I am often asked how I became involved in the Healing Arts and I always answer, “Because I was in pain – physical pain, emotional pain, and spiritual pain.” I have found that pain in one form or another gets our attention and sets us on a path of seeking healing. I tried the traditional path for years. I was poked and prodded, medicated and counseled, but still did not feel a significant easing of my ‘pain’. I kept my pain hidden for a long time, but in my desperation for healing, I started asking around for help. I learned a very important lesson here. It wasn’t until I quit hiding; quit wearing the mask of having a so-calledperfect life, that I started being directed in my personal journey of healing. Until this point, I had never even considered anything alternative, but as I dipped my foot into the water, I was amazed at the significant results I started to obtain. Maybe there was some validity to these crazy modalities after all! I have always felt that when we are introduced to our spiritual gifts our hearts leap and mine definitely leapt! As I started feeling better, I was anxious to help everyone that I knew to feel better too! Energy work quickly became my passion and I started to devour anything I could get my hands on – books, classes, conferences, other energy workers. Of course I wanted to try out everything I was learning and made everyone I knew become my guinea pigs. I very much had the energy of wanting to ‘fix’ my fellowman. This had rather mixed results to say the least. Lo and behold there are actually people out there that don’t want to be ‘fixed’; close family members being at the top of the list! My enthusiasm was not quelled however and I continued pursuing my knowledge of the Healing Arts with an unbridled passion.
I was so fortunate along the way to have some beautiful mentors. One of them introduced me to the Atonement in a whole new way. I had always believed in the Atonement and had knelt down by my bed faithfully every night and prayed for forgiveness of my sins and because of that, I assumed that I was fully receiving the Atonement in my life. Honestly, I had never considered casting my burdens to the Savior and if I had, I wouldn’t have known quite how it would be done. I had recently had a very traumatic experience that had triggered some deep childhood wounds. I kept telling myself that I had dealt with them and that I was perfectly OK, but when an opportunity came to experience some emotional release, I jumped at the chance. There was something within me that was letting me know that I wasn’t near as OK as I was pretending to be. This modality was called emotional release processing and involved looking inside for colors and shapes that represented our emotions, finding their roots, and then pulling them from the body and putting them into a big box in front of me. I came to a profound realization of the depth of the burdens and sorrows that I was actually carrying. I realized that I had never surrendered them to my Savior and they were weighing very heavily upon me. As I was encouraged to lift these burdens and hand them over to my Savior, I froze. I couldn’t move. I could visualize the Savior before me with open arms ready to receive these burdens that he had
sacrificed His life to carry for me, but I was stuck. Of course I wanted to hand them over, but why couldn’t I? That was when I had a personal experience of the tenaciousness of the adversary in trying to block our acceptance of the Atonement in our own lives.
This became a time of deep soul-searching. The darkness was very heavy upon me trying to prevent me from receiving this miracle in my life. I could feel his presence and felt so defeated. I had come so close and yet felt I could go no further. In desperation, I called upon my Father to release me from this darkness – to deliver me from the adversary. In an instant, I felt the Light descend upon me and I literally felt a dark spirit lift out of my left shoulder. In that moment, I could see in my mind’s eye, the spirit of the person that I had been struggling to forgive, appear just behind the Savior. The deep darkness and sorrow that I had been feeling just moments earlier, was replaced with unspeakable joy! I truly experienced the miracle of the Atonement in lifting my burdens and redeeming my sorrows! My life would never be the same – I truly had been borne anew.
This completely shifted my efforts in my energy and healing work. I no longer felt that it was my job to try to ‘fix’ people. My job was to testify of the healing miracle of the Atonement – to point the way. I could stand as a witness of its redeeming power – I was a changed person. As this miracle was evidenced in my own life, people started to seek me out. Instead of trying to start a business of practicing energy and healing work, clients started coming to me in the strangest and most random ways. They were truly being ‘sent’ to me and I then attempted to ‘send’ them to the true source of healing through our Savior Jesus Christ.
