Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

As mortals, we break.  It applies to all facets: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.  We are breakable.  Whether it be through our individual choices, the decisions of others, or tribulations that are appointed unto us, we all, at some point, find ourselves to be broken.  Sometimes we become fractured, in need of mending and restoring.  Yet at other times, we discover that we are thoroughly shattered, requiring patient reconstruction and devoted rectification.  Knowing that both our temporal bodies and spiritual compositions can be fragile to the circumstances of this earthly experience, we may find ourselves anxious to find a source of restoration, for we all seek to be whole.  However, trepidation need not take hold on our hearts, for we have been provided with the Great Physician.  It does not make a difference if we are fragmented or demolished, He can heal all, and has the ability to bring us to restitution.  What hope this delivers to a broken soul.

The story of the healing of the man at Bethesda attracts me.  Within Jerusalem, aside a sheep market, lay a pool.  This small body of water drew the ailing.  Around it the diseased, debilitated, and afflicted could be found, looking out into the water, awaiting it to move.  Tradition had led to the belief that when the water became troubled, an angel of healing had arrived.  The first person to enter its curative depths would be restored.  By the side of the pool lay a man who had been impaired with a grim infirmity, lasting thirty-eight years, probably a vast majority of his life.   He had to have been a man of substantial faith.  The scriptures do not expound as to how long he had been aside the edge of the pool, but based on his resolved dedication and steady trust in the water’s remedial abilities, we can suppose that this was not the first time he anxiously gazed into its depths.  He was a lame man.  He could not walk, nor rapidly move himself to the water.  As he viewed the others surrounding him with their own maladies, he undoubtedly had a firm understanding that the likelihood of one sacrificing their own healing for his benefit was improbable.  Yet, there he stationed himself.  Devoted to his belief and committed to being restored through Divine intervention.  On a Sabbath day, the Savior came upon this man of faith, and through His miraculous power, heals him entirely, through His touch and word.  No dramatic display or extravagant show to manifest His abilities.  It came as quiet, yet supreme healing, through the steadfast faith of a broken child of God.  The Lord’s power has always been accomplished through small and simple acts.  It’s an incredible story and example of the Healer’s hand, but perhaps the greatest message to receive comes in the words He spoke prior to restoring the crippled man:

When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? (John 5:6)

The Savior’s power is not finite.  We understand that if a whisper were to part from His lips commanding a colossal mountain to descend, it would fold and crumble instantaneously.  His ability to heal His sheep is not limited, but it is suppressed by our inward and outward expressions of faith.  We hold a significant role in our own individual healing.  As we recognize the part we play and actively fulfill it, we enable the Savior to place His restorative hands upon us, repairing what has been impaired.  He is the only true source of healing that exists.  All else may provide a moment of respite, but will wither in due course.  As we humbly offer our brokenness to the Lord, exhibiting boundless trust in His abilities, we will find perpetual correction and restoration. 

We should not be convinced that we must possess perfect faith in order to be recovered.  We are all imperfect beings, it is as it is designed to be.  If we were flawless, our earthly probation would be of no purpose.  We are here to learn and evolve, to acquire the perfect faith we need for exaltation.  But we are not perfect in these very moments, and the Lord knows of this.  He does not place a prerequisite of perfection in order to attain blessings of His mercy.  If that was the condition, blessings would not be recorded or experienced, because Christ was the only perfect being to walk the earth.  However, we are requested to be committed to the faith that we have obtained, not to forsake or renounce what we have acquired.  We must remain constant, even through our darkest of hours, and sustain through each experience, no matter how inequitable they may seem.

Imagine this man who sat on the banks of Bethesda.  His establishment at the very edge of the water is my favorite symbol in the story.  It stands as an emblem of his unfeigned efforts to do his part in preparing and receiving his healing.  It signifies the fulfillment of his role in the repair of his disablement.  He brought himself as close as he could come, but needed intervention for completion.  How unfair his plight must have seemed.  He thoroughly believed in the ability to be healed, and knew that it most certainly would come through Divine means, hence why he came to the only place he knew, in his immediate surroundings, where the grace of the Lord penetrated the earth.   But his weak and disabled physical frame could not collaborate with the faith of his heart.  How many times had he attempted to reach the water, physically exerting all he had, only to observe another, one with physical abilities he was not given, enter before him.  It must have been terribly enervating and taxing in all aspects.  Yet, he remained.  His faith never faltered, because he knew that only through the grace of the Lord could his afflictions be cured.  This very faith is what healed the man.  The Savior, through His divine inspiration, felt and understood the faith that existed inside of him before approaching.  Once identifying him, he drew near, and immediately asked: Wilt thou be made whole?  The Lord knew that the necessary faith existed within him, but inquired if the man would accept His healing influence. This man was prepared for His healing power, and because of this, it was provided unto him.  He stands as an example to us all.  We, too, must ready ourselves for healing.  We must employ our individual abilities and exertions to satisfy our part of the process, and then patiently await upon the Lord, with determined and anchored faith.   As we do so, we will be prepared to reply with eagerness that we, indeed, will be made whole through His hands.   

