the dawn will break brightly

Whatever your struggle, my brothers and sisters—mental or emotional or physical or otherwise—do not vote against the preciousness of life by ending it! Trust in God. Hold on in His love. Know that one day the dawn will break brightly and all shadows of mortality will flee. Though we may feel we are “like a broken vessel,” as the Psalmist says, we must remember, that vessel is in the hands of the divine potter. Broken minds can be healed just the way broken bones and broken hearts are healed. While God is at work making those repairs, the rest of us can help by being merciful, nonjudgmental, and kind.

Jeffrey R. Holland

"Like a Broken Vessel," General Conference October 2013

but for what the Lord knew the person needed

Holiness to the Lord in everyday life looks like a young returning missionary who learned to let God prevail in his life. Earlier, when asked to bless someone who was very sick, this missionary said, “I have faith; I will bless him to recover. Yet,” the returning missionary says, “I learned in that moment to pray not for what I wanted but for what the Lord knew the person needed. I blessed the brother with peace and comfort. He later passed away peacefully.

Gerrit W. Gong

"Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life" General Conference October 2024

spiritually whole

What might it mean to be spiritually whole?

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, meekly enduring and learning from the challenges of this earthly estate until we return to His presence and are healed in every way. I can be whole while I wait for healing if I am wholehearted in my relationship with Him.

Faith in Jesus Christ begets hope. I find hope in striving to be whole—a wholeness born of faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Him increases my hope for healing, and that hope reinforces my faith in Jesus Christ. It is a powerful cycle.

The Lord told Enos his faith had made him “whole.” Wholeness came as Enos pondered on the words of his prophet-father, Jacob, as he hungered to understand the opportunity for eternal life, as he cried unto God in mighty prayer. And in that state of desire and humility, the voice of the Lord came to him, announcing his sins were forgiven. And Enos asked the Lord, “How is it done?” And the Lord responded, “Because of thy faith in Christ, … thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we can seek to be spiritually whole while we wait and hope for physical and emotional healing.

Camille N. Johnson

"Spiritually Whole in Him", General Conference April 2025

the Lord saw these individuals for who they were

When the scribes and the Pharisees saw the woman taken in adultery, what did they see? A depraved woman, a sinner worthy of death. When Jesus saw her, what did He see? A woman who had temporarily succumbed to the weakness of the flesh but could be reclaimed through repentance and His Atonement. When people saw the centurion whose servant was sick with palsy, what did they see? Perhaps they saw an intruder, a foreigner, one to be despised. When Jesus saw him, what did He see? A man concerned for the welfare of a member of his household, who sought the Lord in candor and faith. When people saw the woman with an issue of blood, what did they see? Perhaps an unclean woman, an outcast to be shunned. When Jesus saw her, what did He see? A sickly woman, lonely and alienated due to circumstances she did not control, who hoped to be healed and to belong again.

In every case, the Lord saw these individuals for who they were and accordingly ministered to each one. As Nephi and his brother Jacob declared:

“He inviteth them all to come unto him … , black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God.”

“The one being is as precious in his sight as the other.”

May we likewise not let our eyes, our ears, or our fears mislead us but open our hearts and minds and minister freely to those around us as He did.

Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier

"We Are His Children," General Conference October 2023

take my yoke upon you

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; … and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

The metaphor of the yoke is powerful. As President Howard W. Hunter explained: “The yoke was a device … that allowed the strength of a second animal to be linked and coupled with the effort of a single animal, sharing and reducing the heavy labor of the [task in hand]. A burden that was overwhelming or perhaps impossible for one to bear could be equitably and comfortably borne by two bound together with a common yoke.”

President Nelson taught: “You come unto Christ to be yoked with Him and with His power, so that you’re not pulling life’s load alone. You’re pulling life’s load yoked with the Savior and Redeemer of the world.”

How do we yoke or bind ourselves to the Savior? Elder David A. Bednar explains:

“Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and with the Lord Jesus Christ. In essence, the Savior is beckoning us to rely upon and pull together with Him. …

“We are not and never need be alone.”

To anyone burdened, lost, confused: You do not have to do this alone. Through the Atonement of Christ and His ordinances, you can be yoked or bound to Him. He will lovingly provide the strength and healing you need to face the journey ahead. He is the refuge from our storms still.

Alan T. Phillips

"God Knows and Loves You," General Conference October 2023

Jesus: The Perfect Leader - Understanding others

Jesus was a listening leader. Because he loved others with a perfect love, he listened without being condescending. A great leader listens not only to others, but also to his conscience and to the promptings of God.

Jesus was a patient, pleading, loving leader. When Peter drew his sword and smote the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear, Jesus said, “Put up thy sword into the sheath” (John 18:11). Without being angry or perturbed, Jesus quietly healed the servant’s ear (see Luke 22:51). His reproof of Peter was kind, yet firm.

