My dear brothers and sisters, I wish we could live in a world where nothing bad ever happened to the people of God. But, bad things—horrible things—happen to good people every day.

This is one of the hardest concepts that we, as followers of Christ, grapple with. Why do bad things happen to good people, and why doesn’t God stop it?! Where is He? Does He care? 

If you’re healing from a traumatic event, whether it happened last week or 50 years ago, then you probably go through ups and downs. There are times when the traumatic event “sleeps.” It’s there, lurking, but it’s relatively quiet. Then, there are the other times…the times when the traumatic event sinks its teeth into you, rips the old wound open, and all the anger, fear, regret, and grief spill out fresh.

How do you deal with those “down” times? The days when the fog is thick, the anguish is oppressive, the regret is razor sharp? The dark, despairing hour—

“How can I heal?” 

A question like this has only one answer: Jesus. 

This one-word answer may seem simple—just a platitude—but it’s not. This is THE name that casts out the evil spirits that prey upon the mind. It’s THE rock we cling to in uncertainty. It’s THE great fortress of protection against the fearsome, ravenous, satanic host.

Jesus. Easy to say, hard to do.

If Jesus is the answer, then where can we find Him?

We find Him in our closet of prayer.

We find Him in the arms of our mother, the church.

We find Him in the work He’s called us to do.

We find Him in His Word.

(Sometimes we don’t find Him, but He finds us.)

Easy to say, hard to do.

“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” (Psalm 91:4-6)

“But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:33)

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10)

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21-23)

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Recently, the church provided a list of Christian counseling services, saying:

“While the ministry of the Church is always available to provide advice and spiritual counsel, we recognize that we are not professional counselors so there may be occasions when you may find it beneficial to consult with people who are trained to handle specific situations. Although the organizations listed are not affiliated with the Church in any way, it appears that their values do align with ours, so we are comfortable sharing their contact information with you.

Even as we share the above information, we do want to stress that prayer is always the first way to go. Pray for your situation and be anointed as necessary. Perhaps God will heal your condition miraculously or perhaps He will choose to use a professional counselor to assist you. If the latter, we hope the information we are providing will be useful for you.”

Here’s how you can access the most recent list of counseling services in the RIP System:

• To access the Member Portal, go to the Church website (thechurchofjesuschrist.org), click Resources, then select Member Portal from the dropdown list and then click the button that says, “Enter the RIP System.”
• If you don’t have a login for the RIP System, you may request one by completing the right side of the login screen (in the section entitled “Request Registration”).
• If you do have a login, use it to enter the RIP System.
• In the RIP System, click on Resources and then select Counseling Resources from the dropdown menu to display the page with all of the information described above.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.