But, it wasn’t near as easy as I thought it would be. I found that there were many false belief systems that were standing in the way of them accepting the miracle of the Atonement in their own lives. As these were repeated to me over and over again, I started to take note of what these belief systems were. I felt that if my clients could actually see their excuses in writing, they would be able to recognize them as the lies of the adversary that they truly were. These are some of the most common false belief systems that I confronted:
- We believe that we ‘are’ our brokenness. It is who we are – our self-identity. If we were to become free of our burdens, we would feel lost and confused. We would question, “Who am I?”
- We believe that because we are so ‘strong’, we can carry our own burdens and not add ours to those that the Savior is already carrying for all of mankind.
- We believe that we are not ‘worthy’ of the Atonement in our lives – we have to do more to ‘earn’ it.
- We believe that the Atonement is just for our sins and not really to take care of our sorrows and weaknesses.
- We believe that our burdens are too inconsequential for the Savior to worry about and that the Atonement is only for the really big stuff.
- We believe the Atonement is an abstract concept and have no idea how to really access it in our own lives.
- We believe that it is a very complicated procedure to partake in the Atonement and that it would be much too hard for us to learn.
- We believe that we deserve the ‘punishment’ of carrying our own burdens.
- We believe that we are more righteous (self-righteous) if we can handle our own burdens.
- We believe that we don’t deserve to be forgiven and be made clean through the Atonement – that we are only repentant if continue the self-recriminations.
- We believe that partaking of the Atonement is something that will happen on some dramatic day in our future, but not today.
- We believe that it is too painful to acknowledge our burdens and sins and wonder if the Atonement can really, truly heal this pain.
- We believe that if we truly love our Savior, we will make the sacrifice of carrying our own burdens rather than casting them to Him.
- We believe in pride. If we cast our burdens to the Savior, it is tantamount to admitting our weakness.
- We believe in fear. We feel that if we don’t carry our own burdens, we will receive negative judgment.
- We believe that the Atonement isn’t really infinite. Since we believe there is only a finite amount of saving power, the Savior should use it for those who are worse off than we are.
- We believe that we can make excuses and rationalize why the Atonement won’t work for us, when the real truth of it is that we think that we are worthless, so why even bother.
- We believe in denial. We can’t admit to ourselves that we are in need of the Atonement in our lives.
- We believe that partaking of the Atonement means reliving the pain of our past and doing that will be more than we can bear.
- We believe that we can justify our sins and are therefore not in need of the Atonement.
- We believe in secrecy. We think that we can keep our sins a secret – even from God – and that if we partake of the Atonement our secrets will be exposed.
- We believe that if we admit our past sins and burdens, it will make them more real. It is much more comfortable to simply leave them buried in the past.
- We believe that we get much needed attention from being ‘martyrs’ to our burdens.
- We believe that we are unable to lay down our ‘sword of struggle’ by accepting the healing power of the Atonement. We find purpose in our struggle.
- We believe that we are doing our part or our duty by carrying our own burdens.
- We believe that the Atonement is only for the more ‘devout’ among us.
- We believe that if our burdens are ‘self-inflicted’ than we don’t ‘deserve’ the Atonement.
- We believe that surrendering our burdens to the Savior is admitting defeat, not realizing that it will be our greatest triumph!
Many of these are similar, but I found that in wording them a little differently, they more perfectly fit their own thought patterns. As I put these down on paper, I realized that I needed to do my own search of LDS doctrine to refute each of these false beliefs and was astounded at the abundance of truths that are available.
This has been an incredibly powerful piece in the emotional and spiritual work that I do with others and I was so thrilled to witness miracle after miracle as the clients I worked with came to truly understand the Atonement and to experience it’s healing miracle in their own lives. Then, more started happening in my sessions…
The sweet presence of the Holy Spirit was always present as I would testify to others of the Atonement, but then I started sensing more and more spirits present as we did our work together. As I listened for promptings, the messages became much more distinct and as I would begin to share what I was hearing, I would find that the words that were being spoken were no longer my words. I was also learning from the words that I was speaking. The language of the Spirit is beautiful and affirming. Comforting and eloquent words would come through me, which were exactly the words that my client needed to hear to heal their particular wound or heartache. I would definitely give credit where credit was due and I found that as I acknowledged the Source of these messages, they increased. Often I would feel the presence of a client’s ancestor or even their posterity from beyond the veil. How did I know who was present? That is another story.
