"I went out to breakfast with my friend yesterday," Mary, my crossing guard friend, told me as I stopped to chat on my walk."She made me feel so loved. I went home and got so much done yesterday! And I didn't need to use my nebulizer [for asthma] once!"

Mary's experience reminded me of the tremendous healing power of love. In my work with clients as a Healing Codes Coach/Practitioner, I encourage them to come up with a "love picture" to focus on while doing a Healing Code. A love picture is a memory of a time when they felt very loved and secure.

Sadly, some people have trouble coming up with even one loving memory for a love picture.

This week, I think I created a love picture for myself and my daughter–from the most unlikeliest of experiences. I would label this love picture, "Misery shared."

My daughter, Christine, went to bed the other night with a queasy stomach. "Uh-oh," I thought. Two nights before, I'd been up all night with stomach flu. Now it was her turn.

At 1:30 a.m., I heard her in the bathroom. I got up and went to her. For the next four and a half hours I stayed with her, holding her head as she retched every 15 minutes. She kept saying, "I'm going to die."

Because I'd been through it myself, I had an idea of just how long this part of it would last (though I was not nearly as sick as she was, thanks most likely to Healing Codes). So I told her it would be over soon, she'd be okay. All I could really do was be with her, hold her hands or her head, try to get a bit of water in her, and pray. I prayed that God's love would flow through me and help her heal, and that someday, she would remember this night and know that Someone else was with her, too. The One who was giving me strength to love despite still feeling weak from my own bout with this virus.

After about 4 hours, she held my hands tightly and said, "I love you, Mom. I'm sorry I was unsympathetic when you were sick." Sweet words, especially coming from a teenager! Shortly after that, she was finally able to lie down and sleep.

That night changed something in our relationship.I think she felt in a new way that I love her. The love that she knew in her head was there, penetrated deeper into her heart. And mine, too.

By God's grace, a miserable experience was transformed into a love picture that perhaps she will cling to someday. When she remembers that night–and she will, because she'd never been sicker–I hope what will stand out was not the misery, but the memory of someone being with her. And I pray that she will know that Someone who loves her is always with her, sharing every moment, even the most miserable.

What kind of love pictures can you create for someone else today? As a parent, a friend, a partner, we have tremendous power to heal, just with our love.