There will be times when our healing hopes will go unmet.  We will be unlike the man that was healed at Bethesda, and will find that we do not have the ability to rise, take up our bed, and walk.  Perhaps, it is because there is no opportunity to fall back into time to change our decisions or actions.  Maybe it is due to the fact that people we love are allowed free agency, and their choices cut us to our core and wound our hearts.  Other times, we will discover that our physical or mental abnormalities do not fade as we desire them to.  Or possibly, things or people that are dear to us will be removed for our side.  In these moments we may feel abandoned, and may cry to the Lord with perplexity entwined in our words.  We may lose hope or wonder why we have been called to suffer such a hardship, especially if we have remained faithful and true.  We may question our worth and the love of our Father.  Doubt may try to thwart our faith.  During these moments we must trust that healing is taking place, just not in the designated way we had planned.  We must sustain the understanding that He knows us, distinctively and personally.  Which means, that He knows what paths are needed for us to become perfected, which, in turn, will allow us to receive exaltation.  One of my best-loved quotes relating to Christ’s tenacity in advancing us towards perfection comes from C.S. Lewis:

Once you call Christ in, He will give you the full treatment.  That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost’ before becoming Christians.  ‘Make no mistake’, He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect.  The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for.  Nothing less, or other, than that.  You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away.  But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through.  Whatever suffering it may cost you…whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me.  This I can do and will do.  But I will not do anything less.

Enduring devotedly is our objective.  If we do so, there will be a time when we look back on what we have suffered, and identify the places within us, that once were concealed, which are healed because we were permitted to carry our individualized burden, and because we sustained it through.  It is not easy and was never designed to be.  It can, and will, be distressing, traumatic, and cause an aching that pounds from within us, which may seem to destroy our very soul.  But we have been promised that we will never be left alone to bear it.  Not only does The Lord offer his strength, but He pleads for us to enable Him to do so.  He stands at the door awaiting us to turn the handle, which only exists on our side.  If we choose Him, He has promised that our burden, no matter how crippling, will be lightened.  It may not be taken from us, but it will be possible to withstand. With His companionship we will find that we can persevere through our time of testing, not without pain, but with hope of one day receiving absolute healing.  When that day arrives, as He approaches us, He will utter the same words he did to the troubled man at Bethesda: Wilt thou be made whole?  In that moment, due to our persistent labors, resolute faith, and our knowledge that through Him our brokenness can be exchanged for completeness, we can fall at His feet and reply: Although my flesh is weak, my spirit is strong, my faith is firm, and my knowledge is true, that through you, my Great Physician, I can be healed.  And we will arise, take our beds, and walk.   

Watch the healing at Bethesda here.

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Know Ye Not?

I, like most mothers, experience hectic mornings.  Both of my children despise bathing and dressing, and they were blessed with lungs that allow them to powerfully express their disapproval.  One day my littlest one was exceptionally frustrated with my requests in preparing for the day.  I found our morning routine extending longer than normal, as I directed my attention to the individualized love she was needing in those moments.  As I sat rocking this sweet baby, my dynamic toddler ran from the connecting door of her room, stark naked.  My initial emotion was exhaustion.  I had barely won the battle of clothing her, and the victory had not been easily attained.  In my mind, I quickly started making another plan of action, but her tender voice brought me back to the present.  She looked up into my eyes with wondrous excitement, pointing to her body, and declared, “Mommy, look at my temple!  It is beautiful!”  In that moment, this tender child of God, evoked my mind to the piece of my testimony I have been striving to master all my life.  My body: it is a temple. 

We exist in a world that devalues the majesty of our bodies.  It seeks to have us believe that these glorious creations from God, are nothing more than a material object, one to be altered and modified.  We quickly become convinced that we are flawed.  That no matter our appearance, or our attempts at change, we are always inferior.  We are pummeled by voices or images that endeavor to persuade us that in order to be appealing we must fit a certain mold, maintain a specific shape, and acquire a particular look.  No longer do we view our reflection through spiritual eyes, but observe ourselves in a worldly perspective.  Our glorious gift from our loving Father in Heaven, the one he patterned after His very own, is no longer cherished.  We replace gratitude with criticism and disapproval.  Imagine the irony of it all.  Our premortal spirits eagerly awaiting the opportunity to arrive in this earthly dispensation to receive a body, only to collect it and be dissatisfied.  The words that Paul wrote to the Corinthian Saints become pertinent to us now:

