forgiven, or perhaps we need to forgive others and discard bitterness and grudges.

Our pasts shape us. Now that we are all grown up (at least in theory!), we can discard the baggage that has negative consequences on who we are now. I believe we need the Lord's help to do this. He can show us what we need to be rid of, what we need to be healed from. And then, as we exercise our faith in Him, He can heal us. Some things may be more of a struggle than others, but with faith and persistance in prayer and fasting and studying the scriptures; with calling upon the Priesthood for blessings as needed; with doing all we can ourselves, even as we call upon the Lord, we can be healed.

The healing may not be what we expected. We may be healed by becoming stronger so that we can bear our infirmities. We may be healed by a change in our own attitudes or viewpoints. Whatever the case, we are sure to learn and grow through this process of allowing the Lord to heal us. Perhaps the healing will take the form of that very "allowing"--of no longer holding back parts of us, heart and soul, from the Lord. Perhaps we will be healed of fears that keep us from taking steps we need to take, of living the life we need to live.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

"With his stripes we are healed." He took everything upon Himself for all of us and that includes healing power.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)

Wow! Jesus Christ was anointed to do all of that for all of us. I hardly know where to begin in expressing my gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. But one way we can express our gratitude is to let Him heal us.

Allowing this healing to take place is a lifelong process because as old things are healed, new things are discovered that need healing. But as we begin to feel whole, we will not begrudge the effort to continue.

I think that I do not fully realize all that God has done and continues to do for us. I think that I do not fully understand all of the meanings in His scriptures and in doctrines and teachings. I do not believe that we have to realize and understand everything in order to progress in what we do have a grasp of. We move forward a step at a time and, as we do so, we progress rather than regress.

May we all progress in the gospel.

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The healing may not be what we expected." We need to remember always that all things are in His time and in His way. We should never let pride tell us that we know what the Lord will do.

Everything that we have including our Savior comes from Heavenly Father. How we have been blessed, if only we will humble ourselves and receive those blessings.

7:37 AM  
Blogger Mary A said...

I think we humans have a tendancy to think we know what should be done and when, and it is hard to stop thinking that, but we really need to because the Lord really does know best.

3:08 PM  
Blogger T. F. Stern said...

"Pop" sounds like a very wise person, hard to beat being humble.

9:13 PM  
Blogger S'mee said...

A while back we waited 6+ years for the healing *we* wanted. I had a highly respected woman from our area counsel me (at the onset of the illness) that my faith was not sufficient -otherwise the healing would have taken place.

I disregarded her "counsel". We know from scripture that a single day in God's time is one thousand years compared to our time. When we petition a healing, or any other request, from our Heavenly Father, perhaps He says, "Yea,o.k. just a minute." His minute is longer than ours, I need to be more patient. I also need to learn that sometimes what I want may not be what Heavenly Father wants. Some folks believe that a prayer is only answered in the affirmative. God answers each prayer, sometimes "yes", sometimes "no", and sometimes, "hang on a minute and I'll be right there."

1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

s'mee,

Indeed, sometimes the answer is no. We need to keep reminding ourselves "Thy will, not my will."

2:27 PM  
Blogger Mary A said...

T.F., Pop is a wise person--he's helped me a lot. s'mee, sometimes it's hard to have to wait or to get something different, isn't it? Pop, you're right about whose will needs to be done.

2:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi mary a! I just wanted to let you know that my blog is on my own website now-called www.ambaronline.com
Please update your blogroll. I always enjoy reading your blog.

8:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great thoughts, Mary. Whatever degree of healing we receive, we need to give praise.

8:30 PM  
Blogger Mary A said...

Absolutely, Barb! Ambar, I haven't forgotten you--I still need to update the old sidebar! Thanks to all for stopping by.

4:11 PM  

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