Not a fun few days. For sure!! Unexpected. Unwelcome. Unwanted. Unprepared. Had a wonderful simple Father's Day dinner with one of our sons that lives nearby. Baked Chicken. Salad. Small slice of dessert. Great conversation. Evening ended. Sent him home with some cashews. Terry and I ate some cashews. Around 9:30 Terry got a stomach ache with real sharp pains. Then my stomach started aching. Called and alerted our son. (he ended up fine with nothing happening to him. Ate no cashews) From there it was mostly misery. Painful. Nasty. Yucky. Seemingly endless.
My mind was mushy and I couldn't think. We'd told our son that we would sleep it off and to not call. (bad mistake) We had several things going for Mon-Wed so Terry called, the first 3...Nikki, Myra Faye and Jerry. The other 3 didn't get called. He told Myra Faye we'd be fine we just needed to sleep.
Monday night, at some point, not sure of time, but it was dark and we'd had a really rough day. We finally realized--Hey! We are really sick and need a blessing. Terry turned on a lamp and saw the phone by the chair where he was. We couldn't remember our Home Teachers phone number. So I called Myra Faye. Bob said he'd get someone and come right over to bless us. I don't know if it was 10 or 11 or what.
Bob and Hal came in and we were each seated in our chairs, side by side, looking gross. We both looked scary. Terry wrapped in a blanket, hair askew and me in a robe, pale faced and my newly cut hair was sticking straight up! A 4" crew cut! I'd run my fingers through it tossing and turning. Not one strand of hair was on my face! I startled myself when I glanced in the mirror. Truly I could have cared less at the moment. No pity for these kind men coming to give us blessings.
They started asking Terry's full name and I interrupted and said....Could I go first? I feel like I'm going to faint. Quickly they moved to my chair. Blessing was over and I excused myself and got up. They offered assistance. I declined. Made a beeline to the bedroom and had a bout of retching that was so loud, that even in the midst of the action, I thought....oh, good grief they are hearing me heave my guts up!!
As I heard them leave, Bob said....Call if you need us again. Any time. It made me tear up knowing he really meant that. So did Hal.
When they came into our chaos they arrived as men of peace and dignity. We had not one shred of that between the two of us. They were dressed old school, in white shirts/ties, as men respecting the Priesthood that they hold. (Do young men dress like that also when called to give blessings extremely late at night? It's so beautiful to see. so powerful. so pure) They understood they had the power to heal us. If we had the faith. If it was God's will we be healed, it would happen. They knew they had the Priesthood authority of God to heal us, ease our pain, to make us well. If not we would be blessed with endurance beyond ourselves to withstand what must be endured.
Later all alone in our darkened room, away from Terry on the living room couch, I thought about the love I have of the Gospel and how complete it is. How all of our needs can be met even our ills. I thought of how Christ taught His Disciples that they needed to learn to bless and heal people and He set the example for them. They ...anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. With the restoration of the Gospel, this marvelous healing power is again amongst us and as counseled in James..Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick....
Over the years, I have seen miracles through this Priesthood power and it is such a gift for all of us to enjoy. As our pains and angst and miseries just slowly faded away into the air, I said a prayer of thanksgiving. There are many of our friends, and even family members, that put up with lasting things, so much more than our few days ordeal. This was a hiccup compared to their ongoing permanent battles. Isn't it marvelous that the Lord cares about everything and each of us?
Tonight as I sat, dressed and clean and just enjoying the evening air, while visiting on the porch, my heart was so full of gratitude that I just had to tell you that. Now you know my heart!
James 5:14-16
Mark 6:13
No comments:
Post a Comment