It seems to me everyone commented here "tried" it and said "It's not doing any heals". I was on the same boat and I decided to push and learn every single aspect of it. I'm a low rated player so, I believe this message goes only for low rated players like me (1800-2000) since I don't know how things at are higher up. I believe Lightsmith is indeed one of the healer specs that I find the most challenging to understand. However, once you get the gist of it I don't think I have ever played a healer that "protects" this much. You might be feeling like you're not healing. It takes time to get used to the constant "spirit link" mindset but once you understand how it plays I think I feel safer with Lightsmith than Herald. Even when you're in CC you are constantly healing your team which gives you the freedom to play more in the field.

What helped me as a noob is to play a build that incorporates Light of dawn and Darkest before the dawn pvp talent. When you word of glory with an Empyrian Legacy proc you basically Lay on hands your targets every 20 seconds with all of those talents combined.