“I Will Heal Them,” Liahona, Feb. 2025.
“I Will Heal Them”
The Savior’s healing ministry is a divine prelude and promise of the lasting physical and emotional healing that will come to each of us in the Resurrection.
I still remember vividly some of the long flights I made during my professional life as an airline captain.
In one of them, I would take off in Germany at 11:00 a.m. and touch down in California at 1:00 p.m. on the same day. Comparing the local departure and arrival times, it might appear that a flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the North American continent took only two hours. The Boeing 747 was fast, but not that fast! In reality, it took us about 11 hours, depending on wind, to travel the 5,600 miles (9,000 km).
Because we were flying west, the sun never set during our flight. We enjoyed broad daylight all the way from Germany to California.
Returning to Germany, however, was a totally different story. Even when we took off in the early afternoon, as we flew east, the sunset came more quickly than it normally would, and before we knew it, night was upon us.
During these long flights, my soul was often filled with awe as I pondered the beauty of this earth and the order of God’s creation. Even while flying at night, in complete darkness, I knew with certainty that the sun would rise again, that bright light would return and bring warmth and life to a new day before our journey’s end. The circumstances of my flight might have made it seem like the sun was setting more slowly or more quickly, but I knew that the sun remained constant, steadfast, and reliable in the heavens.
I feel the same way about God. Because I have a deeply grounded certainty of God’s wisdom and purpose for all His creation, I can feel joyful hope and lasting peace when I think about our mortal existence. We are God’s children. He loves us. He knows our circumstances. He is ready to help. These truths do not change, even when other things around us seem unstable and unpredictable.
We all experience moments of darkness, sorrow, and uncertainty that threaten our peace. How grateful I am for the reliable and true source of truth and light (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:6–11). Jesus Christ is the light and the life of the world. Because of Him and His atoning sacrifice, we have hope for the future, access to divine light to brighten the dark days of our journey, and the promise of ultimate victory over sin and death.
“He Loveth the World”
Jesus Christ was the only perfect man to ever walk the earth. Because of His perfect life, He owed no debt to justice. Out of love for us, He gave His life for each one of us individually and for all of God’s children collectively to open the door to immortality and eternal life.
Despite what Satan would have us believe, none of us are beyond the Savior’s ability to rescue us. None of us are disqualified from the grace of forgiveness. None of us are beyond being “encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15).
This greatest of all gifts comes from the enabling and redeeming power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of the Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane and on Golgotha, He knows how to save us from and help us through any and all of our infirmities (see Alma 7:12).
“He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (2 Nephi 26:24).
Jesus Christ is our strength!
He reaches out.
He restores.
He rescues.
“When the Savior [gave His atoning sacrifice] for all mankind, He opened a way that those who follow Him can have access to His healing, strengthening, and redeeming power,” said President Russell M. Nelson.
That power, like the sun, is always there. It never wavers. The choice to follow in the footsteps of the Savior is like walking out of the shadows and into the sunlight, where we can receive the blessings of God’s light, warmth, and love. I know that one day, we will look back and be filled with gratitude that we made the eternally important decision to trust Jesus Christ and His divine love to lift and strengthen us.
“Return unto Me”
The Book of Mormon tells of a people who spent three days in the most profound darkness following the Savior’s Crucifixion. The physical darkness around them could symbolize the spiritual darkness all of us experience because of sin. Then the people heard the voice of Christ inviting them out of the darkness and into His light:
“Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13).
“Offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20).
“Repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart” (3 Nephi 10:6).
The Savior extends those same invitations to us today when we find ourselves lost in the darkness. Just as each sunrise marks the beginning of a new day, each time we repent, we receive a fresh start, a bright new beginning.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Repentance means change, and change doesn’t happen quickly. While joyful, repentance does include “godly sorrow” (2 Corinthians 7:10). It requires that we admit and confess our wrongs, asking forgiveness from God and from those we may have harmed. Most of all, it requires that we seek “the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent,” that we may experience “a mighty change in … our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).
That kind of change is a long journey, but as soon as you take the first step, “the day of your salvation” begins, and “immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you” (Alma 34:31).
Through our sincere repentance, God promises to forgive and remember our sins no more. When we have difficulty forgetting our sins, let us strive to trust in the Lord’s promise to forgive and learn to forgive others and ourselves.
“Our spirits are damaged when we make mistakes and commit sins,” taught President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015). “But unlike the case of our mortal bodies, when the repentance process is complete, no scars remain because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
Healing the Blind Man, by Carl Heinrich Bloch
“Bring Them Hither”
The Savior is the Master Healer. One of the most beautiful demonstrations of His healing power is found in the Book of Mormon, in the account of His personal ministry in ancient America:
“Have ye any that are sick among you?” He asked. “Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. …
“And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him” (3 Nephi 17:7, 9).
Every time the Savior healed anyone “afflicted in any manner,” both before and after His Resurrection, it was a testament to His ultimate power to heal our souls. Each miraculous healing was but a prelude and promise of the lasting physical and emotional healing that will come to each of us in the Resurrection, which “is the Lord’s consummate act of healing.”
It’s true that our prayers for healing in this life are not always answered in the way we hope, but they are never ignored. The time for healing will come, just as the darkness of night always gives way—at the right time—to the glorious sunrise.
As President Nelson has testified: “Our faith is never unappreciated. I know that an all-wise Heavenly Father’s perspective is much broader than is ours. While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time.”
Recently my wife, Harriet, and I included in our prayers a special hope and pleading on behalf of some we love. We prayed that their healthcare team would be given special ability to cure their illnesses. We were impressed to add that even if an immediate cure or recovery might not take place, the Savior’s healing power might bring them comfort and peace. The healing effect of the Savior’s redeeming power may have an even greater impact on our emotional, spiritual, and even physical health than any earthly cure we may receive. Jesus Christ is the Healer in this life and in eternity.
My brothers and sisters, dear friends, I testify that our Savior’s mercy is sufficient to heal your wounds, cleanse you of sin, strengthen you for trials to come, and bless you with hope, wisdom, and His peace. His power is always there—constant and reliable—even when we, for a time, feel distant from His love, light, and warmth.
I pray we never lose our sense of awe and profound gratitude for all that Jesus Christ has done for us. Please know that you are loved perfectly, and remember what you have been promised eternally.
“May God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son,” Jesus Christ (Alma 33:23).