“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not of your own?  For we are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

We have knowledge that the things of most worth, Satan strikes the fiercest.  Being aware of this, we can perceive that our bodies are something to be treasured, because his efforts are indefatigable.  One of Satan’s objectives is to have us see ourselves as pieces, and to define our self worth from those fragments.  He aims to blur the idea of collectivity all together.  When we focus solely on our external appearances, we are unable to identify all that we are, and everything that we offer, both inside and out.  Our emphasis stations around temporal advances, and we lose attention of enhancing the spirit that lies within our frame.  We completely destroy the recognition that our body is an individualized temple, one that has divine pieces of our Father intertwined.  Satan absolutely delights in this.  He gains rapturous happiness from our deprecation.  Why is this so enthralling to him?  Because he is miserably tortured with his inability to acquire a physical body of his own.  We have been taught through the scriptures that the merging of the spirit and body, is the only way to receive a fullness of joy.  It is a primary reason why we departed from our Father’s side.  We ached for a physical body, and were exultant in the opportunity provided.  Satan’s rebellion, as well as his followers, cost them this chance.  How intensely they still desire to posses one!  Their desperation is identified in the story of Jesus healing the man who was possessed with many spirits.  When Christ spoke to the demonic spirits within him, they begged to be cast into the bodies of pigs nearby.  Anything that could resemble a physical form, they craved.  The Savior agreed to this, and the spirits entered into the pigs, ran into the sea and were drowned.  This story can illuminate our understanding that our bodies are sacred privileges, and should be regarded as such. 

There are multiple prices that we pay when we enable Satan’s temptations and worldly influences to change our perspective on our holy temples.  One is that we no longer allow the gentle Lord to define our worth, we permit the world to specify our value.  Media-based visualizations and worldly ideology of what a man or woman should be, become our model.  One that we will never be sufficient for.  We will always be passé, substandard, faulty.  However, when we look to our Father and Savior, we will discover that we are unparalleled, extraordinary, beautiful.  These perceptions will take time to become concrete.  Yet, as we seek to ceaselessly be in Their presence, Their vision will be our own, and our gratitude will spill over.  We must pray to see our temples, as they are viewed through Their eyes. 

The importance of our bodies has never been made more clear to us then through the Resurrection of our Savior.  On the third day, He was reunited, both spirit and body.  As He stood in front of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, His glory was beyond expression.  He had come back to retrieve the gift His Father bestowed upon Him when entering this earth.  He knew the magnificence of His temple, and sought to bring His spirit back to its holy sanctuary.  His sacrifices have allowed us this same opportunity.  We all, every single child of God, will be resurrected.  Our bodies and spirits will consolidate into an eternal whole, one that will never be divided from again.  It is a prize beyond measure.  How immensely grateful I am for my Redeemer and for His gift of Resurrection, that I may again become complete.    

Our bodies are truly temples to the Lord, and should be to us.  He constructed and fashioned them for us individually.  It stands as a holy place, one where our divine spirits take residency.  We truly are not of our own.  We must seek to treat it, speak of it, and view it as the remarkable creation that it is.  For it will be ours, even into eternity.  We cannot allow worldly concepts and beliefs to decrease our gratitude for this gift.  We must refrain from providing Satan with opportunities to make us miserable like unto himself.  And on this most sanctified and glorious day, as we celebrate the Resurrection of our beloved Savior and Redeemer, we can follow the example of a child, and fall to our knees while thankfully exclaiming: “Dear Father, look at my temple!  It is beautiful.”

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I Was By Him

If there is anything that we wander from in this mortal experience, it is from our divinity. It is understandable in a sense, knowing that it is a grand part of why we are here in the first place. For if we remembered all we were, the concealing veil given to test our faithfulness, would not be in existence, which means we would have never been able to embark on this glorious and intensely desired opportunity. We would be static, home with our Father, but void of exaltation, aching for a chance to become all that He is.  

But we are here. We are in this sublime world, with incredible circumstances surrounding us. This signifies that, yes, our comprehensive memories are not in immediate reach, but those seraphic attributes are still thoroughly apart of who we are. However, it is up to us to acquire a knowledge of these divine qualities, and exert to magnify them.

One of the most cherished teachings in Mormon theology, to me, is that we do not enter this world as a blank slate. We each have eternal histories.   

Do we recognize how far back our archives extend? 

We are eternal beings. Eternal denotes lasting or existing forever. There are no endings and no beginnings. Our mortal minds cannot even comprehend this understanding. We reside in a sphere where inceptions and cessations are all we know. But that is not what eternal things are made up of. We are supernal intelligences, which cannot be created or made, only organized.  

From the genesis, we were with God. 