When I first began doing energy work, I learned Applied Kinesiology or muscle-response testing. I found it to be very effective, but I was concerned as well. I never wanted muscle testing to replace promptings of the Spirit. I never wanted it to become a crutch. I wanted to do all things in accordance with the Spirit and so I sought diligently in prayer for clarity in my use of this energy tool. One day in my studies, I came across information about the casting of lots in the scriptures and the question as to how it could be of God. It then stated that any earthly tool, if used in faith, is of God. I then received such a power spiritual witness come over me and I had the answer to my prayers. Muscle-response testing had been given to me as a spiritual gift and as I used it with pure intent and with faith in God, it would serve me in my work in the healing arts. Before this time, I had used my muscle testing with some trepidation and doubt and was never totally confident in it’s accuracy. After I received this personal witness, my muscle testing ability was magnified. As I used it as a witness, NOT the witness, which only comes by the Holy Spirit, it has become an extremely useful and reliable tool.
So back to the question in the previous paragraph – I am able to muscle test and ask who is present. It is amazing to me how, once they are identified, their words just flow into my mind and out of my mouth to bring healing and loving messages to their loved ones. I have also had several tender mercies that have second witnessed the presence of who was there and of the message that was given. These second witnesses have been such a blessing both to me, and to my clients, and have affirmed the spiritual gift of which I have been given. It is said that ‘by their fruits ye shall know them’ and because the messages that I receive are of light and love, of healing and comfort, and of affirmation and hope, I know that they are messages from beings of light that have been sent to assist in the spiritual and emotional counseling that I do. I have learned that the veil is very, very thin and that there are many on the other side that are anxious to help and assist us in our healing work if we ask for their assistance and then be still and listen.
In addition to feeling the presence of those on the other side of the veil, I have been given the spiritual gift of perceiving the true spirit of my clients. I can often sense the presence of their full spiritual stature and receive a glimpse of who they were in the premortal realm. As the Spirit moves upon me to remind them of their divinity, their mission and calling here on earth, their spirits are also moved by the Holy Spirit to receive this witness. Often, I am prompted to have them visualize that they are being rocked in the arms of their Heavenly Mother – being infused with Her love – the peace that comes is indescribable.
Do people judge me for using these spiritual gifts? Honestly, it’s not something of which I casually speak. I consider it to be a sacred gift that I receive when I am serving others. According to Elder Richard G. Scott:
“When we are acting as instruments in behalf of others, we are more easily inspired than when we think only of ourselves. In the process of helping others, the Lord can piggyback directions for our own benefit.”
When I am working with a client, the Spirit is present in such abundance that I have never once had an issue with them judging me in any way. I believe that as we use our spiritual gifts with confidence in the Lord, He makes His works manifest through us.
I was once in a class where they asked us each to draw a heart stone, carved with a word, out of a bag and tell the class what that word meant to us. My word was Courage. What immediately came to me was that I needed to have the Courage to stand in the truth of my spiritual gifts. It is sooo much easier to sit back and hide them from others. It is definitely a risk to step out of the box and to help your clients through your gifts. I know that fear is the enemy of faith and that if I am truly to be an instrument in God’s hands, I must stand in my truth and use the spiritual gifts with which he has endowed me.
I was sitting in a gospel doctrine class discussing Moses. He was extremely reluctant when the Lord first let him know of the work He wanted him to do here on earth, citing his many weaknesses. The question was asked about Moses’ faith in God and a comment was made about our faith in God vs. our faith in ourselves, and that that is where we fall short. How many of us are filled with weaknesses and are unworthy of being used as instruments in the Lord’s hands? I certainly am!! I am here to tell you that based on my merits alone, there is no way that I should be endowed with any of these spiritual gifts! I have made many mistakes; I have sinned.
