Spiritually Whole in Him

I’ve always taken copious notes during General Conference. Sometimes I would have specific questions in my mind, but I’d still take notes on everything I heard. The past few times, however, I’ve changed how I listen for answers. I jot down about five specific questions and I only take notes on answers to those questions.

This past conference I was pondering what questions I needed to take to the Lord.  After writing down a few, I thought about my physical health. For 15 years I have struggled with chronic muscle pain, Myofacial Syndrome. I have trigger points throughout my body, particularly in my back. There have been times when this has debilitated me, but for the most part I have learned to live my life with pain. 

Because it’s been a constant in my life for so long, I don’t really think about it too much and definitely wouldn’t think to ask about it during General Conference.  But thinking, “There probably isn’t going to be an answer,” I jotted down the question anyway. 

WHAT CAN I DO FOR MY PHYSICAL PAIN? IS THERE ANYTHING MORE I COULD BE DOING OR DO I NEED TO JUST RECOGNIZE AND EMBRACE THIS BODY/THIS CHALLENGE? 

Surprise filled my heart and tears filled my eyes when Sister Camille Johnson began to speak specifically about physical healing and spiritual wholeness. 

She said, “He may not provide healing from illness  and disease—chronic pain, autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, cancer, anxiety, depression, and the like. That kind of healing is on the Lord’s time. And in the meantime, we can choose to be made whole by exercising our faith in Him!” 

In a mortal world, with mortal bodies we will have mortal challenges. 

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner has said that, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” I think this is also what Sister Johnson is trying to say. We can have the physical pain our whole lives, there may not be healing from the physical ailments we encounter. However, this does not mean we need to suffer — spiritually or emotionally — as we endure in mortality. 

Sister Johnson gives us a formula of sorts things we can do the become spiritually whole despite our physical challenge when she says, “We are whole in Jesus Christ when we exercise our agency to follow Him in faith, submit our hearts to Him so He can change them, keep His commandments and enter a covenant relationship with Him.” 

Let’s break this down. 

Exercise our agency to follow Him in faith 

Agency is more than making the “right” decision; it’s more than having the freedom to make choices at all. Agency is the power we have been given to move. The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary states that agency is  “the state of being in action.” 

Faith is also a power. A missionary serving in our ward recently shared that Elder Bednar defined faith as a principle of power, action and trust.

From Sister Johnson we learn, “Faith in Jesus Christ begets hope…. The Lord told Enos his faith had made him ‘whole’… Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we can seek to be spiritually whole while we wait and hope for physical and emotional healing.” 

Therefore, when we exercise our agency to follow Jesus Christ in faith, we are joining our personal power with the power of our Savior. And with God, all things are made possible. 

Submit our hearts to Him so He can change them 

Likewise, submission is more than just resignedly saying, “Okay, God, do whatever you want with me.” No, I don’t believe that God has a specific plan for my life. I believe He is guiding and counseling me along this mortal journey, but He is not dictating every choice and decision. 

However, I do believe our hearts need to be changed in order to be like Him. When we submit to His wisdom and, again, put our faith in His power to heal, love and strengthen, then my heart is available to Him for that changing. 

Like the changing of the water into wine. The vessel needed to be filled with water into order to be changed. He did not miraculously add wine to an empty vessel.  Our submission to Him looks like filling our vessel with water, doing the work necessary for Him to be able to change us. 

Keep His commandments 

We fill that empty vessel by doing the things required of us. Again, keeping His commandments is more than a check of list, more than choosing the “right” way and waiting for Him to tell us what to do next. 

As in the parable of the ten virgins, the five wise knew Him. How do we come to know Jesus? We spend time with Him and His words. His commandments are not a “to do list.” Rather, the commandments are His invitation for us to get to know Him. 

We will all fall short if we are only striving to check off the list of “requirements” to be His disciples. No, we must come to know Him and to love Him and to feel His love for us. 

Enter into a covenant relationship with Him. 

Which brings us to the final way in which we become whole in Jesus Christ. What does a covenant relationship with Him look like? What does it feel like?  

“I can be whole while I wait for healing if I am wholehearted in my relationship with Him.”  Sister Johnson then asks the question, “Will you choose now to be whole in Him?” 

Being whole means to be complete. That is what a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ can feel like. When we truly partner with Him, we feel whole, we feel complete, we can feel perfect. 

Sister Johnson continues, “Paul’s example suggests that even in our weakness, our strength in Jesus Christ can be made perfect — that is, complete and whole. Those who wrestle with mortal struggles and turn to God in faith like Paul can receive the blessing of becoming acquainted with God.” 

We can accept our wholeness now. We can accept our completeness now. We can accept our perfection now.  

We all have our struggles, our weaknesses, our infirmities, our aches  and pains, our trials of affliction. Not one person is exempt from the circumstances of mortality. And yet, through Jesus Christ and His power, through our agency and submission, through our coming to ourselves and to Him, we can be made whole today. 

Often we think of perfection and healing as something to obtain in the future, but what if we simply accepted it now? Because Christ is present today, not just in the future. It is His power we draw from and it is His light we shine as we live our lives in wholeness. 

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O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly…cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God.” — Alma 33:21