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.  (Proverbs 8:22-30)

Do our hearts understand the significance of this scripture? Can our minds decipher the message our Father is trying to relay to us within these verses?

I originally encountered this passage while preparing for a lesson I was about to teach. It was late at night and as I read the words aloud, the very hairs upon my arms stood on end. The poetic expressions had my heart pummeling. I had an instantaneous attachment to it. I thought in that moment that I had a realization of the message that it was trying to transfer, but it came a few weeks later.  

As I was teaching this lesson my understanding was enlightened. The Holy Ghost penetrated my heart, and as the testimony tumbled from my mouth, I experienced a moment of heightened comprehension regarding the actuality of our divine nature. Never prior had I understood that before the Lord arranged us into spiritual beings, we had a coexistence with Him as spiritual intelligences.  

It’s incredible. 

That knowledge alone represents our divinity. We are children of God, composed under and by Him, but we were also with Him, existing by His side, before we were thus organized. 

Knowing that we were co-eternal with our Father, helps us to interpret our potential. The scriptures incessantly tell us of prophets and apostles that sought to teach us of the ability we have to become like Him, if we but resolve to endeavor towards this objective. However, no one depicts it quite as perfectly as our Savior.  

The Lord had an exemplary cognition of this capacity that resides within us all. He spoke of it, taught on it, and lived as such. He did not find it thievery to be equal to God, because He knew who He was, and where He was from. He was the Son of God, delivered from an eternal, heavenly sphere, sent to save us all, but would again return home unto His Father.  With every breath He took in His earthly life, He manifested this understanding. Jesus Christ never allowed Himself to become distracted from this purpose.  Never once did His heart falter. He is the illustration that we must devotedly follow.  

Part of His mission upon this earth was to remind us that we, too, are beloved and cherished children of our Father in Heaven. We are of divine worth. We are physically patterned after our Heavenly Father, and spiritually originated, just as He was and is. Make no mistake, we do, and always have, had the capability of acquiring the qualities and attributes of our Father. That is the precise reason why we are here today.  We cannot allow ourselves to forget or become diverted off course. 

Acquiring this awareness may assist us in the realization of our Heavenly Father’s understanding of who we are, which better helps us view ourselves through His omniscient perspective. He has a perfect knowledge of our divinity, and is cognizant of our individual potentiality. His flawless comprehension relating to our divine abilities is best described by the Prophet Lorenzo Snow: 

“As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be.”  

Our Father is aware of our sacred capabilities because He has experienced what we now are. All we endure, He has sustained. He has a firm knowledge of what we can become because pieces of His own divinity were bestowed upon us as we were spiritually produced. His merciful hand and tender love that encompass, protect, and guide us, stand as confirmation of the intense desire that He holds to see each of us reach this destiny, and to experience the blessings that coincide along side it. Our Father in Heaven not only understands our potential, but yearns for us to acquire it.  

After all, isn’t this His work and glory?

As we gain a testimony of the truthfulness of this doctrine, it can completely reconstruct the way we experience and view this earthly life. As we begin to believe and have faith in our divine nature, we realize what we are made of and where we have come from. We can zealously declare that we were not made in the world. We are not of the world. We are from above the world. We have the ability to triumph over the temptations and can conquer all vexations of this mortal existence. We are the very sons and daughters of the Almighty God, and we have the capacity to become like Him. Although undeveloped, our capabilities are only limited to our own exertions. 

Furthermore, it can enhance the way that we interact with those around us. As we seek to discover the divinity that lies within them, the depth of our understanding and love for them, individually, will intensify. We will begin to recognize them for their divine nature, and their mortal frailties will diminish before us. Their glory will be manifest unto us, and we will acquire an intense desire to help them magnify what has become so apparent through our unveiled eyes. This is what it is like to love another like our Father and Savior love us. 

We are divinely organized. There is the nature of deity in our very composition. We cannot permit anyone, nor anything, to rob us of our destiny. Neither can we allow ourselves to become distracted by the methods of the world. There is nothing here that can be offered that will rival the blessings that await us if we are to but obediently persevere. Faithfully endure. Anxiously exert. Our divine destiny rests upon it.  

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I Have Graven Thee Upon The Palms of My Hands

To belong.  It is the component that leads each of us to collective ground.  The need creates a place where we stand unified, completely grasping what is ingrained within us.  Here our dissimilarities wane, and we feel connection, because together our desires become parallel.  We are privileged to be divergent.  To have been blessed with assorted strengths, and varying weaknesses, all from a loving Father in Heaven, who allows us to be distinctive.  And not only allows us, but utterly delights in our uniqueness and originality.  He celebrates our abilities, and labors along side us in enhancing our imperfections.  Yet, in this one area, we fuse, simultaneously yearning.  Although there are variations of intensities, it all can be found within each one of us. 

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