“If there are some of you who have been tricked into the conviction that you have gone too far, that you have been weighed down with doubts on which you alone have a monopoly, that you have had the poison of sin which makes it impossible ever again to be what you could have been – then hear me. I bear testimony that you cannot sink farther than the light and sweeping intelligence of Jesus Christ can reach. I bear testimony that as long as there is one spark of the will to repent and to reach, He is there. He did not just descend to your condition; he descended below it, ‘that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth’ (D&C 88:6). The Atonement of the Savior covers every repentable sin known to man.”
– Truman Madsen
I have repented. I have received the Atonement of the Savior in my life. I have been washed clean. I believe Christ! I am willing to receive spiritual gifts and to use them to serve my fellowman.
We have ALL been given beautiful spiritual gifts. The wonderful thing is that we have each been given very diverse and unique gifts for the purpose of serving and blessing each other. As we use our individual gifts, we can witness them developing and growing – exponentially when we use them in the service of our fellowman! But, in an inspired design – we stand in constant need of the spiritual gifts of others, as well as a deep dependence on continued guidance and direction from the Heavens. It is so important that we do not let our own feelings of unworthiness or inadequacy stand as a barrier to the good works that we can do in the Lord’s name. We need only be willing to receive our individual spiritual gifts and use them in the service of our fellowman.
“Whenever the Holy Ghost takes up its residence in a person, it not only cleanses, sanctifies, and purifies him, in proportion as he yields himself to its influence, but also imparts to him some gift, intended for the benefit of himself and others. No one who has been born of the Spirit, and who remains sufficiently faithful, is left destitute of a spiritual gift. A person who is without a spiritual gift has not the Spirit of God dwelling in him, in a sufficient degree, to save him; he cannot be called a Saint, or a child of God; for all Saints who constitute the Church of Christ, are baptized into the same Spirit; and each one, without any exception, is made a partaker of some spiritual gift…
Each member does not receive all these gifts; but they are distributed through the whole body (of the Church), according to the will and wisdom of the Spirit…Some may have all these gifts bestowed upon them, so as to understand them all, and be prepared to detect any spurious gifts, and to preside over the whole body of the Church, that all may be benefited. These spiritual gifts are distributed among the members of the Church, according to their faithfulness, circumstances, natural abilities, duties, and callings; that the whole may be properly instructed, confirmed, perfected, and saved.”
From: Orson Pratt, quoted in Lundwall, N.B., Masterful Discourses of Orson Pratt
And from ‘Our Identity and Our Destiny’ by Elder Tad Callister:
“An important resource to assist us in our pursuit of godhood is the gifts of the Spirit. What are the gifts of the Spirit? We know them as love, patience, knowledge, testimony, and so on. In essence, each gift of the Spirit represents an attribute of godliness. Accordingly, each time we acquire a gift of the Spirit, we acquire a potential attribute of godliness. In this regard Orson Pratt taught:
One object of the Church is declared to be ‘For the perfecting of the Saints.’ The plan for the accomplishment of this great object, is through the medium of the spiritual gifts. When the supernatural gifts of the Spirit cease, the Saints cease to be perfected, therefore they can have no hopes of obtaining a perfect salvation. In every nation and age, where believers exist, there the gifts must exist to perfect them.
No wonder the Lord commands us to ‘covet earnestly the best gifts’ (1 Cor. 12:31). President George Q. Cannon spoke of man’s shortcomings and the divine solution. Recognizing the link between spiritual gifts and godhood, he fervently pleaded with the Saints to overcome each manifested weakness through the acquisition of a countermanding gift of strength known as the gift of the Spirit:
If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. No man ought to say, “Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.” He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them.
What was the Lord’s response to Solomon’s prayerful request for the gift of an understanding heart? The scriptures record, “The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.” And then the Lord noted, “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart” (1 Kings 3:10,12). When was the last time we prayed for a gift of the Spirit that would lift us above our mortal weakness and further our pursuit of godhood? Again and again the Lord has both invited and promised, “Ask, and it shall be given you” (Matt. 7:7).
