He Can Heal Our Hearts

In the most recent general conference Elder Brent Nielson told of how his father contracted cancer shortly after his mission. He and his family fervently fasted and prayed and he related, “I felt that we had sufficient faith that my father could be healed.” Despite their efforts and faith in the Lord, and priesthood blessings, the cancer quickly took the life of his father. He continued, “As time passed, however, and we experienced the pain of my father’s absence, I began to wonder why my father had not been healed. I wondered if my faith was not strong enough. Why did some families receive a miracle, but our family did not?” He questioned, “Is there no balm in Gilead for the Nielson family?”  As he searched the scriptures he began to understand that the Savior’s healing is not limited to physical healing: “He can heal our eyes and our ears and our legs, but most important of all, He can heal our hearts as He cleanses us from sin and lifts us through difficult trials.” Reflecting many years after his father’s death he related, “I had mistakenly believed that the Savior’s healing power had not worked for my family. As I now look back with more mature eyes and experience, I see that the Savior’s healing power was evident in the lives of each of my family members. I was so focused on a physical healing that I failed to see the miracles that had occurred. The Lord strengthened and lifted my mother beyond her capacity through this difficult trial, and she led a long and productive life. She had a remarkable positive influence on her children and grandchildren. The Lord blessed me and my siblings with love, unity, faith, and resilience that became an important part of our lives and continues today.” And of his father, who had not received the physical healing he hoped for, “He was spiritually healed as he sought and received the blessings available because of the Savior’s Atonement. He received a remission of his sins and now awaits the miracle of the Resurrection.” His discovery was that there had in fact been great healing performed by the Savior, even if the specific physical healing he hoped for had not been realized.

            One of the scriptures that Elder Nielson related was this invitation from the Savior to the Nephites who survived the destruction at His death: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” Elder Nielson suggested that he was referring here to a spiritual healing and not a physical healing. Healing comes as we repent of our sins and receive forgiveness. That is the greatest healing He can give us as He changes our hearts and provides us with peace of conscience. In the New Testament we see many examples of the Savior’s healing, and many of those stories show us how he physically healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead. But I think it is instructive that there are also many stories in which He cast out devils. For example, Mark recorded, “And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him…. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils” (Mark 1:34, 39). He also gave us an account of a Greek woman who “besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter,” which Jesus did (Mark 7:26-30). Matthew recorded how “they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel” (Matthew 9:32-33). We also know that from Mary Magdalene “he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9). The angel summarized this great work He did to King Benjamin this way: “And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men” (Mosiah 3:6). Surely there are such things as evil spirits which can inhabit the bodies of men, I believe all of these accounts help us to see more generally that the Savior can heal our hearts and spirits, that He can cleanse us from sin and distress and anger and all those feelings which “destroy [our] peace and afflict [our] soul” (2 Nephi 4:27). More powerful than physical healing is the way He can heal our souls and provide us “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23). Elder Nielson learned that the Savior had indeed healed His family spiritually in many ways, even if the physically healing he wanted had not come. As we search for His help and healing in our lives we should not overlook how He is healing our hearts and providing the miracles of peace and forgiveness and hope in the gospel as we come unto Him.