According to legend, an angel would distrub the pool, causing bubbles or ripples to dance across its surface. The first person to enter the troubled waters would be cured of whatever disease he or she had. One man, who had been an invalid for more than two decades, sat by the pool wanting desperately to be healed, but because of his condition, someone else always got into the water first. Then came Christ. The Savior asked the man, "Wilt thou be made whole?" Perhaps not recognizing the Man standing before him, or maybe not comprehending the infinite power the Savior holds to heal anything and everything, the man replied, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." The man couldn't see that the Savior was offering him his deepest desire; all he could see was that the way he'd expected to be healed, the complicated and rigid expectation in his head, was all but impossible. He couldn't see that the Savior doesn't need rigid, mortal rituals to heal us. All He needs is our faith. Luckily, the Savior recognized some faith in the man and said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk."
As I sat thinking about this story, I wondered how often I have missed opportunities for healing and other blessings because they didn't come in the complicated forms I'd expected. Life is simple. The gospel is simple. Faith is simple. If I believe that the Savior has the power to forgive my sins, He will forgive me. If I believe He can heal a broken heart, or a broken body, or anything else, He can heal it. But I need to take the first step and believe. It doesn't require being the first to enter a pool, or a certain amount of hours spent in the temple, or anything else beyond the simple faith that He has the power to heal...and that He will use it.
1 comment:
LOVE that. Engisn article. I'm sending it to someone who really needs that message.
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