Praise God that we have all received spiritual gifts! A principle that I have found to be extremely powerful is the principle of praising God in all things. It is in our darkest hour that praising God has its greatest power. Calling upon the powers of heaven and surrendering our will to His is the most critical thing we can do in our times of profound need. It opens the way for the greatest miracles in our life.
We may think of praising God as “Halleluiah” and “Rejoice!” (and it is) but it is also a deep surrender and trust in the path He has chosen for our life. Just as Joseph Smith was told in Liberty Jail in his time of despair: “All things will work together for our good.” We may ask God “how?” “when?”, or “where?” but (sub-consciously) we want all to happen in our timing and according to our will.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ‘Mere Christianity’
– by C.S. Lewis
“Praise God” is the deepest and most profound prayer that we can utter and as we put this to the test, we will find in the midst of our trials a peace that can come from no other source but God. Look back on your life and think of a time or event that you considered a tragedy and ask yourself what growth and strengths you developed from the experience and what blessings have come into your life as a result. Now, as you look at today’s trials from that perspective, you can more easily have faith and trust that God has a plan for you in these trials as well.
I would like to share the following experience:
This is a story about a woman I know well. This woman had a very difficult relationship with her mother growing up. She has been in multiple car accidents, which have left her with permanent injuries to her spine and neck, which cause her chronic pain. She was bullied in elementary school and called horrible nicknames. She suffered many broken hearts until she finally married and then went through some tough years there. She had 4 miscarriages and a stillborn daughter before finally having her three children, one of which was born 14 weeks early. Her daughter and one son got hooked on drugs and alcohol and her daughter got pregnant in high school and is currently on her third husband. They are both alcoholics and she has raised their four children for the past 13 years – two of them are on the autism spectrum. Her son had many stints in jail and eventually ended up in prison. Her brother was killed in an accident and her parents both died of cancer in three years time. As her mother died, she disinherited this woman out of spite, even though she had been her primary caretaker for the last 2 years of her life. With the exception of a few years, she has had a great deal of financial instability. She was scammed out of a large sum of money and every investment she made with her husband failed in a big way. This woman was also called in by her church leader, wondering if she had joined an apostate group because of her work in the Healing Arts. Her beloved mentor also betrayed her and smeared her name.
This woman is me. The reason I am sharing my ‘story’ is to testify to you of the miracle of the Atonement in my life.
– Praise God for my mother as she motivated me to be a loving mother to my own children and to learn firsthand about forgiveness.
– Praise God for my physical pain as it gave me the desire to learn how to relieve it and through my learning has provided me with the opportunity to relieve the physical pain for others.
– Praise God for being bullied as it taught me how sensitive others’ feelings are and to be determined to always act with kindness.
– Praise God for my struggles in having children as it taught me how priceless they are and helped me to be willing to take in four extra children to raise as my own.
– Praise God for the struggles of my children as it drove me to my knees in humility and in a search for further light and knowledge, which now provides me with insights in helping others with similar problems.
– Praise God for my financial instability as it has made me completely dependent on the Lord for daily manna.
– Praise God for being called in by my church leader as it made me even more determined to never stray from the gospel of Christ.
– Praise God that my mentor betrayed me because it pushed me into the work that I currently do, which is exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life at this time.
Only through the miracle of the Atonement could I have been made whole. My ‘story‘ is not who I am. My ‘past’ is not who I am. I am a daughter of God – I am an instrument in His Hands – I am a willing servant. I had the perfect past to make me the woman I am today and I praise Him for all of it – the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly for I testify to you that through Him, it has all been made beautiful. I believe with all of my heart that it can be the same for you.
I have found it to be extremely helpful for many of my clients to write a similar ‘story’ about their lives. It is not possible to change the past, but it is entirely possible to change our perspective of the past and through this exercise of Praising God in all things, we can make the switch from feeling like a victim to seeing that we are actually the victors! When we retell the story of our past as the victim, we re-imprint the pain on our hearts and we have to heal from it over and over again. Once we can see how God’s purpose unfolded in our lives, we become grateful – even for the trials that were so difficult at the time. This is particularly powerful for victims of childhood abuse. As they recognize the role they played in cleansing their lineages of darkness and pain, their sacrifices gain a higher, divine purpose.