Because Jesus loved his followers, he was able to level with them, to be candid and forthright with them. He reproved Peter at times because he loved him, and Peter, being a great man, was able to grow from this reproof. There is a wonderful verse in the book of Proverbs all of us need to remember:

"The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

“He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” (Prov. 15:31–32.)

It is a wise leader or a wise follower who can cope with the “reproof of life.” Peter could do this because he knew that Jesus loved him, and thus Jesus was able to groom Peter for a very high place or responsibility in the kingdom.

Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual. We can show forth our love for others even when we are called upon to correct them. We need to be able to look deeply enough into the lives of others to see the basic causes for their failures and shortcomings.

Jesus: The Perfect Leader By President Spencer W. Kimball. From an address delivered to the Young Presidents organization, Sun Valley, Idaho, 15 January 1977. Ensign. August 1979.

heal rather than hurt

The teaching that God created the earth and all things that are upon it gives to man a special task in the presence of suffering and pain. These were not found on the earth as God first made it. They came as a result of man’s fall. Man’s challenge then is to help reverse these consequences in every way he can. As God’s steward he must heal rather than hurt, build rather than destroy, love rather than hate all nature and its creatures. “How,” asked the Prophet Joseph Smith, “will the serpent ever lose its venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition, and continue to make war upon it?” Nature is under man’s dominion but not for sport. The Father marks every sparrow’s fall, and man must pay for every act of cruelty.

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Two, “Do Not I Fill Heaven and Earth?” p.18

a gauge of the healing process

Pain is a gauge of the healing process. It often teaches us patience. Perhaps that is why we use the term patient in referring to the sick.

Kent F. Richards, "The Atonement Covers All Pain." April 2011 General Conference

to pray for others

One of the most powerful experiences in a life of compassion is the expansion of our hearts into a world-embracing space of healing from which no one is excluded. When, through discipline, we have overcome the power of our impatient impulses to flee or to fight, to become fearful or angry, we discover a limitless space into which we can welcome all the people of the world. Prayer for others, therefore, cannot be seen as an extraordinary exercise that must be practiced from time to time. Rather, it is the very beat of a compassionate heart. To pray for a friend who is ill, for a student who is depressed, for a teacher who is in conflict; for people in prisons, in hospitals, on battlefields; for those who are victims of injustice, who are hungry, poor, and without shelter; for those who risk their career, their health, and even their life in the struggle for social justice for leaders of church and state – to pray for all these people is not a futile effort to influence God’s will, but a hospitable gesture by which we invite our neighbors into the center of our hearts.

To pray for others means to make them part of ourselves. To pray for others means to allow their pains and sufferings, their anxieties and loneliness, their confusion and fears to resound in our innermost selves. To pray, therefore, is to become those for whom we pray, to become the sick child, the fearful mother, the distressed father, the nervous teenager, the angry student, and the frustrated striker. To pray is to enter into a deep inner solidarity with our fellow human beings so that in and through us they can be touched by the healing power of God’s Spirit. When, as disciples of Christ, we are able to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters, to be marked with their wounds, and even be broken by their sins, our prayer becomes their prayer, our cry for mercy becomes their cry. In compassionate prayer, we bring before God those who suffer not merely “over there,” not simply “long ago,” but here and now in our innermost selves. And so it is in and through us that others are restored; it is in and through us that they receive new light, new hope, and new courage; it is in and through us that the Spirit touches them with God’s healing presence.



Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living A Prayerful Life, Compiled & Edited by Wendy Wilson Greer. 1999. p. 144, 145. Originally quoted in Compassion. 1982.

ask them if they would all pray for me

The small shrapnel wound I had received in my wrist had never really healed. At first I thought of it as no more than an annoying scratch, but one morning I awoke to find my wrist all swollen and red. This condition worsened from day to day until eventually the redness extended clear up my arm. The skin started to peel off, leaving a running sore that oozed infected puss. It hurt so much that I couldn’t sleep at night. The wound was constantly weeping, and it smelled so bad that it was making the other men sick.

One morning I took my shirt off and saw large, menacing-looking red streaks going up my arm and over my shoulder towards my chest. Roland said it looked like gangrene to him. He and Bob helped me to cross the compound to the guardhouse where we showed the guards how bad my skin was. One of the guards immediately escorted us to their doctor in the staff barracks outside of the compound. The doctor looked at it with alarm and grabbed my hand to make a closer examination. Just the touch of his hand hurt so terribly that I let out an involuntary shriek. He looked me straight in the eyes and said through a translator that I must have the arm amputated immediately or I would die.

