The atonement of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from our sins, if we approach him in faith, humility, and contriteness. We repent, and we are forgiven. We understand how this process works. But we are also told in Alma 7:11-13, that Christ also suffered for our pains, sicknesses, and infirmities, so that His "bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know...how to succor his people."
I was talking to a friend whose fiance broke up with her just before the wedding. She experienced emotional pain for months. I suggested that she use the atonement to help heal her heart, and she asked me "how?"
What an excellent question! I didn't know how to respond. We know how the atonement takes away our guilt; how does it relieve us of emotional wounds? We are told that it does...but how? How do you access that?
Elder Merrill J. Bateman said, "Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt 'our infirmities' (Hebrews 4:15), '[bore] our griefs, ... carried our sorrows...[and] was bruised for our iniquities' (Isaiah 53:4-5)."
That is a comforting thought, the knowledge of which helps us to feel closer to Jesus; but still, how does one access this healing?
In pondering this, I consulted another friend, who has also had intense emotional pain, but has been completely healed of it. He told me that the first step is to stop being mad at God. "Although it sounds strange, whenever you ask 'why is this happening to me?,' you are feeling some degree of anger toward God." After that, he said that he prayed every time that he felt the plague of his emotions. When you feel angry, lonely, hurt, miserable, etc., you can't feel the Spirit, and you need to pray until you feel peace. My friend Kaila told me that the only answer to prayer that we are guaranteed is peace. Sometimes my friend had to stay on his knees for quite a while until he felt peace, but it always came. The peace didn't always last long, especially in the beginning, but as he continued with the process, the intervals of feeling peace between bad feelings elongated, until now, when he constantly feels peace about that situation. He doesn't feel the weight of negative emotions anymore regarding the people involved or the things that happened. He feels to rejoice and praise God for healing his heart.
I think I would do well to pray until I feel peace each time I feel bad feelings. What do you think of this method?
No comments:
Post a Comment