“Praising God takes the sting out of adversity. That is why I have instructed you to Praise God for everything. There is an element of mystery in this transaction: You give Me praise (regardless of your feelings), and I give you Joy (regardless of your circumstances). This is a spiritual act of obedience – at times, blind obedience. To people who don’t know Me intimately, it can seem irrational and even impossible to praise Me for heartrending hardships. Nonetheless, those who obey Me in this way are invariably blessed, even though difficulties may remain. Praising God opens your heart to My Presence and your mind to My thoughts. You may still be in the same place, with the same set of circumstances, but it is as if a light has been switched on, enabling you to see from My perspective. It is this Light of My Presence that removes the sting from adversity.”
‘Jesus Calling’ by Sarah Young pg. 343 (Praise substituted for Thanking)
In every situation I face, I have the choice to invite the adversary to walk through it with me by expressing fear, worry, doubt, discouragement and judgments or, to invite the light of Christ to be my companion by Praising God – no matter the nature of the event. It has definitely been a learning curve for me, but I stand as a witness – Praising God in all things invites miracles. Praising God in every thing has changed me – I feel so much more at peace – trusting in my Heavenly parents love for me – trusting in the miracle of the Atonement – living more in a place of faith, rather than fear. I have found that most every person who works in the Healing Arts has their own story of adversity and hardship that has refined them and prepared them for the sanctity of this holy work. Christ suffered in Gethsame to better know us, are we willing to suffer in this earth life to better know Him? I find this to be true of most Energy Workers – they have suffered, and they know Christ.
How can I leave out the critical principle of the power in forgiveness? I have suffered offenses from others – I have been hurt and betrayed – I have known pain in my life. I have spent much time being held hostage by the past and nursing my wounds. I have spent my fair share of time feeling like a victim. I have allowed my brokenness to define me. A huge part of what I needed to do to heal lied in truly forgiving those who had harmed me. But, I truly was stymied – I just didn’t know how to sincerely let it all go. As I sought divine help – divine help was given. How often had I experienced my young children being frustrated and angry with me and expressing their feelings with unkindness? Although I responded to this, I did not feel personally wounded by it. The Spirit whispered to me that every one of us is actually a wounded child acting out of our own pain. When I could see my fellowman through this lens, it completely changed how I reacted to offenses. I could acknowledge what happened without the personal wounds and devastation. I could truly forgive.
Here’s another way to look at forgiveness: Let’s say you lent $1000 to someone and they spent the money. You then asked them to repay the debt, but they no longer had the money to do so. Someone else comes along and offers to purchase that debt from you for $1,000,000 and they will then collect the debt from the other person. But instead, you refuse to sell the debt. You continue to pursue repayment from the person who actually is unable to repay you. It seems like such a foolish choice, right? That is exactly what we do when we refuse to forgive. Our Savior offers us such abundant blessings if we only choose to forgive and allow Him to exact justice and mercy from our offender. How often do we refuse Him and expect to receive the comfort and peace of mind we are seeking from someone who is simply unable to give it to us? When we refuse to forgive, we are actually allowing our offender to keep some of our power and are staying connected to them in an unhealthy and negative way. In many ways, we are allowing someone to continue to harm us, even though they may have long ago moved on with their life. By holding on to the offense, we are also choosing to hold on to the pain. This is the time for us to partake of the Atonement and give this burden to Him.
Another analogy I use is a cage. Sometimes we feel caged in by traumas that have occurred in our life. Even though the traumas may be over, we continue to live in our cage. Our Savior’s Atonement is the key that unlocks the door of the cage so that we may fly free. But the cage feels so safe and comfortable to us. And so we choose to stay back in the dark corners of the cage and deprive ourselves of the wondrous beauty that is just outside the open door. In that way, we again do not receive the miracle of the Atonement in our life.
