Blessings of Gifts to Help Others and Yourself Heal

         I was in Ashlee's ward in Meridian, ID and she was called to be my Visiting Teacher. This cute girl with adorable children showed up at my house one day with her visiting teaching partner to check up on me and to get to know me and my kids.  One day while my husband and I where out of town, we got a text that said, "Emmett Corrigan, Shot and killed, call me ASAP."  The text was from the Bishop in our ward and my husband was his second counselor in the bishopric. When we returned home that Sunday after he died, I remember calling anyone I could, to find out what needed to be done to help. The compassionate service leader in our ward assigned me to take paper goods to their house. Because of so much family being in town, so they didn't have to worry about having to do dishes. I remember walking into her house filled with extended family and feeling so surreal looking around. Seeing Ashlee for the first time after Emmett's death, I was trying to get a read from her energy. I could feel that she was a walking moving person but just going through the motions. My heart ached as I wished that I could just take all the pain away. As I watched her go and doing all her different tasks I secretly wished in my heart for better days for her and her sweet little babies. As I hugged her I could feel her tremble. I could feel her ache from the inside out. I knew that I had gifts to help her and was eager to help but waited for the spirit to impress upon my mind as to when to offer my help. 
        
        I was assigned and called by my ward Bishop to be the church Building Scheduler to schedule events for our building such as weddings, funerals ect. A few months After Emmett died Ashlee called me to schedule the building for an activity. I asked her how she was doing. She proceeded to tell me about her four month old little baby boy named Tytus who was struggling at the time and was unable to keep any kind of formula down. I remember her telling me, "You should see my cupboards, it looks like Wal-Mart with every kind of formula there is." My heart began to beat out of my chest as the spirit told me to tell her about my gifts in that I could maybe help her little baby get some relief. I was very nervous at that point and began to tell her about my gifts and how I can feel others spirits and know what they need and can help release what it is that is bringing them discomfort or grief.
      
        Later when I went to her home, I held her baby Tytus in my arms and could feel the nerves running through his entire little body and it was hard for me to differentiate the difference between his nerves and mine. He kept puking green puke all over, because she was now trying an alternative natural formula. All I could think about was why I was there and how I really needed to help this family and how hard it was for me to calm down so I could get any kind of answers. I kept praying for help, to be guided on what to do and where to look. Finally, I saw a few things and cleared them. Then I could feel that most of the amounts of nerves were mostly coming from the baby, not from me.  He had a visible red rash on his body from head to toe. After working diligently for an hour I could see a change in his demeanor and could see that his rash was starting to calm down and diminish. In my heart I knew that he had been feeling the trauma of all that was going on now, but I could tell it was even when she was pregnant and carrying him. Babies can feel and know their mother's emotions even before they are born. As I worked on him, I was connecting with his spirit, for two hours straight. I knew that the spirit of Lord was with us the whole time and although all of this was new to both to Ashlee and her family they welcomed the help and I was grateful and humbled that I was able to be there to facilitate through the spirit to know how to help this precious little boy.

         
        I have always believed that I have had gifts but never believed that I could possibly use them to help myself and others. We tend to worry about being judged. Our fears can hold us captive and can block us from our gifts and knowing our true self. It is through us that the true miracles can happen and true healing can start. Look at Ashlee, if she had worried about being judged or even criticized then she wouldn’t have found her voice and we wouldn’t have been blessed by her words. We all would just love to sit in our boxes and close the lid.  I know I was happy with doing just that until I started having experiences that helped shove me out of my box. For a few years was just practicing my talent that I developed through my gifts by helping others by word of mouth. I was getting more and more phone calls and it became evident that I needed to make a change in how I helped others.    I needed to balance helping others and caring for my family of nine children. I fasted, prayed and went to the temple and even talked to my bishop about my gifts and my dilemma. I made the hard (for me) decision to make set hours and start charging for my time. I loved just serving and helping people. I have been very blessed since then because I’ve been able to help more and more people and have learned more about my gifts. I know that if I would have kept on limiting myself, I wouldn’t have met so many amazing people that are just trying to find out their purpose and happiness in life.       
        
        We all have something to contribute and as we find what our gifts are and turn them into a talent, then God blesses our lives to give us all kinds of  special people in our lives to help to give a source of strength to. As we look to our own gifts of the spirit, we too can heal ourselves. Using our gifts and then turning them into a talent for everyone to enjoy is what our purpose is in this life. As we seek out our own best gifts we become healed and then in turn help others to heal.
       
        I have a testimony that we have all been given the gifts. To accomplish these and other great things in our lives and we should always be grateful to the Lord who blesses us with these gifts to enrich us and fill our souls. May we ever be fruitful and give of our best fruits of the spirit in this life so that we can all unite by lifting and inspiring and giving freely of the gifts of God.  We are a blessed people and when we know that God lives, loves us and wants nothing more than to bless us. We just have to be willing and ready to receive such great blessings.

*I Received Permission to Share Ashlee's story.