My arm hurt so badly that I couldn’t imagine facing the pain of surgery, so I asked him what kind of anesthetic he would use. Reaching into his door he pulled out a small stick and told me to put it into my mouth and bite down. That was the only thing available. When asked what kind of instruments he would use, he pulled out a pocket knife about four inches long. I looked at my buddies and they just shook their heads and looked back at me. I told the doctor I would have to think about it. He told me that there wasn’t anything to think about since I would either loose my arm or loose my life. He wanted to proceed immediately to save my life. To emphasize his point, he drew my gaze down to my arm to remind me that all my skin was gone from the wrist to the elbow, and the infection was spreading from there up to my shoulder and out into my chest. It was one of the worst cases of gangrene he’d ever seen, and he was concerned that it might be too late already. Still I couldn’t bring myself to trust him so I told him again that I’d have to think about it. He gave me until the next morning and said that after that it would be too late to do anything about it.

When I got back to the barracks, all my roommates tried to talk me into letting him cut my arm off, but I had the dreadful feeling that I wouldn’t make it through the operation alive. Finally I asked them if they would all pray for me. This request took everyone by surprise and most of them stammered something like “Well… sure we’ll pray for you, but, is there some special way to do it?” I think everyone had privately said mental prayers in battle asking for help but few of these men had ever said a formal prayer, and they were embarrassed because they didn’t know how. I was in so much pain though and so frightened of loosing my arm that they were willing to do anything to help so they let me teach them how to say a simple prayer. Some asked who to pray to. I told them briefly about my beliefs in God and Jesus Christ. I also told them that they could pray to their own God if they believed differently. I explained that I believed that their faith could help to save my arm and my life.

Eventually they all said OK, they’d do it, but they wanted me to start out. For the first time in camp I was able to pray out loud and it was wonderful. I felt the Spirit of the Lord come into the room in a powerful and comforting way. These terrific men who could be so coarse and unrefined started speaking to God with sincere hearts and out of love for me their friend. Their prayers were simple, with common phrases like, “Please God, help Joe to know what to do,” or “Joe is a pretty decent guy, won’t you help him live through this?” A frequent sentiment seemed to be “We’ve all been through so much God, please don’t let it end here for Joe. He wants to go back to his wife and son.” I know He heard their prayers and I wept with appreciation. I was still scared but I finally felt the Spirit and was at peace again.

That night the room was quiet when the lights were turned out, and even Folkwolf refrained from telling his off-colored stories. I didn’t sleep very well because the arm continued to hurt intensely. When morning arrived my three buddies took me over to the doctor where I found him getting things ready for the operation. When I took my shirt off, however, he looked at me with a startled expression. When I looked down at my chest I was surprised to see that the ugly red lines of the infection were gone, and the swelling had gone down somewhat. The doctor declared that it was a miracle, and that he would never have believed such a thing was possible. He told me that we could wait another day to see what would happen. When I went back to that barracks and told the guys what had happened they all let out a cheer. I asked them to please remember me each night in their prayers and most of them promised they would. Later, many of them came up to me and told me that they had never prayed before that night, but that they had continued to do so from that day on.

A Distant Prayer: Miracles of the 49th Combat Mission by Joseph Banks, Jerry Borrowman. Covenant Communications. 2001.

arise from his bed and walk

A most remarkable manifestation of the healing power of God was given in the early days of Nauvoo. Many of the Saints, driven from Missouri and weakened by the exposures, were taken sick, in the moist, malarial air of the new settlements. On the 22nd of July, 1839, the Prophet arose from a bed of sickness and went forth in the power of God to administer to the sick. Heber C. Kimball describes what followed thus:

“He commenced with the sick in his own house, then visited those who were camping in tents in his own dooryard, commanding the sick in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to arise from their beds and be whole, when they were healed according to his words. He then went from house to house, and from tent to tent, upon the bank of the river, healing the sick by the power of Israel’s God as he went among them. He did not miss a single house, wagon, or tent, and continued this work up to the “upper stone house,” where he crossed the river in a boat, accompanied by Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, John Taylor, and myself, and landed at Montrose. He then walked into the cabin of Brother Brigham Young, who was lying very sick, and commanded him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to arise and be made whole. He arose, healed of his sickness, and thus accompanied Joseph and his brethren of the Twelve, and went into the house of Elijah Fordham, who was insensible, and considered by his family and friends to be in the hands of death. Joseph stepped to his bedside, looked him in the eye for a minute without speaking, then took him by the hand and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to arise from his bed and walk. Brother Fordham immediately leaped out of his bed, threw off all his poultices and bandages, dressed himself, called for a bowl of bread and milk, which he ate, and followed us into the street. We then went into the house of Joseph B. Noble, who was also very sick, and he was healed in the same manner” (Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, p. 273-4).


Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.233