What of receiving forgiveness for our own shortcomings? Often, we go through all of the R’s of repentance and then get stuck. We Recognize, we Repent, we provide Restitution, but at the very end, we are unwilling to Receive the forgiveness that the Atonement offers us. We wonder when we will feel forgiven. Well, we either believe Christ or we don’t. Carrying around the guilt of acts for which we have long ago repented, prevents us from being capable of being effective servants in our Lord’s hands. Isn’t that clever of the adversary? We think that we are being meek and humble, but we are really allowing Satan to damn our forward progress in convincing us that we are unworthy of claiming our spiritual gifts, let alone using them to serve our fellowman.
I am so blessed to have a very supportive spouse, but not everyone believes in my work in the Healing Arts. (Interestingly, none of these people have ever been in a session with me.) There truly is opposition in all things. Muscle-response testing can seem pretty psychic to people who are not familiar with it. I had an experience with a church leader who had a relative that got involved in the Healing Arts and then decided to leave the church and become a Shaman. He heard that I was involved in the Healing Arts and was concerned for me. As he met with me, he started reading to me about the danger of affiliating with apostate groups. I didn’t understand at first why on earth he was reading this to me, but then he said it was because he knew that I used muscle-response testing. At this time, I could have become very defensive and upset at the possibility of having my temple recommend taken away or being accused of being an apostate because of using this energy tool. I have to admit that those emotions were definitely stirring around inside of me, but I felt that reacting in that way would only prove him to be correct in his assessment of my work! I love the old adage: “Live your life so that if anyone speaks ill of you, no one will believe him.” I did try to explain some of the energy tools that I use, but wasn’t getting very far and so I simply looked him in the eye and testified to him of my belief in my Savior and of the miracle of His Atonement in my life. The Holy Spirit filled the room and he decided not to take any action against me. I left feeling at peace. From that point forward, whenever I saw this church leader, I focused all of my love and gratitude towards him. I pledged my full support to him in his calling and never spoke of him in anything but a kind and loving way. There was definitely some discomfort for a while, but I continued to smile and nod and attend my meetings and serve in my callings. I also continued to attend every ward temple night and put his name on the prayer rolls as well as keeping him in my personal prayers. He has since been released and I continue to smile and nod.
A few years later, I again had the opportunity to meet with a church leader concerning my emails. I had emailed out the false beliefs concerning the Atonement above to several of my friends and neighbors to ask for their feedback or input as I was considering writing an article or book on the subject. Someone had brought it to his attention, thinking that I was writing my own version of the Articles of Faith. He wanted to warn me about trying to write my own church doctrine. As I explained what it was about, he admitted that he hadn’t actually had an opportunity to read through it himself. Again, I could have been upset that I was called in without my leader having actually reviewed what I was being called in about, but I saw it as an opportunity. I was able to share with him my testimony of the Atonement. I also shared with him my efforts to assist the people that I work with in overcoming the obstacles that stand in the way of their choice to fully receive the Atonement in their own lives. He then told me that the Spirit had witnessed to him that I should continue in the work that I am doing and he has been nothing but loving and supportive to me ever since. I am so profoundly grateful for him being receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit concerning me and the healing work with which I am engaged.
My work in the Healing Arts has had a profound impact of my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. President Eyring often talks of how his study of science has only deepened his testimony of Christ and I have found the same to be true in my study of Energy Work and the Healing Arts. All things testify of Christ. As the body responds through muscle-response testing, it testifies of truths and doctrines of Christ. One of my favorite examples is demonstrating to people, through their response in being muscle tested, the power of being centered in Christ. When they are visualizing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, negative stimuli have no impact on their bodies. The true armor of God – our most powerful shield of protection – is the light that shines from within; it is the light we have when we live in tune with our Master. Our bodies, our energies, our intelligence testifies of Christ. As I demonstrate on people’s bodies this truth, this work – this Energy Work – testifies of Christ. I have covenanted with my Lord to be a willing servant and to do all things according to His will. He has healed me. He is allowing me to become an instrument in His hands to bring others unto Him where they, too, can find the true source of healing through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
– By Kathy Truman
