"...with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

There is something that has been going through my mind lately. The thought is this: the fullness of  the gospel, which is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is more than just a good message. It is power. It is the power of Jesus Christ to change us, save us, and help us return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. Real power, "the power of Christ unto salvation" (Alma 15:6; Romans 1:16).

As I have pondered this, I have been profoundly moved. I like nice messages. They make me feel good and happy. I am motivated to do good things and to be a better person. But, the "gospel of Christ...is the power unto salvation to everyone that believeth" (Romans 1:16). That not only makes one feel good, helps to motivate to accomplish more, but gives us power to change, actually change our very nature! In a world that is power hungry, with the wrong kind of power, this is awe inspiring, and very humbling to think that we have actual access to this power.

But sometimes, we are unsure of how to access the full extent of this power, or afraid, or our faith wavers. The gospel of Jesus Christ is more than a nice message. It is real power. What do we do? There is an answer, it is found in the New Testament. It is through the story of a man who brings his son to Christ to be healed "which hath a dumb spirit" (Mark 9:17). The apostles were unable to "cast him out" (Mark 9:28) and the father of the child pleads with the Savior, "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us" (Mark 9:22). Christ responds, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23).  I know that Christ responds to all of us this way. If we can but believe Christ. Prophets plead and have pled with us to "Believe in God; believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that He has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" (Mosiah 4:9).  I believe that we, in our most honest hearts, filled with the desire to help our children and to serve the Lord often respond, just as the father of the child, "...with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24 italics added). We do believe, but for whatever reason, something is holding us back or keeps us from putting our complete trust in Him, be it pain, fear, sadness, lack of money, whatever it may be. First, we must recognize that we have "unbelief", that perhaps we are unsure of the outcome, this being unbelief, or unsure of the future, so we are more secure in staying where we recognize pain and the safety of what we do know. But, we don't need to be held back, even by our "unbelief" because Christ is "full of mercy" (Alma 5:48) and "man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" (Mosiah 4:9). "Unbelief" doesn't mean we don't have faith in Christ. Unbelief is our conversion to Christ.

As we exercise faith in Him by "[believing] on His name... and repent of all [our] sins" (Helaman 14:13), He helps us with our "unbelief", our conversion, by extending "His arm of mercy towards [us because we] put [our] trust in Him" (Mosiah 29:20). Just as "He rebuked the foul spirit,...and came out of him"(Mark 9:25) by His power, He uses that same power to help us "believe all things, hope all things...and hope to endure all things" (Articles of Faith 13). Sometimes, Christ does perform miraculous healings as in the story found in Mark 9:14-29, but most often, the Lord blesses us not is one huge blessing of healing, but in incremental steps as we learn how to become more like Him through developing character traits, thus making "weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27). We are doing more than just gaining knowledge and increasing our faith in Christ, we are becoming "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). Our "unbelief", not the lack of faith, but our conversion to Christ is strengthened and as we recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives and see that pain, sorrow, worry, love for others, money problems, whatever is holding us back, gives us constant opportunities to "draw near unto [Christ] and [He] will draw near unto [us]". As we "diligently" seek Him we "shall find [Him]"; and as we ask "[we]"shall receive" (D&C 88:63). "Our needed conversions are often achieved more readily by suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquility" (Elder Dallin H. Oaks).

Through all of this process, we are changed, and we are receiving more than increased faith in Christ. We are becoming converted, converted to Christ. In this process we are becoming more like Him. Christ is the source of power through which we get gifts and have our list of items in our prayers answered, but He wants more for us than that. He want to be more than just a List Giver. He wants us to become as He is (see 3 Nephi 12:48;  Matthew 5:48) and is the Giver of eternal life. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan by which we can become what children of God are supposed to become" (Elder Dallin H. Oaks). Christ loves us. He does answer "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" and we can respond "with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:23-24) and become converted to Him through all the "fiery trials" (1 Peter 4:12) that will come our way. This I testify.