The Healing Power of Family History

As we link generations by doing family history work and performing temple ordinances, God promises to send us healing blessings.

Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Russell M. Nelson addressed The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a talk entitled “Hear Him.” Due to government gathering restrictions, Church leaders had issued the closure of temples for the foreseeable future. During this period of waiting, President Nelson invited members of the Church of Jesus Christ to “increase [their] participation in family history, including family history research and indexing.”

This invitation reminded me of one of my favorite talks, “Family History and Temple Work: Healing and Sealing.” In this talk, Elder Dale G. Renlund discusses the blessings of finding our ancestors and taking their names to the temple. He says that through our participation in family history and temple work we not only help redeem the dead but also “lay claim to ‘healing’ blessings promised by prophets and apostles.”

A few weeks ago, I was able to go inside the temple for my cousin’s endowment—my first time going inside in over a year. I was able to bring the name of a deceased family member that I had found on FamilySearch and perform that ordinance on her behalf. After all the uncertainty I experienced during the past year, it was so calming to enter the temple; and because of the family history research I had been doing, I felt even more connected to my ancestors.

Because of this experience, I felt the healing that comes from doing family history and temple work. Like Elder Renlund says, “When we gather our family histories and go to the temple on behalf of our ancestors, God fulfills many of these promised blessings simultaneously on both sides of the veil.” 

Learn more about how family history and temple work can heal us and our families by reading the rest of Elder Renlund’s talk “Family History and Temple Work: Healing and Sealing.”  

Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org 

—Emma Franklin, Latter-day Saint Insights 

FEATURE IMAGE BY ANDREA PIACQUADIO

Find more insights

Read the article on President Russell M. Nelson and Wendy W. Nelson’s 2017 RootsTech presentation called “Open the Heavens through Temple and Family History Work” for more insights on why we should make sacrifices to do family history work. 

Watch “The Promised Blessings of Family History” to learn about the blessings we receive when we do family history.

Learn more about how family history helps God gather his children in Elder Henry B. Eyring’s talk “Gathering the Family of God.”