I'm a Mormon.

Monday, August 10, 2009

A prayer for healing




I remembered this experience today, and realized that I have never written it in a journal. I thought I would include it in this blog as another reminder of our many blessings!

A few months ago, Emily (9) came into my room in the middle of the night with a very high fever. Mike was out of town, so I was on my own to take care of her. I very rarely take my children's temperatures, as I can usually tell if I am dealing with a low grade fever or something more. This was clearly something more. I took her temperature and within seconds it read 104.4. She was just burning up. Emily has always been my "fever girl" as she was only three days old when she was admitted to the hospital for a high fever. This is her body's was of responding to sickness. And it makes me nervous every time! This fever also presented with a horrible headache, which had me concerned about the possibility of meningitis. As a sat by the bed, putting cool clothes on her forehead to cool her down, the thought occurred to me that Christ had specifically healed those with fevers during his ministry. I pulled my scriptures off the night stand and read through the stories of the centurion's servant and Peter's mother in law. I knew that Christ had the power to heal my Emily, just as He had those he touched thousands of years ago. So I prayed that she would be healed. And then the wrestling began in my mind. The thought came " Do you believe Christ can do this?" Of course I did! But then the thought came, "Then go to sleep." Now I had been up for over an hour cooling her down with washclothes that felt like I had microwaved them when I took them off her forehead. I was concerned about leaving her on her own. My faith was too much on what I was doing, rather than focused on the fact that Christ was very capable of taking care of the situation without my help. But I knew what I had to do, and I took the leap of faith and laid down and closed my eyes. Thankfully, my physical exhaustion helped sleep come easily. When I woke up to Julia crying an hour later, I quickly felt Emily's forehead, only to find it cool as a cucumber. Remarkable. I should no longer be amazed at the tender mercies the Lord provides in these situations, but I still am. I am grateful for yet another experience that has taught me of the Savior's power, of His love, and of His desire to teach us through the experiences we have in our daily lives how better to come to Him and find our rest.