Thursday, June 21, 2012

Healing in His Wings


Jesus is the healer of all.  He tells us often of His divine role and position in the healing of all mankind.  He speaks of the healing in his wings.  He instructs us that if we will come unto him, He will heal us; He will give us rest.

I have wondered how very seriously I took His entreaty to come to Him and He would welcome me in as a mother hen did when she gathered her chicks?[1]  Did I really believe I could come into His presence, did I honestly believe that He would be the one to heal me?

I have been indoctrinated plenty by the western medical society I have dwelt in.  I have been carted off to the hospital a time or two.  Was I prepared to trust the words of the Master and Great Creator? Was I willing to put aside the notions and worldly applications?  Was I willing to relinquish my reaching hand to the arm of flesh? Was I ready or desirous enough to trust in God, not my doctor, or a therapist, or herbs and healthy eating, but in Christ himself.

I was not certain, but at least I was being honest with my feelings of concern. Honesty with our feelings make their way to the surface when we fast.  There is no veil to your feelings.  Fasting helps in the process because it weakens the flesh, and thereby strengthens the spirit within.[2]  I needed that strength.  I wanted it desperately.  I was willing to fast to receive it.

In my desire to grow closer to the Savior and to be filled with His love, peace, joy, and the healing promised from him, fasting became the tool to remedy the distance between me and my Beloved.  My quest became as an unquenchable thirst. 

I found hope in reading of others who had communed with the Lord regarding the fast and its mighty power.

Fasting is the starving out of self.  It may not always be by food-abstinence.  But it is an absolute essential of progress in the life with Me.[3]

Another friend shared with me an experience from her inquiry to the Lord regarding the fast.

Instead of believing the phrase, “Give until it hurts”, how much better is the idea of “give until you rejoice”? The same is true of the fast.  If your body cannot go without food, or if you cannot hit that feeling of rejoicing by going without food, then it is time to look at other options.  Even if a person fasts without food and struggles and never hits the rejoicing stage, the offering is accepted but lacks power to change.

This principle is true in every phase of life.  In school we were conditioned to do acceptable work rather than powerful work and so many people have carried this concept into every aspect of their life.

The key to power in a fast is not the suffering, but the rejoicing!  And rejoicing only comes through the worship of the Savior when fasting.  Thus food deprivation can work—it is an option—but so are millions of other offerings.[4]

Fasting began to take on even greater proportions as I realized that not only was I giving up my selfish desires, but that I was going towards rejoicing.  How thrilled I became from the prospect, and the resulting effects of fasting.  Not only could I fast often, but in so many other ways I had not know were possible.


[1] 3 Nephi 10:5.
[2] Denver Snuffer, The Second Comforter, Millcreek Press, Salt Lake City, Ut., 2006, pg. 106.
[3] A.J. Russell, God at Eventide, Dodd Mead and Company, New York, 1950, pg. 76.
[4] Private conversation with Elaine Davies, March, 2011.

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